Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue
Chapter One: Dreaming of Theo
Chapter Two: Dust and Shadows
Chapter Three: Beyond Blood
Chapter Four: Painful and Necessary
Chapter Five: Death Wish
Chapter Six: Door Number Two
Chapter Seven: Regular Superhero
Chapter Eight: Less Than Human
Chapter Nine: A Real Girl
Chapter Ten: Unwanted Gift
Chapter Eleven: Hit and Run
Chapter Twelve: Hungry Things
Chapter Thirteen: Wrecked
Chapter Fourteen: Dead Girl Talking
Chapter Fifteen: Interesting. Sort of.
Chapter Sixteen: I Am The Bogeyman
Chapter Seventeen: Locked and Loaded
Chapter Eighteen: Wolves Among Sheep
Chapter Nineteen: Who Wants To Live Forever?
Chapter Twenty: Personal Lab Vamp
Chapter Twenty-One: Hunter. Predator.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Never Say Never
Chapter Twenty-Three: Drink Deep
Chapter Twenty-Four: All or Nothing
Chapter Twenty-Five: Boom
Chapter Twenty-Six: Escape Clause
Chapter Twenty-Seven: In Time
Epilogue: Vampire Cinderella
About the Author
Also by Karen Mahoney
Copyright
‘Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.’
Friedrich Nietzsche
The monster sits in her cage, shimmering bars glinting a sharp warning.
She is cross-legged and calm, but that sense of calm is just another mask. Monsters are good with masks; they wear them well.
Tangled hair falls across her eyes. Her pale hands rest in her lap, fingers curled unconsciously into claws.
A voice speaks, tinny and distant through the intercom. She is used to this. They hold her in a cage, and yet they are afraid of her. Sometimes this knowledge – this truth – comforts her. Amuses her, even. But today she simply feels tired.
A muscle twitches in her jaw and her back tenses.
‘Lie face down on the floor with your hands behind your head.’
The voice is familiar, somehow soothing despite the threat of punishment if she does not comply.
‘I said, face down! Move it, Subject Ten.’
She stays exactly where she is, squeezing her hands into fists as she waits for the door to open. For guns to be pointed and men to start shouting. It has been a long time since she didn’t mindlessly obey these people. Perhaps it will be interesting to see what happens next.
The monster’s silver eyes flicker in the direction of the cage door. A smile curves slowly across her mouth.
‘Time to go,’ she says . . .
The Iron Witch
The Wood Queen
The Stone Demon
Moth
Falling to Ash
To Maralyn Mahoney and Vijay Rana, for jointly being the best writer support system I could ever need.
‘What about this one?’
Caitlín O’Neal, my sixteen-year-old sister, twirled in front of me in the store and then waited expectantly.
‘It’s lovely,’ I said.
‘You’re not even looking. You’re supposed to be helping me pick out a dress that’ll drive Liam Walsh crazy.’
I couldn’t hold back a smile. ‘They’re all super cute – and so are you.’
Caitlín tossed her wavy red hair and pouted. ‘“Cute” might not be enough. This will be our first date, and I’ve been working on him for almost two months. Everything has to be perfect!’
I shook my head. ‘Two months? Getting desperate, little sister?’
‘He’s shy.’
‘And quite clearly,’ I said drily, ‘you’re not shy at all.’
She grinned and playfully pushed me. I grabbed my cell phone on impulse, snapping a picture of her as she laughed and tried to hide.
‘There,’ I said, unable to keep the satisfaction out of my voice. I turned the screen toward her. ‘Stunning. See?’
Her face suddenly fell, her moods as unpredictable as the Boston weather in April.
‘He’ll thank me for chasing him when he sees this dress. Right?’ Caitlín looked hopefully at me and I could see the vulnerability in her pretty green eyes.
I couldn’t tease her when she looked at me like that.
‘Cait, you look amazing in it. If Liam doesn’t fall dead at your feet due to your overwhelming beauty, I’ll kill him myself.’
Her face visibly paled. ‘Don’t say that.’
Oops. Sometimes I almost forget that my sister is one of the only people – living people, anyway – who know about my true nature. About what I’ve become. ‘Hey, c’mon, it was just a joke . . .’
‘Well, it wasn’t funny.’ Caitlín walked back into the changing rooms. ‘I’ll see you out front in five.’
If I still needed to breathe, I would have chosen that moment to let out a huge sigh. I’m a vampire; did I mention that already? We don’t need to breathe, but I’m still new at this and old habits die hard. (No pun intended.)
I headed for the exit, making sure to avoid the mirrors that were positioned randomly throughout the store. If anyone caught sight of the fact that I don’t have a reflection – not since Theo Turned me, more than a year ago – I wouldn’t be able to play happy families with my sister anymore. There were a small number of people out there who did believe in vampires – in all kinds of monsters, actually – but they weren’t interested in making friends with us. That’s why they were called ‘hunters’. I had to be careful.
I glanced down at the carrier bag in my hand, wondering what on earth had possessed me to buy something so glamorous for myself. It wasn’t like I’d ever have the opportunity to wear it anywhere other than to one of Theo’s . . . gatherings. And the last thing I wanted was for my Maker to think I was trying to impress him.
And now Caitlín was mad at me.
