CONSCIOUS THOUGHT FLED when Nikolas’s lips brushed mine. Warm and firm, his mouth explored mine with aching slowness and infinite tenderness as his hands framed my face, holding me against him. As if I had the strength to pull away. Sensations I had never felt before blossomed in my chest, and instead of trying to understand them, I leaned in and kissed him back tentatively. I sensed something indecipherable shift between us – like two repelling magnets that flip and are suddenly drawn to each other – and my lips parted to let my breath escape in a soft sigh. He pulled me closer, if that was possible, deepening the kiss, and I surrendered to it, exhilarated and terrified at the same time and never wanting it to end.
Seconds, or maybe a lifetime later, Nikolas made a sound deep in his chest and pulled back. Trembling, I took a breath and met his dark, smoldering gaze that told me I was not the only one affected by the kiss. A storm of emotions assailed me: wonder, bewilderment, elation, but they soon gave way to shock as it hit me what I had just done.
Oh my God, I kissed Nikolas.
Neither of us spoke for a long moment, and I was acutely aware of his hands still cradling my face and his lips only inches from mine. Was he going to kiss me again? Did I want him to?
Before I could answer that question, his eyes became flat and unreadable and he dropped his hands to take a step back. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to . . . ”
His hoarse words hung in the air between us for a second before they hit me like a bucket of ice water. He didn’t mean to? I tore my eyes from his, but not before I saw regret creep into his expression. My stomach dropped, and my body grew warm as humiliation washed over me.
“Sara – ”
“No.” I didn’t want to hear him to explain or tell me it had been a mistake; his reaction said that loud and clear. It didn’t matter why he’d kissed me. It was done and we couldn’t change it. I did not want to talk about it, either. Tears pricked my eyes, making me angry that I should let a simple kiss bother me so much, even if it had been my first kiss.
A heavy silence stretched between us. I refused to look at him, but I had never been so aware of another person. Please, just go, I begged silently.
Nikolas sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said again. Then he turned and walked away.
* * *
I knocked on Tristan’s office door, and he looked up from his computer and motioned for me to come in. He pressed the mute button on his phone. “I just have to finish this call and I’ll be with you.”
“I can come back.”
“No, take a seat. It won’t be more than another five minutes.”
I sat on the couch and stared out the window, trying not to listen to his conversation, although bits and pieces of it reached me anyway.
“ . . . That’s seven people in Nevada this week that we know of . . . How many in California? . . . No, he didn’t find any leads in Vegas . . . It seems to be mostly the western half . . . ”
My mind began to wander as it did a lot lately, and soon my thoughts drowned out Tristan’s voice completely. I found myself going back, as I did way too often, to that night in the medical ward three days ago. My fingers came up to touch my lips the way they did every time I remembered the kiss. Before that night, I had convinced myself that the stirrings I felt for Nikolas weren’t real. But his kiss had not only reawakened them, it had brought them back so strong that they’d sent me into an emotional tailspin. Something had shifted inside me that night, and I didn’t know how to put it back the way it used to be.
The embarrassment I’d felt after Nikolas walked away was nothing compared to the burning rejection that hit me the next morning when I found out he had left very early on business and was not expected back for three or four days. Last week, he’d said he wasn’t going anywhere for at least a month and yet he was already gone. Did he regret kissing me so much that he had left so he didn’t have to see me?
In his absence, I’d gone back to training with Callum in the mornings. Now that I was doing better we didn’t clash as much, and it was a lot better than training with someone who couldn’t even bear to face me.
“I’m sorry, I know I’ve been buried in work the last few days,” Tristan said, pulling me from my thoughts. He sat in the chair across from me and gave me a warm smile. No matter how busy he was, he always looked happy to see me.
I returned his smile. “I understand. Comes with the job, right?”
“It is a part of the job, but I will always have time for you.” He studied my face for a moment. “You seem troubled.”
“No, I’m good,” I said, because there was no way I could tell him the truth. I could only handle so much humiliation in one week. “I actually came to ask you something. Well, two things. Terrence and Josh are going to a party in town tonight and they asked me and Jordan to go. I wanted to run it by you and see if it’s okay.”
