PULSE

Book 1 of 5

kailin gow

PULSE

Published by THE EDGE

THE EDGE is an imprint of Sparklesoup LLC

Copyright © 2010 Kailin Gow

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For information, please contact:

THE EDGE at Sparklesoup

P.O. Box 60834

Irvine, CA 92602

www.sparklesoup.com

First Edition.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN: 1597489417

ISBN: 978-1597489416

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all the nameless volunteer blood donors, my doctor, and nurses at Las Colinas Medical Center in Texas who helped me pull through when I had suffered extreme blood loss, blacked out, and nearly hit my head on the floor. Your team gave me bags of blood for transfusion, which helped restore me to a level of safety.

My body craved the blood to keep alive, yet the thought of having to receive the blood from others because my own body couldn't generate it fast enough, made me empathize with vampires like Jaegar and Stuart.

When faced with death by blood loss, you realize how precious that blood in your veins and that beat in your heart is. Thank you blood donors around the world for providing this pulse for me and everyone who may at one point or another require your gift.

providing this pulse for me and everyone who may at one point or another require your gift.

Sincerely,

Kailin

prologue

She ran like an animal. Her clothes were wet, sopping, clinging to her thighs and to her chest, hollow and transparent around the curve of her shoulders. Her hair shook out droplets of rain; her cheeks were flushed and she was breathless. He could see her heartbeat throbbing at the side of her throat, see it in the rhythmic panting, hear it from across the street, pounding in his ears, intermingled with the thunder bolting from the sky. He could feel it – it felt like an earthquake to him, shaking his ribs, his shoulders, his legs. It had been so long since he had seen a heartbeat like hers – since he had felt a heartbeat at all. The skies had opened up –

as they so often did in North California – without any warning, without any hesitation. It was as if the smooth blue glass ceiling of the world had shattered all at once, letting the primordial oceans pound down upon the pavement. He could see her consternation, her irritation – she wanted nothing but to get out of the rain, to dry herself off, to curl up into something warm and dry.

But Jaegar loved the rain. He loved the energy – the pulse of life beating down upon the earth. He could hear the scattered raindrops in their rhythmic approach to earth and pretend that each fall of rain was a beat of his dead heart. And she was alive with the energy, too – alive as he had never seen a woman alive, tossing her hair back, running into shelter, and her lips were pink and her cheeks were red. He remembered that his lips would never again be pink, that his cheeks would never again be red.

She was so young.

Humans so often surprised him in that way. They looked no different from him – he could have been seventeen; he had been seventeen for so long – but their youth never failed to surprise him. The way the world was so new to them – that rain could still take them by surprise, when he had seen so many rainfalls. He could smell her. The wind carried her scent to him like an animal's scent, and it was all he could do to keep his fangs in check. He leaned heavily upon the branch and parted the leaves to get a better look at her. He could feel the blood – stagnant in his veins – begin something like a torpid, sluggish, shift towards life – the branch and parted the leaves to get a better look at her. He could feel the blood – stagnant in his veins – begin something like a torpid, sluggish, shift towards life – the closest thing he would ever get to a heartbeat. She was the sort of girl who made young boys' hearts pound, he thought – and they never knew how lucky they were to experience that sensation.

For it was the physical aspect of it, he thought, that humans understood least of all. They romanticized vampires, of course – how terrible it would be to live at night! To drink blood! To prey upon humans! These were things they could intellectualize, understand. Humans had been forced to commit murder. Humans had been forced to bite back their most natural, primal desires – and so they could almost understand, when they imagined vampires, what it was like to feel that insatiable hunger for a woman's throat, her breast, her wrist. But not a human in the world had ever been alive without living, without a heartbeat – and so they took it for granted

– what it meant, that constant linear throbbing, clock-like, towards inevitable death. For Jaegar was a vampire, and he was not alive, and the dull ache in his chest where a heartbeat should have been was for him one of the most agonizing things in the world.

They don't know, he thought. They'll never understand.

He had been told that she was the one. He had waited for her until sunset – the sun agonizing upon him, even with the ring around his finger. Vampires were not meant for light, and even the strongest magic could not take away the pain, searing, burning, aching, in his flesh. He was unnatural in sunlight, and only now that dusk was beginning to settle over him could he find relief. He sat perched in the tree, obscured by the leaves, staring at her as she ran down the street. He leaned in too closely

– the birds noticed at last that something was wrong in their midst and took flight; a flurry of wings beat up around him and the branch snapped from the tree and plummeted to the earth below.

It was enough time to make a distraction.

He concentrated, and in half a second he was behind her, so close he could feel the wind blow her hair upon his lips, and then he opened the umbrella above her.

“Miss,” he said.

She startled.

“What the...” She rounded on him.

“You looked wet,” he said. She did not seem amused.

“I'm warning you,” she said. “I know kung fu.”

He had learned kung fu once, many centuries ago. He thought it better not to mention it.

“I'm sorry,” he said. “I was just trying to help.”

She softened.

“Thanks,” she said, lamely. “I'm sorry – I didn't mean to snap at you. But you need to learn not to sneak up on people like that. You scared me.”

Her eyes remained fixed upon the tree from which he had come. A suspicious glare clouded her gaze. Had she seen – was she wondering? He knew she knew something was wrong. He tried to maintain whatever pleasant normalcy he could. The sequoias were tall, after all. No human could survive a jump from them – he knew she knew this. He knew she thought he was human.

Don't do this. His mind raged against him. Don't do this.

But vampires had the power of hypnosis, called compulsion – and Jaegar felt himself hypnotized too – he could not stop himself, he could not stop her. Her eyes grew wide and he could see them grow hot and fevered with desire.

Not again, Jaegar. He had promised himself never to use his influence on mortals again. It was dishonorable, Aaron had said – but what could be dishonorable for a vampire? Their rules were of conquest, of power; he could not remember a century when human rules had governed him.

“Take this,” he said, trying to pretend to himself that it was not the magic, trying to pretend perhaps it was only his beauty – he was beautiful, after all, - but he could not control it, any more than she could control it; his hypnosis reflected back at him from the depths of her eyes. He handed her his umbrella; she clasped her fingers around it.

“Thank you,” she whispered. It was the dull voice of possession.

Damn it, Jaegar, not again!

This had never happened to him before. Whenever he had hypnotized a human female, it had been intentional. In the days before Aaron he had felt no regret

– he had plucked out the most beautiful maidens in every century and thus made them succumb to him. But this was different. He had never meant to do it. Something about this human female affected him and chipped away his resolve like no other before. He had promised never to do it... He was under his own spell. He felt his arms gather around her neck, his lips come closer to her mouth, until at last he could breathe in the air from her mouth, and taste the life moist on her lips, and smell her intoxicating hint of perfume. He could feel her heartbeat against her chest, the constant rhythm as steady as the rain. And then the spell was broken. She recoiled – she could feel the deathly cold of his lips, the chill on his cheek – she was still dulled in her confusion, but it was enough for him to regain control of his powers – to run, to hide his shame...

What a humiliation! For a vampire not to control his powers! He had gone soft, he reasoned, ever since he'd listened to Aaron's stupid admonitions. He was letting his vampire nature get the better of him.

Well, enough of that, he thought. Stuart was the soft one – Jaegar was not. And Jaegar had no patience for these kinds of games. Kalina was the key, after all. Next time he saw her, he'd be prepared. He'd have control over his powers. He'd be waiting. And he'd show her no mercy...

***********

Kalina stood staring a moment after he had gone, trying to piece together what had happened. A stranger – a strange smell, like the bark of trees, or the musk of the woods – an arm around her, something against her lips. She could not remember the order of events – a kiss, then a rustle in the trees, then his arms, then a stranger

– or was it the other way around? But the feelings lingered, adrenaline rushing through her veins, her desire like perfume hanging upon the air. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She had known desire, she supposed – she and Aaron had made out a few times in the library mezzanine after study hall, and even let him see her in her bra once or twice – but this was different. There had been no fumbling, no embarrassed confusion, no accidental clashing of teeth or kick in the leg. She had wanted to...oh, sometimes she had really wanted to – but whenever things had gotten close, he'd run off, find some excuse, some textmessage on his phone, go out drinking and emerge tipsy in the afternoon, smelling of alcohol and staggering in zig-zags. The taste of the stranger remained on her lips, and yet she could not remember him having kissed her – or who he was. She only felt something hot in the pit of her stomach, something hot and strange and she was still breathless but she must have stopped running five minutes ago. She scanned her mind for what could have happened. She had read about girls getting drugged at nightclubs – a girl in the year above her had been roofied and raped after prom, and a football player had been suspended. The girl had transferred to a school in New York City. She had always been careful, even paranoid –

watching her cup at parties, telling a friend where she was before she went out to party with the rest of the cheerleading squad. But she hadn't been drinking – it was a school afternoon and she had done nothing but jog to the library in the rain. Drugs? No. Since Aaron's death, she had stared many times at her brother's prescription pad – which he always left so tantalizingly close on his desk (she could have forged his signature, gotten herself something to numb the pain...), but she wasn't stupid. She prided herself on not being stupid. Other girls were stupid – girls who didn't get good grades, who drank too much at parties, who cried about breakups in math class. She judged them harshly - too harshly, Aaron had said. “They were only human,” he'd reminded her, with a strange, almost paternal care for the girls in her grade. But Kalina was strong, she reminded herself. She wasn't stupid. She hadn't been doing drugs. She hadn't been drinking. She knew not to drink. Aaron was a drinker – she had broken up with Aaron for being a drinker. She knew that smart girls didn't black out. She knew this. Then what had happened?

She reached the library and then she realized it.