I kicked a soda can and sulked while I waited for her. Who knew that dress shopping could be so fraught with danger?
‘So where to next?’ Caitlín asked, having decided to forgive me somewhere between making her purchase and joining me outside. ‘Coffee?’
‘That would be awesome,’ I said, smiling gratefully. Caitlín knows that caffeine is one of the few substances that can help keep the blood cravings at bay. It’s not foolproof – and it’s certainly no substitute for the (preferably warm) red stuff at least once a week – but it can take the edge off the need during those in-between days, dull the ache that causes vamps to freak out and go all bloodlusty.
Of course, that’s when my phone started ringing. I grimaced apologetically as I answered. Caller ID told me it was Theo and I never keep my Maker waiting. At least, not unless I’m intentionally trying to piss him off. Trust me; rather like the Incredible Hulk, you wouldn’t like Theo when he’s angry.
‘Why are you calling me?’ I asked, sounding as huffy as I felt. ‘You said I could take the whole day off with my sister. The night too.’
Hey, I said I wouldn’t keep him waiting. I never said anything about being polite. It was so rare that I could escape from all the vampire crap, I guarded those moments fiercely. Especially when I got to spend time with my favorite sister.
‘Ah, Moth,’ Theo replied, his voice as smooth as hot chocolate and velvet all rolled into one delicious package. ‘If I had more time or the inclination, I’d arrange a discussion with you about your lack of manners.’
I rolled my eyes and pantomimed sticking my fingers down my throat, making Caitlín laugh.
‘And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,’ he continued. ‘I can hear your sister laughing.’
I grinned. ‘Sorry.’
Theo growled.
‘I said I was sorry.’
Caitlín indicated that she was going to look in the window of the next store, leaving me to talk to my Maker in private. I wedged myself into the gap between buildings and tried to ignore the stink of cigarette butts and urine. Classy.
‘Theo, what do you want? We’re on a tight schedule.’ Which was true enough. Cait had to be home before curfew, or Dad and Sinéad, our older sister, would go ballistic. ‘Protective’ didn’t even begin to cover it.
‘I need you at Subterranean.’
‘Later tonight?’ I said, trying to keep the hopeful note out of my voice, even though it was pointless. If Theo wanted me at the club, I’d have to go to the stupid club any time he demanded it.
‘You have two hours.’
His voice was like stone, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try my best to weasel out of whatever he had in mind. I loved arguing with Theo. If there was ever an Olympic event created for arguing with authority figures, I’d win the gold medal. Obviously I couldn’t win silver, considering my near-fatal allergy to that particular metal since becoming one of the so-called undead.
Not to mention the fact that I didn’t like taking second place to anyone when it came to Theo.
‘But this has been arranged for ages,’ I said, forcing myself not to whine.
‘Marie,’ he said, in his favorite no-nonsense tone. ‘We both know that you’ll do what I ask of you in the end, so why do we have to go through the same argument?’
‘I don’t know . . . Because it’s fun?’
‘I look forward to seeing you.’
‘Hey, I didn’t agree to—’
But Theo had already disconnected. I hated it when he did that.
Scuffing my feet along the sidewalk and dodging other late-night shoppers, I wandered back over to Caitlín and nudged her. I could see her reflection in the window, seemingly standing alone with the traffic driving past behind her. Behind us. I put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. It made me feel more like I was actually there, despite the fact that the tinted glass told me otherwise.
Caitlín turned to stare at me, trying not to look spooked by my missing reflection – but I’d already seen the fear lingering in her troubled eyes. I could hardly blame her. It even freaked me out, and yet I’m the one who doesn’t exist in mirrors or on film. Occasionally – very occasionally – I would catch a glimpse of myself in water. Like a shadow-girl, all long black curls and corpse-pale skin. But those moments were becoming so rare as to be almost non-existent. Like me. At least, like the reflection of me.
Did it mean that I’m not a real person? That I’m evil?
Part of me wanted to ask my Maker any and all of these questions, especially during the times when I caught those dream-like suggestions of my image in puddles – or even in bath water. But I was afraid that Theo would tell me I only had a few more weeks or months left before all signs of my reflection disappeared entirely – erased, like my life; perhaps even my soul. I wanted to know the answers to these things, and yet most of the time I chose to live in ignorance.
It was less painful that way.
Shivering, I pulled Caitlín into a proper hug. I wrapped my arms around her and held her as tightly as I dared. This was one of the reasons that my sister was so important to me. When I looked at her, I saw an idealized image of myself reflected back in her loving gaze. She didn’t judge me. She certainly didn’t see me as a monster. Caitlín was my mirror.
‘I have to go,’ I said, burying my face in Cait’s hair and forcing myself to inhale a lungful of her familiar apple-scented shampoo. It grounded me. Made me feel sane and halfway human.
‘I figured.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said.
‘It’s OK, I get it.’ She pulled away and examined my face. Lines of concern made her eyes look way older than her sixteen years. Caitlín had lost a lot. We all had, after Mom died. ‘You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s him I’m mad at.’
I steeled myself for the anti-Theo mantra.
‘He treats you like dirt.’
‘He doesn’t,’ I said, too quickly. ‘And you shouldn’t say this stuff about him. You’re lucky you even know the truth about me.’
