Tenzin stared at the small screen mounted to the wall.

The human said, “This is unusual for you.”

“I know.”

The face on the other end was blurred, but the voice was familiar. Tenzin’s face would be blurred on his side too. It was the way Ben had set up her amnis-resistant tablet so that Tenzin could make calls in the relative privacy of her room.

“Are you sure?” her art buyer asked.

“Quite sure.”

“Very well.” She saw the blurred face look down. He was writing something on a legal pad. “I’ll let you know what I find.”

“Private sellers are going to be the most desirable. The gossip has already started on the East Coast.”

“I’ll see what I can do and email any leads. You’re sure of this budget?”

“Yes.”

A hint of laughter. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“And Emmanuel, if I hear about this tip spreading to any other clients—and I will hear—I will kill you,” Tenzin said. “Do you understand?”

The laughter stopped. “Have I ever betrayed you?”

“There’s a first time for everyone. Don’t let this be yours.” Tenzin used the stylus to end the call.

She checked her email. There was a follow-up email from Blumenthal Blades.

Damn. She’d waited too long to decide on the saber and someone else had bought it.

Another email from René.

Dearest Tenzin,

I miss you so. The Paris lights are calling you. Won’t you answer? We could have a marvelous time in the city. France is ripe fruit waiting to fall these days, and I do know how you hate being bored.

Speaking of fruit, I have a joke for you.

“How do you make an apple turnover?

Push it downhill.”

Isn’t it amusing? Write me back when you can.

Your constant admirer,

René DuPont

Sometimes René’s jokes were funny. Sometimes they were just bad. This was the third apple joke he’d sent her, and none of them made sense. Was this current one a threat?

She used the stylus and touched an arrow button at the end of the message. She thought it might be a voice message of some kind—René would sometimes send those—but instead a low-plucked bass sounded from the house speakers and a lazy song about taking a walk on the wild side filled the loft. She listened to it for a moment. The rhythm was nearly hypnotic, but she couldn’t make sense of the lyrics. She briefly debated forwarding the message to Benjamin to see if he could make sense of it, but instead she moved it to the René folder. Her email program closed and the loft fell silent just in time to hear the quiet churn of the elevator. Ben and Chloe were almost home.

Perfect.

A few moments later, Tenzin heard them chattering in the entryway and took to the air, floating in the middle of the living room, reading the manual for her new sewing machine. It was past time that Chloe was made aware of vampire life. Tenzin would have to take matters into her own hands since Ben was being stubborn.

The door opened.

“No,” Chloe said with a laugh. “Because when she stopped serving coffee, I just wanted more cake. It’s a vicious…”

“Chloe?” Ben asked.

Tenzin looked up. Chloe’s eyes were locked on her. She waved. “Hi. How was the meeting?”

The girl’s face went pale a second before she fell over in a faint.

* * *

Chloe heard the voices before she opened her eyes.

“—that on purpose!”

“Of course I did. You were never going to.”

“It is not your place to tell my friends about my other life. I am the one who—”

“Don’t be so selfish,” Tenzin snapped. “She’s my friend too.”

Oh, that was nice. Tenzin could be so odd, Chloe was never sure quite what the other woman thought of her.

The other woman.

Who floated.

Chloe’s eyes fluttered open. The light was too bright, and someone had laid her on the couch. Had she hit her head when she fell?

“She can be your friend,” Ben said, “but she was my friend first—”

“Are you five now?”

“—and you should not have decided to tell her, especially not like that!”

“Well, it was direct.”

“She passed out from shock.”

Chloe started to sit up. “She’s kind of awake now.”

Ben rushed to kneel next to her. “Hey. How are you feeling?”

“I’m… okay.”

God, he was so great. Why couldn’t she have just stayed in love with Ben Vecchio and married her high school sweetheart? Her life would have been a lot easier if that had happened. Sure, by the time she and Ben broke up they were already more friends than boyfriend and girlfriend, but she could have worked with that. He was handsome as sin, smart, and funny. He had his own business. He was self-assured and a great friend. He was also pretty great at sex—even as a teenager. He was probably so much better now.

He was a catch.

And he was staring at her intently. “Do you remember anything… weird?”

