To her, Dave seemed like an eight-bodied computer.
"Women aren't safe here," she said carefully. "No one protects us from those who wish to harm us."
All eight pairs of eyes focused on her with uncomfortable intensity.
"Did anyone harm you?" Number One asked.
Mattie's throat tightened. She glanced at Dimitri, who had gone very still, his expression warning her to be careful. But what was she supposed to say? Dave had asked a direct question, and lying to him felt both futile and dangerous.
"Yes," she whispered.
"Who did that?"
"It doesn't matter." The words came out too quickly, too defensively. "He didn't get far. Dimitri stopped him before?—"
She broke off, realizing too late what she'd just revealed.
How could a human prevent an immortal from doing anything he wanted?
The eight bodies shifted, turning their attention to Dimitri with predatory focus.
"How did you stop the immortal?" Number One asked, his voice deceptively calm.
Dimitri's jaw tightened. Mattie could see him calculating, trying to find an explanation that wouldn't expose them both.
"It was in the bar," he said. "In the hotel. There were other immortals there who told the guy to stop harassing the barmaid. I didn't have to do much."
It was a reasonable lie, delivered smoothly enough that it might have fooled anyone else, just not Dave.
"That is not what happened," Number One said.
"It is?—"
"Tell us what really happened."
The command was spoken with the resonance of compulsion, and Mattie felt the pressure in her mind.
"Dimitri hit him with a syringe full of toxin." The words were spilling from her lips before she could stop herself. "But it didn't knock him out, and he attacked Dimitri. The other immortals pulled him off and told him that Lord Navuh would be angry if he killed the scientist in charge of the enhancement program." She clamped her hand over her mouth, fear flooding through her as she realized what she'd done.
What would Dave do now that she'd told him that Dimitri had attacked an immortal?
Tears burned in her eyes, blurring her vision. She looked at Dimitri and saw the same fear reflected in his face.
"Why are you crying?" Number One asked.
The question was so incongruous, so utterly divorced from the gravity of the situation, that Mattie let out a choked laugh that was more sob than humor.
"Because I just told you that Dimitri attacked an immortal. You forced it out of me with that thing that you do. It's not fair." She looked at Dimitri, guilt constricting her throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"Dimitri did the right thing."
Mattie blinked and turned to look at Number One. "What?"
"Dimitri protected you," Number One said matter-of-factly. "That was the correct action. It was fortunate that he had something to defend you with. A syringe, you said?"
Mattie nodded because she had no choice.
All Dave's bodies turned to Dimitri. "What was in that syringe?"
