I never enjoyed my visits to New York. Even as a young girl I was uncomfortable there. It was as if the city itself knew all my secrets and was laughing at me. Maybe that should have been the first sign there was something seriously wrong with me, but I felt that way nonetheless. Some would say your secrets are easier to keep in a city that large, but for me it was a prison I was always eager to escape.

Yet, now a grown adult, and seemingly in charge of my own geographic decisions, I found myself back within the confines of my least favorite place.

A full year had passed since my husband’s death. A full year had passed since my short-lived affair with the Drago. But it might as well have been decades, centuries with what else had changed. Randolph. A demon like none I’d ever met had crept into my life when I needed him most. He promised me the revenge I so desired and the lifetimes I craved, but it would come at a price. One such price was why I was on the Upper West Side on Christmas Eve.

I’d found her easily. She followed her route diligently dressed in a long black coat and a pair of heels that must have left her little feet freezing in the chilly evening breeze. I wasn’t all that surprised by her choice of footwear. After all, she was a human dumb enough to believe she had any right interfering with the supernatural world.

I watched her for a while. I had a few chances to snuff her out, but I let them pass because my curiosity wanted to study her. What made her so special she’d been selected as the first female protector? Was she sleeping with someone high up? It was impossible to know. She was pretty. Pretty in that girl next door, every man’s dream bride kind of way. But that wasn’t the type of woman the powers that be usually went for. It was something else about her. Maybe something as simple of being from the right bloodline. Maybe it was an honorary job like the pitiful one they’d tossed me. I thought with indignation that her job was far superior to mine.

I followed her. She went down into the subway. Then back up to the street. It was exactly the route Randolph had drawn out for me. I followed her, mostly bored and cold, until she turned into an alley that wasn’t on her route.

I followed, giving just enough distance that she wouldn’t notice me. I shrunk back into the shadows when she looked over her shoulder before slowly climbing a fire escape.

Now this was interesting. Why was little miss prim and perfect climbing a fire escape that had nothing to do with her assignment?

I watched from below as she made her way up the stairs. She pushed open a window on the fourth floor.

I sighed. I was going to have to follow. I didn’t want to. There were so many other humans I would have rather extinguished, especially now that I knew she was willing to live a little. Too bad we couldn’t have dealt with her differently. How difficult would it be to change the mind of a human woman? Besides, they were all going to die eventually. Why waste my time and energy on this one?

But if I didn’t do as Randolph asked, the deal was off. And where did that leave me? Oh, I imagined other possibilities. Once I even went as far as to picture a life where I stayed with the Drago. But that would have been a worthless decision. Dragos mated once, and only with their true mate. He couldn’t give me the gift of immortality even if he wanted to.

I needed Randolph; he was my only chance. If that meant killing this human woman, I would. It was something I’d had no trouble doing for him before.

I rationalized my hesitation on preserving energy. It was entirely possible she’d come right down. I could kill her in the ally and hide the body very easily. I watched for a light on the fourth floor but none came. The fire escape remained empty. With another sigh, I readied my knife—a far inferior weapon to my magic—and headed up the fire escape. The windows of the first three floors were completely dark. The same was true of the fourth, but I was positive she’d gone in there.

I tried the window, and it easily moved under my fingers. She hadn’t locked it. Did that mean she didn’t plan to stay? The room was dark. Completely dark, and I stumbled around staying close to the side of the room. My boot caught on something and I went down, catching myself with my hands. I pressed my palms to the cold floor, ready to get up and investigate what I’d tripped over when I heard a deep male voice from far off.

“You did it for the flame. Everything we ever do is for the flame.”

“She could have lived. I could have made her see our side.” A second man spoke. Lived? The girl? Had someone gotten to her first? Did Randolph send another? I waited quietly. Now wasn’t the time for reckless action.

“Forget the girl. You would have had to shake her anyway.” The first man was curt. To the point. My kind of man. “I told you from the beginning not to develop feelings for her.”

“You also told me to sleep with her if I had to.”

“Sex and feelings have nothing to do with one another.” The first man chuckled. “Didn’t your father ever teach you that, son?”

“Her absence is going to be noticed.”

“So what? Protectors get themselves killed all the time.” The first man laughed again. This time louder.

“But not by their handlers.”

I heard the sound of patting, as if the second man was patting the shoulder of the first. “Come off it, boy. There will be others.”

The voices disappeared. I waited a full minute before feeling around on the floor. I touched the object I’d tripped over, and the warmth made the identity crystal clear. I reached up for the curtains, pulling them back to let in just enough moonlight to reveal what I already expected to see. The body of Ms. Rose Norman.