She closed her eyes. “I think we might need to call Dr. Singh again. I don’t want to be a pain in the ass, but I’m pretty sure I had a hallucination before I passed out. There might be some head trauma from before. I don’t know. Is that weird?” She rubbed her eyes. “I hate feeling like I’m putting everyone out, but if I’m seeing things like—”

“Like women floating above the ground?”

Chloe looked up. Tenzin was there. Floating. Above the ground.

And she was smiling.

And… there were teeth. Very long, curved teeth.

Spots danced across her vision again as Chloe closed her eyes.

She decided to lay herself down this time. She really didn’t want to hit her head.

* * *

“Dude!” Ben shouted, jumping to his feet. “Tenzin, cut it out! Stop doing that.”

“We’re all going to laugh about this someday. It’s going to be hilarious.”

“Well, it’s not hilarious now. We’re never going to convince her it was a hallucination if you keep doing that.”

Chloe muttered, “I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming, right?”

Ben pressed his lips together and pointed at Chloe’s back.

Tenzin wasn’t sure what he wanted her to do, but he had that pointy, judgmental face that made her want to hoot with laughter and antagonize him more.

“What?” she asked.

Ben pointed at Chloe again but didn’t speak. Then he waved his hand in front of his face before he touched a finger to his temple.

“What are you doing?” she asked. Was this a strange game of charades? It wasn’t really the time for charades, even though she did enjoy that game.

“Amnis. Memory,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I’m not going to use amnis to wipe her memory,” Tenzin said. “I don’t want her to forget. You’re the one who wants her to forget, so you wipe her memory.”

“I can’t do that, Tenzin; I’m not a vampire!”

Tenzin sat down next to Chloe on the couch. “No. No, you’re not. Don’t you wish you were right now though?”

“I hate you so much.”

“No, you don’t,” Chloe muttered into the pillow. “Did someone say vampire?”

“Yes.” Tenzin patted Chloe’s back. “I’m a vampire, but I won’t bite you. I promise.”

Chloe kept talking into the pillow. “Okay sure. Why not? Ben, where’s my purse?”

Ben was pacing the room, arms crossed on his chest and one hand gripping his hair. “Uh, why?”

“I need my phone.”

“Why?”

“To call Dr. Singh, of course,” Chloe said, her face still smashed in the pillow.

Tenzin watched with satisfaction as Ben realized that he was going to lose this fight. Chloe was going to learn about vampires and be part of their world. Tenzin kept herself from clapping with glee.

She didn’t need to rub it in. He already looked defeated.

But she was so very pleased. Chloe was a delightful person. She was funny and smart, and Tenzin could really use another day person around the house. She was missing Caspar, Giovanni’s butler. Not that Chloe would be a butler. Tenzin and Ben weren’t as formal as Giovanni was. No, Chloe could be their day person and friend. She was perfect.

Ben was glaring at her. “Selfish,” he hissed.

“What?”

“You are selfish.” He uncrossed his arms and his eyes went cold as he switched to speaking in Mandarin. “You did this for you, not her.”

That was partly correct. But not entirely.

“I did it for you too,” she replied back in Mandarin. “You need more people who understand you.”

“And did you, even once, wonder what would be best for her? What she might want?”

No. Not that Tenzin didn’t like Chloe, but Chloe wasn’t one of her people. Not yet. Her blank expression must have given away the answer to Ben.

“Selfish,” Ben said again. “Leave. I don’t want to see you right now.”

“Are you going to explain things to her on your own?”

“Yes.”

“She might not believe you.”

Ben glared. “I’ll invite Gavin over. He already knows about her. I’ll be needing his help to protect her anyway.”

He preferred Gavin’s assistance to hers? Tenzin curled her lip. “Now who’s being selfish?”

Without another word, she flew out the rooftop door and into the night.

* * *

When Chloe finally opened her eyes, she turned over and saw Ben sitting on the end of the couch, her feet resting in his lap. He had a hand on the back of her ankles and was absently rubbing her bad leg. His face was a carefully controlled blank.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey.” He rubbed a hand over her knee. “Is it feeling better?”

“A little more every day.”

