“You know we have Friday off?” Dawn asked Kat. The two of them had finished training for the night and teleported back to their room.

Seeing the rest of the team after the incident with her undead-dad had been a little awkward at first, but they all seemed genuinely concerned about what had happened. Kat, for her part, had renewed vigor, soaking up everything they threw her way. And she ended every night completely exhausted.

Kat collapsed on top of her bed, not even bothering to take off her stupid cadet uniform. No leathers for her yet, even though she had tattoos.

“Do we?”

“Yeah. I’m going to a party in New York, want to come?”

“An incubus party?”

Dawn paused while unlacing a leather strap on her arm. “Yeah.”

Kat wondered if Darius would be there. She’d spent the past few days trying not to think of him. She needed to focus, but in the moments before drifting to sleep, he’d appear in her thoughts.

He confused her. Normal people didn’t willingly take significant others who couldn’t be loyal to them. But normal people weren’t vampire hunters working for incubi. Normal people didn’t date monsters.

“I don’t think he’ll be there,” Dawn said, perhaps sensing Kat’s hesitation. “He hasn’t been going to parties lately. My guess is he’ll be at Veil.”

“Veil? Like those little metal sticks that mask us?”

Dawn gave a smile-less chuckle. “It’s an incubus owned club down in Miami. Hunting grounds for the rich ones.”

A few days after sleeping with Darius, Dawn had offered to talk if Kat needed it but she never pressed for any details. Kat had been thankful for that. She had the sense her roommate was struggling with her own demons. Dawn drank more than she should; she tried to hide it, but Kat found empty bottles in the trash.

It didn’t seem to affect Dawn’s ability to fight, though.

Kat sat up. Her eyes drifted to her nightstand where she kept the now-broken stake he’d bought her. “Tell me…if you had a chance to date an incubus, would you take it?”

Dawn smiled. “Hell yeah I would. The ones around here are rich as fuck, and I’d get all the sex I ever wanted, and I wouldn’t even really have to work at it—they can make you come by touching you.”

Seven times in a row if they wanted… “It doesn’t bother you that they’d still have to feed on other people?”

Dawn removed her bracer, setting it on an armor stand in the corner and began to loosen the other one. “Nah. It’s just sex.”

Kat lay down again. A moment later, her mattress depressed as Dawn sat on it. She ran her fingers through the end of her long red hair.

“No relationship is perfect. There’s always some shit you have to deal with.” Dawn fell silent for a moment. “Feeding aside. Do you think you could love him?”

No. Yes. Maybe. Everything cycled. After finding out her dad was still alive, or rather, still undead, Darius had shown up when she’d needed someone. And he understood what she was going through. But, that didn’t remove the fact he hadn’t been honest with her. Or that he needed to feed on others to survive.

Dawn patted Kat’s leg. “You should talk to him. Maybe it’d be better if you set ground rules—I bet he’d follow every single one.”

“What kind of ground rules?”

“Like ‘no feeding without me’ or ‘you can only feed on men’ or—”

“I don’t think he’s into men.”

Dawn quietly chuckled. Her voice had a friendly quality to it that contradicted her usual bored demeanor. “Sometimes I forget you haven’t been around them much. Incubi have preferences, but they’ll fuck anything if they’re hungry enough. Or for fun. I’m pretty sure Darius has fed on males before.”

“Seriously?”

“Does that bother you?”

Kat imagined Darius with a man…and found the idea kind of…hot. “Uh, I guess not any more than the idea of him sleeping with another woman. Actually, maybe it bothers me a little less. I don’t have to compare myself…if that makes sense.”

“Yeah. You know it goes the other way also. If you wanted to sleep with someone else, he’d probably be down.”

Kat rested an arm over her eyes. A few weeks ago she didn’t want to sleep with anyone. Period. Her life had changed so fast. She liked Darius. The pull between them was undeniable. But could that be enough? She wanted to find out.

She sat back up. “Can I borrow some clothes on Friday?”

Dawn smiled.

* * *

Kat had never been to Miami before. Parts of it reminded her of California. Well, the palm trees anyway. And the water. It was flatter though.

“This way, Kat,” Brick said, and teleported behind a building. Kat followed after him.

Chase wouldn’t lift the no leaving Ashwood without a buddy rule, and Dawn had already coerced Javi into going with her to that party in New York. Kat’s options were limited. She could have asked Chase, but he was solidly in the ‘thanks but no thanks’ category of people Kat wanted to spend her free time with, so she had asked Necrus. He laughed at her and turned back to his video game. Brick, who was Necrus’ roommate, offered to go with her.

