One question remained a hurdle standing in the way of Danny committing himself to their new plan: What had happened between him and Liam on that night he could barely remember? While Danny had latched onto his dream and believed some of it had reflected the truth, enough of it had been muddled and disconnected for him to doubt the most important parts; namely if he’d been seduced by Liam or coerced to have sex in that alleyway.

“I don’t know for sure,” Mari said with a shrug while brewing a pot of coffee. Her hair still wet from the shower they had taken, she wore her robe and nothing else. “He’s not one of those kinds of vampires who gets off on fear and, as far as I know, the people he feeds from are willing when it goes in that direction.”

“But you wouldn’t be able to know for sure?” Danny asked.

“No, sadly not.” Mari stood straighter and turned when the coffeemaker gave off its last gurgle. She reached in the cupboard for a cup. “He’s old. He tells me as much as he thinks I can handle, but I know there’s some things he keeps close to his chest. He went out that night without me, which isn’t unusual, but it’s when he tends to do the things he knows I won’t like.”

“Like fucking strangers?”

Mari blurted a laugh while pouring the coffee. “We’re immortals. I wasn’t even good at monogamy when I was a human let alone being a vampire.”

Danny accepted the drink with gratitude, listening to Mari talk about the strange dynamic she and Liam shared. He sipped his coffee and she spun tales of the last decade, spent both in Philadelphia and in other places they had visited. “He works for the Marquis,” she said. “Sometimes, we end up traveling around the area for his work.”

“What kind of work does a vampire do?” Danny asked.

“Mostly low-level diplomatic sort of things. For the more important stuff, the Marquis sends his second or goes himself, but Liam and a couple others show up when it’s for minor events. Mostly to represent the Marquis.” She smiled and in the curl of her lips, Danny saw a flicker of wistfulness. “That was how we met, in fact. Liam was up in New York and went on the prowl.”

“And he brought you back to Philly?”

“Well, I didn’t have much of a choice.” She chuckled. “Children can’t be far from their makers for the first two decades.” As she tilted her head, she rested an elbow on the counter, her chin settling in the palm of her hand. “You would make a good vampire, you know.”

Danny chuckled and polished off the remainder of his coffee. “We’re trying to argue for me not to be dead. I think undead might be a stretch.”

“A girl can dream.” Mari motioned to say something else, but stopped and lifted her head to listen. At first, Danny didn’t hear anything, but only a few seconds later, the door opened, and Liam walked inside. He paused at the doorway to deactivate the front door’s alarm, but turned to look at the duo afterward, his gaze only settling on Danny for a moment before shifting to Mari.

Mari walked over to greet him, giving him a kiss that Liam broke from sooner than Mari seemed to want. He failed to say anything to Danny, but when their eyes met again, Danny studied him for as long as he allowed, trying to remember anything else about that night to answer his own doubts. Liam surrendered nothing in his stare. A rehearsed iciness greeted Danny and when Liam looked away, he didn’t bother to glance at Danny again. Mari followed him into the bedroom, waving at Danny from behind her back, and as the door shut, Danny sighed and glanced at the still-full coffee carafe.

“Guess I should get used to later hours,” he muttered before pouring himself another cup and settling in to watch television.

Danny settled in for a nap much later and woke well into midday. When Liam emerged from the bedroom after the sun had set, Danny motioned to speak to him, but Liam ignored the attempt in favor of a hasty retreat. With a frown, he let his gaze shift to Mari, who leaned against the door frame and sighed.

“I’m starting to go stir crazy,” Danny said. “And that was one hell of a failed attempt at saying hi.”

“I know, chiquito,” Mari said. She stepped far enough down the hallway to evaluate the front door and bit her lip with her dull teeth while considering it. “I have some feeling that he’ll know if I sneak you out.”

“Aren’t you going stir crazy, too?”

Mari shrugged. “I’m used to going with him every night. It’s been refreshing not to have to get dressed and made up.” She looked at Danny again. “One hour. You don’t run on me, because I promise you I can find you, and if you force me to chase after you, then someone loses his outside privileges. Okay?”

Danny nodded, sighing with relief. Mari grinned, and as she waved him into the room, she stripped her robe and forced him to help her with her clasps and zippers again. She wore a corset this time, with her hair side-swept and pinned down, and as she dressed Danny in one of Liam’s suits, he laughed at how formal it made him look. “This is nuts,” Danny said, admiring his reflection.

