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She’d sure been using that attitude enough recently to try to keep the vampires in line.
    It didn’t seem to be working anymore.
    Lucifer stepped up to her, almost close enough to bump chests. His red eyes glimmered with murder. “I made a deal with Stark because I thought he could give us what we need. I’m not feeling very confident in his abilities now.”
    “You don’t have to be confident. You just have to obey.”
    “Why? So that we can let him hand our people over to Melchior and Rhiannon?”
    The vampires were closing in around them. It was strange how their bodies radiated no heat. That many vampires should have made the lobby feel stuffy, but Deirdre couldn’t feel them at all.
    When the vampires moved, Deirdre could hear a faint slithering sound, like leather dragged over desert sand. It was the dry, raspy way the husks of their dead bodies moved. Slow, but not sluggish. They moved like predators as much as the shifters did, though it was far less animal and distinctly more alien.
    Gianna and her wolves appeared at the edge of the lobby. It gave her no confidence. Deirdre didn’t trust them to have her back if the vampires attacked.
    They didn’t look happy about the election’s outcome, either.
    “This isn’t over until it’s over,” Deirdre said, letting her gaze sweep over the vampires, resting briefly on Gianna’s shifters, before moving back to Lucifer. She imagined herself a dictator speaking from the pulpit. She tried to radiate cool confidence. “Melchior hasn’t taken Rylie Gresham’s job yet. The magic isn’t in place. Those bastards cheated to close a twenty-point gap, and I’m going to find out how.”
    “You’re not good enough,” Lucifer said. “I want Stark.”
    Deirdre surprised herself by laughing. “You want Stark? You want Stark ?” She funneled all of her frustration into making herself sound as disdainful as possible. “Your wants don’t matter, vampire . Remember who you are. Remember who you work for.” She closed the final inch between them, bumping him back. Deirdre was tall for a woman, a solid five foot eight without the boots. She made sure that Lucifer felt every inch of her height. “You’ll hear from Stark when he decides you deserve to hear from him.”
    Lucifer’s tongue darted out to slide over his lower lip. There was no glisten of saliva. No hint of moisture in his body. He wasn’t cold like the Winter Court was cold, but room temperature. Void of life.
    “That’s not good enough,” he said softly, flashing elongated canines. “We’re hungry. The blood from the bank was only enough to feed us all once, and we’ll need to feed again soon. When do we get more blood?”
    “Soon,” Deirdre said.
    “It better be soon. Because if you don’t feed us, then I’ll start to think that Stark only wanted to ‘help’ us for an election ad. And now that he’s failed, he won’t have a thing to do with the people who helped.”
    It was meant to be a threat, but Deirdre relaxed at his words.
    Lucifer didn’t think Stark was missing. He just thought that the Alpha was being dismissive of them.
    “Take more juice from Niamh,” Deirdre said.
    “She doesn’t have much more to give,” Lucifer said.
    “Take whatever she has. Take her to the brink.” If that was what it took to keep the peace with the vampires for a few more hours… “In the meantime, I’m going to figure out how Melchior cheated. I’ll have answers soon. Answers, and a plan from Stark.”
    “We’ll drink. We’ll wait. But our patience isn’t infinite.”
    “Your loyalty will be rewarded,” Deirdre said.
    Those were Stark’s words, Stark’s voice, Stark’s ruthlessness.
    Who cared about one betraying harpy? Deirdre had done worse to keep the vampires happy. She’d already given them the life of a witch.
    When the vampire lord finally turned away from Deirdre, a sigh passed through the room, sucking away all the tension. The shifters along the walls relaxed. The