He nodded, but he didn’t say anything more. Ben had turned the lights in the loft down, but the dreamlike quality of waking was giving way to a clearer mind. She had seen Tenzin floating in the air. Floating like she was held up by strings. But there were no strings in the apartment.

Ben had not been shocked. He’d been angry. Chloe had seen teeth that came straight from a horror movie. Long curving teeth in the mouth of a woman of who didn’t seem to age.

And somehow she knew. Maybe it was from the look on Ben’s face. Maybe it was from a flash on the edge of her peripheral vision or the flutter in her belly when Tenzin stared at her too long.

None of this was a movie. None of this was a dream.

Chloe battled through the queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She’d never seen Ben more nervous.

“Do you know I still get stage fright?” she blurted out.

“Really?” Ben’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“Really. Every time.”

“You never look scared.”

“It’s an odd feeling. Not like real fear. There’s excitement mixed in. I’m scared and excited.”

“That makes sense.” He was still rubbing her knee.

“You know, the first time I felt that, I was six years old. I was with my class and we were performing the swan dance from Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns. Do you know that one?”

“I think so. Cello?”

“Yeah. I remember…” She felt the same pressure in her chest. The quickening of her blood and the faint prickle that ran along her skin. “I remember standing behind the curtain in my shoes and tutu. And I remember thinking, ‘When this curtain opens, I will be a different person. Nothing will ever be the same.’”

“Chloe—”

“I was scared, but I was excited too.” She looked at Ben until he met her eyes. “I have the same feeling now.”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Chloe had never seen him so unsure. Not even with her, and he was more honest with her than he was with most people.

“I always knew you hid things, Ben,” she said. “I always knew there was more.”

He took a deep breath. “There’s a lot more.”

She nodded because she wasn’t surprised. Though she couldn’t wrap her mind around the whole of it, none of this was a surprise. Ben was one of the most extraordinary people she’d ever met. He had secrets. He’d always had secrets.

She asked, “Your uncle?”

“Not my uncle.”

She’d known. Yes, she’d known that. “But he loves you.”

Ben nodded. “He took me in when I was eleven. I was a street kid here in New York.”

“Why’d he take you in?”

He swallowed hard. “He needed… another person. They can’t go out during the day.”

Chloe’s heart was pounding, but she forced herself to nod. “Okay.”

He’s not crazy. Ben is not crazy. Neither am I.

“The sun part is true,” he said quietly. “A lot of the stories aren’t. They don’t have to… to kill to eat. They do have to drink blood though. They can’t go out in sunlight, but they don’t all sleep during the day. Tenzin is proof of that.”

“Okay.” The black spots were back, but she battled through the quick spike of nausea and focused on Ben. “Tenzin doesn’t look any older than she did when you were in high school.”

“No. I think she’s looked the same for a few thousand years now.”

Chloe’s stomach dipped. “Thousand?”

“That’s old. Really old. Even for them.”

“Okay.”

“Chloe, how you doing?”

She drew in a shaky breath. “I’m not crazy.”

“No.” He looked her straight in the eye. “You’re not crazy.”

“She can fly.”

“She can. Not all of them can. The thing Tenzin mentioned. Amnis? It’s like an electrical current that runs beneath their skin. And with that they can control an element. Wind, like Tenzin. Water, like my aunt.”

“Your aunt?”

Ben nodded. “Earth. Do you remember my Uncle Carwyn?”

“The weird priest?”

“That’s the one.”

Chloe put her head in her hands. “Oh my God.”

“Chlo—”

“Oh. My. God.” She took deep, even breaths. “How many of them are there?”

“More than a few.”

“Is your whole family… like that?”

“Like vampires?”

The word hit her like a hammer, and Chloe started to laugh.

And laugh.

And laugh some more. Oh, this was not good. She’d hit her breaking point, and it was coming out as laughter.

Ben got off the couch and knelt beside her. “Chloe, you’re not crazy.”

“I know.” She had tears in her eyes. “Are there werewolves too?”

He shook his head.

“Zombies? How about demons and witches? Mermaids?”

“Don’t think so.”

“So you grew up with an uncle who drinks blood for dinner and… what? Makes earthquakes or something?”