There was an umbrella in her hand.

She swallowed hard and tried to forget, tried to cool her blood as it burned and boiled in her veins. But seeing the library doors didn't make it any easier. She hadn't been to the library since the end of her junior year, since they found the remains of Aaron. She hadn't needed to study in summer. She was a straight-A student hadn't been to the library since the end of her junior year, since they found the remains of Aaron. She hadn't needed to study in summer. She was a straight-A student anyway. But now it was senior fall, and not even the memories would deter her from being valedictorian, deter her from applying early to Yale, deter her... She was smart, damn it! She punched the door open. She was smart. She was sensible. She could get over this. She had to get over this. She was strong... And yet her heart wouldn't stop pounding.

Seeing the Greystone Bible didn't make it any easier. It was Aaron's family Bible – passed down through centuries of frontiersmen and saloon owners – the story of the American West in smudged print and faded daguerreotype. Aaron had been so proud when the library had asked to exhibit it – he'd told her about his halfbrother, whom she had never met, and how proud he would be too... And there was the Bible, encased in glass, and now along with the frontiersmen and the pioneers there was a birth date and a death date for Aaron Greystone, who was only seventeen when he died.

She brushed the tears back from her eyes. There wasn't time for this.

But she couldn't stop herself from going over to the exhibit, to touching the glass, even giving it a kiss with her fingertips, hoping nobody would see.

“Goodbye, Aaron,” she whispered.

The week they had broken up, Aaron had told her that the most important secrets of his life lay in the Greystone Bible. She hadn't wanted to listen to him then –

she assumed he was just drunk, as usual. “You're wasting your life,” she'd said.

And he had. DUI. Death Under Idiocy, she thought. They'd said it was a random attack – Kalina didn't believe it. His family was probably just trying to cover it up. It wouldn't look good for Aaron Greystone, of Greystone Wineries, to have died driving drunk.

He had been so stupid – so stupid!

She couldn't forgive him.

Her eyes were misty with tears. She rounded away from the Bible – she couldn't look at it now – and ran smack-straight into a boy, blinded by her grief.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It's fine.”

That voice...

She looked up, and her heart stopped beating altogether.

“Aaron?”

chapter 1

Stuart could see the pain in her eyes. For a moment, there was recognition there – she saw Aaron in him; her tear-filled eyes could fix upon the resemblance. The same hazel eyes, deep and warm and comforting. The same sandy brown hair, swept back, only slightly too long. The same smile, as balmy as a summer beach. He knew what she saw in him. And he knew, too, her disappointment, when she clapped her hand over her mouth and turned away in shame.

“I'm sorry...” she mumbled. “I'm sorry – I only thought...”

“I know,” he said, clearing his throat. He'd been waiting for this for so long – and yet he wasn't sure what to say to her.

“You know?” He saw her furrow her brow.

“Aaron,” said Stuart, sticking out his hand. “He was my brother.”

“Your...” Kalina gave a little laugh – half of relief, half of self-mockery. “He doesn't have...”

“Half-brother.” Stuart said. “I was away when it happened – Aaron and I haven't spoken in quite some years. But...when I heard...”

“You came back,” said Kalina.

“Yes, yes.”

She was looking him up and down, now, with a powerful and inquisitive eye he had never seen in humans before. Usually he was able to cow them into submission – he never did it unless it was absolutely necessary – to escape a burning or an attack, or a harsh dawn – for he found it distasteful. But he knew it was one power in the vampire arsenal.

She continued examining him – he knew she was looking for traces of Aaron in him.

Then again, she was no ordinary human.

“He spoke so highly of you,” Stuart said.

“I'm glad,” said Kalina.

“He loved you very much.”

Kalina flushed. “He was a boy,” she said. “He didn't know what love was.”

“Harsh – to speak ill of the dead,” said Stuart. He had not expected this. But the tears in her eyes suggested she wasn't quite as unmoved as she sounded.

“Of course he was a boy – he was seventeen.” she said. Her voice trembled. “He was seventeen. And now he'll never grow up. Now he'll never know what it's like...to really love somebody.” Her cheeks grew hot and red. “I loved him too – but...it wasn't supposed to be forever. And now...it's forever for him, I guess.”

“I'm sorry,” said Stuart.

“Oh, God – no – I'm sorry,” said Kalina. “I'm being so insensitive – he was your brother.” She looked up at him, her eyes still searching his face. For what – he wondered.

“I didn't know him well,” said Stuart shortly. And yet he could see what Aaron had seen in her. She was exquisitely beautiful, with long limbs and silky dark brown hair like a pony's mane, loosely hanging down her back. She was lithe and toned and coltish, and in her eyes there was a trace of something not altogether Californian, a look that reminded him of the Chinese girls he had known centuries earlier. It was a beauty he had not been used to seeing among the bottle-blonds and false-tans of California. It made him think of home.

“So, you're back...” Kalina tried again, composing herself.

“Someone had to help run the Wineries,” said Stuart.

“Just what they need,” said Kalina. “Those damn wineries!” She rubbed her eyes.

“I'm sorry?”

“Their own son – an alcoholic – and after what happened...the Wineries!”

“After what happened?”

Kalina stiffened. “Right. Aaron’s death. They never found his body, you know. Apparently he was driving drunk and his car crashed, his body flew out into the wilderness near the school. May have been knocked unconscious and the coyotes got to him. In the end, all they found were his bloodied clothes. After a week of searching and not finding anything, they declared him dead.”

So – she had noticed that the circumstances of his death were suspicious.

“What do you think happened?”

“It's not my place,” said Kalina. “I'm sorry.”

“No...” he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I'm sorry. Please – tell me. It's okay.”

“Look,” said Kalina. “Aaron – he had a drinking problem. A bad one. I told him...don't get in the car unless your blood alcohol level is virtually nil – I told him, call me, I'll drive you home, always give the keys to a friend...but he was stupid.” The word crunched in her mouth. “Yeah, stupid,” the tears began flowing again. “I know you're his brother – I don't care – it was a stupid thing to do...getting in a car wasted and leaving the rest of us here...missing him.”

He wanted to put his arms around her, to comfort her, to tell her the truth.

“May I...” he always felt so bold, approaching women. When he was born, a man could get stoned for less. “May I offer you a...hug?”

She laughed through her tears. “Of course,” she said. “I guess you need one too, huh?”

He wrapped his arms around her, smelling the sweet hints of flowers in her hair. Honeysuckle, was it? Or roses. He had never quite gotten used to the invention of women's scented shampoo. He wanted to hold her tighter, to squeeze out her pain, to protect her... She let him hold her a moment longer than was necessary.

“We can miss him together,” she said, pulling away.

He had come for the Bible. He had not expected to find her here. But now she was encircled in his arms – he could feel her heartbeat lightly tapping against his dead chest – and he couldn't help but trust her.

Perhaps she could help him.

“Aaron didn't die in a car crash,” he said. “And he didn't die from wild animals.”

“What? What...happened?”

“That's why I'm here,” said Stuart.

***********

She couldn't get over the resemblance. As she stared at him, it was like staring into Aaron's face again. Not drunk Aaron, boyish Aaron, stupid-pranks-pulling, classskipping Aaron. This was the Aaron she had always dreamed about – older, wiser, who had seen the world and known all things and was strong and brave enough to still stay standing. This is the Aaron she had for so long wanted him to be. He had driven her crazy – his immaturity, his pranks, his high school jests – and she had wanted so much more than that.

And now it was like she was seeing, not a ghost of the past, but rather a phantom of the future – who Aaron might have been, one day, given the time. If he had lived. She thought back to the note Aaron had left her. “My life is in danger. The secrets are in the Bible.” She had found it while cleaning out her book bag. It had angered her – at first. The scrawled hand, the obsessive paranoia – she'd assumed he'd been drinking when he wrote it, when he left it in one of the notebooks he'd returned to her after the breakup. “I'll explain everything when I can. I will always love you.”

Always. What a ridiculous word! As if it meant anything, when she was on one side of that great chasm of life, and he was on another, and there was nothing straddling that infinite divide.

And now Stuart was saying there was something mysterious about his death after all.

“I've come to see the Bible,” he was saying (she hadn't believed Aaron! Why hadn't she believed him?). “I believe...I believe there are some clues in there.”

“Clues?”

“Clues. Kalina – Miss Kalina – I believe...I believe it might not have been altogether...unsuspicious.”

“Unsuspicious,” she repeated, dully. It was too much to take in all at once.

“I see that you cared for him a great deal,” he said.

“Yes.”

“May I offer you my arm?” He proffered it to her. “We can look at the book together.”

She nodded.

The doors of the library swung open with a huge gush of wind. Together, they shivered – a whip of wind rushed past them; the doors swung closed again; a thunderbolt clapped in the distance.

“Oh my God...” the librarian's shrill voice broke the silence.

They looked down.

Behind them, the glass case that once held the Greystone Bible – held it seconds before – was empty. It was gone.

chapter 2

Stuart could smell him in the air. His powers were the powers of a vampire – heightened by over a thousand years of practice – honing his skills in the hunt and pursuit of prey. Stuart could smell that distinctive musk – like the bark of an ancient tree – and he knew his brother had come. He knew his brother's smell like he knew his own; he had tracked it over continents before.

“Jaegar,” he whispered.

“Who...?” Kalina started, stammering with confusion.

“I'll be back.”

Before she could respond, he had taken off, running with swift-footed surety into the night, no slower than a burst of wind, so fast that he looked less like a man than a blur, swooping through the shadows.

“Jaegar!” Stuart called out again. He sniffed the air, trying to follow Jaegar's tracks. “You can't hide from me forever, Jaegar!” The leaves rustled beneath his feet; the trees swarmed past his as he flew, his feet no longer even touching the ground.

