My parents died in a home fire five years ago, nearly six now, but the pain of their loss still burned my heart as if they’d died five days ago. I’d learned how to contain the pain in a little box hidden deep in the darkness inside me—the same box where I’d hidden my fear for Nathan when he was Damned, my anxiety concerning relationships after my experience with Adam, and my conflicting feelings for Dominic. Since Dominic had helped me save Nathan, I’d been forced to examine those feelings, but I couldn’t just pluck him from the box without disturbing the rest of my unresolved nightmares. Everything I’d forcefully and successfully repressed for years was suddenly coming back to light.
The cab dropped us off at the office. Meredith dove into her work, editing and sorting pictures as if we were on a tight deadline, but the paper was already put to bed. Carter would want an insert printed, but we could submit that in the morning. Without the urgency of a pressing deadline, I couldn’t muster Meredith’s level of enthusiasm for my work. Never mind the fact that by keeping Dominic’s secret, my article would once again be a lie, a con to the public instead of a beacon of light exposing the truth, and I felt tainted by my contribution to keeping everyone in the dark.
An hour later, Meredith plopped herself in front of my desk, having completed her work while I was still staring at a blank page and a blinking cursor. My stomach growled.
“Can’t write on an empty stomach,” she said. “Sorry for eating all the sushi.”
I smirked and shut off my computer. “No, you’re not.”
“You calling it quits?” she asked, obviously surprised.
“For now. I need fresh air and food and—” I looked around at our drab cubes, scratched doors, and flattened carpet, searching for the words. “—something, but whatever it is, it’s not here.”
Meredith raised an eyebrow. “This office has certainly seen better days, but it’s never cramped your style before.”
That was before Dominic pinned me to this seat and ravished my lips, I thought wistfully. And long before Walker lifted me onto this desk and kissed me senseless. I’d discovered my ability to entrance vampires at that door and wrote my first retracted article on this computer.
Reminders of the loop-de-loop of my life were everywhere.
I shook my head, feeling flushed. “You up for sushi?”
Meredith laughed. “We just had sushi four hours ago.”
“Correction: you had sushi four hours ago. How about—” I sneezed. “Sorry, what if we—” I sneezed three more times in rapid succession and gave up on talking.
“Bless you!” Meredith plucked two tissues from the adjacent desk and handed them to me. “You weren’t this sneezy at the crime scene.”
“It’s obviously you,” I quipped, hating that Dominic was right, once again, about the most ridiculous things.
“I recommend soup and sleep,” she said. “Sushi sounds lovely, but it’s been a long night. I’m heading home.”
I looped my leather satchel over my shoulder. “I’ll join you. If I’m going to stare at my computer screen and bang my forehead against the keys, I may as well do it from home.”
We locked the office doors behind us and took the elevator to the lobby. Meredith was hailing a cab when I noticed a pair of green-tinted, reflective eyes staring at me from across the street. My eyes couldn’t penetrate the darkness of the alley, so I didn’t know who was staring and whether it was deliberately lying in wait for me or just looking for a meal. Either way, it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t drag Meredith into the darkness with me, not when she didn’t have any means or knowledge to protect herself.
A taxi pulled to the curb in front of us.
Meredith opened the back door and ducked inside. I rummaged in my leather satchel, stalling.
“What is it?” she asked.
“You go ahead. I forgot my article notes on my desk,” I lied, shutting the door.
She leaned out the window. “Just run inside. I’ll wait.”
“Me, run?” I said, forcing a laugh.
She stared at me, deadpan. “You’ve been mugged after late shifts at work before. Don’t be stupid. Going home by yourself is just asking for trouble.”
“I’ll be fine.” I glanced over the taxi to the vampire waiting across the street. Since it hadn’t attacked yet, it was probably waiting specifically for me. Whether I asked for it or not, trouble always seemed to find me.
“I was mugged too, you know. Maybe I’m the one who doesn’t want to ride home alone. Did you think of that?” she asked pointedly.
