The drive back to the mansion is quiet. I stare at the window, refusing to let Sebastian see my face. In the dark and quiet space, I feel protected as my eyes burn with the sting of threatened tears. I blow out a very quiet, calm breath. It’s enough to keep the tears at bay for the moment.

Kara’s face—It was almost too much to bear.

At the mansion, I get out the moment we stop and jog up the stairs. I don’t hear him behind me as I manage to find my way to my room, but I’m sure he’s there. A glance over my shoulder inside my room confirms it. He stands in the doorway, lazily leaned against it, watching me like a proper stalker.

“I’m tired. Can I go to sleep, please?”

He considers it. “There are clothes in the closets. Take what you want. And Claire purchased toiletries for you. I hope they’re okay. If not, let her know, and we can get something else to suit your taste.”

God, he’s so formal when he talks, all gentleman-like—if you ignore the fact that I’m basically a prisoner. “Who’s Claire?”

“One of the maids. She also shops for us if you need something specific.”

I frown at him and open the closet door, intending to pluck out some comfy pants and T-shirt to sleep in. I gasp and make a face at what looks back at me: sequined ball gowns and cocktail dresses. On the other side of the room is another closet, and I check that one out too. Suits, fancy shirts, and tight black pants. How long have I been in this underwear? I open the drawer underneath the closet doors and pull out a lace thong with a single finger. “Whose clothes are these?”

“Cassandra’s.”

“Human or vampire?”

“Vampire.”

“I don’t think she’ll appreciate me wearing her clothes, underwear included.”

He shrugs and saunters into the room to take a seat on the gold-rimmed chair by the nightstand. “If she were still alive, she’d likely kill you.”

“Oh.” I consider that a moment, and then realization hits me. “Was she the vampire I killed?” The brief silence that follows makes me squirm. Guilt is such an awful feeling that takes root in your gut and spreads throughout your entire body like a sickness. But I’m not exactly sad I killed her. She was trying to kill me, after all. I guess I’m sad for anyone she left behind, her friends, her lover, and her family. Those are the people I’ll be sad for if I ever become a true hunter. “I’m sorry,” I say when the silence becomes too much for me.

“It happened.”

His tone is cool and dismissive. While I think I’ve seen glimpses of kindness in him over the last couple of days, I wonder if maybe I imagined it.

“What about the vampire she was with? What happened to him? Does he live here too?”

“He did.”

“And?”

“And I killed him.”

I open my mouth to respond but snap it shut when I realize I have absolutely nothing to say. My thoughts immediately go to Henry, the poor doctor. He can’t possibly know about this and still willingly help them.

“You think I’m cruel.”

“Yes.”

He chuckles. “I just saved your life. Cassandra was mated with Felix, but Felix comes from a different line. When he brought Cassandra home, he was set on going to his master to tell him about the girl whose blood poisoned his mate. If that had happened, you’d be dead right now, and so would your sister.”

“But you killed him—one of your own kind.”

“What do you want me to say? I’m sorry? No. I never really liked him anyway. I tolerated him for Cassandra, although she wasn’t much fun either. Our lives have been nothing but drama since Alexander turned her. Although…” He holds up a finger while he muses. “She made amazing Bloody Caesars.” He smiles wide, and his fangs pop out and stand at attention.

“I think I’d like to be alone.”

He sighs and pushes himself to stand. He stalks toward me, and I tense as he stops inches from me. He looks down at me with his now crimson eyes. The last traces of the electric-blue color fade until his irises are solid black.

“Why do they turn like that,” I whisper, caught in what could be described as no less than a trance.

“Pain, pleasure...hunger.” His voice is like velvet, and I have to shake off the effect he’s having on me.

I push him away and fight the unwelcome primal urges he causes to flare between my thighs. “Personal space,” I say firmly.

His fangs are still out and push against his lower lip as he grins wickedly. “Get some sleep. You’ll need it for tomorrow.”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“It’s a surprise.” He touches a finger to the tip of my chin and studies my entire face, his eyes dancing around to examine every last inch. “Hmph,” he says with a furrowed brow, leaving me curious about what he’s thinking or what he saw but didn’t expect.

“I told you I’d help, but that doesn’t mean we’re friends, and it certainly doesn’t mean you can touch me when you feel like it.”

He bends at the waist until we’re at eye level. “I won’t touch you again until you ask me to. How’s that?”

His breath is like a cool breeze, and it forces a shiver down my spine. It’s impossible to swallow. “You’ll be waiting a very long time.”

“I’m immortal,” he says with a smile. “I have forever.” One of his crimson eyes winks at me. He’s optimistic, but he shouldn’t be.