‘Yeah, “lucky” because he didn’t mind-rape me and steal my memories.’
I pursed my lips and tried to think calm thoughts. I didn’t know if I was getting upset because she was right or because I just didn’t want her to be. ‘Seriously, Cait. If you ever see Theo again . . . don’t say anything like that. Nothing that’ll upset him. Please?’
‘Why?’ Her chin jutted out and the familiar gesture hit me with a visceral memory of our mother. ‘Will he turn me into a vegetable? Kill me?’
I grimaced. ‘Stop it. You know he wouldn’t hurt you.’ At least, I didn’t think he would. With Theo, that shaky faith in how much he cared about my feelings would have to be enough.
‘How is it that he gets to walk around controlling other people? It’s just not right!’
I grabbed her shoulders and made her look me in the eyes. ‘Listen to me.’
Hey, it’s not like she had to worry about me trying to use my budding vamp-powers to influence her with my gaze. Even if I was any good at it (which I’m not), I would never do that to Caitlín. But I had to explain things to her for my own peace of mind – and perhaps for her safety, because this was a world I didn’t want her to be a part of. My sister uses hearts instead of dots in the i’s of her name, for God’s sake. She’s way too sweet for any of this crap.
I forced myself to breathe. ‘Theo is important to me in ways that I can’t put into words. It goes so far beyond any kind of connection possible between . . . humans. Honestly, the closest I can get to even beginning to describe it is how I feel about you.’
Caitlín screwed up her face. ‘Ew, gross. We’re sisters!’
‘Not like that.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘You know what I mean.’
She shrugged but didn’t say anything else. I kept talking.
‘Theo’s lived a long life. He’s seen and done things I can’t even imagine – things I don’t want to imagine. Sometimes I can’t help worrying that I’m too human for him, that he’ll lose interest in me.’
‘But I didn’t think you wanted to be with him like that. Not anymore. He treats you like a pet – it’s too weird. Why do you care so much?’
‘I don’t,’ I said. ‘That’s long gone, and I’m not even sure how real it was to start with. Ever since I found out what he is . . . and ever since he changed me, I can’t let myself think of him in that way.’
She smirked. ‘Yeah, he’s disgustingly old for one thing.’
‘He’s not quite two hundred.’ I grinned, remembering to keep the tips of my fangs hidden just in time. Jeez . . . we were out in public. ‘But I do still love him,’ I continued, sobering in an instant. ‘It’s complicated.’ My little sister was the only person who I could talk to about any of this stuff; it was both a blessing and a curse.
‘He’s your Maker, right? Does that mean it’s a magical link?’ She pulled a face. ‘I can’t believe I’m talking about magic.’
‘Sort of.’ I shrugged, not wanting to admit that I did my best to stick my head in the sand when it came to vampire lore. ‘I know that if something happens to me, he’d feel it. It would affect him pretty badly.’
Caitlín frowned. ‘Does that work the other way around too?’
I shrugged. ‘Probably.’
‘You don’t know?’ Her voice had travelled a notch higher and I made violent shushing motions with my hands.
‘Do you maybe want to tell everyone? I don’t think they heard you over in Victoria’s Secret.’
‘Sorry,’ she said, switching to a stage-whisper. ‘But I just don’t get how you can pretend this stuff isn’t important. What happens to you if something happens to Theo?’
‘Nothing’s going to happen to him,’ I replied, my tone frosty.
‘And you know this, how?’
‘I just know, OK? He’s powerful.’
‘People in power are assassinated all the time,’ she said darkly.
‘Stop it – I don’t want discuss this anymore. You’re freaking me out and I want to be all calm and in control when I see Theo.’
Cait tucked her arm through mine as we navigated the crowded sidewalk. ‘Good idea. You can talk to him about going back to college in the fall.’
My guilty thoughts strayed to the art school letter I’d received only yesterday. It confirmed this October as my final chance to take up my deferred place before having to go through the applications procedure all over again. ‘It might not be a good time to bring that up. He sounded serious on the phone, and I think something big must be going on – so I can’t imagine my desire to study sequential art and animation will be at the top of his agenda.’
‘It’s at the top of yours, isn’t it?’
I didn’t reply. I did want to go back to school; I’d barely gotten started when my whole existence got flipped on its head, courtesy of an extremely short-lived romance and a vampire bite that would last a lifetime. If I was going to do it, it had to be done properly: attend classes once more and live the student life. I was already more able to keep the bloodlust at bay (well, some of the time), and in another six months I’d be even stronger. I needed Theo to say ‘yes’ and I didn’t want to ask him at the wrong time. If he said ‘no’, it would be harder to change his mind later.
We reached Caitlín’s T-stop and said our goodbyes. My throat tightened as I gave my sister one final hug.
Caitlín flashed me a half-smile. ‘I’ll give your love to Dad.’
I pulled a face. ‘Great.’
‘And Sinéad.’
‘Even better,’ I said.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love my family; it was just that they made it so hard to like them. My dad had treated me with something close to hostility ever since Mom’s death, after her long battle with cancer. I tried not to think about any of it too much – and I visited even less.
‘You take care, OK?’ I told her.
‘And you’d better wear that new dress to something cool,’ she said, giving me her most bossy look. ‘I didn’t help you pick it out just for it to sit in your closet.’