Meredith thought we’d both been mugged that fateful night five weeks ago because that’s what Dominic wanted her to believe, but in reality, he had attacked her, entranced her, and coerced her into writing a retraction of my article on an animal attack in Brooklyn. At the time, I couldn’t believe she would betray me like that—writing a retraction of my article, especially when the article didn’t need one—but as I came to understand Dominic’s powers of influence, I realized that Meredith couldn’t help but believe his lies. No one could, except for me.
Now, even I couldn’t.
If I couldn’t protect myself, I couldn’t hope to protect her.
I tapped the hood of the taxi. “You’re not walking home, so unless your mugger is lying in wait for you outside your apartment, you’ll be fine, too.”
She sat back in the seat and crossed her arms, looking petulant. “Don’t jinx me.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said firmly.
“Bright and early,” she said, interjecting false cheer into her voice.
“Just how we like it,” I quipped back.
She winked, her smile swift and bright, and then the taxi took her away, far away from me and the vampire who was stalking me in the night.
Chapter 7
Two weeks ago, I might have run from the vampire across the street. Hell, three weeks ago, I would have sprinted, and two weeks ago I might have hidden inside the taxi with Meredith, but no matter how fast I ran or where I hid, I wouldn’t be safe until sunrise. Then again, as Ronnie knew all too well, sometimes even the sun can’t save you. Hiding only delays the inevitable, and after everything I’d experienced, I wasn’t waiting for the inevitable to find me.
I gripped the silver knife in my leather satchel and crossed the street to face the inevitable waiting for me in the shadows.
“It’s not nice to stare,” I said.
My voice sounded smooth and sure, not at all betraying the quaking inside my chest. I still couldn’t see the creature inside the alley except for the doubled glow of its eerily reflective eyes, but I didn’t need to see it to know its unimaginable strength and otherworldly capabilities. The same capabilities Dominic used to save me could easily be used by any other vampire to kill me.
“Following me?” I asked.
“Yes,” the vampire said. He hissed the s at the end of “yes,” so his voice reverberated from the alley, creepily snake-like.
I swallowed. “What do you want?”
“To talk privately.”
“So talk,” I said, shortly.
“ ‘Privately’ being the operative word,” the vampire insisted.
“No one’s paying us any mind at the moment.”
“Come into the alley, and I’ll talk,” he said.
“I believe ‘at the moment’ is the operative word. No one’s paying us any mind at the moment, so talk, and I’ll keep it that way,” I countered.
“ ‘At the moment’ isn’t a word; it’s a phrase,” he said haughtily. I waited him out in silence, knowing from experience with interviewing witnesses that an extended silence can be telling. In most cases, it makes a person hesitate and rethink their next move. If I was lucky, he’d let loose the very thing he wanted to keep secret.
“Well?” someone else whispered. There was another vampire in the alley.
“Shut up,” someone else hissed. Three vampires.
“We don’t have all night, and Lysander didn’t want—”
<
br /> “Are you in or are you out?” the vampire who’d originally been talking to me threatened.
“I’m in, but—”
“Then shut up,” the other vampire hissed again. “If she’s as powerful as they say she is, she can hear us.”
They went silent again.
I rolled my eyes. They were afraid of me. Rumors of my power had spread, but I hadn’t imagined they had multiplied to such an extreme that vampires would be as cautious of me as I was of them. Their fear was unfounded now that I didn’t even have night blood—hell, their fear was unfounded even when I’d had night blood—but it was their inability to whisper silently, not exceptional powers, that allowed me to hear them.
Impatient, I spoke, breaking my own rule and the silence. “If you don’t have anything to say to me, you’re wasting my time.”
I stepped away from the alley, just one step, and in the next instant, I was surrounded by vampires.
My heart throbbed painfully in my chest, and in a burst of blind adrenaline, I lunged sideways into the street to dodge away from them.
A taxi honked. Headlights flashed, and the shriek and stink of brakes lit the air. One of the vampires caught me around the waist and dragged me back to my feet on the sidewalk. The taxi missed my body by inches.