In the bathroom, I rifle through the vanity above the sink. Everything I need is here. To my tastes? Expensive creams, serums, sprays, and perfume? I swear there are gold flecks in the facial tonic. Who does he think I am? I’m a soap-shampoo-and-go kind of girl. I find the toothbrush and toothpaste and scrub my teeth. It feels so good to get them clean. While I’m sure Sebastian waits for me in the bedroom, I pretend he’s not there. I wish he’d just leave me be. If my sister weren’t locked up, I’d ask him a million questions and learn everything I need to know about him and his kind, but I don’t have it in me right now. I kick the door closed and lock it while still brushing my teeth. When I’m done, I shower, lingering under the warm water for twice as long as I normally would. I lean forward onto the tiles, resting my forearms and head, and I fight tears. When I decide I don’t care if I look strong anymore, I let them fall. But I don’t cry just for my sister; I cry for my parents, too. I still miss them as much as I did a year ago. I hope Kara forgives me because I can’t lose her too. I also cry because I’m afraid. Killing a vampire? What the hell am I doing? I don’t know how to fight a human, let alone a supernatural. I can’t see any way I walk away from this alive.

When I’m finally finished, I take a deep breath and pull the curtain aside to grab a towel. Instead, I find a hand. I snatch the curtain and pull it in tight against my chest. Does this damn vampire know nothing about boundaries? He holds out a towel.

“Why won’t you just leave me alone?” I snap, my voice hoarse. He must see the red in my eyes. Damn. He can probably smell my tears.

“Your sister will forgive you,” he says simply.

“Is that your attempt to soothe me while you break in here and invade my privacy?”

“You forgot a towel.”

I snatch the towel and glare at him. At that, he nods and walks away, shutting the door behind him.

He and I are going to have to have a long talk about what’s okay and what isn’t when I see him next. If he wants my help, he’d best listen up. He needs me, and we both know it. I put the same clothes back on and feel grungy, so I fish out one of three T-shirts I find in the closet closest to the door. It has sequins and some lace, but it’s better than nothing. I have to put my pants back on because Cassandra was curvaceous, and the only curves I’m rocking are in my hair. I don’t bother to lock the bedroom door when I try to sleep. Clearly, locked doors mean nothing to them. I toss and turn and think about my sister alone in her damp cell while I lie here in my comfy bed. It’s just not right. They need to let her go. Sebastian insisted he can’t let her go because she’ll interfere and get hurt, but the more I think about that, the more I wonder if there might be a better solution. Everything I’ve read about vampires says they can control minds. This could be complete bullshit, but if there’s any truth to it, it’s certainly a better plan than leaving her locked up. I have to try something, because the alternative makes me sick.

I push up from the plush pillow and shove my feet into my boots before heading for the door. In the hallway, I look in both directions and hear faint music. I follow the classical music, convinced it’ll lead me to Alexander or Sebastian. Of the two of them, Sebastian will be easier to convince, and yet, I feel as if Alexander is the one who ultimately makes the decisions.

My hand follows the gentle curve of the hardwood railing as I descend the stairway that widens into the foyer. The music is louder, and behind me, I hear a bang, like a pot being dropped. To the left, sliding doors to the sitting room are cracked open. I approach them slowly and peek through the narrow opening. With wide eyes, I watch as Alexander sits on a red velvet chaise. A woman is draped over him with her head tipped back and her mouth open wide. She lets out a loud moan as her eyelids flutter shut. He presses his lips to her neck and clamps downs as she says his name with delight. As if sensing me, he stops and raises his head to watch me with the red-ruby eyes bloodsuckers seem to show when they feed. “More,” the blonde begs as she reaches for the back of his neck to pull him back to her, but he doesn’t lower his mouth again. He whispers something in her ear. She pouts and sits up. After leveling me with a glare I’ve seen from some nasty girls in high school, she stands. She straightens her tight dress and stomps toward me in a huff. I take a step back before she opens the doors wide.

Her scowl genuinely shocks me. She not only allowed him to suck blood from her body, but she seemed to genuinely enjoy it, enough so that she’s pissed at me for interrupting.

In awe, I say, “I don’t understand why you’d let him do that to you. You’re like a roast on a spit to him.”

She rolls her eyes and storms past me, ensuring she bumps my shoulder so hard that I lose my balance and have to take a few steps back. I glower at her but say nothing. I hope he doesn’t stop the next time he sinks his fangs into her neck. But I regret the thought the moment I think it—sort of. Asshole.

Alexander pulls a handkerchief from the pocket of his sports coat and wipes the crimson blood off the corners of his mouth and his chin. He stands as I carefully meander toward him. I interrupted this meal, and he might still be hungry. Hopefully he doesn’t get hangry like my sister, or I might be in real trouble. Maybe this isn’t the best time to plead for her life.