‘Sure,’ I replied. ‘I’ll wear it to prom.’
‘You already had one of those, smartass. Oh, wait,’ she continued, ‘you didn’t go.’
‘Because I didn’t have a date,’ I said.
‘Hashtag, lame.’
Caitlín liked to tease me because I wasn’t allowed to have a Twitter account. Theo didn’t trust me not to say something potentially suspicious. I know, right? As if . . .
Speaking of dates, though, brought to mind an image of Jason Murdoch: vampire hunter-in-training, owner of a pair of soulful brown eyes and too many weapons to count. My one-time nemesis, and now my . . . what? My friend?
Hmm, I thought. I wouldn’t exactly go that far.
Caitlín nudged me. ‘Dreaming of Theo?’ She made an ‘L’ with her thumb and index finger. ‘You’re such a loser . . .’
I blushed, deciding it was probably wiser to let her believe that. Jace was a complication I didn’t want to discuss; not even with my sister.
‘I’ll call you,’ I promised.
‘You’d better.’
‘And I’ll visit.’
Caitlín snorted. ‘Don’t push it.’
Subterranean was a nightly carnival disguised as a Goth-style club.
The secret of its success was the little-known fact that it was actually run by vampires, giving it an illicit allure that humans couldn’t fully comprehend. Not on a conscious level. They just knew it was The Place To Be. And, let’s be honest, it helped that there were regular all-ages nights which pulled in the emo-teen crowd.
Tonight was definitely not an all-ages night.
I tried not to stare at the crowd waiting to gain entry, but it was a futile exercise in the face of so much awesome strangeness. Also, people-watching took my mind off worrying about what Theo wanted me here for in the first place. The crowd featured everything from old-school Goth to women dressed as what looked like . . . space princesses. (And I don’t mean Princess Leia.) Metal-strapped latex, a ton of black leather, and thigh-high boots did battle with sequins and reflective metal that looked like armor. I was almost blinded by the garish glare of multiple piercings.
Seeing the shiny array made me glad that I’d stopped at home to change. I’d stuck with my regular chunky boots, but was also wearing black leggings, a short purple ballerina skirt, and a black off-the-shoulder peasant-style blouse. Hopefully, I fitted in well enough without looking too freaky.
I listened to the steady thump-thump-thump of music drifting out onto the street, trying to imagine it was beating in time with my non-beating heart. As I waited for the bouncer to notice me, I played my usual game: find the vampires standing in line with the humans – hiding in plain sight. I figured there was maybe one vamp for every seven or eight mortals, waiting for a chance to find a willing blood donor too drunk or high to realize what was really happening. Not that you could always tell just by looking. Some vamps these days actually filed their fangs. Seriously. Theo didn’t approve of anyone doing that in his Family, but it was a growing trend in places like New York City (apparently), especially among younger vamps, to help them blend into society. Also, it made things way less complicated when you had to hang out with your biological family.
Of course, there was a particularly high vampire-to-human ratio outside Subterranean, but that wasn’t representative of the world at large. We make up less than one per cent of the population; probably less than half of one per cent. With a worldwide population of seven billion, that’s . . . OK, math has never been my strong suit. Sure, it’s still a lot of vampires, but in the scheme of things it’s a drop in the ocean. Humans – the very thing that I used to be – simply don’t notice the monsters living alongside them. Why would they? Vampires, werewolves, zombies . . . it’s all fiction, right?
The bouncer – a new guy I didn’t recognize – flashed me a wink and the tip of one of his fangs.
‘Yo, Moth!’ he called. ‘Over here, babe.’
I glanced at him as he ushered me past the waiting flock and through neon-painted doors. Maybe I didn’t know him, but he was clearly expecting me. A group of lace-clad girls at the head of the line complained loudly at the perceived favoritism.
Nobody knew that a bunch of vampires were going to be meeting in a public space. OK, so it was our public space, unknown to the majority of the club’s patrons, but that didn’t mean that we didn’t have to be careful. Most of these meetings were reserved for vampires of a certain vintage. The old ones. I was hardly part of the inner circle. Well, apart from the fact that I was considered to be Theo’s pet.
I ignored the long polished bar and walked across the main floor of thrashing dancers, trying to look past all the black leather and fishnet to the other side where small circular tables crouched in corners, lit by candles. The party was already in full swing; this was a prime time for vampires to stalk the periphery, checking out potential victims.
Not that they killed anybody. That wasn’t allowed. So long as any vampire in Boston belonged to the Family, or at the very least checked in with us, then the city’s human residents were safe. If any visiting vamps didn’t ask Theo’s permission to be here, that meant they were potential rogues and therefore fair game for Theo’s Enforcer. Only problem was, Theo still hadn’t appointed a new vampire to this important position since the betrayal of his previous Enforcer. Kyle. I shivered as I remembered Kyle, remembered what he had done and how he had threatened my little sister; remembered those he had killed . . .