I lifted my arms to struggle, but the vampire had already let me go. He didn’t step back, and his friends were still surrounding me, but he’d let go.
I froze, taking stock of what had just happened.
I’d nearly been killed by a car to escape a vampire, and the vampire had saved me.
There were three vampires total, and although they hadn’t attacked me yet, they surrounded me, two from behind and one in front. The vampire standing directly in front had a classic widow’s peak, but his hair was dirty-blonde and long, nearly shoulder length. One of the vampires behind me was incredibly tall and made only more gigantic-looking in proximity to my shortness. He had a scar along the line between his nose and upper lip from a cleft-lip repair during his human life.
I’d always been snappy placing names to faces, a trait necessary in my profession, and I knew with one glance that Sevris was the vampire in front of me and Rafe was the uncommonly tall vampire at my back. Even if I wasn’t good with names, I’d have recognized Neil, the third vampire. He had unmistakable, plum-colored eyes, but it wasn’t his eyes that had made an indelible impression on my memory.
Neil had tried to kill me. Twice.
Rafe had goaded him the first time, and because of Rafe’s teasing and the tempting smell of my blood, Neil had burned himself on a silver cage in a failed attempt to drink from me. The cage had held, and as much as Dominic had kept me caged to keep me in, the silver had kept hungry members of his coven out.
The second time, I’d been dying and vulnerable without the protection of a silver cage surrounding me, but I’d had Dominic’s protection. In punishment for trying to drink from me again, Dominic had severed Neil’s heart from his aorta and ripped the still-beating organ from his chest.
Despite his past injuries, Neil looked hale and healthy now. His plum-eyed stare was unnerving. I swallowed to make sure my voice was solid and unwavering when I finally gathered the nerve to speak.
“Thank you, Sevris, for pulling me from the street. That taxi was obviously not going to stop, not even for me.”
Rafe snickered, sharing my sense of sarcasm, but Sevris didn’t so much as flinch. I’d deliberately said his name, and he’d recognized the gesture. He knew I remembered him—although not one of the active rebels, he’d never been Dominic’s biggest supporter—and he knew I knew his name. Knowing a vampire’s name was power; if I’d still had night blood, all I’d need to control his mind would be for him to drink a drop of my blood.
Hopefully that knowledge was enough to keep him from drinking.
“You seemed more worried about us than about that taxi,” Rafe commented.
“Your speed still takes me by surprise. You startled me.”
“Your instinct was to run,” Rafe said, and his smile was all teeth. I recognized that smile on another face, and it took me aback. He reminded me of Rene, whose sharp teasing was often accompanied by that relish-filled, toothy grin.
I glared at him, turning my grief into something just as familiar but much more comforting: anger. “I’ll know better next time, Rafe.”
Rafe lost the smile at the mention of his name, and Neil’s eyes flitted frantically between Sevris and me.
The look Sevris shot over my head at Neil was cutting. Neil took a step back and physically took a breath. He didn’t need to breathe to live, and he didn’t have a heartbeat to slow with a deep breath.
I shook my head at myself, always trying to make sense of creatures that shouldn’t even exist.
“It’s lovely running into you, even Neil, but it’s been a long night. I’d prefer not to make it much longer,” I said slowly and calmly. Despite the space he’d given me, I could feel Neil’s presence behind me like an exposed wire about to spark. “How can I help you, gentlemen?”
“Actually, we’re here to help you,” Sevris said.
“You’re here to help me,” I repeated, not sure I’d heard him correctly.
He nodded, deadly serious.
I laughed.
Sevris continued to stare at me with his flat-eyed glare, not amused by my amusement.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry, but the last time we spoke, none of you were interested in helping me. In fact, you encouraged Nervous Neil over there to eat me,” I said, pointing my thumb behind me at Neil.
“I’m sorry,” Neil stammered. “You smelled delicious, and I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t—”
Sevris cut him another look.
