Mab's jaw clenched in irritation. Surely this vampire knew how tenuous his standing in the world was. He would not be in this rotting tomb cut off from the help of his brethren and scrapping for meals like a dog in a dumpster if he did not. And yet he had not even acknowledged that he would abide by even the simplest version of her demands in which he had to protect no one outside his friends but could not attack those who were not attacking him. But he hadn't fought either. Instead he answered as though he had some standing in world in which he could simply dismiss her.

"You do not have to like what I tell you. But you must understand how things will be. Do you understand?" She didn't even look at the door indicated.

Pickle jars didn't need to be sweet talked or threatened. They simply opened as they were meant to do. Not that she had to, she had servants for such things. If she ate things like pickles. This was a formality. She had no intentions of allowing rouge vampire nests to run amok in her territory. She could have simply come in during the day and slaughtered them all. This was actually a kindness in her mind.