---
So she stepped aside. "Then go."
The lesser vampire bowed more deeply and obeyed.
He passed out into the night beyond Dawn House with no more than that one exchange marking his exit.
The city outside was cooler now, the late hour pressing dampness into old stone and making the lamps along narrower roads burn with a more isolated kind of glow. Slik City at night was never truly asleep. It only changed masks. Honest business closed. Other business opened. Noble houses quieted their windows and lower dealings lit fresh lanterns beneath the street.
The lesser vampire moved through it without lingering.
He had instructions.
Find the underground black market.
Find Raka.
Deliver Sekhmet's words.
Return by morning.
Simple.
Only the city, as always, preferred complication.
