Spade leaned forward. "Not so fast. I said what I had was better than anything you had, but you haven't given me a sample yet to prove that, have you?"

Black Jack grunted. "If I hadn't already pocketed a lot of your money, I'd swear you were just lookin' for a free handout. You have yours with you?"

Denise tensed, but Spade didn't hesitate. "Yes."

"Alrighty, then." Black Jack opened a lower drawer on his desk, ruffled through it for a few seconds, and then pulled out a tiny dark vial. He handed it to Spade. "This is top-shelf Dragon, ten CCs. Goes for a grand at friend prices. If you have anything half as good, I'll cover your losses from the past two nights. If not, you pay me twice. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

Spade took it with one hand, still using the other to trace firm patterns across her shoulders. Denise almost held her breath as he popped the top on the vial and then tilted it to his mouth. What was he doing? Wouldn't that make him insane with hunger, as it had before?

Spade closed his eyes, swallowing. Her heart began to thump when he set the vial down and opened them. They were bright green...and fixated on her neck.

Then he turned to Black Jack. "You sell that shite for a grand? That's bloody robbery, in the most literal sense."

Black Jack's eyes went green as well. "Now you're insulting my business, pardner, and I don't take kindly to that."

"You'd take kindly to the idea of quadrupling your profits, wouldn't you?" Spade shot back. His hand slid down from Denise's shoulders to her arm. "Hand me a knife and I'll show you what I mean."

Her eyes widened. He couldn't intend to give him her blood, could he?

Black Jack looked both intrigued and annoyed as he pulled out what looked like a silver switchblade from his jacket. Spade flicked it open one-handed and then pricked her upper arm, tightening his grip when she would have pulled away.

"Don't," he said in an uncompromising tone.

Denise froze, but not because she was afraid of Spade doing anything to her if she refused. If he was so insistent on this course of action, he had to have a reason. I trust you, Denise thought, meeting his gaze and then relaxing her arm.

Spade held the knife, slanted, against the cut he'd just made. A drop of crimson pearled onto the blade. Spade took the knife away and then offered it to Black Jack.

"Taste."

The vampire laughed. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Spade didn't blink. "Do I look like I'm laughing?"

Black Jack gave another amused snort and then took the knife, licking the tip where her blood stained it.

As soon as he swallowed, his eyes widened, and then he bolted out of his chair.

"Ho-lee shit!" he shouted. He was around the desk in a blink, but Spade was standing, too, blocking his path to Denise.

"No more. Too much will make you lose control, and I can't risk her safety for obvious reasons."

Part of Denise was still battling against the horrible memories from New Year's Eve. The other part was telling her to run like hell. But still she waited, trusting that Spade had a plan that didn't involve selling her blood to this a**hole.

"She's a source," Black said almost reverently, staring at Denise in a way that made her want to hide. "And she's a woman! A beautiful woman. Good Christ, boy, do you know how much f**kin' money we're going to make off her?"

Spade smiled coldly. "I haven't decided if I want to partner with you yet. So far, you've only shown me that you're a peddler of inferior goods. How do I know you'll be able to provide the sort of protection that would be necessary to keep her away from the Law Guardians, or any other meddling vampire trying to stop the trade?"

Anger made its way through Denise's other emotions, covering her panic. She knew Spade was faking, but Black Jack meant it when he was talking about her like she wasn't even a person.

Black Jack threw up his hands. "Do you know how rare sources are? There's only one, to my knowledge, so we have to dilute his blood seven ways from Sunday to stretch it and still keep him alive. That's why the Red Dragon you tasted is like puke compared to her blood. But another source...and a woman..." The vampire shuddered in what looked like ecstasy.

"What's the bonus of my being a woman?" Denise couldn't help but ask. "I mean, blood is blood."

Black Jack opened his mouth and then shut it. "We'll talk more about details later, but you have nothin' to worry about."