They came to the Rutherford Cemetery. So, this is where Jaegar was going. Stuart should have known.

He heard a rustle in the branches; he felt the scent hot upon his nose and his mouth. He had found him at last.

“My dear brother!” Jaegar was standing in the middle of a clearing, by two familiar graves, his skin as pale as moonlight in the evening shadows. The Greystone Bible was clutched in his hands. “What...no, not a surprise. Not a surprise at all.”

“You coward!”

“Why chase me, Stuart? When you know you can't fight me – when you know if you catch me, all you'll do is get beaten once again? It seems like a waste of time if you ask me.”

“Give me the book, Jaegar,” said Stuart.

“Why should I?” Jaegar had begun to pace, like a panther stalking around his prey. “It's useful to me!”

“Give me the book” said Stuart, more loudly this time, but already he knew that the effort was futile. When it came to Jaegar, it always was.

“That's no way to talk to your brother after such a long absence.” He dug lines in the dirt with the heel of his boot. “You'd think you'd start with ‘hello – how are you –

how's the last century been treating you?’ More than a century – hasn't it been.”

“One hundred and twenty years,” said Stuart, through gritted teeth.

“You always did have such a good memory,” said Jaegar. “Father would have been so proud.”

“Don't you talk about Father!”

Jaegar patted the grave lightly. “I can talk about him all I like. He's right here, isn't he? Hello, Father!” He laughed. “Hi Dad! Hey there, Pops! How's the afterlife treating you? Oh – wait – there isn't an afterlife for our kind, is there?”

Stuart felt the familiar anger rise up in his throat. He could not resist.

He launched himself onto Jaegar, sinking his teeth into Jaegar's right shoulder. He knew it was stupid – that he didn't have a chance – that he never had a chance. But he could not stop himself. He had never been able to stop himself.

“Fool!” Jaegar laughed lightly, throwing Stuart back across the cemetery.

“No!” Stuart rushed at him again, blind rage clouding his eyes, so that he could see nothing, but only feel – the harsh fingernails tearing at his arms and face, the blows coming fast upon his nose and mouth, the dried, decaying blood oozing out in fatty globules from where Jaegar had cut him. At last he was defeated, and Jaegar was standing above him, laughing. He felt a rough hand jerk him up by the hair, and then Jaegar's teeth closed around his throat. It was the shame, more than the pain, that forced Stuart's eyes shut. No vampire could withstand being bitten like a human, without all the humiliation that entailed. entailed.

“How'd you like that?” said Jaegar. “Feel good? After all – you like feeling like a mortal, don't you? That's what this is all about! You want that virgin's blood! You don't deserve it. You don't deserve any of it. Try running Greystone Wineries – when you're not vampire enough to harvest its blood. You never drink from the unwilling

– do you? How do you expect to run our supply on volunteers alone?”

“It can be done,” said Stuart.

“Father never did,” Jaegar laughed. “You think all that Vampire Wine was volunteer-given?”

“We have technology now,” said Stuart, coughing up more globules of blood. “It's different – we don't need as many humans as we once did...”

“Aspirin?” Jaegar threw Stuart to the ground. “Please.”

“It's humane...” Aspirin thinned the blood, allowing the supply of blood cells to diffuse out into the liquid.

“Humane? When we're not human. It tastes like shit, Stuart, and no self-respecting vampire would drink aspirin-tainted blood. You're a joke. And everyone knows volunteer blood is like a whore's body. When they're giving it away like that, you've got to wonder how worthy is it really...”

“What would you have me drink?” said Stuart.

“Beautiful young women. Young men. Unwilling. Always unwilling. Maybe that pretty virgin you're trying so hard to protect...could you stop yourself from gobbling her up? You know – if I wanted her I could have her. But I wouldn't want her blood to restore me to my human nature! Where's the fun in that? No – I just want the power... She doesn't even have to be a virgin, for that. I could deflower her...and then you'd never get to be a human again!”

“How dare you!” Stuart roared. The idea of Jaegar seducing Kalina was more than he could bear. It had hit a nerve. So often, Jaegar had taken Stuart's women, after finishing his own; so often he would insist on draining them when he had finished, Stuart begging him not to all the while. “I am a vampire,” Jaegar had said then.

“What more do you expect?”

“What – protecting that woman's honor from a distance? You think you're doing her any favors – putting her in a nunnery! I know seventeen-year-old girls –

she' s not going to stay chaste for your sake...”

“You're a pig!”

Jaegar shrugged. “I know what I want from her. If she is the girl in the legend – I will drain her dry – and then...my blood will pump. My heart will race. I shall walk in the sun and the shadows alike. But – to give up my immortality? Please! You're a fool.”

“How can you not want to die,” Stuart said.

Jaegar laughed. “I'm enjoying being undead far too much,” he said. “And I make no apologies about what I am. If I stalk that lovely piece of flesh – then she is my prey. I am not ashamed! But you – imagining she'll fall in love with you, that she'll freely give you her blood – how is that any less disgusting than what I'm doing?

Only you won't admit it – you hypocrite!”

“It's different with me!” Stuart cried. “I...” What could he say? That he loved Kalina? He barely knew her. He'd been watching her – protecting her – waiting...she was the key to what he wanted most in the world: to become human again, to live again, to feel his soul return into his body and give him hope for heaven, one day. And whenever he looked at her, he saw that future, that chance, that possibility reflected in her eyes. And how could he not fall in love with that?

“Good luck keeping her virginity!” Jaegar laughed as he sauntered off. “You're so...abstinent.”

Stuart knew the legend. Only a virgin – a virgin from that sacred line - could provide Life's Blood. An outdated rule, perhaps, but a rule from outdated times.

“Damn you!”

In a flash Jaegar was at Stuart's throat again. He picked him up by the back of the neck, as he would a naughty dog.

“Listen, younger brother. The girl is mine. You understand that?”

He flung Stuart once more into the earth, and vanished into the night.

Kalina waited a while longer in the library before giving up. She needed some time to collect her thoughts. She had given a statement to the librarian, who had by now called the police, and at last been allowed to leave. What had happened to Stuart, she wondered? He had run off so quickly – she hadn't even seen him run. He had only vanished – like magic.

Never mind, she told herself. It was stupid to even think of trying to get back with anything Greystone. That family destroyed whatever it touched – and the smartest thing she could do was stay away.

She decided to walk back to her car. She had left it across town – thinking she'd get a jog in before the library. That was before the rain had started. She prayed that she had remembered to close the windows. It was dark, now, and the moon poured down a milky light onto the path. What a day, she thought. She never liked walking alone at night. Rutherford was a safe town, but Kalina had never been able to shake the feeling that she was being watched. From her childhood, she had always felt that somebody's eyes were upon her – that somebody was looking at her through the whispering trees of the wood. The fear had gotten worse after Aaron had died. Even her strenuous study of kung fu and cheerleading – a martial art, she called it, and one she hoped would garner her a college scholarship – had never made her feel quite safe.

She felt the same fear whip within her again tonight.

The rain was beginning to fall again, moistening her hair and her lips, and erasing the tears from the corner of her eyes. Then, she felt a hand around her mouth.

“We meet again, beautiful.” It was the same voice, the same smell, the same powerful rush of her blood, that she had felt in the afternoon. She gasped.

“Let me go!” She tried to remember her martial arts training, giving him a sharp elbow to the gut as she bit into his hand. Surprised, he let her go. She started running.

“Not so fast, my pretty.” He caught up and took her hand again, holding onto her with what must have been superhuman strength. “Look at me.”

He forced her face around to him; his eyes bore into hers.

She felt her resistance waning – the same, sleepy sense come over her. She knew that she was supposed to be running away, but she could no longer remember why

– the power of his eyes drilled into her.

“Who are you?” she asked, dully.

“You will not scream,” he said.

“I will not scream.”

“Get in the car.”

Mechanically, she clicked open the door.

“May I enter?”

“Yes, of course.” She made room for him. The narrating voice in her head – her self-awareness – had been shut off like an electronic switch.

“My name is Jaegar Greystone,” he said. “I am not here to hurt you.”

“Greystone?” Her mental facilities were coming back to her.

“I was Aaron's half-brother. He told me about you. He told me to find you.”

The cloud in her brain was abating. She began to regain conscious of where she was, of who she was.

She slapped him across the face.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she said. “You couldn't have just come up to me and said hello like a normal person? I thought you were a mugger – you scared the hell out of me!”

“I had to come secretly – after what happened with Aaron...”

“What the hell were you thinking...”

“Aaron sent me – before he died. He sent me a note. He said he was in danger. Do you know anything about this danger?”

“Yeah.” She wriggled out of his grasp. “It comes in a glass bottle. Look – you need to leave.”

“Vampire Wine was the least of Aaron's problems.”

“Vampire Wine?”

“You don't think vampires get by without sucking human blood without some sort of relief?”

“What?”

His face fell. “You didn't know!”

His face fell. “You didn't know!”

“Get. Out.”

“My dear lady.” He took her hand; she pulled it away.

“Get out of the car. If you want my wallet – take my wallet – and get the hell out of my car. I don't know what you've been smoking – or what the hell you're on to think attacking me was a good idea – but whatever it is, I want you out. ”

“You didn't know...”

“Out!”