“You look delicious, though,” Mari said. “I might have upped our allowance to two hours, so you can take me to the movies.”

After slicking some gel through Danny’s hair, she tugged him to the door, forcing him to turn his back as she typed in the code to disarm the alarm system. They spirited out to the main corridor before the alarm could reengage and as Danny strode to the stairs with her, he took a deep breath. The night had never looked so inviting, nor the air smelled so sweet, as when he stepped outside and tasted the small amount of freedom Mari had granted him.

“Come on,” she said, looping her arm around his. “The movie theater is this way.”

He nodded and followed along.

They spoke while walking to the theater, and though the eyes of the outside world felt disconnected somehow, Danny noticed two things happening at the same time. The few people who bothered to take notice of them studied Mari for an additional beat, long enough for Danny to recognize why. Mari, however, remained immune to it, inoculated against outside opinion to a point that Danny found himself envying the ready way she had sauntered out of the closet. They made it to the theater, paying for their tickets, and more pauses dotted their walk from the concession stand to their seats. Each one failed to stick with the female vampire.

Instead, she laughed along with the humorous beats of the movie and clung onto Danny during its more dire moments. Danny chuckled, allowing it, though during one poignant moment, he realized the outside world now played host to the side of his life he’d kept from their appraisal. Whatever they thought of Mari, their opinion of her now reflected upon him, with his arm around her in the darkness, offering her comfort. His pulse sped at the thought and settled again when she rested her head on his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, without qualifying her comfort any further. Danny entertained the thought of her reading his mind, knowing that she hadn’t, and yet accepting the offering made to him with gratitude. A spark of courage raced through him, heady when it reached its peak, and the final moments of the movie faded into the background for him. It carried with him, even as Mari took him out to a nearby ice cream parlor, ignited into life again when she leaned over the table to lick a smudge of dessert from his lips.

He chuckled nervously, clinging onto confidence when it threatened to retreat. Mari gave him a kiss, then settled back down in her seat, studying him with a smile curling the corners of her mouth. “Did I just make you feel self-conscious?” she asked.

Danny took a deep breath, continuing to hold steady to his composure. “It’s nothing really,” he said, using his spoon to toy with the ice cream. “Honestly, I have a friend who would be proud of me for being more open somewhere other than Nocturne.”

Mari squinted to determine his meaning and relaxed as a wave of epiphany crested over her. Rather than looking offended, Mari chuckled, resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. “I know how other people see me,” she said. “I just don’t care.”

“Yeah, that part is obvious and don’t mind me if I’m a little jealous.”

“Jealous?” She watched Danny take another bite of his ice cream. As he did, she lowered her voice, ensuring only he could hear her. “Danny, I could strip naked and we could fuck on one of these tables in front of everyone else, and I wouldn’t care what anybody said. When I was human, however, I would have slapped you for doing exactly what I did to you.”

“Why is that?” Danny asked.

“Because I played the part,” Mari said. She shrugged, sitting up straighter again, the action almost subconscious in the way it accompanied her turning sober. “I worked as an investment banker and kept being told how lucky I was that someone like me could do so well for themselves.”

“Like you?” Danny furrowed his brow, biting the end of his spoon.

Mari extended a hand, then flipped it so that her palm faced heavenward. “Skin color, darling. Latino. I’d already jumped one hurdle, but if I tried to jump the other, I’d lose everything. Madre caught me once dressing up how I do now, and I had to endure the guilt trip about her struggles for an hour after that. Could you imagine if I tried it again?” It took a moment, but the curl returned to her lips, her demeanor shifting as if in defiance of her past self. “This world has a different set of rules. And none of the human ones matter at all anymore.”

The way she spoke those final words transfixed Danny. He studied her, attempting to unpack what she’d said, and as he continued biting his spoon, he watched her glanced at the door and look back at Danny. “Finish up,” she said. “We’re going to go for a walk. I want to show you something.”

Slowly, Danny nodded, and though he could only manage another couple of bites, he ate them quickly and deposited the rest into the trash. Mari stood and led Danny outside, and as they walked through the center of town, Mari maintained her normal, carefree air. This time, though, when they strode past a man who scoffed at her, Mari didn’t allow it to roll off her as she normally had.