“Sorry,” Neil finished lamely, and I wasn’t sure if he was still apologizing to me or to Sevris for speaking out of turn.
“Apology accepted,” I said magnanimously, “but apology or not, your attacks,” I met Sevris’ gaze, “and your teetering loyalty isn’t something I’d easily forget.”
“We aren’t strong enough to rebel against Lysander and survive, but neither are we strong enough to stand by his side if the rebels rise again,” Sevris said. “If Lysander is challenged, make no mistake, we will take shelter and follow whoever is left standing. We don’t want to make waves. We just want to survive the storm.”
“How pragmatic of you.” I crossed my arms. “What does that have to do with me?”
“We’d prefer if Lysander was the vampire left standing.”
“Right,” I said noncommittally, still trying to piece together how I fit into their puzzle.
“We can get you human blood,” Rafe said, his smile widening.
I opened my mouth and closed it. That statement was the furthest thing I’d expected from him. “I don’t understand what—”
“Don’t play coy,” Sevris said, that cutting glare now aimed at me. “It’s a waste of our time. You are Lysander’s night blood, his right hand in sunlight, and you are an unforeseen factor in his arsenal for the Leveling. We need to ensure your safety and, if possible, enhance your power to enhance his. We heard that you crave human blood,” Sevris said, the barest hint of a grin tugging at his lips. “Being vampires, we can help with that.”
I blinked, playing the longest game of catch-up in my life. “How did you hear that I crave human blood?” I stalled.
“The same way we heard that you had the power to entrance Jillian and strengthen Dominic’s alliance with Bex. The same way we know you transformed a Damned vampire back into a night blood.” Sevris sighed deeply. “If Lysander is to have a chance of surviving the Leveling, he needs you.”
I nodded grudgingly, pretending he was right. I didn’t actually crave human blood, but for a time, I’d felt Jillian’s cravings. At first, I’d mistaken them for my own. I knew better now, but apparently, they didn’t. If it meant they weren’t going to attack me, I’d let them believe whatever they wanted to believe.
“And
you can get me human blood? Discreetly?” I added. I did not want to be responsible for another crime scene.
Sevris nodded. “It’s already done.”
Neil moved behind me, and I turned, deliberately and slowly, even though my instincts told me to bolt. When I faced Neil, however, his hand was extended, offering me four vials of blood.
I took them, at a total loss.
“Gratitude often has no words,” Rafe said, his voice shaking with laughter.
“Er, of course. Thank you. I just—” I shook my head at the vials of blood and then at each of them. As strange and unnecessary as the vials were, Sevris, Neil, and Rafe were trying to help me. “This gesture, although unexpected, is very much appreciated,” I said honestly. “I won’t forget this.”
“You’re very welcome,” Sevris said. “If you need anything—more blood, protection, anything—you call for me.”
I blinked. “I don’t have your number.”
I didn’t think it was possible, but Sevris’ face actually broke into a brief, but genuine smile. “Just call my name. Wherever I am, I’ll hear you and come.”
“Right. Thanks,” I said, feeling a little unnerved. Dominic wasn’t the only vampire whose reach was unfathomable, and now, apparently, he wasn’t the only vampire who had my back.
Sevris nodded. With a flick of his eyes and an undetectable signal between them, Sevris, Rafe, and Neil disappeared in a whirl of wind and cloaking darkness as spontaneously as they’d appeared.
I turned, trying not to look conspicuous, but we were on the sidewalk, under the glow of streetlights, and they’d just taken flight in plain sight. Someone must have noticed. Maybe after all this time, I’d finally find a witness who remembered what they saw.
Everyone walking past or standing nearby continued about their business as though nothing extraordinary had just occurred, as if three dangerous-looking men, one of which stood over seven feet tall, hadn’t just bled into the shadows, into thin air, before their very eyes. I glared at them, all of them.
I shouldn’t be disappointed. How many times had I dismissed a movement in the night as a trick of the darkness and my own paranoia? Now that I knew vampires existed, however, such willful blindness was maddening.
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