“As you wish.” He left as soon as he had come – she saw a flash flit across the parking lot and then she was gone. She needed to process this. A vampire? No – that was crazy. Vampires didn't exist. But...her mind flashed back to Stuart, his preternatural flight across the library quadrangle, the way he had vanished, that strange power Jaegar was able to exert over her, his flight across the lot now... Perhaps it made a strange sort of sense. She buried her head in her hands, feeling the tears come again – tears of stress and anger along with pain. She had experienced too many surprises today. She had revoked his invitation. He had no choice but to leave the vehicle. He glowered at her from a distance. Even from fifty feet away he could see the tears running down her face. Seeing her wrapped around her knees, sobbing, he couldn't help but feel pity for her – even wanting to hold her. He shook away the sensation. You're a vampire, he told himself. Don't be “humane.”

She was his ticket to power, nothing more.

And yet his powers had failed him that morning? He ignored it.

He had to focus on the mission. Her.

He concentrated hard on her, willing her to forget that he had ever told her anything, wiping her mind clean. He saw her face relax; her eyes brighten with joyful forgetfulness. The tears dried quickly on her eyes as she looked around, confused, wondering how she got into the car. She had forgotten everything.

chapter 3

Kalina spent that evening trying to piece together the previous day. She had blanked out on two occasions, losing whole chunks of her memory. What had happened?

She couldn't sleep that night, playing the day over and over in her mind. She remembered meeting Stuart, who had vanished as quickly as he had come, and she remembered a mysterious man on the street, and then something had happened in her car to upset her, but she couldn't remember what it was. Too much stress, she reasoned. And she hadn't been sleeping enough, anyway. The nightmares since Aaron's death had been too much to bear. When she arrived at school the next day, she greeted Maeve on the steps. She and Maeve had been best friends for years, through boyfriends and heartaches and broken promises – they had always been there for each other.

“How are you doing?” asked Maeve. “You look like you've been having a rough time. There are bags under your eyes.”

“Couldn't sleep,” said Kalina. “Bad dreams.”

“You should try Diazepam. It's what my mom takes when she can't sleep.” Maeve's mother took a lot of medications for a lot of different ailments.

“Justin would never prescribe it. He's paranoid about side effects – he probably had to memorize them all in med school. Yeah – the last thing I need is to be less alert.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“I'm...” Kalina sighed. “I don't know. Had a rough few days. Keep forgetting stuff.”

“Since Aaron?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I hear that happens, sometimes. When people are traumatized.”

But she wasn't traumatized. Or at least, she hadn't been. But she couldn't help feeling that something was wrong.

“Maybe I'll go crazy. Like those soldiers coming back from Iraq.”

“You're not crazy.” Maeve linked her arm through hers. “You're going through a rough time. That's all.”

“I hope so,” Kalina looked down.

The bell rang, and it was time for history class. The crowds of students swarmed the hallway.

“Hey, who's that?” Maeve laughed and turned her head around.

Kalina craned her neck to see a tall, slender male body. He had already passed them by – all she could see was the back of his head, his light crop of hazel hair.

“I heard we were getting a transfer,” Maeve said. “He's not so bad. Not bad at all.” She pursed her lips.

“Yeah, well,” said Kalina. “I've had enough of guys for the time being.”

“Not for you, silly. For me.” Maeve shrugged. “If I could ever get up the nerve...” Maeve was notoriously shy around boys. Kalina could spot a gaggle of girls flocking around the mysterious boy.

“Look at them – like honeybees on a summer's day,” she said.

“I could be one of those honeybees,” said Maeve, laughing.

“Good luck,” said Kalina. “Better you than one of them.” Most of the other cheerleaders on the squad cared for little more than the status achieved by hooking up with the latest football player. Besides, she couldn't think about guys right now. She had too much on her plate. What had happened last night? And why couldn't she remember anything?

Lost in her thoughts, she bumped straight into the boy, to the envy of the honeybee contingent, who tittered and wondered unsubtly why they hadn't thought of such a tactic themselves.

“Kalina!”

She looked up. It was Stuart.

“We keep bumping into each other, I guess.” He gave a nervous laugh.

“I guess.” She considered him. “Aren't you a little old to be a student.”

“I’m eighteen.” He looked uncomfortable. “I took some time off – did a couple of years abroad, not-for-credit, doing stuff for the winery. I'm graduating a bit late.”

“Abroad, where?”

“China,” he said, just a bit too quickly.

She smiled. “I've always wanted to go to China. One of my birth-parents was Chinese.”

“Do you speak it?”

“No...” she shrugged. “Never met them. Adopted!” She deflected any follow-up questions. “So, you're the new guy.”

“I'm the new guy.”

“Hey – can I talk to you for a second?” She took him by the arm and led him away, much to the chagrin of the other girls. When they were out of earshot she continued.

“Hey – what happened last night?”

Stuart opened his mouth to speak, but before he could answer, up sauntered Genie Coltran. She was the head cheerleader on the squad, and Kalina's main rival for a college scholarship. Kalina couldn't help feeling predatory as Genie took his arm.

“I want to show you around,” she said. “You have to meet everybody! I'm like your chaperone, okay?”

“That's very kind,” said Stuart, straightening his back. “But I think I've found myself a chaperone already.”

Genie withdrew. “Suit yourself,” she said. “See you in history.” She went off to lick her wounds. “See you at cheerleading practice, Kaley. Don't be late!”

Kalina laughed. “You didn't have to do that.”

“I've seen it all before,” said Stuart. “It's not my thing.”

“So, are you going to tell me?”

Stuart flushed. “It's complicated,” he said.

“I like complicated.” She crossed her arms. She had a feeling that Stuart had something to do with what happened last night, and she wasn't about to let him off the hook until she found out what it was.

“How about I meet you after school?” said Stuart. “We'll talk about it then?”

Something in his inflection made it sound like Stuart was asking her on a date. She blushed, in spite of herself. He had Aaron's voice, Aaron's smile. She remembered when Aaron had first asked her out, using precisely those same words, and warmth flooded the space between her ribs. It was good to feel that warmth again.

“Okay,” she said.

“I'll see you then, Miss Kalina.”

“Meet here at three o'clock? My locker's number 204.”

“Come by the house at three thirty?” said Stuart. “The Greystone Wineries – you know the building.”

She nodded.

chapter 4

Stuart arrived home moments past three. His vampire abilities were often useful in these minor ways; no sooner had the bell rung that he found a suitably secluded spot in the parking lot from which to fly – moving so quickly that he would have appeared little more than a blur to anyone who saw him. He had been living here for months, ever since he returned after Aaron's death. Although Greystone Wineries had workers working the field and winery, the place seemed so empty without him; the vines withered on the sides of the house, and the light cast eerie shadows over dusty floors. The workers had left for the season, and now even the grapevines were in desperate need of care. He wasn't proud of the place – it hadn't been particularly well-kept. But then again, only Aaron lived in the main house. Their parents Gerard and Marilee Greystone were long dead. Stuart and Jaegar had left years ago, right after their deaths. They'd told outsiders of a father and a mother, of course, and it was so easy for Aaron to use his powers to be convincing – he was the youngest of the vampires, but in many ways perhaps the most skilled at that particular power. He had a puppy-like earnestness that would have convinced listeners even if he hadn't been exercising hypnosis at the same time. But it was only ever Aaron, since that terrible day they did not speak of, since those two graves were dug, that had run the wineries. Stuart didn’t really get into the wine itself since Aaron had a winemaker’s nose, but when he can, he did help Aaron with sales to the bars and restaurants. And now Aaron was dead. It didn't seem real. Stuart had been alive so long that death had become what happened to other people – to human people – even, at times, to those he had accidentally killed, before he learned to overcome his vampire nature. It had been a struggle; young vampires were no more capable of understanding their actions than men on hallucinogenic drugs. Some, like Stuart, eventually mastered their urges. Some, like Jaegar, chose not to. It was a point of contention between them – it always had been. Stuart argued for a conscience; Jaegar argued from nature.

“Humans kill chickens and cows,” he had always said. “And we don't fault them. Humans kill pigs – pigs are very intelligent creatures, and they kill dolphins and tuna fish. And we say it's part of the food chain. Well, Stuart, my dear brother, we're part of the food chain.”

“But we don't have to kill humans! Not with Vampire Wine.”

“And humans can eat tofu!” Jaegar always laughed it off. “But they don't. At least, not most humans. The sensible ones.”

They had disagreed on everything – always had. The only thing that they had ever agreed upon was Aaron. Ever since Aaron's birth they had both loved him. Their father Gerard, their young stepmother Marilee, Jaegar, and Stuart had lived at Greystone Wineries. Then there was Aaron, Marilee’s son. He was so young – at first a half-human, half-vampire that could still age from babbling infancy to adolescence. A baby halfvampire – it had frustrated them at first, confused them, brought up human feelings of protection neither was aware of before. For seventeen years, they had watched a creature grow up alongside them – watch his blood circulate, his heartbeat, his organs stretch and grow as he aged. And then his mother turned him.

They couldn't blame her – what mother wants to see her child grow older than her – and Aaron's mother would never look a day older than seventeen, when Gerard turned her.

“It's not natural,” she had tried to explain. “A son older than his mother.”

But then again, they had never been natural.

Stuart heard a thump from the other room. The prickly hairs on the back of his neck stood up. There was someone here. Thump. He tightened his hand on the dagger he kept hidden in his belt. He sniffed the air and stalked over to the door to the living room.

“Jaegar,” he called, as he opened the door.

“Ah, brother dearest, you're home!” said Jaegar, lightly. He was sitting at his desk with the Greystone Bible in hand. “I'm just catching up on a little light reading; hope you don't mind.”

“Not remotely,” said Stuart, stiffly.

“I've been finding such interesting things, you know? This book is truly one fascinating piece of work.” He continued nonchalantly flipping through the pages.

“Chock full of clues – did you know that?”

“What did you find out?”