There were several candidates for the role (no, I most certainly wasn’t one of them), but Theo seemed in no hurry to make a decision. Amazingly, it appeared that my roommate Holly Somerfield was in the running, and she was already sitting at our Master’s right hand in a shadowy corner of the club. She was campaigning hard for the post, which took me doubly by surprise. Holly mostly seemed happy as a motorcycle courier and selling her handmade crafts on Etsy. She was a good fighter, but it was something that she kept under the radar. Was she good enough to be an Enforcer? Apparently, before being Made about twenty years ago, she’d been a black belt in . . . something or other that sounded impressive and deadly.
My idea of fighting was kicking ’em where it hurt and then running like hell. That’s why I wore the most kick-ass boots possible.
I waved at Holly as I approached the small group of vamps. ‘Hey, roomie.’ I loved annoying her when she was trying to be all mature.
She rolled her eyes, but lifted her hand in greeting. Her blue hair was curled tonight, just reaching the collar of her tailored black and crimson satin jacket. Her bangs were straight across her forehead, and she looked chic and sophisticated. Not that I’d tell her that. There was no sign of her girlfriend, Alanya, and I wondered briefly if they’d broken up. Last time she’d been at our place, the lovebirds had had the mother of all arguments.
But then all rational thought was wiped from my mind as I focused on my Maker. Theo, as usual, was dressed in black from head to toe. It was a vampire thing, and far be it from us to buck those expectations. Theo wore it well, although he never came across as a vain man. I think that had something to do with his other life – the human life he had left behind in Ireland almost two centuries ago.
‘Moth,’ Theo said, acknowledging my arrival with a nod before returning to his conversation with Nicole.
Nicole’s presence was a surprise. She was an Elder, higher up on the vampire totem pole than Theo, responsible for the whole of New York State rather than a single city. Even in the flickering candlelight she was so beautiful it almost hurt my eyes. Her super-long black hair was loose and flowed down her back in carefully styled waves, while her crimson dress (okay, so she was the exception to the mostly-black rule tonight) shimmered against her slender figure. On any other vampire the dress might have been a cliché. On her, it looked absolutely perfect. I figured that red didn’t show bloodstains, either. Nicole spared me a curious glance, no doubt wondering what I had been summoned here for.
Me and her both.
She was flanked by two vampires I’d never seen before. A hot Latino guy sat to her left, and a curvy black woman on her right. I assumed she’d brought them with her from New York. If this was her only entourage, I grudgingly respected her subtlety. I would have expected her to bring a whole group of newbie vampires, even a human servant or two. Plenty of guards. Nicole was older than Theo, so that kind of thing would be possible – maybe even expected. Instead, she was traveling light.
I stood uncomfortably, waiting for a break in the conversation so that I could find out what was going on and why we were meeting in Subterranean rather than at Theo’s. Not to mention who were the two strange vamps I’d never seen before . . . I didn’t like surprises.
OK, that’s not strictly true. I like surprises if they’re nice ones. Sadly, most vampire-related surprises involve murder and mayhem.
I sighed dramatically, and was just about to start demanding some answers when a warm hand touched my shoulder. Theo brushed his lips across my cheek.
‘Would you like to dance?’
I shivered with pleasure, but still eyed him suspiciously. As usual, I hadn’t even seen him move – I’d only glanced away for a second. He was sneaky. ‘Did you invite me here just to dance? What’s going on?’
Theo flashed me his best pirate smile. ‘First, dancing. Then business.’
I gazed at him, taking in his potent brand of masculine beauty. His apparent age was mid-twenties, but he had the weight of too many decades hidden in his eyes. If you looked carefully, you could see it like a shadow. He wasn’t especially tall – about five nine to my five two – but what he lacked in height he made up for with sheer presence. If you didn’t know he was a centuries-old vampire (and most people didn’t), you’d know that something was up with him. Either he was a soldier or a martial arts expert. Or maybe a serial killer. A hot serial killer. He was handsome as hell, with piercing silver-gray eyes that looked right into your soul.
I know, I know: that’s a total cliché. But it doesn’t make it any less true.
‘What’s Nicole doing here?’ I persisted, refusing to be steered onto the dance floor and trying not to drown in his hotness. I mentally fanned myself. ‘Who are those two vamps with her?’
‘I said now, Marie.’
Maybe this was more than just dancing. Maybe he wanted to talk to me where the others couldn’t hear us. I was smart enough to figure that out. It just took me a while, that was all. The music pumping through Subterranean’s sound system would probably do enough to dissuade even vampire ears.
Something about being this close to my Maker, with the smell of moonlight in his dark hair and fresh blood on his breath, made me sigh with a mixture of desire and distaste. I didn’t want to care about him anymore, but feelings like that didn’t simply disappear overnight – no matter what I’d told Caitlín earlier.
He held out his hand and I took it, wrapping my fingers around his and reveling in the warmth that confirmed his recent feed.
Theo led me into the swaying crowd and a path opened up before us, causing me to wonder if the Master vampire of Boston had a Moses-like effect on regular humans. We glided onto the center of the floor. Well, Theo glided. I shuffled. I wasn’t exactly wearing my dancing shoes tonight.
My Maker watched me with his intense, hawk-like stare, making me feel like prey. I sighed as he drew me into his arms and rested one hand on my lower back, right where my peasant top had ridden up to expose bare flesh. I shivered, and he took my left hand in his right so that he could guide me smoothly around the floor. This wasn’t what I had in mind when he’d asked me to dance, but he was in a weird mood and I knew not to bug him when he was super-morose and thinking of the past. I was only in his life due to a twist of fate – and a supreme loss of self-control on his part – that I still didn’t fully understand. I’d learned not to expect anything from Theo, even though I secretly hoped for more than I was willing to admit.