“No,” Ben muttered. “He’s a fire vampire, actually.”

“Oh, fire!” She laughed some more. “That seems… likely.”

“It is. Not common, but it happens.”

She let her head fall back, still shaking with laughter. “Okay. Why not?”

“I’m going to call my friend Gavin over,” Ben said. “He’s…”

“A vampire?” Just saying the word made her burst into laughter.

It wasn’t funny. She knew it wasn’t funny. But Chloe had this dreadful feeling that the minute she stopped laughing, she would start to cry.

Vampires existed in the world, and she’d been sharing a house with one.

* * *

Chloe was still laughing like a crazy person when Gavin arrived.

The Scotsman walked into the apartment with one eyebrow raised. “Well, laughter is better than screaming.”

“I’ve never done this before,” he said. “It’s been fourteen years since I found all this stuff out. I don’t remember what I’m supposed to do. What am I supposed to do? Should I give her a drink?”

“To begin with, you can calm the fuck down, ya cockwobble,” Gavin muttered. “Where’s Tenzin?”

Ben took a deep breath. “I asked her to leave. I was pissed at her.”

“Is she the one who told your friend?”

“Yes. For purely selfish reasons.”

Gavin’s eyes drifted to the quietly snickering Chloe. “Has she vomited? Passed out?”

“No and yes. She passed out once, hit her head, and she’s been on the couch since then. There’s been a lot of laughter.”

“It’s a common reaction of some humans to emotional stress,” Gavin said. “She probably does the same thing at funerals.”

“I do!” Chloe said. “Or I want to. That’s awful, isn’t it? My parents used to get so mad at me.”

“No, it’s not awful.” The corner of Gavin’s mouth lifted, and he walked over to the couch where Chloe was sitting. Her legs were drawn up, and she’d wrapped her arms around them. “Hello, Chloe. My name is Gavin Wallace. Congratulations. You’ve just learned something rather shocking, and you’re not screaming or crying, which puts you far ahead of most humans. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Hi.” She hiccuped. “You’re Scottish. I didn’t know Ben knew Scottish people.”

“He knows a few.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, I guess. You’re all so beautiful. Tenzin’s pretty. His uncle is like… I don’t know. A supermodel. All the girls at school talked about it. And here you are and you’re a… vampire.” She snorted. “And you’re really handsome too. Is that part of the package? Drinking blood makes you gorgeous? Has anyone told Hollywood?”

Gavin was clearly amused. “Not part of the package, but nice-looking humans do catch the attention of vampires. We like pretty things.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “So I’d be careful if I were you.”

“Are you calling me pretty?”

“Pretty is an understatement.”

Ben walked over to the couch. “Watch it, Gav. I didn’t bring you here to—”

“I know, I know.” He pulled over a chair. “So, lovely Chloe, you’ve just found out that vampires exist in the world. In fact, there’s one sitting right in front of you. Things are not as they seem. Bad things go bump in the night.” He leaned forward and said quietly, “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

Chloe’s laughter died. Ben watched Gavin closely. The minute he made Chloe uncomfortable, he was out the door.

She stared back, unshaken. “You’re a vampire. Are you a bad guy?”

“Debatable.”

She relaxed her legs, crossing them under her on the couch. “Are you dangerous?”

He cocked his head, clearly intrigued. “A better question. Yes, I am quite dangerous. But not to you.”

“So you’re not going to drink my blood?”

“No.”

“Can you smell it?”

“Yes. It smells delicious. A little like tart apples.”

Ben glared. “Gavin.”

“Fine.” The vampire took another deep breath, but he pulled away from Chloe.

She said, “So I smell good, but you’re not going to drink my blood?”

“Do you eat any food you come across just because it smells good? If you’re hungry, do you eat without control? Or do you eat at the appropriate time and only until you’re sated?”

“Until I’m… sated.”

“As do I,” Gavin said. “The human stomach can hold roughly a liter of liquid at its normal size. I, once being human, have the same size stomach as you do. So even at my hungriest, I’m likely to only drink around a liter of blood. Do you know how much blood a healthy human can safely give without losing consciousness?”

Her eyes were wide, transfixed on Gavin. “How much?”