“You are asking my permission to go?”
“Yes. I’d really like to go, but I know you have all those restrictions for new orphans, even though I am a lot older than most orphans.” I could probably sneak out if I tried hard enough, but I wasn’t going to do that.
To my surprise, he nodded. “Butler Falls is safe, especially with the others. I might worry about those town boys, though.”
Nikolas’s look of regret flashed through my mind. “Trust me; the last thing I want is to get involved with anyone right now.” Or ever.
Tristan smiled, and his eyes seemed a little too shrewd for my liking. Did he know what had happened between me and Nikolas? God, I hoped not.
“What else did you want to ask me? You said there were two things.”
I shifted uncomfortably because my second request was a lot harder to make. “My training is coming along a lot better now. I’ve been working with Callum the last few days and it’s going pretty good, so I wanted to ask if I could go back to training with him.” With Nikolas due back any day, I knew I had to get my trainer situation settled before I had to see him again.
I could tell he was not expecting me to say that. “You want to work with Callum again?”
“If he’s available, or someone else.”
“Not Nikolas? But you have been doing so well with him.”
I fumbled my answer even though I had prepared for the question. “Nikolas helped me get started, but I’ve really only trained with him twice. And you need him for warrior business. This will free him up for that.”
Tristan frowned. “I’m not sure how Nikolas will feel about this. Have you told him?”
“No, but why should he mind? He’s only training me because you asked him to.”
He let out a chuckle. “I’d like to think I have more compassion for my trainees than to appoint Nikolas as a teacher. He asked to train you, and I thought it was a good idea, considering your history.”
Nikolas had asked to train me? “You wouldn’t let him train the others, but you let him work with me?”
“I was pretty confident you could hold your own against him.”
Until he kissed me.
“So about Callum?”
Tristan nodded, but he did not look happy. “If you really want to go back to him, you can.” He glanced at his watch. “And if you are going to a party in a few hours, you probably should go get ready. I haven’t spent much time around teenage girls, but I hear it takes a while to prepare to go out.”
I laughed. “It doesn’t take long to find a pair of jeans to wear. Although, Jordan might be another story.”
“Have fun, but not too much fun.”
“Now you sound like Nate,” I chided, and he looked pleased by the comparison.
I started to rise from the couch. “I guess I should go tell Jordan the good news.”
“Wait. Before you go, I’d like to ask you something.”
“Okay.” I sank slowly back to the couch. He can’t know about me and Nikolas. Can he?
“I had dinner with Desmund last night. We try to visit every week for a drink and a game of chess. Did I tell you that?”
“No.” I knew they were friends with the way they spoke of each other, but I’d assumed Desmund kept pretty much to himself. I wasn’t sure why Tristan was bringing him up now, and it worried me. Desmund was unpredictable. Had he told Tristan he no longer wanted me to visit him?
“Desmund usually likes to talk about the past, about his life before his affliction.” He leaned forward slightly in his chair. “Do you know what we talked about last night?”
I shook my head, and a small knot formed in my stomach.
“You.”
“Me?” I squeaked.
Tristan’s smile caught me off guard. “He is quite taken with you. I haven’t seen him warm to someone in a very long time. He is like a different person since you started visiting him.”
“Oh.” My body relaxed. “I like him, too. He took a little getting used to, but he’s really sweet when he wants to be. I wish I could go back and meet him before he got sick.”
“That’s the thing. The Desmund I saw last night was very much like the one I used to know. When I say he’s a different person, I mean he is almost like his old self again. It’s as if he has been miraculously cured.” Tristan’s shrewd stare made me fidget. “You did this, didn’t you?”
“I – ” I broke off, uncertain how to proceed. If I told him what I’d done, would he be angry with me? I’d healed hundreds of creatures over the years, but using my power on a person was not the same and neither was dealing with magic. No one had ever healed a Hale witch victim, and here I was thinking I could do it because I’d battled a single witch and won. Just because I succeeded did not mean I’d had the right to take that risk with Desmund in the first place.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He ran his hand through his hair. “You don’t have to talk about it now, but we will have to discuss it soon. What you’ve done . . . do you know what it could mean for others like Desmund?”