I stick to the perimeter of the room, sliding my fingers over books on the bookshelf on the eastward facing wall. Dust collects, and I rub it off in my hand before shoving my hands deep in the pockets of my cargo pants. I take a seat in the matching velvet chair. He waits for me to sit before he lowers himself to sit.

“I’ve seen that shirt before.”

“Oh…Sebastian said it was okay if I…borrowed something.”

“Borrowed? When are you going to give it back?” he says dryly.

I bite my lip and squirm in my seat. She was his child, and though I don’t think it means the same thing as a true parent and child, I can’t know how deep his feelings for her ran. For all I know, they could be just as fierce.

After ringing a bell, he leans back, stretching his arm over the back of the chaise. He regards me thoughtfully and then clears his throat. I’m sure it’s for effect more than functionality. As he opens his mouth to speak, a curly haired servant with a bright smile enters.

“Please feed Sandra some red wine.”

I assume Sandra is the nasty meal he just feasted on.

“The Chateau Morimont, please. And tell her to wait for me in my room, though I might be a while.”

“Of course,” the woman says.

“Anything for you?” He points a lazy finger in my direction, and I frown at him.

“Is her blood not enough? You have to dictate what she drinks?”

He smiles wide. “She’s here because she wants to be.”

“Why would she want to be food for a vampire?”

He shrugs and waves the lady away. She nods before stepping back and turning on the small heel of her black pumps.

“She wants what every human who donates wants. To be one of us.”

I make a face. I can’t help myself. I wouldn’t want to live off humans for the rest of my life.

As if reading my mind, he says, “Is being a vampire such a horrible fate? To never grow old? Never die? Or succumb to disease or illness? To always be young and beautiful? I can think of worse things.”

“I’ll admit I find your kind awfully interesting and beautiful in a dangerous sort of way, but you’re kind of a parasite, right? Living off other people the way you do.”

“Clearly, we have different opinions on the topic, so why don’t we agree to disagree for now? Unless you change your mind. I let most humans believe I’ll change them eventually…but want to know a secret?” He holds up his hand and talks out of the side of his mouth. “I never do. Few humans are worthy of this gift. If we turned just anyone, there’d be vampires everywhere. And then who would we eat?” He grins at me wickedly, but it’s not playful like Sebastian’s. Everything about Alexander unnerves me and makes my adrenaline spike.

“Maybe you could eat animals. That’s what Edward and his family from Twilight did.”

He looks at me like I’ve suggested he eat his own fingers. “Who’s Edward? What’s Twilight?”

“It’s a book and also a movie. Really popular. You should read it some time.”

“I’ll pass.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Suit yourself.”

“Hunting animals? How absurd.”

“If I became a vampire, that’s what I’d do.”

“A hunter as a vampire?” He strokes the blond stubble on his chin. “Now wouldn’t that be ironic?”

“I suppose it would.” I scratch my chest where the threading from the sequins makes me itch, and I’m once again reminded of Cassandra. He said a human had to be special to be turned. What was special about her?

“I am sorry about your…friend…vampire child…whatever she was to you.”

He stops breathing or resumes not breathing. I’m really not sure what their normal is. There are still so many things I don’t know about them.

He tuts at me and crosses the room to grab a drink from a crystal decanter on a dark-stained table covered in liquor bottles and glasses. He removes a single piece of ice from a small metal container with a pair of tongs and drops it in a glass. Then he pours his drink. “Scotch?”

“Definitely not.” I quickly add, “Thank you,” because I was brought up with better manners than that.

He takes a long drink of his scotch, draining it. Then he pours himself another and returns to sit beside me, farther away from me than before. Fine by me.

“I’ve only made four vampires in over six hundred years. Before Cassandra, I hadn’t planned on making another one, but my brother was taken with her, and he’d been talking about leaving me and going on his own. I thought it would make him happy.”

“Sebastian was in love with her?”

He laughs and takes a drink, holding it up to toast me. “Not even close. He was infatuated with her. A prostitute skilled in the bedroom, she helped him forget the only woman he truly loved.”

This is too much information, and yet I can’t help wanting to know more. They’ve lived through decades and centuries. Everything they’ve seen and experienced is basically a page in history. And though I hate to admit it, there is something tragically romantic about vampires and love.

“Did she want to be turned?”

“Of course. I would never give this gift to someone who didn’t want it, despite what you think of me.”

“So what happened?”

