Whoever had grabbed me now held me in an iron grip; the world around us hurtled by. It was almost as if we were flying.

“Let me go!" I shouted, struggling to free myself.

We stopped on an isolated street on the edge of the district, and my abductor whirled me around to face him.

I stiffened as I looked up at him. He towered above me; he had long silvery blonde hair, pale-grey eyes and skin that reminded me of a marble statue. He was beautiful in an otherworldly sort of way, like the four Adonises. But unlike them, there was something sinister about his beauty. Something dangerous.

“Calm down, Liana,” the man said, frowning, as if I were behaving irrationally. "I rescued you from those creatures, and I'm taking you home where you belong."

"I'm going to scream," I said, trembling. "Let me go, or—“

"Release her, Edelnar."

It was Gabriel's voice, but it came out in a growl. I turned, and relief filled me. The four Adonises stood a dozen feet away, glaring at Edelnar with deadly purpose.

"She doesn't belong with you, and you know it!" Edelnar snapped. I noticed that his voice shook; his bravado was a front. He was afraid. "She belongs with her own kind."

"I'm not going to warn you again," Gabriel growled, his blue eyes feral.

To my surprise, Edelnar released me. When I turned to look behind me, he was gone. Shaken, I scanned the streets. How had he disappeared so fast?

"We have to get you out of here," Gabriel said, approaching me. "Now."

"Who—who was that?" I asked, as he took my arm.

"We'll explain everything," Xavier said gently. "But not out here. It's not safe."

"What—“ I began, but my words were cut off as Gabriel pulled me into his arms, and the world around me once again passed by in a dizzying blur.

When everything stilled again, I was in a large and ornate living room. Gabriel held me steady as I swayed on my feet. The other three men stood opposite us, studying me with concern.

“What the hell just happened?” I demanded, when the room stopped spinning. "Who is Edelnar? How—how were we able to move so fast? Where are we?"

“We should have told her from the start,” Gabriel said, turning to shoot a glare at Xavier. “It was the best way.”

“We didn’t want to overwhelm her, remember?” Xavier hissed.

“Stop arguing,” Noel said, studying me with concern. “Edelnar came close to taking her. We should have been more careful.”

“Which is what I argued for in the beginning,” Gabriel barked. “How do we even know our mansion is safe?”

“We’re vampires, or have you forgotten? Fairies can’t even —“

“Fae,” Adrian corrected, glancing at me. “We want to be respectful.”

My heart thundering, I whirled on my feet to head for the door. Hopefully, they wouldn't notice me leaving in the midst of their loony tunes debate. I'd suspected that something was off about them, but I never would have thought they were crazy. I just needed to get the hell out of here before they noticed—

But Gabriel blocked my path. I stumbled back, trying not to panic.

“Look, I just want to leave, OK?” I said. “I won’t say anything.” I won’t tell anyone that you're all batshit crazy.

“We can’t let you go, Liana,” Gabriel said, looking genuinely remorseful. “That fa—that man will come for you again.”

Fa. He was going to say fairy. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Look, I don’t know what you guys want from me. If this is a joke, I'm not laughing. If its money, I can’t—“

Gabriel laughed.

“We don’t need human money, Liana,” he said. “We need . . . we want . . . you.”

His blue eyes settled on mine, darkening with desire. Fear combined with arousal spiraled through me. I tried to maintain calm, but my fear must have shown.

“You’re scaring her,” Noel snapped. “This is not how we were going to tell her.”

“I just want to leave,” I whispered. “Please—“

“You are of course free to leave,” Xavier said, approaching me and glaring at Gabriel. “Gabriel gets a bit dramatic. Gabriel, step aside.”

Gabriel hesitated, but to my relief he obeyed. I rushed to the front door; my hand was on the knob when Xavier’s words stopped me.

“The dreams you’ve had,” he said. “You’ve been dreaming about us.”

I froze. How did he know? I slowly turned, my mouth dry.

“We have a lot to tell you. A lot to explain. But please hear us out."

I stared at him, then the others. They all looked at me with a mixture of hope, nervousness, and something else I couldn't identify.

“A public place,” I said. I knew that I should hightail it out of there, but something kept me rooted to the spot. I hadn’t told anyone about those dreams; not even Alice when she was alive.

“No,” Xavier said, his expression remorseful but firm as he shook his head. “I'm sorry, but we can’t risk being overheard. You can stay by the door if you want. You can leave any time; no one will try to stop you.”

I gave them a grudging nod and remained by the door, my hand on the knob.

“This will sound crazy, so please hear us out until the end,” Adrian pleaded.

“Go on,” I said shortly.

“We're . . . not human,” Xavier said. “We’re vampires, and we’re from another world. One of the gateways to that world is in New Orleans; that’s why most supernatural creatures flock to this city.”

I closed my eyes. Xavier continued in a rush.

“In our world, there’s been a reduction of vampires in the population. As a result, more than one of us are mated to one woman. Us four—we're mated to you. We didn’t know who you were until last year, and we were forbidden to contact you until now. It seemed like fate when you came here on your own.”

I opened my eyes. They were all studying me; Gabriel with calculation, Noel with unease, Xavier and Adrian with hope.

“It's why you’ve had dreams of us,” Adrian continued. “We’ve dreamt of you too.”

“If this is true,” I said, past dry lips, “and you’re from another world, why on earth would you be mated to a human woman?”

There was a lengthy pause. They all exchanged nervous glances.

"Tell me," I pressed.

Gabriel stepped forward, his eyes intent on mine.

“Because you’re not human, Liana."