She wasn’t sure if she liked him or not. He seemed like a good guy, always around to help if someone needed something. In training, he never lost his cool, yet he always felt a little distant. Removed. Like something weighed on him. Still, she’d take that over Chase’s cold eyes.

At least Brick cleaned up nice, wearing black slacks and a crisp white shirt that looked killer against his dark skin. Kat had opted for tight pants with heeled boots. Under her jacket she wore a short, sleeveless top that went up to her neck to hide her tattoos.

“We’ll walk the rest of the way,” he said after they teleported behind some bushes. The Miami buildings didn’t offer many places to hide.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Kat said as they walked down a busy, brightly lit sidewalk.

Brick nodded.

“You go out often?” she asked.

He let out a baritone chuckle. “Not too much. And not usually to places with incubi.”

“You don’t like them?”

“The problem isn’t me liking them, it’s them liking me.”

Kat looked up at him. God, he was huge, easily rivaling warrior incubi.

“The succubi”—he smiled wide—“they’ll be all over me.”

She raised an eyebrow. He was a good-looking man for sure but she hadn’t expected him to be vain.

He glanced at her. “I used to be a feeder. A meal on demand. They have a rating system for their food, one through ten, I’m a nine, meaning I’m extra tasty.”

Kat stopped. “You going to be okay tonight? Now I feel kind of shitty.”

“No worries. There’re worse ways I could spend my night than having hot women toss themselves at me.” He threw a playful wink her way.

Music pumped out of a purple-lit building that had a line going around the corner. Kat frowned, it was going to take them forever to get in.

“This way,” Brick said, rounding the corner and going down the side of the club. He knocked on a back door. The hairiest guy Kat had ever seen opened it. Music spilled out. The man wore a mean don’t-fuck-with-me expression. It turned friendly when he saw Brick. And he said, “Hey, man, it’s been forever.”

The two of them did some sort of fist bumping handshake. “Yeah, they keep me busy these days.”

The hairy man’s eyes fell to Kat. “New cadet?”

“My new teammate, this is Kat.”

The bouncer flicked a chin at Kat to acknowledge her, then said to Brick, “Lady Leone is here and on the prowl.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Brick said. He put his hand on Kat’s shoulders and guided her past the bouncer. When they were a good distance away, he leaned in to whisper, “That wolf will talk your ear off if you let him.”

The music grew louder as they got closer to the heart of the club. “I’ll take care of your coat.” He pointed ahead. “Second floor, room 7. He’ll be there.”

Kat shrugged off her coat and entered the main club. Packed. Humans mostly. Dawn had told her that an incubus owned the place, but the humans in here weren’t in the know. This was a hunting ground. Before she had left tonight, Chase lectured her about the dangers of exposing their world. No teleporting in the open. Or making her eyes glow green, or showing off her runes.

She took a moment to look at the dance floor. Colored lights flashed, bodies moved, drinks flowed freely. The energy of this place made it easy to see why an incubus would like hunting here. She spotted a few hunters she recognized, all wearing street clothes, and a group of three succubi walked past her, men trailing in their wake.

Kat made her way up a flight of packed stairs, narrowly avoiding getting alcohol splashed on her when some drunk guy stumbled past.

At the top, there were sitting areas, and curtained hallways leading to private rooms. It wasn’t a setup she was used to seeing in a club, but this place had been built with incubi in mind. One of the halls had a label “Restricted” on one line and “Rooms 5-8” on the next.

She opened the curtain and entered the hall only to be blocked by a wall of solid muscle.

“Cadet Kat.”

“Tane.”

“That’s Lord Tane,” the incubus said. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think?” She tried to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm.

“You aren’t welcome.”

She looked at his hand on her then back to his face. “Let go of me.”

“You’ve fucked him up. If he sees you again, he’ll go back to moping. And he’s impossible to be around when he’s moping.”

Kat didn’t smile, but part of her wanted to. It touched her to know he’d been affected by her. Not that she wanted him all depressed but still…

She tried to yank her arm free but Tane grabbed tighter.

“Let me go,” she repeated.

“Leave,” he growled. “That’s an order.”

Hidden under her shirt, she activated her strength rune and with as much might as she could muster, she kneed Tane in his balls.

Tane’s face turned pale, and he dropped to his knees, clutching his crotch. “Bitch.”

“Fuck you, Lord Tane.”

She darted by him, tossed open the door to room 7 and went inside.

Darius sat on a couch, his zipper open and his cock buried deep in a woman’s mouth.