I wonder why Victor doesn't seem to consider Daniel a loose end that needs tying up.

He ought to know that Daniel knows too much.

A few reasons:

1.) Victor likes Daniel. He taught Daniel for years, and then had several more years with Daniel as his primary sparring partner. Victor doesn't kill people he likes if he can avoid it -- plus, there's the whole "gratitude about Daniel saving his life" thing.

2.) As far as Victor knows, Daniel doesn't know anything that can hurt him. It was Eva who told Daniel who they'd been working for, and she broke runner's protocol in order to do so, which is something V wouldn't have expected. Victor also doesn't know who he killed, since Del and Trace were under disguise amulets at the time; he's probably worked with a lot of telekineticists over the years, and the wolf form is one of the more common variants of the Curse. He doesn't realize that there is any personal connection between Daniel and the people he killed, so he doesn't recognize that as a liability.

3.) Mutually assured destruction. Daniel can't tell about his involvement in the mission without putting his own neck on the line. Victor expects that Daniel is going to take the money and get out, like V advised him to do. The danger of speaking up ought to guarantee Daniel's silence.

I think Daniel also knows that if he lets it slip, he'll lose whatever friends he has left, provided they don't kill him outright.

Yet I can't shake the feeling the truth is going to get out one way or the other...

To me, the reasons don't hold much water.  I'm not in your head, CL, so I don't know everything.  I'm just going by what I hear.

Victor has to at least suspect that Daniel could know too much.  Weighing against that suspicion you have:

1> Personal affection.  This I'll buy, up to a point.  It is a mitigating factor.

2> He doesn't KNOW that Daniel doesn't know enough to hurt him.  He strikes me as someone who doesn't leave things to chance.

3> I don't think the danger of speaking up is as dire for Daniel as Victor (and maybe Daniel) thinks it is.  If Daniel were to go to the Council and submit to a telepathic examination, Victor would be in FAR more trouble than Daniel.

What I'll buy, is that Victor believes that if Daniel were to go to the Council, he'd never see his girlfriend again... and THAT would be enough.

If you ever rewrite, CL, you might want to use that as an explanation of why Victor is sure that Daniel won't tell.  THAT would convince me.

That's a good point. Rebecca would be more likely to forgive Daniel than anyone else, but the Hive wouldn't let a known collaborator with vamps get near other Hive members. At best, he'd be exiled out of the city, to someplace where any tampering they might have done on him wouldn't be a threat to the Collective.

Of course, we haven't really been in Victor's head much, other than the one piece of chapter 6 where he meets with Miriam. I suppose I could put a sentence in there in which he dismisses Daniel as a threat; I'll have to see where it will cause the least disruption to the flow of the story.

Thanks again for your feedback!

if it where me I let everyone think I let him go then when they all turn there
backs I slit his throat *coughs oppppps I did not mean to do that honest I did not. smile all pretty  *