“Well, that's my business, isn't it?” said Jaegar, pretending to be hurt. “I did all the research!”

“Just tell me what you know!” Stuart's voice grew louder. “Is it the girl or isn't it?”

“Temper, temper!” said Jaegar. “Really. Let's see.”

“’Emeric Greystone. Born 1044. Died 1100. Nice long life. Edward Greystone. Born 1067 died 1110.’ Respectable. What illustrious ancestors we have!”

“Get to the point, Jaegar.”

“Oh, here's us! ‘Jaegar Greystone. Born 1329. R 1349.’ Love that - “R.” ‘Resurrected, 1349. Stuart Greystone. Born 1331.’ Such a younger brother, you are!”

“Jaegar!”

“Fine, I'll skip ahead. As you wish.” He turned a mass of pages. “’Aaron Greystone. Born 1870.’ What a baby. ‘Died 1887.’”

“Died?”

“Yes - “died.” How curious. Not resurrected. Died.”

“But how...”

“Old Jebediah Greystone doesn't seem to have realized that Aaron was one of us. Although they managed to figure it out about us.”

“Is that what Aaron wanted Kalina to see…that he was born in 1870 and died in 1887, that he was not human?”

“Perhaps. It isn’t like it is a big secret to the Greystones.”

“Would you keep your voice down?”

“Nobody's here! I don't see why people shouldn't know, in any case. I hear it's a good way to pick up women. They love vampires.”

“I think they love being alive a tad more.”

“One would think so, yes.” Jaegar shrugged. “But they don't seem to mind...”

“And Aaron? I bet he loved being alive!”

Stuart hadn't meant to speak the accusation aloud. But he couldn't help being suspicious. He didn't trust Jaegar. He had never trusted Jaegar. Whatever humanity and kindness Jaegar had exhibited when they were alive – only lightly touched by his arrogance and vanity – had long been snuffed out by centuries in humanity and kindness Jaegar had exhibited when they were alive – only lightly touched by his arrogance and vanity – had long been snuffed out by centuries in Octavius's army.

“It's good paying work,” Jaegar had said. “Like hunting food.” Being a mercenary paid the bills – and vampires were the best fighters of all. “Someone has to pay for the winery.” The family had always made wine – from the early days in England to settlements along the Silk Road centuries later, to their final arrival in California late in the eighteenth century.

Under Octavius, Jaegar had changed immeasurably. He had grown hard, and cold, and cruel, so proud of his vampire nature that he lost all touch with the human he might have been. Stuart had thought that they had always both loved Aaron – that no matter how cruel or callous Jaegar got, he would always reserve what little love he had left in his soul for his brother. But perhaps he was giving Jaegar too much credit.

“You think I did it, brother?” Jaegar looked away. “If you think I can kill vampires that easily – you should be more worried about your own life.” They both knew he could kill Stuart with a flick of his wrist. “I didn't – in case you're wondering. But you didn't suspect me, did you.”

“Of course not,” said Stuart, gruffly. “Jaegar – listen – what are you doing at the winery? What do you want here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” said Jaegar, with an enervating grin.

A knock came from downstairs.

“Oh, don't bother yourself.” Jaegar had already whirled past him; his voice echoed from the stairs. “I'll get it.”

***********

The man who opened the door seemed terribly familiar. Kalina recognized his face – his beautiful eyes, the smooth marble-like skin. She had seen him before –

but where? Images of yesterday's blackouts appeared suddenly in the back of her brain; she pushed them out. Don't be silly, she told herself.

“I'm here to see Stuart?” she said.

“Stuart,” Jaegar called. “Your date is here...”

Kalina blushed. “It's not a...”

“Oh good,” Jaegar grinned at her. “I must say – you have such a lovely...neck.”

His eyes fell on her bared throat, her parted lips. She felt him staring at her and felt decidedly uncomfortable.

“Who are you, exactly?” she said, trying to sound more intimidating than she felt.

“Aaron's other half-brother. Jaegar.”

“Kalina!” Stuart broke in from atop the landing. “So nice to see you.” He cleared his throat and gave Jaegar a pointed look. “I see you've met my brother.” His voice took on a strange pitch. “Jaegar was just leaving.”

“Was I?” Jaegar gave him a look of mock surprise.

Kalina felt even more uncomfortable. “If this isn't a good time...”

“No, come right in!” Jaegar leered at her again. “We're delighted to have you.”

“Okay,…”

A strong wind rose up from the window, blowing towards the east.

Stuart stopped short, closing his eyes and inhaling sharply.

“Stuart?”

He opened his eyes and fixed them upon her; his pupils dilating with desire. He looked like a man possessed, in the grip of some great terror.

“You okay, Stuart?”

“That smell...” his voice trailed off. “You smell like...”

“Like what?”

“Look – I've got to...”

Before she could stop him, he bolted up the stairs.

“What happened?”

Jaegar shrugged. “He has a dandelion allergy,” he said, lightly. “But I'd be happy to show you around. If you'd like.”

“Actually, I think I'm going to...”

“No, please! Aaron would have wanted me to show you the vineyard.”

She considered. “I guess...”

“Right this way then.” He offered her his arm. “Let's go to the winery. And may I say, my dear – I'm afraid I didn't catch your name – that your perfume smells absolutely delicious?”

chapter 5

Kalina wasn't quite sure what to think of Jaegar just yet. There was something disturbing about him, something that made her feel that he was watching her, that he knew more than he let on. It annoyed her; it almost infuriated her. He sauntered through the grapevines with an arrogance she had never seen before. He owned this place, and he knew it, and he wanted her to know it too. He pointed out pathways and grape varieties with the polished surety of a connoisseur.

“I'm too young to drink, thanks,” she said testily, when he offered her a sip of the 2007 vintage.

“What a good girl you are!” Jaegar said, a slow grin spreading across his face.

“Is Stuart coming back?” she couldn't quite identify a reason to be angry with him; this made her angrier than she thought possible. “I didn't exactly sign up for a wine tour. We had...”

“Your boyfriend will be back soon enough.”

“He's not my...”

“He just needs to drink his medicine!”

“Huh.” She glowered at him.

And yet she found something strangely enticing in the sensation of his eyes upon her, looking her up and down with something between appraisal and hunger. He had made his interest in her – if only purely a physical one – very clear, and he advertised his own beauty freely. Aaron had a similar look, at his most impossible, when he made his interest in her – if only purely a physical one – very clear, and he advertised his own beauty freely. Aaron had a similar look, at his most impossible, when he cottoned on to his own attractiveness and strutted down the locker room hallway without a care – but his was a younger incarnation of the same expression. Aaron hadn't seen as much of the world as this man had – of this, at least, Kalina was certain. Jaegar looked at her as if he'd seen many, many women without their clothes on, and knew exactly how she looked underneath them.

“So, this is the winery,” said Kalina, straining to be polite.

“My father's pride and joy,” said Jaegar. He gave an idle sigh. “And Aaron's – poor Aaron.”

“Poor Aaron indeed,” said Kalina. Where were her manners – Jaegar had just lost his brother! She hoped this, perhaps, could explain his rude behavior. “Do you miss him?”

“I didn't know him very well,” said Jaegar, his voice turning sharp. “You're awfully inquisitive.”

This did not shut her down. “I miss him,” she said. “A lot. Every day.”

“How unfortunate for you.” He sped up his pace.

“You know – it's okay to miss somebody you love.”

He whirled around.

“Just drop the subject – please.”

“I'm sorry,” she said, staring him full in the eyes. “I just thought you should know – how many people loved him around here. How special he was to everybody.”

He lowered his gaze. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “You're...very kind.”

They passed by a clearing. The ground was wet with afternoon rain, and the grass grew high and tangled. Jaegar stopped short.

“Are you okay?” Kalina asked him. A morbid expression was gathering like storm clouds on his face.

“Fine,” said Jaegar. He sighed and plucked a flower from the patch. His gaze lingered on the withering petals. “It's a nice spot, that's all.” He cleared his throat.

“Come on, let me show you where the grapes are pressed.”

He took her into a stone room in a complex at the end of the vineyard. “Here we are,” he said. “Wine-making central.”

Kalina inhaled. The smell of fresh grapes was sharp, pungent, and sweet all at once – like the musk of the woods at dawn. “Lovely,” she said.

“This is just the cheap commercial stuff,” said Jaegar. “The real magic is here.”

He swung another door open, and led her into a smaller chamber.

Kalina gasped.

She knew this smell. Sultry, sweet – the smell of vanilla and hazelnut, dark blueberries and chocolate. She had smelled it so often before, lingering on Aaron's lips when he kissed her, when he slurred his speech, when he stumbled.

“Yeah, I know this smell.”

Jaegar rounded on her, surprised. “You what?”

“Aaron used to drink this stuff.” Her voice took on a high, unnatural pitch. “Come on, let's go. I already told you I don't drink. Unlike Aaron.”

Jaegar's face darkened.

“I'm sorry,” Kalina started. “I didn't mean...”

“It's fine,” said Jaegar. “Don't mention it.”

“No – no – I'm sorry. Please. Tell me about this wine. What grape is it from? It's not Pinot Noir, is it? That's the only grape I know; it's what they use to make our communion wine.”

“No, not Pinot Noir,” said Jaegar. “It's...not grape at all.”

“Peaches? I heard you can make peach wine.”

“It's...a secret,” said Jaegar. “Very valuable – very rare. You know, we call it Vampire Wine.”

“Really, why is that?” The word had triggered something in her memory – some empty pocket – Kalina struggled to recall...

“Looks like blood.” Jaegar looked up – smiling. His gaze upon her grew fixed, as if he knew something she didn't, as if he was testing her. “And for other reasons, too.”