"We won't talk at all if you don't start impressing me with your connections," Spade replied inexorably. "So far I haven't heard any. Perhaps I should go to the other peddler Ian told me about."

It clicked then what Spade was doing. Denise saw the logic of his strategy even as she wanted to run away from the looks Black Jack kept giving her.

"There might be other sellers, but none like me." Black Jack leaned against his desk, smiling cockily. "My Master is Web. You'll have heard of him, and he has direct access to the people who started the Red Dragon trade. Connections don't get higher than that."

Spade snorted. "Nice story, but where's the proof? Anyone could say they're one of Web's. I could claim it myself to someone who wouldn't know better."

Now Black Jack looked frustrated. "What proof do you want? You'll meet him once I tell him about this. Believe me, he'll want to collect her personally."

"Ring him. Right now. Let me hear his voice. Otherwise, I walk out with her and find someone else to partner with."

Black Jack didn't like being threatened; it was clear from the fury that crossed over his expression. But just as quickly, his face smoothed into another smile.

"No problem."

He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed, whistling. "Give me Web," Black Jack said to whoever answered. After a few minutes of waiting, his smile widened.

"Master. I have the best news for you - "

Spade's hand shot out, grabbing the phone. Black Jack went to snatch it back, but stopped at the glare Spade gave him.

"What is it?" Denise heard an annoyed voice bark from the phone. Then, "Black Jack? Can you hear me?"

"I hear you just fine," Black Jack said, almost whooping. "And so does my new pardner, Henry - "

Spade clicked the phone off and then, to Denise's surprise, ripped the base from the wall. Black Jack's whoop turned into a curse.

"What the f**k you'd do that for?"

Spade handed Denise his own cell from his jacket. "Go up to the main hotel entrance and call for our ride. I'll meet you there."

Glad to get out of this drug-infested vampire under ground, Denise snatched Spade's phone and headed for the door.

Black Jack immediately tried to block her, but Spade was faster, grabbing him by the collar. "No, mate, we have some further business to discuss whilst she gets the car."

The other vampire relaxed, letting out a snicker that made Denise's skin crawl. "Right. See you soon, sweetie."

"Yeah, sure," Denise muttered.

She made her way up the metal staircase to Drai's main room, then up the nicer staircase that led to the ground floor of the Barbary Coast hotel. The hotel driver answered on the first ring - a perk of staying in a penthouse, she assumed. She'd just given their pick-up instructions and clicked the phone shut when a cold premonition slid up her spine.

Spade had never before sent her off by herself to get the car. He was militant in his chivalry, not to mention his protectiveness. Yet he'd just sent her unaccompanied through two floors of vampires with a shallow cut on her arm. Something wasn't right.

Denise swung around and practically ran back into the hotel. She darted past the people and raced down the stairs. A few heads turned in Drai's when she continued with her frantic pace, but she ignored them, focusing on getting down that last staircase to Spade. Right as she reached the narrow hallway, Black Jack's door burst open and Spade appeared. His jacket was ripped, he had blood on his shirt, and there was a redsmeared silver knife in his hand.

Denise didn't need to see the inside of the room to figure it out. "You killed him," she whispered.

Spade put the knife in his jacket, giving her a frustrated look. "You weren't supposed to be here."

Denise stared at Spade, taking in the lethal aura coiling around him. Her growing emotions had blinded her, but nothing had changed. Spade was a vampire, so he lived in a world dominated by violence. Blood will follow. Death will follow. It always does.

She opened her mouth to voice her repugnance at what he'd done, but Spade grabbed her, moving so fast everything blurred. Shouts sounded behind them, doors banged, there were popping noises, and Spade shoved her head against his chest, cutting off her vision. Then, a few frenzied moments later, that nauseating lift of her stomach followed by a whooshing everywhere told her they were flying.

Chapter Nineteen

Spade set them down in the desert several miles from the shining lights of the Strip. Denise pushed him away as soon as her feet touched the ground. He let her stomp off without trying to stop her.