I rested my head on his shoulder and decided not to worry about it. Not when his presence was so comforting and I felt like nothing and nobody could ever hurt me; that simply wasn’t possible. Theo had already done that enough.
The music changed again, becoming more sultry and sensuous, and he moved both my hands to his back, making me hold him so that he could do the same to me. We couldn’t get any closer if he’d tried, and I felt painted onto him like a second skin. Theo was a lean, mean, fighting machine. He might not be the tallest guy in the room, but he had the most presence. He looked like he could kick the butts of guys twice his weight, and I didn’t doubt that he’d do it – even without the fangs. He was tough by nature, a true survivor, having grown up in relative poverty in nineteenth-century Ireland.
Theo lowered his head again, speaking directly into my ear. His black curls tickled my cheek, but I didn’t move away.
‘Nicole has received information that we are to expect an attack on our Family. Possibly as a result of Thomas Murdoch’s involvement with Kyle.’
Thomas Murdoch. Jace’s father. My stomach clenched at the mention of the Murdochs, and I tried my best to hide any reaction from Theo. Thomas Murdoch had been an experienced hunter, specializing in killing Master vampires. Last year, I discovered that he’d partnered with Theo’s Enforcer – effectively, his right-hand man in the Boston Family – to bring down Theo and open the door for new leadership. Perhaps even pave the way for our kind to try integrating into human society.
Kyle had turned out to be a traitor. Not only did he turn on his Family, but he did it by working with a man who had ended the eternal lives of way too many vampires. There had been no forgiveness. Not for either of them.
My Maker ran his hands up and down my back, crushing me against him. ‘I wanted you to be made aware of the situation,’ he said, his tone a silken threat. ‘In case the Murdoch boy is involved.’
‘Jace?’ I couldn’t help the way my voice went all high-pitched. I coughed, cursing Theo for knowing me inside and out. ‘You think Jason Murdoch is coming after the Boston Family? That would be crazy. Even for him.’
‘Indeed?’ Theo spun me in a circle, making me dizzy, then pulled me back against him so that I smashed into his rock-hard abs. I imagined myself breaking open, like a wave.
I tried to put a bit of distance between us, but Theo was having none of it. Oh well. I let myself relax against him, deciding to go with the flow. Why not? It’s not like it didn’t feel good.
Theo said, ‘What makes you think that he would not be . . . crazy enough?’
‘Jace Murdoch may be his father’s son, but he’s not his father. If you see what I mean.’
‘I hope, my little Moth, that you’re not letting your . . . attachment to the human get in the way of your judgment.’ This was said at a dangerously low pitch, and Theo’s eyes flashed silver, just for a moment letting me know how he really felt about my ‘attachment’ to the hunter’s son.
I nibbled my lower lip, trying to keep my temper under control. ‘Jace and I worked together for a week. That’s it. It’s hardly the basis for the friendship of the century.’ I almost believed it when I said it, so maybe Theo would too.
Yeah, I could hope.
Theo buried his face in my hair and took a deep breath. He very rarely breathed these days; he was testing me in some way.
‘I can smell the lie on you,’ he said. He bent down so he could press his forehead against mine, staring directly into my eyes as we stood still on the dance floor for a moment.
Other dancers flowed past us, but I only had eyes for my Maker. ‘I hardly know Jace,’ I whispered. That much was true. Just because he was cute and had helped me out didn’t matter. Just because he’d sent me a stupid gift from his travels, after his dad died at Kyle’s hands, it didn’t mean anything at all. And the fact that he’d included a note that said, ‘I owe you one,’ meant even less. Right?
Just because he kissed me that one time. I immediately pushed away the treacherous memory of his hard lips on mine.
Theo began to move us around the floor once more. I was grateful for the reprieve. Then I sighed as I caught Holly’s eye, from where she was watching us on the sidelines with a blatantly jealous expression that ruined her normally super-cool exterior. She certainly didn’t have any romantic illusions about Theo. There’s no way that would be the reason for her bad mood – and she had a girlfriend at the moment anyway – but Theo was important to all of us because of his role as the Master of Boston’s Family.
He was like the sun to us, and we were the planets slowly revolving around him, jostling for the best position in his orbit. Theo wasn’t Holly’s Maker. I still don’t know who Turned her, and I didn’t really expect her to tell me anytime soon. Apart from the fact that a vampire’s Maker was privileged information – a potential weakness to be protected at all costs – Holly kept most details of her pre-vampire life tightly under wraps. The very fact that Theo paid me so much attention burnt a lot of the other vampires. I was young – too young to have been Made in the first place – and Theo treated me as a precious gift. Good for me in some ways, because it meant I had his protection. But oh-so-bad for me in others, because it meant the other vampires resented our closeness.
Still, having my Maker to myself was rare these days, now that I was through the initial transition from human to vampire and had been officially introduced to the rest of the Family. So I decided that maybe there was no time like the present to ask him the thing that had been bugging me all day. It had been on my mind a lot, especially since talking to Caitlín, so I pushed aside my earlier caution.