“What other reasons?” Kalina swallowed back the rising panic in her throat. “What are you talking about?”

“Well,” Jaegar gave her a slow grin. “It's the only thing other than blood that vampires can drink.”

Kalina's laugh sounded hollow in her mouth.

“It also serves as a natural appetite suppressant. So vampires don't want to suck the blood from pretty human throats.”

She scanned his face for any sign of humor; she found none. She felt panic stain her cheeks red.

You're being silly, she told herself. It's just a joke.

“Well,” she said, stiffly. “You should sell it to humans, too. I know plenty of girls on my cheerleading team who would kill for an appetite suppressant. And I bet quite a few of them suck blood for fun.”

Jaegar arched his eyebrow. “Funny,” he said.

She felt relief wash over her like a waterfall.

A breeze blew up again, scattering the scents around the room. The smell of the wine blew, intoxicating, into her nostrils - for a moment, she could barely breathe. She looked up. Jaegar was perched against the desk at the end of the room. Something had changed in him; she could see it in his eyes. They had grown ravenous, wide with appetite; his fingers were white where they clutched against the desk. She felt the gaze wrap around her, consume her, as if his eyes were darkness, and they had extinguished all the light in the world.

“You okay, Jaegar?”

Jaegar strode over to one of the bottles and uncorked it in a swift, sharp motion. He drank heavily, straight from the bottle. The liquid stained his lips and teeth.

“That's disgusting,” said Kalina.

He smiled at her, and in the dim candlelight his mouth could have been blood-stained.

“I think I'm allergic to your perfume,” said Jaegar.

“I'm not wearing any,” said Kalina. She crossed her arms. “You know what, Jaegar? I'm going to be honest with you, here. You're kind of creeping me out. And –

I believe I have a date with your brother. So, if you'll excuse me...”

She turned and strode out of the compound.

What a creep, her conscious mind told her. Good, you got out of there.

But somewhere, in some dark recessed cloister her conscious mind could not access, there remained the image of his eyes fixed upon her, his mouth parted, his tongue lingering on the edge of his preternaturally sharp teeth...

chapter 6

She bumped into Stuart halfway down the path. Her mind had been wandering – against herself she had been thinking again of Jaegar's eyes, the heat emanating from his irises - the naked, stark, desire in his stare. There was nothing like it. She had thought her experience with Aaron had prepared her for desire, but this was altogether different. It was a man's look, rather than a boy's; Jaegar was regarding her with the knowledge of a connoisseur. It disgusted her; it thrilled her.

“Sorry,” Kalina stuttered. “I was...just coming to find you.”

“My brother boring you?”

She gave a hollow laugh. “No – not exactly. He's... interesting, isn't he?”

“Yes, indeed.” Stuart looked down. “I wouldn't spend too much time alone with him if I were you.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that impression.”

She took his arm. “Now, Stuart, you were going to show me something?” She gave him a weak smile. “Yesterday, at the library – you said there was something...off about what happened to Aaron. Did you mean that?”

Stuart sighed heavily. “I do,” he said. “I believe that it falls to me to try to figure out what happened. To see.”

Kalina nodded. “Let's go.”

They entered the house, and slowly ascended the stairs to Aaron's room. “Aaron loved you very much,” said Stuart gravely. “And, given that he loved you so much, I believe it falls to me to tell you more about him. You've seen his room, haven't you?”

“Rarely,” said Kalina. “I mean, he's showed it to me. But he preferred to hang out in the living room. I think, with his family being out of town so much, they weren't really cool with him having girls in his room when they weren't there. That's the impression I got.”

“You ever met them?” Stuart arched an eyebrow.

“No,” she laughed. “Aaron said they were really conservative. They wouldn't like it if their son was dating, given his age. They thought he wasn't mature enough to date yet. I can't say I blame them.”

“Well, here it is.” Stuart swung open the door. “We haven't changed it – since the accident.”

Kalina felt a wave of sadness wash over her. So, this is where Aaron slept, where he sat alone, where he drank in silence and misery. It looked so normal, she thought

– a bed, some photographs, some papers. It looked like it could belong to anybody. But certainly not somebody dead. You wouldn't be able to tell, just by looking, that the person who lived here had died three months ago.

Kalina sighed. “Very well, then,” she said. “So, tell me a bit more about Aaron.”

Stuart shrugged. “Where to begin?” he asked. “Well – he was a great guy, upstanding, smart...”

Kalina couldn't listen. She kept finding things in the room to distract her – the bed still unmade, a pen leaking ink on a pile of papers on the desk, a glass of wine still stained red where the liquid had evaporated. How could Aaron be dead, she thought – when the room looked so normal? She swallowed back more tears. Her eyes caught sight of a photograph on Aaron's bedside table. It was a photograph of the two of them at the junior prom, taken only a week before the two of them had broken up. Aaron must never have gotten around to changing it, she tried to tell herself. But she knew it wasn't true. Aaron had kept it there – to look at, to blow kisses to –

hoping, hoping she'd take him back, hoping they'd be able to make it work.

And now they never could.

The tears started flowing faster now, and Kalina could bear it no longer. Clapping her hand to her mouth, she rushed from the room.

“Kalina!” Stuart called after her.

“I need some air,” she said through her tears.

She reached the porch and there sat down, gasping for breath as she rocked on the creaky swing. She buried her head in her hands, ashamed of the red flush spreading across her face.

“Kalina,” Stuart sat down alongside her. “Are you all right?”

She gave up.

“No,” she said. “No, not at all. It's – it's all my fault! Everything's my fault! Aaron – I shouldn't have broken up with him. If he had a problem, then it was something for us to deal with together; I should have been there for him, helping him recover. Whatever happened to him – whether it was a mugger, or a DUI – I don't even know, it wouldn't have happened if I were there. To take care of him. To love him.”

Stuart wrapped his arms around her; she lost herself in his embrace. He stroked her hair softly.

“You couldn't have done anything,” he said. “Aaron – it was his job to take care of himself. Heck, if I had a girl like you, I wouldn't need to drink.” But he took her hands in his. “Listen,” he said. “You need to know something about Aaron. So you can stop blaming yourself. So you can stop being angry.”

Kalina nodded mutely.

“He wasn't an alcoholic, Kalina,” said Stuart.

“What – of course he was – I could smell that Vampire Wine on his breath the whole time...”

“You're not going to like it...”

Kalina straightened up. “Tell me,” she said.

“You're – it's going to sound funny, okay?”

“Believe me; I can handle it.” She crossed her arms. “What could be worse than being an alcoholic, right?”

Stuart's face grew more serious. “Aaron was a vampire.”

She stared. It all started coming back to her – Jaegar's louche comments, the Vampire Wine, the strange events of the day earlier, something that she couldn't quite remember – a scene in her car...

“Seriously?” She wasn't sure what else to say.

“Seriously.”

“Vampires don't exist.”

“They exist.”

“Well, they only come out at night.”

“Not quite. It's painful to come out in the day – but not impossible. If you take special precautions. These rings are filled with Life’s Blood.” He held up a ring on the finger of his right hand. “They allow us to walk among the day-walkers.”

“Seriously?” Kalina wasn't sure what else to say.

“Seriously.”

“And – you're a vampire too?”

“And Jaegar.”

“Jaegar I can believe.”

“Aaron wanted you to see it in the Greystone Bible. Aaron was born in 1870. He died in 1887. He became a vampire.”

She shot him a wary look. “I can’t believe it. Okay, if you're a vampire. Prove it.” She stood up.

Stuart sighed. “You might want to be sitting down for this.”

She sat back down, her mind racing. “Okay.”

Stuart rose. “You see that tree, over there?”

“Yeah, the apple tree...what, you going to suck the blood out of it or something.”

“Not quite.”

Suddenly, with a blinding flash, Stuart was gone. She could see a dark shape, as fast as the wind itself, tracking towards the tree. It stopped, momentarily, and then whirled back towards her, and as soon as he had gone Stuart had returned again, an apple in his hands. “You should eat this,” he said. “Shock has a bad effect on blood pressure.”

Kalina remained paralyzed in her seat. “Oh, crap. Aaron was a vampire.” She straightened up. Remain calm, Kalina. Breathe. “You're not going to eat me, are you?”

“No,” said Stuart. “Not all vampires feed on humans. I choose not to. I drink Vampire Wine.”

“Vampire Wine. ” Kalina put the pieces together. “Jaegar...I thought he was kidding...”

“And Aaron drank Vampire Wine, too. To avoid succumbing to temptation. To avoid drinking blood whenever he got too...excited...”

Kalina's eyes widened. “So you mean...”

“Vampire Wine wasn't the problem, Kalina. It was the only solution.”

Kalina used to think the only people who thought vampires were real were the creepy Dungeons and Dragons kids who used the math classroom for their campaigns during lunch. She felt vaguely nauseous.

The tears began rolling down her cheeks again; she couldn't help it. Fear and disgust mingled together with the shock – images of Dracula she had seen on television superimposed on Aaron's face. “This is all too much...” she said. “This is too friggin’ weird.”

Stuart gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder. “I'm sorry you had to find out like this...”

“Should I have known?” she looked up, her eyes red with sorrow. “It's not the sort of thing you suspect, you know...”

“Hello, friends and enemies!” Jaegar sauntered up to the porch. “I see you've finally let the bloodsucking cat out of the bag.”

“She didn't know, Jaegar.”

“We're friendly vampires.” Jaegar grinned at her. “Promise!”

“I'm going to Aaron's room,” announced Kalina. “To sit down. Don't you dare come after me! Or...I'll...stake you!”

