Just as I decided to keep my focus on Layla and my hunt for Colt Harris, Kael suddenly seemed distracted, looking at something behind me. Despite the fact that this rather suited my new focus, I could not help feeling a little irritable and, maybe, even a little jealous. What the hell was there in this room that was more interesting than me? If a hotter, cuter vampire had just walked in, then I was not above playing the power card and sending her scurrying back out the door with one look. Or potentially ripping her head off.

But when I turned to see what had caught Kael's notice, I found that it was another guy.

"Sorry," said Kael.

"No problem. Wouldn't have picked him as your type." Although, if he was Kael's type, then I could see why; this new guy was as gorgeous as Kael.

"He's a friend," Kael explained. "In fact, I should probably go say hi to him. I won't be a minute. You don't mind, do you?"

I minded like hell. However much I had wanted to pull away from him a bit, however much I had made up my mind not to get close and that I didn't want a relationship, I also didn't like being ignored in favor of a guy who walked in off the street. If you are willing to leave the girl you are with to 'say hi' to a friend, then that's a sign the girl is not holding your attention - bad news for the girl.

But what I said was, "Yeah, of course. Go for it."

"Thanks."

He got up and walked away from me without looking back - which seemed to me like a deliberate attempt to add insult to injury.

Naturally, I wasn't about to stare after him like some lovesick teenager - I was more than three centuries too old for that. Instead, I looked up at the mirror that hung behind the bar so I could watch them. A lot of people still think that vampires don't have reflections, but it's not true - how would we ever get our hair done? I remember thinking about it one time while I was having sex with a human, doggie style, in front of a mirror - how weird would that have looked if I didn't have a reflection? But I digress; my original point was that, although the reflection thing is bogus, I could still tell that the guy Kael was now engaged in a fairly heated discussion with, was not a vamp. That was odd. There were several humans in the room, but all the others were there with vampires. Those who had entered alone had hooked up fast - humans who wanted to be bled to get that rush of the near-death experience never had to look hard for a vamp who was willing to help. This friend of Kael's seemed not to be with anyone or looking for anyone. That was odd. They were definitely arguing about something, and that seemed odd to me, as well - why would Kael have been so keen to go talk to a 'friend' if they were pissed at each other?

Kael returned as his friend went to get himself a drink, still showing no interest in any vamp.

"Okay?" I asked, as casually as I could, like I hadn't just been watching his private conversation in the mirror.

"Yeah."

"What was all that about?" I said with what I hoped was an innocent smile.

He pretended he didn’t hear me and turned his attention to the row of gem-colored bottles on the shelf behind the bar. "You want another drink?"

"Now who's avoiding questions?"

"I figure it's my turn. Drink?" he repeated.

But if it was suddenly his turn to be all cagey and evasive about my questions, then it was now my turn to be distracted by someone else in the bar.

Colt Harris had just walked in.

Now, I had to try to play it cool because Harris knew me. He and Layla had been casual acquaintances through Tyler, a relationship Harris had wanted to foster because he liked the lifestyle…being bled, being seen around our kind. He got a buzz out of it.

This should have been where Kael came in useful as my cover. If it looked like I was here on a date and not hunting down anyone who had ever been close to Layla, then hopefully Harris wouldn't get spooked. But now, as I turned my head to bat my eyelashes flirtatiously at my 'date', Kael's phone made a 'bing' and he looked down at it.

"Damn it. Really sorry if I'm starting to seem rude, but I got to make a call."

For a man who had initially seemed like he wanted this to be a real date, Kael was seriously dropping the ball. Finding me less interesting than his friend, and now a phone call, were things that would usually have had me heading out the door - if I dated, which I tend not to. Tonight, of course, that wasn't an option as I was here on business, so I was arguably as guilty as he was. Still, Kael had been my cover, and without him, then I was bound to look a bit suspicious to Harris. I looked about the room for another man who would be a suitable cover. It actually went a little against the grain - for some reason I didn't want Kael to think that I would just pick someone else up. Was I actually starting to like him?