Rather than walking past, Mari slowed with Danny and turned her attention to the man.

Danny felt a chill settle over her at the way Mari focused on him. Once more, she became the predator, and though Danny had seen that look in the bedroom, it sharpened into something deadlier; far more terrifying. Her steps encroached upon the man – who sobered while she approached – but before he could move, she had rushed upon him with what appeared to be supernatural speed.

“Walk around to the back,” Mari said harshly. “And wait for me by the dumpster. You and I are going to have a talk.”

Without even needing proof, Danny knew she had spoken the command with suggestion and, as he expected, the stranger walked away from them, turning down an adjacent alley. Mari led them down the same path, casual in her gait. Danny felt the urge to ask what they intended to do, but choked back the words. They strode onward and when they reached the back area where the line of shops kept their dumpsters, Danny spotted the man.

He stood in place, obedient, though his eyes suggested someone who had not yet come to terms with what had happened to him. As Mari let go of Danny, she glided toward the stranger and whispered, “Don’t make a sound,” to him. “Not a yelp, scream, holler, or anything else. You can only breathe and bleed.”

Danny struggled for his voice, but Mari had already rushed upon the stranger. He jumped, startled, at the sudden way Mari pinned him against the metal trash container, and while he trembled, Mari let her fangs descend. Her hand gathered a fistful of his hair, using it to jerk his head to the side, and as she drove her fangs into his neck, he opened his mouth. Danny heard a wheeze where there would have been a scream, and as Mari fed on the stranger, Danny wondered if he had just encouraged somebody else’s death.

Mari stopped after several seconds, however. The man retained his consciousness, still upright against the dumpster, and after dragging a sharp fingernail across her puncture wounds, she licked the wounds closed. His eyes met hers – commanded to by the way she looked at him – and as he stared at her, Danny saw a plea in his gaze.

“You get to live,” she whispered, touching his chin. “You get to live and the only thing you get to remember is that you have somebody like me to thank for it. You aren’t going to remember a vampire. Or that I ordered you around. But you do get to remember being saved.”

She shoved him away, using the force to push her back a couple of steps. “Now, stay here for another fifteen minutes and think about that,” she added.

Danny watched him nod, not sure what he had witnessed and even more confused about how it had made him feel. When Mari took his hand, however, he walked away from the encounter feeling some strange form of empowerment, emerging from the alley realizing that any one of these people could see them – could form whatever opinion they might – and none of them could touch Danny and Mari. “I think I need to sit down,” he muttered to Mari.

“Did I scare you?” she asked.

“No, and that’s the part I’m coming to terms with.” Danny laughed. “I feel punch drunk right now. Have I gone full Stockholm Syndrome?”

“Hopefully not. At the same time, I’m going to suggest something provocative to you.”

“And what’s that?”

Mari stopped and walked around to face Danny. She looped her arms around his neck and as she pulled their bodies flush, she smirked. “You can’t escape from Wonderland,” she murmured, her lips touching his. “But Wonderland might have something to offer you after all.”

As she kissed Danny, the power coursing through him only became more potent. Tasting her lips, he also tasted what felt like freedom and that thought alone made him want to pin her to the side of wall and cast out all his inhibitions. When the kiss ended, he fought back that impulse, brushing noses with her while grinning. “Take me home, beautiful,” he said. “I want to be inside your arms tonight.”

He received another kiss for that, but Mari ended it quick and led him away with eagerness. They hustled to the condo, mischief growing with leaps and bounds, and leading toward several added kisses and few risqué touches outside the condo. “I take it you like being called beautiful,” Danny said, speaking against Mari’s lips but not daring to move any further from her.

“Flatterer,” she said, but as she dove in for another kiss, something made her hesitate. Mari pulled away, her smile dissolving, a small groan passing through her lips when she looked at the front door. “Mierda,” she said, but rather than explaining, she produced her keys. Danny blinked, following her progress while she unlocked the door, and strode immediately for the alarm to deactivate it. Raising an eyebrow, Danny walked inside, shutting the door behind him when he’d entered.

It took until he looked toward the kitchen counter for him to understand. Liam sat in one of the stools, his back to the living room, and turned in his seat once he knew he had Danny’s attention.

“Enjoy your time out?” he asked them both, his gaze settling on Danny.

Danny wondered if one question could ever be more loaded.