The look of surprise on both brothers' faces answered her questions. Sunlight might not be fatal, but she got the sense that staking definitely was.

**********

“Tactful,” said Jaegar, when Kalina had gone. “Really tactful.”

“It's not like there's an easy way to say this!” Stuart stood up. “Sorry, your boyfriend's a vampire?”

“She believed you,” said Jaegar. “That's something.”

“I had to show her flight.”

“You flew in front of her?” Jaegar laughed. “The worst pickup of all time. Hi, I'm Stuart. Go out with me – see – I can fly? What's next, you'll start sparkling in front of her?”

“She asked for proof.”

“I would have gone with the fangs, personally.”

“I didn't want to scare her!”

“You didn't want to scare her? Vampires are scary! That's what we do! We scare people!”

“She'd had enough scares for a day. No thanks to you.”

“She's just a human!”

“Should we talk to her?” Stuart gave an exasperated sigh. “Try and calm her down?”

“You're not afraid the little pixie will stake you?”

“You're a pillock, Jaegar.”

Jaegar shrugged and downed the last of his Vampire Wine.

“Let's go together,” said Stuart.

They walked up to Aaron's room, and Stuart knocked lightly on the door. “Kalina,” he called. “We'd like to talk to you. Rationally.”

“Go away!”

“Should we use compulsion on her again?” Jaegar said. “I had to do that twice last night.”

“It's not ethical, Jaegar!”

“But making a little girl cry is ethical?”

Kalina swung upon the door. Her hands were on her hips. “You guys don't have to do that creepy eye thing with me,” she said. “I can handle it.”

Both Jaegar and Stuart started.

Behind her, Aaron's diary lay open on the bed.

“I've been doing a little reading,” said Kalina. “Look – I'm not going to lie to you. You guys both weird me the hell out. Vampires weird me the heck out. But – I loved Aaron. A lot. Human or vampire. And – it's not ideal – but I guess being a vampire he can't help. Not his fault. All the times he missed my cheerleading practices –

probably out flying to a werewolf lair – or whatever. All the times he had to “excuse himself” whenever we got hot and heavy – I thought he was just embarrassed about being a virgin, or weirdly religious, or gay, or something.”

Stuart felt supremely uncomfortable; Jaegar was grinning widely.

“Well, at least I know it wasn't because he didn't like the way I smelled.” Her weak joke was lost on them.

“Aren't you afraid of us?” Jaegar took a step towards her.

“Well, yeah,” said Kalina. “But you haven't killed me yet. And – you loved Aaron too, right? So I'd say you're less scary than Dracula, right now.”

“You're very brave,” said Stuart.

“I'm not brave,” said Kalina. She went over to the photograph of her and Aaron and began fingering the edges. “But Aaron was one of the good guys. That makes you the good guys. And whatever hurt Aaron...they're the ones I don't want to meet in a dark alley.”

Stuart and Jaegar exchanged glances.

“All the same,” said Kalina. “If you've got a stake or garlic handy, I'll like to keep it with me. Just in case.”

chapter 7

Kalina took Aaron's journals into the living room. She lit two candlesticks and sat at the dining room table, thumbing the pages. “I'm not afraid,” she said to Stuart and Jaegar. “I'll read it – right here.”

“As you wish,” said Stuart. He had not expected this.

He had, on a few but thankfully not too many occasions, been compelled to reveal to humans the existence of vampires. It had always ended badly. With the exception of her initial tears, he thought, Kalina had handled it remarkably calmly. She attacked the problem with the same determination he had seen her exercise in cheerleading practice, when she worked twenty to a hundred times on the same move – the same jump, the same twist, the same twirl in the air. She was not the type to run screaming from a situation, he thought. It was a bravery that unsettled him.

“It's weird,” said Jaegar. “Having food around the house.” With the exception of Marilee (oh, but he could not think of Marilee!), all the humans that Stuart had spent any significant amount of time with fell neatly into one of two categories. Food – mostly Jaegar's food, for once Stuart got hold of his powers he had stuck nearly exclusively to Vampire Wine and the occasional animal - or sex.

Stuart had been a rake in his day – more romantic than Jaegar, perhaps, but in the end no less promiscuous. The only difference between the two of them was that Stuart sincerely believed he was in love with each woman he met. Jaegar had never lied about his intentions. “They want what I want,” he'd say. “And as long as I can keep the thing a secret – keep their reputations pure – I'd say they almost want it more than I do.” Some of them, titillated, had even given up a portion of their blood willingly; although inevitably, Jaegar had taken more than they had offered.

But Kalina was different. She was not dinner; she was not a slave or a concubine. She sat at the dining table (“I assume you guys have nothing...not-bleeding to eat.”) with Aaron's journals spread out before her and a red pen in her hand, highlighting the text, scribbling in its margins, as if she were memorizing its contents for a scholastic exam.

“This place is like home to me,” she said, catching them staring. “I was here all the time. I should have told you before.” She gave them a wry smile. “Aaron would cook me dinner. But he was always ‘dieting’ - trying to get into the next-lowest weight class for wrestling. Just imagine that.”

“I miss food sometimes,” said Jaegar, putting his feet up on the coffee table. “But blood tastes so much better.”

“Can't you make him stop?” said Kalina. She looked up. “Actually, Jaegar, could you come here a second?”

He sauntered over. “Of course, precious,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“Sit down.”

He sat and stretched an arm over the back of her chair.

“So, Jaegar, Aaron writes a lot about vampire abilities. They're so interesting. You can fly! You can run faster than the wind.”

“We're terribly interesting.”

“You can sometimes read minds.”

“Only sometimes.”

“And -” Kalina looked up. “Apparently you can bend people to your will – just by staring at them. Also known as glamouring. Or compulsion. You can even...” her voice grew more pointed. “You can even, for example, get a woman to fall in love or lust with you, kiss her, then erase her memory, so that she forgets anything ever happened – or remembers it as little more than a dream.” She fixed her gaze on him. “You wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Jaegar?”

“No, of course not!” Jaegar gave her his most winning smile. “I'd never do a thing like that to a pretty young thing like you.”

“Good,” said Kalina. He felt her digging the point of her stiletto heel into his toe. “Because if I were to ever find out about you doing... anything like that to me, I would stake you right where it hurts the most.” She smiled sweetly. “Got it?”

“Only stakes through the heart can kill, my dear.”

“I wouldn't want to kill you.” She dug her heel in deeper. “I'd just want it to hurt.”

She was a feisty one. He'd never had a woman refuse him, not in centuries of living. The sensation was novel to him, exciting.

“Understood, my dear.”

“Okay,” said Kalina brightly, standing up. “I've had about all I can take for tonight. I'm going to go now. Mind if I take the journals with me.”

“As you like,” said Jaegar. “Here, let me walk you out.”

“Jaegar!” Stuart's voice came warningly from the kitchen. “He's always like this,” he said to Kalina.

“So,” said Kalina. “Some guys really never do grow up.”

She walked out; Jaegar followed her.

He stopped, sniffing the air. Something was wrong; he smelled it before his conscious brain could process her. He put a hand on her shoulder.

“Jaegar – for the love of God – would you quit hitting on me?”

“Get in the house,” he said. His voice had grown serious.

“Jaegar – stop it! You're grossing me out.”

“Get in the house!” In a single, sweeping motion, he tightened his grip on her and almost threw her past the threshold. “There's danger here!” His voice grew louder.

“Get her on the ground, Stuart. Away from the windows.”

What's going on?” cried Kalina, as Stuart pushed her down to the ground.

“Get down!” he cried. “Don't talk. Questions later. Don't move.”

Kalina grew silent; her heartbeat seemed to throb louder than the grandfather clock. Fear flooded her veins. Her adrenaline had already been high before that

– her exchange with Jaegar had left her invigorated, with a heartbeat faster than she would have cared to admit. She found his advances repulsive; she had no compunctions about letting him know it. And yet there was something about him – his beauty, his arrogance, his louche convictions – that excited her. She was able to tower over most men, intellectually as well as physically. Even with Aaron, she had sometimes seemed like the more mature partner, always cleaning up after his messes. She hated Jaegar – she hated him! And yet she liked that he was able to stand up to her, and she to him. However perverse Jaegar might have been, their exchanges were exciting.

But now she had more important things to worry about. She heard the knell of danger in both brothers' voices; she knew something serious was wrong. A wind like a hurricane burst through the house, shattering the glass of the windows.

“What's the lookout?” Stuart was calling out.

Jaegar was tense on the threshold. “Three vamps. One in white – a woman. She's the one controlling the weather. A man in black. And a little girl.” He turned back.

“Oh, damn it. I hate the little girls. They're always the dangerous ones.” He tightened his muscles. “Take her to the safe-room.”

“Got it.” Stuart grabbed hold of Kalina's arms. “You're coming with me.”

“I'm guessing these vamps don't drink Vampire Wine,” Kalina whispered out between heartbeats. Her fear made it difficult to speak.

“Come on!”

He dragged her through the house, into the study, wresting aside a bookshelf.

“Secret passage,” he said, as a doorway opened up before them. “Get in there. Don't move until one of us says so.”

“Got it.” Think, Kalina, think. But she knew all the self-defense training in the world wouldn't help her against vampires.

“Listen, Kalina. If you're beaten – if a vamp gets close enough to drink you – then it's over. And you need to be brave enough not to let them do it. Vampires can't drink dead blood.”

“You mean you want me to...”

“Your blood is special, Kalina. If a vamp drinks from you, it's the most dangerous – the single most dangerous thing that could happen. That vamp will become unbeatable. And I'm guessing the vamps outside aren't the ones you want to be able to survive forever.”