Until that moment, all I’d cared about was helping Desmund; I never thought about what it would mean if it actually worked. The idea that I could help other warriors suffering from the same fate made me feel like I might have a purpose here after all.
Tristan stood and waved at the door. “Go on; get ready for your party. We’ll talk more about this later.”
“Okay,” I said, relieved he was not angry with me.
“Sara,” he called as I opened the door. “I don’t think Desmund realizes what has happened or what you’ve done for him. I want to thank you on his behalf.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “You don’t have to thank me. He’s my friend, too.”
* * *
I tugged on the hem of the borrowed white shirt that hugged my body a little tighter than I was used to. Maybe borrowed was not the right word. Coerced was probably a better one. I almost shook my head in disgust. I could command hellhounds, but I could not stand up to a teenage girl when she got it into her head that I needed a party outfit. The jeans weren’t too bad though, even if they hung a bit low on my hips. I still couldn’t believe Jordan had ordered them online for me days ago along with the cute brown leather boots I was wearing. She was pushy and sneaky. I wished I could take her to New Hastings and introduce her to Faith Perry and the other mean girls at my old school. They wouldn’t know what hit them.
“Any of you girls want a beer?” called our host, Derek, over the music as he approached with two unopened beers in his hands.
I held up my bottle of water. “I’m good, thanks.” When we got here two hours ago, I’d had a couple of beers, but I wasn’t much of a drinker.
“I’ll have one of those.” Jordan took one of the offered beers with a smile that made the good-looking twenty-three-year-old grin like a teenage boy. I hid my smile behind my water bottle. I had been a little worried about being around human men again, especially now that my elemental powers were growing. At first, some of the guys, including Derek, showed interest, but after I gently deflected their flirting, they moved on. They didn’t go too far. Half of them were falling over themselves for Jordan who looked amazing and had a sexy, confident air men couldn’t resist. She loved their attention, and I was happy to stay back in the shadows and enjoy the party.
“How about you?” Derek offered the second beer to Olivia.
“Mark is getting me something,” she told him, pointing at Mark, who was talking to Terrence and Josh on the other side of the room.
Jordan said something to Derek, and I took the opportunity to nudge Olivia and confirm a suspicion I’d had all evening. “Hey, what’s up with you and Mark? You two have barely left each other’s sight tonight.” I knew they had been best friends for years, but it was obvious there was something else going on between them.
Olivia blushed and her eyes sparkled. “We finally decided to start going out. We’ve been joking about it for a while and last night we just . . . kissed. My first kiss and it was amazing. I’ve been crazy about him forever, and I never realized he felt the same way.”
“That’s awesome, Olivia.”
She sighed blissfully, her eyes following Mark. “I still can’t believe it.”
When Mark joined us a minute later, I watched the warm looks that passed between them as he pulled her out for a dance. An ache formed in my chest. It wasn’t that I was jealous of them or even wanted a boyfriend right now. I just couldn’t help thinking how different my first kiss was from Olivia’s and how happy she was, while I was . . . I wasn’t quite sure how I felt. Rejected? Confused? Hurt?
Geez, it was just a stupid kiss. Get over it already.
“You girls having fun?” Derek asked, and I nodded. The crowd here was a little older than the high school set, but they seemed nice enough and not too wild.
“Your place is great,” I told him. “Did you really do all this yourself?”
Derek’s face lit up when I mentioned his beautifully restored turn-of-the-century farmhouse. He had inherited the place on the outskirts of town from his grandmother three years ago, and he had turned the old house into a modern home that still retained its country charm.
“Yep, with help from a few of my buddies. I’m not done yet. I’m working on the barn now, gonna make it into garage and a workshop. You want a tour?”
“Sure.” I looked at Jordan, who nodded. We went to grab our coats and followed Derek through the back door. As soon as the door closed behind us, the noise level dropped considerably, and I let out a sigh. I was never going to be a partier. God knows Roland had tried to make me into one. I preferred fresh air to the cloying heat of a crowded room.