Wrong time to be asking that question. Focus.

I scanned the room but, as ever, The Dark Bar was not a place for people on their own - people came with an attachment or became attached as soon as they could. The only person I could see on his own was Kael's friend. That really wasn't an ideal solution - what the hell would Kael think I was doing? - but I wasn't overloaded with options.

"Hi."

The guy looked up at me from his drink as I slid up against him. "Hi. I'm really just here for a drink."

Tonight was not good for my ego. "One dance won't kill you. I might, but a dance won't."

He half-smiled. "How can I say no to that. But aren't you here with Kael?"

"You see him?"

I dragged the guy towards the dance floor. He was able to resist more effectively than I had expected - he must have been as strong as Kael - but when I wanted a man to go somewhere, then he went. I pulled him flush up against me, using him as a human shield to prevent me from being spotted. He was tall enough that I could hide my face against his chest, and with his body up against mine, I could feel his muscles moving through his clothes. The guy was impressive. As I cast a hasty glance up at his face, and found his sky blue eyes looking down into mine, I also noticed again just how good-looking he was - even better looking than I had initially thought. His hair was a tousled mop of blonde locks, his jaw was square, and his expressive mouth was currently somewhere between pleased and baffled - he didn't know what was happening but he was enjoying it.

"You're a very beautiful woman."

"No talking." I had to focus on what I was doing and that would be easier if he didn't speak. I angled him so we danced in Harris's direction.

The man shrugged. "Dancing it is."

Perhaps I should have let him talk, because this guy could say plenty with his body, and he said it in the most eloquent ways. His hands moved across me like liquid fire, his hips ground against me in the rhythm of the music, and I found my own body involuntarily answering his. I knew that from time to time I gave off an impression of someone who never has fun, but dammit, I did love to dance, and dancing with someone who knew what he was doing was like foreplay set to music. Tonight, it seemed to go further than foreplay. Our faces were tilted towards each other, our eyes locked as a heat sizzled between us.

Every now and then I managed to tear my eyes away from his to check on Harris, who was begging vamps for attention in his odious, weasel fashion. He wasn't going anywhere. Nor was I.

I felt a hand slide from my hip, up my side and across my shoulder blade to stroke my hair. He applied a gentle pressure and I allowed him to guide my head, moving always to the throbbing rhythm of the beat. Our bodies moved sinuously, locked by the twin pivots of our eyes and hips, which remained always together. As the song came to an end, I felt like I should be lying back and lighting up a cigarette.

I glanced across to Harris.

He wasn't there.

Panicked, I looked wildly about the room, but he was nowhere to be seen. He had gone. I'd been so caught up in the dance that I had let him get away.

"Something wrong?" asked my dance partner.

"I said no talking."

"Sorry. Drink?"

"You're still talking."

I broke away from him without a second glance. I might have been caught up in a hot moment there for a bit, but now I was focused. It was like I had been doused in ice water and I only wished that it had come sooner. As I looked back to the corner where Harris had been, I saw that the person he had been talking to had gone as well. Harris had found himself a partner - someone willing to give him the bleeding he so craved.

They wouldn't have gone far, an addict like Harris would want his need sated as soon as possible. I hurried out the door. The Dark Bar seemed to have been deliberately positioned at the center of a whole bunch of quiet alleyways so its patrons would have somewhere nearby to go to satisfy their cravings and could then come back for another drink afterwards.

It didn't take me long to find Harris. The scent of blood on the night breeze led me right to him. Or to what was left of him. His neck was a mass of tattered flesh, shredded skin and broken bone, his face ashen white, speckled with vivid red droplets.

Any neck wound guaranteed that the police would hold vampires responsible, but the more I looked, the less it said vamp to me. Vampires had more control than this. And they don't waste blood. This looked like a set-up.

As I stooped to look closer, I heard a sound and realized that I wasn't alone. It was a set-up, and I was the victim.