Also, I figured it wasn’t a bad thing to distract him from obsessing over Jason Murdoch.
‘Theo,’ I began, hoping to maybe catch him off guard.
He dipped me so that my long curls almost brushed the floor. ‘Yes?’
‘I want to go back to school in the fall.’ I said it quick, like ripping off a Band-Aid.
Theo’s striking, predatory face didn’t even flicker with emotion, but he certainly wasn’t happy. I could feel it all through my bones.
‘I don’t think you’re ready,’ was all he said, but it was enough. Enough to stab me through the heart as surely as if he’d taken a stake and tried to end me.
I was stiff in his arms as he attempted to spin me again, causing us both to stumble.
He inclined his head. ‘You are displeased, my Moth?’
‘You could say that,’ I muttered.
‘What would you have me do?’
‘Duh! Let me go back to school. I’ll be ready, Theo.’
He looked away from me, and I wondered what he was really seeing when he got that faraway expression on his face.
‘Please,’ I said, trying to get through to him. ‘Don’t you trust me?’
‘It is not a matter of trust,’ he said quietly, holding me close again.
The music abruptly switched, the tempo rising and the beat pounding so loud that I could feel it through the soles of my boots.
Theo’s face twisted with distaste. ‘Let’s rejoin the others. I’ll introduce you to Castel and Echo.’
I made a mental note of the names, wondering which was which, but I wasn’t going to let my Maker distract me. He’d just denied me what I wanted most in the world like it was nothing to him. I smiled, showing just a tiny hint of fang.
‘No, I like this song,’ I said, pulling him toward me and daring him to deny me a second time in the space of an hour. ‘Let’s keep dancing.’
It had turned into quite a night.
We finally spilled out onto the street behind a bunch of humans at close to two a.m. The meeting was supposed to have been a short one, but Theo and I had danced for one song after another. Nicole had finally pulled rank and practically dragged us outside, leaving the music and warm bodies behind.
Theo was still talking about the supposed attack on Boston Family turf.
Nicole walked ahead of us, turning back and shrugging. ‘Perhaps my source was misled. There hasn’t been any sign of trouble.’ Her skin was glowing, a near-perfect reflection of the moon as we headed in the direction of Beacon Hill where Theo played house.
‘Perhaps,’ Theo replied. ‘Though I have my doubts. Your information has always been reliable in the past.’
The chic New York-based vampire tucked her sleek hair behind her ear, looking suddenly much younger. She stood on the street and sniffed the air. The booming sound of music followed us and made the night more vibrant and alive. Cars shushed past us on rain-wet streets, and I was glad that we seemed to have missed what looked like a heavy shower while inside the club.
Nicole’s companions hovered nearby, watching and waiting like deadly shadows. The contrast between the two of them was almost comical, but I suspected there wouldn’t be anything funny about being cornered by either one of them. The woman, Echo, was all dark curves spilling out of leather, and I had no doubt that she was carrying a weapon of some kind beneath her no-nonsense jacket. In stature, she was tiny in comparison to the wickedly handsome Castel. He stood at least six-three, with broad shoulders stuffed into a button-down shirt that he looked distinctly uncomfortable in. Faded blue jeans and well-worn boots completed the ensemble. He’d told me that his family had emigrated from Spain in the early twentieth century, and he still spoke with the hint of an accent.
Theo and Nicole had spent the first half of the evening arguing. My arrival had put an end to that – what with all the flirting and dancing – but now they seemed happy to pick up wherever they’d left off. The crux of the disagreement was the activities of the UVA: the United Vampire Alliance. Kyle, Theo’s old Enforcer, had turned out to be a member; a vampire-run organization dedicated to coordinating a gradual ‘outing’ of the monsters. The ironically-named UVA believed that it was time for all vamps to come out of the coffin and take their place in society, but they were very definitely in the minority.
Theo believed, as did the vast majority of older vamps, that the human world would never accept our existence. I was inclined to agree (not that anyone other than Theo cared about my opinion), but surprisingly Nicole seemed to be warming to the idea of stepping out of the shadows.
‘Is that what you really want?’ Theo asked. ‘Mass panic? Riots?’ His expression darkened. ‘War?’
Nicole’s eyes flashed silver, her anger bringing her true nature to the surface. ‘People wouldn’t have to be afraid. Vampires have lived among them for centuries and they didn’t know anything about it. There have been a few . . . incidents, of course, but in the main humans are safe. We police our own. External regulations would be unnecessary.’
Theo shook his head. ‘You can’t market vampires to humanity. We’re not a designer drug or a new form of public transit. We are predators, at the very top of the food chain. And once humans became aware of our existence, it would change everything.’
‘Secrecy cannot last forever, and the truth can be . . . manipulated. Made more palatable.’ She tilted her head. ‘We can take what we need.’
‘Glamour our way to so-called equality? That isn’t exactly a healthy basis for a workable society. No,’ Theo said. ‘Secrecy has served us for long enough. Revealing the truth to mortals simply won’t work.’
Nicole touched his arm. ‘You are young,’ she said, echoing something Theo had said to me way too many times.