The barn was a good fifty yards from the house, but the full moon made the night so bright it was easy to make it out. As Derek pointed out his planned renovations, he told us he had studied art in college and, luckily, his grandmother had left him enough money to pursue art instead of having to get a nine-to-five job to support himself. His other passion was classic cars, and he was currently restoring a nineteen sixty-nine GTO in his friend’s garage until he got his own garage finished. I thought about Roland, who would die for a GTO and didn’t even have his old Chevy truck anymore because of me.
“I already have a room at the house for my art, but I can’t wait to finish the studio,” Derek was saying, and my ears perked up at the mention of an art studio.
“Sara draws, but she keeps her sketches hidden in her room,” Jordan said, and Derek looked at me with new interest.
“What do you like to draw? Do you paint, too?”
“Mostly people and animals. I tried painting a few years ago, but I like drawing more, and it’s a lot less mess.”
Derek laughed. “My parents said the same thing when I lived with them. If you want I’ll show you some of my work when we go back to the house. But right now I want to show you the loft. That’s where my new studio is going.”
Derek grabbed a battery operated lantern from a hook by the door and led us to a ladder at the back of the barn. “My buddy, Seth, is going to help me build the studio; he said it only seems right since it was our fort when we were kids. He and his girlfriend, Dana, are in Vegas now, but when he gets back we might do some work on it before it gets too cold.”
“Lead the way,” I told him and started following him up the ladder with Jordan behind me. At the top, I stepped into the loft that was wide enough that the beam from Derek’s lantern barely reached the dark corners. The loft smelled faintly of old hay, and it was empty except for a few crates and a small square table with some rolled-up papers on top.
Derek hung the lantern on a post in the middle of the room and went to push open the wide shutters at the front of the barn. Moonlight and crisp night air flowed in along with the distant sounds of the party. He went to the table and unrolled one of the papers to reveal a detailed blueprint of the barn.
“It pays to have a best friend who’s studying to become an architect,” he confided with a wink. “Seth drew these up for me at school.” He pointed to some long rectangular markings on the walls and explained that they were going to put in windows on all sides for maximum natural light. “Plus the view up here in the daytime is amazing.”
“This is pretty cool,” Jordan said, walking around the loft. “You’ll have to show us when it’s finished.”
“Absolutely,” Derek declared, and I raised an eyebrow at Jordan, who gave me a small shrug when Derek wasn’t looking. Was she more interested in him than she let on? “You girls are welcome whenever you want to come over. Maybe Sara and I can draw together sometime?”
“Maybe.” I’d never had someone to draw with before, and it might be fun, especially in a real studio.
“I guess we should be getting back to the party before Terrence and Josh come looking for us.” Derek held up the lantern and waved at the hatch. “After you. I’ll hold the light while you climb down.”
I barely took a step before coldness punched through my chest, making me double over. Not now! If my elemental powers started acting up here, there was no way I’d be able to explain it away. Derek, I might be able to fool, but Jordan was way too sharp to fall for a simple explanation, especially after what I’d done to the lamprey demon.
“Sara, are you okay?” Jordan rushed to my side and laid her hand on my back.
“Is she sick?” Derek asked. “I didn’t see her drink much.”
It took some effort, but I straightened up and smiled to let them know I was okay. The cold was still there, worse than it had ever been, but it was more uncomfortable than painful. And thankfully, there was no sign of the strange static power to give away my secret. “I’m fine. I felt a bit woozy there for a second. Probably should have eaten more at dinner.”
Derek smiled in relief. “I can fix that. I have plenty of food at the house.” He held the lantern out to Jordan. “Jordan, why don’t you take this and I’ll help Sara down the ladder.”
I almost laughed at the look on Jordan’s face as she took the lantern. We both knew she was stronger than three men and could carry me down on her back, but we couldn’t tell Derek that.
“A damsel in distress? Looks like I got here just in time.”
The three of us swung around to the man stepping off the ladder. Jordan raised the lantern and illuminated a smiling blond man who looked to be Derek’s age.
“Seth!” Derek smiled broadly. “When did you get back?”
“Got in a few hours ago. We had to take care of some things at home and thought we’d check out the action here tonight. I figured you’d have a bash going on and lots of goodies here to eat.” Seth’s eyes slid slowly over me, and the hair rose up on the back of my neck. How could someone as nice as Derek have a creep for a best friend?