"Do you understand I had no choice?" he said, following behind her.

She tossed a snort over her shoulder. "Right. Because with your world, death is the only choice. No other option exists."

He flexed his jaw when she stumbled over a dip in the sand she couldn't see, but he didn't try to steady her. She'd only smack his hands away.

"Black Jack had no intention of letting me leave that room alive. Did you notice the gunfire behind us, or the other vampires rushing the room? He'd summoned them, and not to welcome me as his new partner."

She paused at that, but then kept walking. Spade didn't point out that she had no idea where she was going. He reckoned she realized that herself.

"You sent me away so I wouldn't know you were going to kill him."

"Yes."

She finally quit walking. Spade stayed back several paces, giving Denise her space.

"What was he so excited to talk to you alone about?"

Rage coursed through him at the memory, sharpening his tone. "He was mostly stalling until his mates showed up with weapons, but he talked about all the quid we'd make with package deals on you."

Denise might not be able to make out his features in the blackness around them, but he could see hers, and her expression hardened.

"What sort of package deals?"

"Selling shagging and biting at the same time," Spade replied bluntly. "That's why he was so pleased that you were a beautiful woman. The opportunity of an unfiltered taste of Red Dragon combined with sex would go for top dollar - and be very addictive, he wagered."

Giselda's ravaged, blood-drained body flashed in his mind. The idea of Denise going through something similar, and for decades or more, almost made Spade's control snap. Even if he hadn't needed to kill Black Jack out of defense, he would have slaughtered him anyway just for intending such a fate for Denise.

She rubbed her arms, reminding Spade how chilly it was during the early morning hours in the desert. He took off his jacket and slid it around her shoulders, but she jerked away.

"It's got blood all over it."

"Better his than yours," he countered, but took his jacket back. Stubborn woman. Ah, well. They shouldn't need to be out here much longer. Just long enough to make sure they hadn't been followed. None of the vampires Black Jack summoned felt like Masters, so they shouldn't be able to fly, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"I get now why you had to kill Black Jack," Denise said after a few silent minutes. "But I can't lie and say I'm okay with how murder seems to be the most common solution whenever there's a problem with vampires and ghouls."

"And humans," Spade replied at once. "You only need to watch the telly to see murder on the news every night. Violence isn't something the undead have a monopoly on. You could avoid vampires and ghouls for the rest of your life, but you'd still live in a world filled with violence."

"There's less violence in my world compared to yours," she insisted.

Spade sighed. "No, darling. There are only different reasons for it."

"Randy died because I brought him into your world. He'd be alive today if I hadn't exposed him to it!"

Her scent was splintered with pain, her voice choked with grief, guilt, and rage. Emotions Spade knew all too well.

"As I recall, Randy and Crispin were friends for six months before you even met him. Randy was already in this world before you knew him."

She turned away, but not before Spade saw the shine of tears in her eyes.

"It's my fault he died. I let him go upstairs alone, okay? I let him go by himself because I was a coward. If I'd gone with him, I could have watched his back. I could have warned him, given him a chance to run away - "

Spade grabbed her shoulders, holding them in a firm grip. "Seventeen vampires and ghouls died during that attack, some of them Masters. Those creatures were too strong, too fast. If you'd have gone up with Randy, you wouldn't have saved him. You would have only died with him."

Denise didn't try to push him away. She just stood there, head down, breathing coming in ragged sniffs.

"Then that's what I should have done. Randy died trying to save me. I should have done the same for him."

"You stayed below because you were smart. He died because he was foolish," Spade replied, ignoring her gasp at his pitiless analysis. Now he turned her around to face him. "He shouldn't have left your side. That's where he belonged. Not in the middle of a bloody zombie attack no human would have walked away from. Randy made the wrong decision and he died for it. That's how it goes. It's not fair, but life in either world isn't fair, is it?"