“Cassandra was wild as a vampire in the beginning. I almost staked her a hundred times over during the hundred years we had her. She was reckless and made foolish mistakes that could have exposed my kind. But she grew on me, so I let her live.”

“Don’t you care that she’s dead?”

“Not really.”

“Well, aren’t you and your brother two peas in a pod.”

He glances at me with his head tipped to the side. “Sebastian said he didn’t care?”

“Pretty much.”

He huffs at that and takes a sip.

“What?”

“Nothing. My brother is a very good liar.”

“Why would he lie about something like that?”

“Why indeed?”

I wait for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t. After a moment of silence—which I hate because I’m one of those people—I decide now is as good a time as any to ask about my sister. “Alexander, I wanted to ask you for a favor.”

He laughs out loud. “What makes you think I would do anything for you? I hardly grant favors to people I like, let alone…a hunter, although I must say I’m curious.” He thrums his finger on the side of his glass as his rosy lips curl in amusement.

“I want you and Sebastian to let my sister go.”

“No,”

“Well, then I can’t go along with this. It’s a deal breaker.”

He flashes his fangs, lurching forward to hiss at me.

I don’t flinch—don’t move at all. I stare him straight in the eyes and pray he doesn’t move forward another inch, or I’ll be in his jaws. His lips curl back around his razor-sharp teeth. When he’s done posturing and his fangs retreat, he leans back away. But his sneer remains.

“Don’t threaten me, little girl. For the record, I didn’t want your help. I wanted you to die. Sebastian convinced me we could use you, and it made sense. But I also told him if you become a problem, I’ll rip your throat out.” His blue eyes darken again to flame red. I steel myself and curl my fists, preparing for an attack. But he blows out a slow breath, and his eyes return to icy blue.

My mouth is dry, and no amount of swallowing will moisten it. I sit up taller and keep my chin up while I think of what I could give him in return, but I have nothing except my soul, and he already said he doesn’t want it. But even if he did, I could never give him that. I just couldn’t. So, what else could he possibly want? “If you let her go free and guarantee her life is spared at all costs, then I will give you whatever you want—within reason.”

He’s smiling again. “Within reason? Well, now you have my attention.”

“Name your price.” I know I’m going to regret this. My words, even as I speak them, feel like acid on my tongue. I’m selling my soul, even if it doesn’t involve turning into one of them. This silver-tongued vampire might be the devil himself.

He takes a deep breath while he considers my offer. “I can’t just let her go. She knows about us.”

“So has every other person you’ve drank from. What about the staff here? Hmm?”

“For one, we kidnapped her. She has no reason to keep her mouth shut. The people I drink from I force to forget about me...either immediately or when I’ve finished with them.”

There it is. The truth I need to make this plan work. “Make her forget,” I say quietly. I look at my folded hands, not proud of what I’m suggesting but resolved because I know it’s the only way to protect her. This is what I knew had to happen, though it doesn’t make agreeing to it out loud any easier.

“I’d like a favor,” he says after a beat. “Not now, but in the future. And I may collect it whenever I choose.”

I sigh and consider it but know I can’t refuse, not when my sister’s happiness and life are at stake. I nod, just once.

“And I also need one taste.”

My gaze flashes back up to his bright blue eyes. “Of my blood? O…kay.” I hesitate at first, thinking I misunderstand him. He knows my blood can kill him. Does he have a death wish? I pull my long dark hair over my left shoulder and tip my head.

He shakes his head. “I don’t want your blood, you silly girl. I want you to taste mine.”

Alarm bells go off in my head. If he’s asking for me to drink from him, he has a reason, and I can’t help assuming it will turn around to bite me in the ass.

“W-Why? What will it do to me?”

“Don’t worry. It won’t make you like me. Let’s just say, it will connect us. Wherever you are, I will always be able to sense you. It’s an insurance policy—if you will—that will make it easier to find you when I want to collect on my favor.”

He says it so matter-of-factly, and I have to admit I see the logic to it. He wants to be able to find me to collect his favor. Okay. But it also means he’ll be able to find me if he decides I’m no longer a benefit to him alive. I don’t want him to be able to sense me. I’ll never be able to get away from him until he meets his final death. Or I do, I suspect—whichever is shorter. But if something goes wrong and I don’t kill that vampire, this will ensure my sister is far away from here and safe. Plus, she’ll be able to get out of that wretched cell. So as much as the thought worries me, I agree to his terms.

Slowly, I draw in a deep breath as he slices open a vein on the underside of his wrist with one of his nails. Burgundy-colored fluid breaks through the cut and pools before sliding over his flesh to drip onto the floor. I lick my lips and swallow a hard lump growing so large in my throat I almost can’t choke it down, and I mentally prepare myself to taste an immortal.