“We were just heading back to the house. I have enough beer and food to keep even you happy. Is Dana with you?”
“She’s on her way with a friend we brought back with us. We can have our own little party out here.”
Something about Seth’s leering smile seemed eerily familiar, and my mind suddenly conjured an image of Eli staring at me with the same hungry expression. Alarm bells went off in my head. It can’t be, I thought even as my hand slowly reached for the dagger tucked in the inside pocket of my coat. After Boise, I’d decided to err on the side of caution and start carrying a weapon again. I really hoped I did not have to use it.
Derek laughed. “Stay here? Dude, what are you talking about? All the booze and food is at the house.”
Seth laid a hand on the top of the ladder. “Oh, I think the real party is gonna happen here, my friend.”
My eyes were drawn to the movement of his hand the second it began to change. I pulled my dagger free as his fingernails became long black claws. “Vampire!”
“What?” Jordan cried as she whipped out two lethal knives with lightning fast reflexes.
“What’s this?” Seth sniffed the air and his smile widened, showing off his glistening fangs. “Oh, I’ve heard all you juicy little morsels from that Westhorne Institute.”
“Seth, what the fuck man!” Derek yelled as horror settled on his face. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Wrong?” Chilling laughter burst from Seth. “I’ve never felt so great in my life, buddy, and it’s about to get a whole lot better.”
The moment Seth moved, Jordan threw Derek behind us so hard he hit the wall and crumpled to the floor. She and I took up fighting stances against the vampire who used to be Derek’s friend. Jesus, what were the odds of going to a party where the host’s best friend returned from vacation as a vampire? And this close to a Mohiri stronghold? I really was a disaster magnet.
“How cute. The little girls think they can take me.” Seth rolled his shoulders. “I know all about you Mohiri children and how there is nothing sweeter than your blood.” His eyes narrowed, and he swallowed like an alcoholic looking at a glass of whiskey.
“We know about you, too,” I said with a lot more bravado than I felt. “You’re a baby vamp, less than a week old, which means you’re not as good as you think you are. And my friend Jordan here is the best warrior you’ll ever meet. In fact, she’s the last warrior you’ll ever meet.”
Jordan recovered from the shock of meeting her first vampire and shot me her signature smirk before deftly twirling the knife in her right hand. Seth’s eyes followed the weapon, and I caught the hesitation in his eyes. The fact that he was a new vampire was the one thing we had going for us. That, and Jordan really was as good as I’d said she was.
“Are you going to eat us or what?” Jordan taunted, and I saw Seth’s nostrils flare. New vampires are also rash and quick to temper, and if anyone could piss one off, it was Jordan. “I’m thirsty and I could be having a beer instead of wasting time with you.”
If we hadn’t been in mortal danger at that moment, I would have laughed at her sheer brass.
Seth did not find it as funny. “If anyone will drink here, it will be me,” he spat, leaping forward. He was faster than I’d expected, but he did not have the blurring speed of the other vampires I’d seen. Jordan met him halfway and delivered a blow to his chest that just missed his heart. He spun away with a shriek of pain and wisps of smoke rose from his chest when he turned for a second attack. “You’ll die for that, bitch.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re the big bad sucker. Shut up and kill me already.”
When this was over, Jordan and I had to have a talk about how not to talk to a vampire.
Seth made a sound somewhere between a growl and a scream and went for Jordan again. I guess he thought I was less of a threat than the girl with two knives so he’d take her out first. For an architect, he was pretty stupid. His claws went for Jordan’s throat when he should have been paying attention to the two silver blades she wielded with deadly ease. One blade slashed across his midsection, opening a deep smoking gash there, and as soon as he dropped his hands to keep his guts from spilling out, the second blade found its mark. The vampire’s eyes flew wide with shock as Jordan pulled her knife free. Then he crumpled to the floor with a heavy thud.
“God I love this job!” Jordan crowed as she bent to wipe her bloody blades on the dead vampire’s sleeve. When she stood, I saw that she didn’t have a speck of blood on her. How was that even possible?