‘My age has nothing to do with it,’ Theo snapped. ‘This is common sense, nothing more or less. Facts.’
‘Tell me more of these facts. Enlighten me, please,’ Nicole replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
‘We feed on humans. We need their blood to survive, whether we kill them or not. Try spinning that.’
‘But they cannot hurt us. That is what everything comes down to. Humans are weak and vampires are strong. They would simply have to accept us.’
‘They can hurt us. They do hurt us. Have you forgotten our fallen brothers and sisters so easily?’ Theo looked genuinely upset.
‘Those deaths are rare,’ Nicole said.
‘The human hunters are more organized than I think you realize.’
I was hanging on their every word, and I had to agree with my Maker on that last point. Jace had mentioned an unofficial network of vampire hunters spread across the whole freaking country. Maybe even the world.
‘But they are still only human. There is no other threat to us as a species; that is the reality.’ She smiled at Theo. ‘You worry too much, amore mio.’
I dodged a pair of Goth kids, trying to concentrate on where I was going while eavesdropping on the debate. Holly frowned at me, clearly wanting me to move away from the two senior vamps.
And that’s when the whole mood of the evening just . . . switched.
‘Something doesn’t feel right,’ Nicole said, gesturing to Theo and stopping in the center of the sidewalk. Theo drew close to her, his gleaming eyes narrowing as he sniffed the air. Everything about the pair of them screamed: predator.
Holly scanned the street, vigilant as she searched for threats. Not that much could worry a group of vampires on a spring night in Boston. Castel placed his hand on Nicole’s elbow, his solid frame making her seem small and vulnerable. Echo dropped back and turned a slow circle. Nobody questioned the Elder vampire’s instincts. We were all, almost immediately, on Red Alert.
A car pulled away from the sidewalk, wheels spinning as it cut into the intermittent stream of traffic, causing a hold-up as several other vehicles had to stop. Headlights gleamed and the sound of horns filled the air, and just for a split second there was a sense of disorder as cars untangled themselves. People on the sidewalk turned to look at the fuss as two men yelled creative curses, and the distant sound of a fire engine’s siren snatched our attention.
A motorcycle zipped out from behind a parked van and accelerated past our little group. There was a strange sound, a mechanical snikt that only vampire ears would be able to detect in that moment of mild confusion, and the air seemed to shift around us. The bike roared away, spraying water and fumes in our direction –
Nicole clutched her chest and fell to the ground in one moment, and in the next she was gone.
Nicole was dead. Nothing left of her but dust and shadows.
We were huddled at Theo’s trying to understand what had happened. Trying to pick up the pieces, the way that my Maker had attempted to gather what had physically remained of the Elder vampire of New York state.
Nicole had been well and truly ended. No more second chances for her. She’d already lived longer than anyone had a right to, so maybe there would be those who’d argue this was the natural order of things. Nature taking back control. Birth, death . . . the cycle of life that most human beings rely on to keep them honest.
Vampires manage to slip through the cracks – until something deadly finally catches up with them. This time, it was as simple as a hit and run from a motorcycle: a silver-tipped crossbow bolt to the heart. Direct hit. Boom.
It had been so easy.
I don’t know how many humans out there on the street would have seen the attack, and it turned out that nobody had. Why would they? So much had been happening in that instant, and all anyone could claim to have witnessed was a woman falling – and then disappearing. Something so ridiculously impossible would be easy to rationalize, or just disregard entirely.
And of course it had all taken place so quickly – a fleeting moment when whoever had been riding that motorcycle was able to keep control of the vehicle, while also aiming and firing a crossbow. Easy? Yes, I suppose it had been – in a way. But the perpetrator was able to hit his or her target and then smoothly ride away, without dropping anything, falling off the bike, or being noticed. It was impressive, maybe even damn near miraculous.
Or perhaps, simply, inhuman.
The ‘person’ responsible wasn’t human. That’s the only conclusion I could draw and have any of this make sense. The problem was, it didn’t seem that the more senior vampires agreed with me – and I was very definitely outranked. Sometimes it really did suck to be the little fish.
Theo ran a hand across his face, betraying his emotions. ‘It was planned. More than one person had to have been involved.’
‘Yes,’ Holly agreed. ‘It takes a lot of work to kill someone in a public place like that. Somewhere there’ll be witnesses if things don’t go just right. It was too smooth, as though it had been practiced many times.’
‘What about random drive-bys?’ I asked, partly just to annoy Holly because she was sounding like such a know-it-all.
Castel scowled. ‘It wasn’t a drive-by, you little fool. They had silver. They aimed for her heart. The weapon was advanced enough to punch all the way through flesh and muscle and bone. Those things are not random.’
My temper flared. ‘I know there was nothing random about this attack. I was just saying, in general, why would a public shooting need a lot of planning? Don’t they happen all the time?’
‘Yeah,’ Holly muttered, rolling her eyes. ‘On cop shows.’
Castel turned to Theo. ‘Why is Moth here, Theo? She doesn’t know any—’
‘She stays,’ Theo said quietly. He smiled at Castel, showing the tips of his fangs – something he only did when he was seriously mad. ‘Do you have any further objections to Moth’s presence?’
Echo put a hand on her friend’s arm, silencing him with a look. At least one of them had the sense not to anger Theo further.