“Roughly a liter and a half. So even if I was very hungry, dove, it’s not likely that I’d drink enough of your blood to harm you unless I wanted to.”

Chloe blinked. “Oh.”

“Though you might want me to keep drinking from you. A vampire’s bite can be—”

“Gavin!”

The Scotsman cleared his throat. “Which is not to say that all vampires are nice people who respect others. Most of us are… morally ambiguous predators at best. But then most humans are too.”

Chloe said, “You have a dim view of human nature.”

Ben piped up. “He owns a chain of bars.”

“Well,” Chloe said. “That explains it. Food service will make anyone cynical.”

Ben couldn’t explain the fascinated expression he saw on Gavin’s face, but it made him wary.

Not on your life, bloodsucker. She is not for you.

Chloe’s eyes kept straying to Gavin’s mouth as they spoke.

Gavin leaned forward. “Do you want to see them?”

Chloe’s cheeks reddened. “Sorry, is that rude?”

Ben rolled his eyes. Most vampires loved showing off their fangs. They preened like peacocks. Gavin was no different. He smiled widely, flicking his tongue over the edge of one fang as his canines grew long in his mouth. All vampires had sharper-than-normal canine teeth, but most of them weren’t extended unless the vampire was hungry, horny, or just showing off. Tenzin was the only vampire Ben knew of who couldn’t make her fangs retract.

“Oh wow.” Chloe cocked her head. “Are they…” She lifted her hand.

“Don’t!” Ben snapped.

She drew her hand back as if she’d been burned. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to… Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” Gavin glared at Ben, but Ben shook his head firmly.

Touching a vampire’s fangs was intimate. Ben knew they were highly sensitive. Chloe touching Gavin’s fangs was roughly equivalent to copping a feel, something Ben knew Chloe wouldn’t do to a strange man she’d just met.

“Cavete,” Ben snapped in Latin. Careful. She’s not yours.

Gavin’s pale cheeks were ruddy when he sat back in the chair. He ignored Ben and lifted a hand to stir the air, making Chloe’s curls bounce in the breeze he created.

“What are you doing?” she said with a smile.

“I’m a wind vampire. I’m playing with the air.”

“That’s so strange. It feels just like the wind but… more.”

Because Gavin was using amnis. So the wind that brushed across Chloe’s face was as tangible to Gavin as it was to her. He might as well have been caressing her skin with his fingertips. Ben glared at Gavin until the vampire caught his expression and the wind in the apartment died down.

“That was cool,” Chloe said. “Can you fly like Tenzin?”

“I can.”

“How old are you?”

“Don’t ask that.” Gavin cleared his throat and stood. “We can be touchy about our age because we don’t like revealing weaknesses, and younger vampires tend to be weaker.”

She nodded. Ben noticed with some relief that her laughter had died down and whatever spell Chloe had woven over Gavin was broken. The vampire walked to stand at the bar next to Ben and pulled out a card from his wallet.

“Chloe, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I need to go.” He handed the card to Ben and said under his breath, “Have her call me about the job.”

Ben shook his head, more convinced than ever to keep Chloe far away from the vampire world.

“If you don’t tell her, I will,” Gavin muttered.

“Tell me what?” Chloe stood up.

“Nothing,” Ben said as Gavin glared. “Thanks for the calm and measured explanation, old man.”

“You’re quite welcome, young Benjamin.” Gavin flicked Ben’s collar. “Do see to the matter I mentioned.”

“I’ll talk to Tenzin.”

“She’s not a child.” Gavin turned to Chloe. “Chloe Reardon, it was a pleasure making your acquaintance. I look forward to our next meeting.” With a nod, Gavin left, leaving Chloe staring at the door behind him.

“Are they all so…” The dreamy expression was back.

Ben cleared his throat. “What?”

“Um… I don’t know.” She shook her head. “Charismatic, I guess.”

“Is Tenzin?”

“No.” Chloe squinted. “Yes? There is something about her.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“I still have about a million questions.”

“I know.” He threw his arm around her shoulders and swiped Gavin’s card to hide in his pocket. “Don’t worry. I can answer most of your questions, and I don’t have any fangs to distract you.”

“That’s… probably a good thing.”