“We should get back to – ” Cold blossomed in my chest again and dread filled me as it finally dawned on me what was happening to me. I whirled to the ladder as a female vampire about my height with long dark hair flew through the hole. Her appearance did not shock me nearly as much as the revelation that my episodes were not random bursts of elemental power.
I had developed my very own vampire radar.
“Seth!” the female vampire shrieked when she saw him on the floor, and I knew she was his girlfriend, Dana, whom Derek had mentioned.
I realized how quiet Derek was, and I glanced behind me to see him out cold against the wall. Damn, Jordan didn’t know her own strength. I hoped he wasn’t hurt too bad, but there was no time to check on him now. We had Dana to deal with, and if Seth had been telling the truth, there was a third vampire here somewhere. All I could do was hope he was as new as these two.
“What have you done with Seth?” Dana screamed, advancing on us.
Jordan smiled and raised her weapons again. “Seth’s gone to hell, but don’t worry, you’ll see him again very soon.”
“Brent!” Dana screeched and bared her fangs at Jordan. “I am going to kill you slowly, bitch.”
I almost groaned when Jordan replied, “You go ahead and take your time, but just so you know, I plan to kill you quickly.”
Up until that moment, I thought we had a chance to get out of here alive. But when a second male vampire appeared at the top of the ladder, I knew we were in trouble. Jordan could probably take one of them, but I wasn’t a fighter. My only strength was my elemental power, and it wasn’t reliable. I had a feeling these vampires weren’t going to stand still while I tried to summon it.
My Mori stirred at the approaching threat, and I felt a spark of hope. I wasn’t as strong or as fast as Jordan, but I wasn’t completely helpless either. Fear for my life overshadowed the fear of my demon, and I dropped the wall between us. Help me.
I suppressed a shudder as the Mori’s consciousness touched mine, and I felt its power rush through my body a second later. When Brent flew at me, I shocked us both by sidestepping his attack so fast it would have made Callum proud. The vampire recovered quickly and came at me again, his fangs and claws bared. There was no time to think or to worry about how Jordan was faring in her own fight. My demon’s instinct took over and I swung the dagger in an upward arc, ripping it across Brent’s hands. He screamed, and I gagged as a clawed pinky bounced off my boot.
Enraged, Brent lunged at me again, and this time he hit me so hard I flew into the wall. My dagger went skidding across the floor, but not before I landed a good blow to his neck. He stepped back to put his hands over the gushing wound, giving me time to get to my feet again. My demon strength was already fading. It had saved me from his first attack, but I couldn’t take another blow like that, and I had lost my weapon.
I flexed my fingers in frustration. Where was all the power that had flared up around the other demons? Vampires are demons too – or at least they have a demon inside them – so there was no reason I couldn’t call on my power like I had with Nikolas. Vamhir demons are a lot closer to the surface than Mori demons. My power should be freaking out already being this close to two vampires. Maybe it just needed a little push.
My eyes did not leave the vampire as I pushed my Mori back and threw up a wall to protect it before I opened my power. The comforting heat flowed through me and I reached for it, trying to shape it into the weapon I had used on Nikolas and the demons. Nothing. What was I doing wrong?
There was a shout to my right, and Brent turned to see Jordan deliver a killing blow to his female friend. His eyes widened in fear at the sight of the other vampire falling. It was the opening I needed. Using the last of my borrowed strength, I launched myself at his back and wrapped my hands around his neck and face. All I had to do was hold him long enough for Jordan to finish with the female.
As soon as my bare skin made contact with his, a surge of electricity ripped through me, making all the hair on my body stand on end. Static crackled up my arms and sparks flew from my fingertips. The vampire jerked and stiffened like he’d been electrocuted and dropped to the floor.
I lay on top of him in shock as the sickly smell of burnt flesh filled my nose. Was he dead? I got my answer when he moaned and tried to push himself up before collapsing back to the floor. Whatever I’d done to him, he was down for now, but vampires healed quickly. I looked around for my dagger and saw it on the other side of the loft.
“Here.” Jordan held out one of her blades. I didn’t hesitate; I took the knife and plunged it into the vampire’s heart.