“My blood is special?” Her mouth fell open.

“It's why we came – no time to explain!”

He pushed her through the doorway and closed the bookcase above her.

Her eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness. Kill herself? If a vamp got close – was that it? She'd have to... No, she wouldn't let herself think about that. She'd just have to make sure a vamp never got close enough. She needed a stake. Her eyes scanned the room for any signs of wood. There was nothing but the wine barrels.

“Damn it!” she thought. She ran over to the nearest barrel and picked it up, smashing it down to the ground. Nothing happened. “Damn it!” She tried harder, climbing up on a steel table and throwing the barrel down from a greater height. This time the vessel burst open like a watermelon. She grabbed one of the splintered shards of wood and waited. She could hear the sounds of fighting coming from outside, but couldn't tell who was winning. She held her breath, and waited.

“Kalina,” Jaegar's voice came from upstairs. “They're gone. It's fine.”

She lit a match, relief flooding her ribcage.

“Jaegar?” she called out.

“We got rid of them.”

Kalina made her way upstairs. She looked through a crack in the door.

All she could see were a pair of tiny, child-sized shoes.

“Crap,” she whispered.

“Goody, you're in there!” A gleeful girls' voice called out. “Now we can play!”

There was a loud flash, and suddenly the bookcase was gone. In its place stood a gaunt little girl – looking no more than thirteen years of age – with a cruel smile upon her lips. The force of the magic threw Kalina backwards down the stairs; she doubled over in pain, her hands tight around the stake.

“You do smell awfully good,” said the girl. “Pity I'll have to sell you.” She gave Kalina a sweet smile as she skipped down the stairs. “But Life's Blood fetches such a good price on the black market.”

“Life's Blood?” Kalina jumped to her feet. “I haven't got any of that.”

“Of course you have, sweetheart. Right in those pretty little veins of yours.” The girl gave Kalina a discomfiting grin. “Can't think why those idiot brothers didn't drink of you first. Maybe they're saving you for a special occasion. Or maybe,” she grimaced, “they just like humans. I hear Stuart Greystone is a sun-lover...”

She fixed her stare on Kalina, and Kalina could feel the slow cloud of compulsion slowly coming over her. Your blood is special, Stuart had said. She had to think fast. She held the stake closely behind her back.

“So why don't you drink from me?” said Kalina. “If my blood is so good...you can't resist...”

“Sorry, princess. I need to pay my rent for the next few centuries.”

Damn it. Then Kalina remembered Stuart and Jaegar's face when the wind blew her scent towards them – their barely-restrained desire, their fanatical hunger. And that had only been her scent.

She jabbed the stake into the palm of her hand, feeling the blood come loose from the skin and start to trick down the stake. The girl looked up, sniffing the air like a wolverine. Kalina could see the naked hunger on her face.

“Well...” The compulsion clouding Kalina's brain vanished; the girl was distracted now. “Maybe just a little taste...”

Now was the moment. As the girl crept over, fangs bared, her eyes intent on Kalina's neck, Kalina seized the opportunity. She jammed her stake straight into the girl's heart.

“Owww!” the girl cried, and then there was a flash. The girl's body began to wither – aging from a child to a young woman, a matron, a crone, a skeleton, and then at last to a pile of dust. The smell of weeks'-old decomposition filled the air. Kalina instinctively crossed herself, and whispered what Latin she could remember from the prayer for the dead before running.

“Stuart! Jaegar!” Kalina held fast to her stake as she emerged from the basement.

“Kalina!” The brothers rushed towards her. “Are you alright?”

Stuart was carrying the head of one vampire in his left hand.

“Oh, gross.” Kalina had to look away.

“Where's the third one?” Stuart's voice grew hurried. “Did you see her?”

“She's dead in the basement.” Kalina swallowed down vomit.

“She's what?”

“I killed her.” Kalina showed them her stake; instinctively, they recoiled. She gasped out the last of her fear and gave them a weak smile. “Piece of cake.” She wobbled on her feet. “Now – I think I'd really like to just sit down.”

She caught sight of her car through the window. It had been reduced to a stripped-down wreck; the tires had been slashed. She turned to the brothers. “So, which one of you two wants to give me a ride?”

chapter 8

“I'll do it!” Stuart sprang up, shooting an emphatic look at Jaegar as he did so. “I'll get my keys.”

They walked outside, only to find Stuart's car in as pitiful a condition as Kalina's. “Looks like they didn't want anyone to be able to leave alive,” Kalina said.

“Not to fear!” Jaegar gave her an infuriating smile. “My car is in the garage – it's your lucky day, Stuart.”

“I'm good.” Kalina placed a hand on her hips. “I'll walk.”

“It's ten miles to town!” Stuart cried.

“Or I'll call Justin. He'll pick me up. I'll tell him I hit a deer.” She knew her brother wouldn't be home until late in the evening. Nevertheless, she felt anything was preferable to sitting in a car with Jaegar again. She wasn't sure she'd be able to control herself – either to stop herself from screaming at him or to stop him from his inevitable attempt at kissing her.

“Oh, come on now!” said Jaegar. “Didn't I just save your life?”

“Actually, I...”

“I helped!” Jaegar tapped his fingers on the table. “I promise I won't bite. At least – not too hard.”

“Well, I can't promise the same, Jaegar.”

“Vampire's honor. I'll be as meek as a mouse and as cuddly as a teddy bear.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I'd like to see you try.”

“Jaegar.” Stuart whispered. “Don't you even...”

Jaegar raised his hands. “Vampire's honor!”

“I don't trust you,” Stuart said simply. “I'm coming with you.”

“We need somebody back at the house,” said Jaegar. “To make sure no more vamps come. Of course – Kalina – if you feel that you need Stuart to protect you from the big, bad Jaegar...”

“I'm fine,” said Kalina, automatically. No matter how much she couldn't stand Jaegar, she wasn't about to let him feel like she needed Stuart to protect her! “I can take care of myself.” She opened the car door. “After all, Jaegar. I've still got my stake.”

“Very well,” said Stuart. His eyes still betrayed his wariness.

“Vampire's honor,” said Jaegar, grinning.

Kalina felt a twinge of uneasiness at his grin, but put it aside. As creepy as Jaegar was, she had a feeling much of it was bravado. As much as Stuart and Jaegar seemed to hate each other, they hadn't actually tried to kill each other yet. There seemed to be an understanding between them. Besides, she wanted some answers, and she had the feeling that Jaegar would be more forthcoming. Stuart seemed stymied by his chivalry, somehow, and as much as she admired – appreciated and she had the feeling that Jaegar would be more forthcoming. Stuart seemed stymied by his chivalry, somehow, and as much as she admired – appreciated

– was even attracted to his quiet honor, right now she needed someone willing to answer her questions. Fast.

“Come on then, Dracula,” she said. “Let's hit the road.”

Jaegar waved a mocking farewell to Stuart as he slammed the door behind him. “Hello, princess,” he said. “Let's take this ride for a spin.”

“My house is 42 Medea Drive. Go to the gazebo in the town center, then...”

“Turn right, I know. I know where you live. I've been watching you.”

Kalina shot him a glare. “Do you have any idea how creepy that is?”

“Aaron asked us to protect you. That's what I'm doing. Protecting. And sometimes staring.”

She gave him a mild punch to the shoulder; he swerved instinctively and nearly drove into one of the grape trellises.

“So,” said Jaegar. “Let's chat.”

“About what?”

“Aaron.”

“Aaron?”

“I want to know more about him. It's been a long time since I've seen that dear brother of mine. What was he like – as a boyfriend?”

The question flustered her. “None of your business.”

She saw his smile fade. Perhaps he was serious, after all. “I'm not asking to tease you,” he said. “Delightful as that would be. I'm curious. Just because I'm a vampire doesn't mean I don't have a heart you know. It doesn't beat – but it does feel. And I want to know what my brother was like.”

She smiled against herself. “Sweet,” she said. “Very sweet. Young – he felt younger than me, sometimes.”

“Aaron was always immature,” said Jaegar. “When his mother stopped him from aging – she seemed to stop him from growing up.”

“How old was he – really?”

“Over a hundred years old,” Jaegar laughed. “A baby, in vampire years. You'd be surprised how long it takes some men to grow up.”

“Over a hundred years old.” Kalina considered. “It makes sense, in a way. He was very...old-fashioned. When it came to things like dating. He'd kiss my hand. He'd send me letters. He was very – courtly, I guess. Chivalrous.”

“He isn't that old.”

“No, I know.” Kalina sighed. “He was a good boyfriend – at first. Except for the Vampire Wine. He always treated me well.” She looked up at Jaegar. “You should be proud of him.”

“I was,” said Jaegar, darkly.

“I miss him.”

“Miss him?” Jaegar grew angry suddenly. “You don't even know what missing is! You're a human – you've lived, what, eighteen years? You don't know what it's like to miss somebody!”

“Stop the car!” said Kalina. She wasn't about to take this. “I'm walking.”

Jaegar hit the brakes. She opened the door.

“No, wait!” he said. “I'm sorry. I am. It's just – a human – loving a vampire. It's so strange to me. I don't understand it.”

“Any stranger than a vampire loving a human?”

Jaegar did not answer.

“Aaron wanted to become a human. And Stuart – he said he did, too.”

“It doesn't disgust you. The idea of drinking blood?”

“Well, it's a little gross – but, I mean, I eat rare steak all the time. I don't think about it.”

“And what if Aaron drank from the unwilling? If he killed men and women – what then?”

“I don't know that he did.” Kalina turned to face him. They drove on. “It sounds like he stuck to Vampire Wine. Which is more than I can say for you.”

“Listen,” said Jaegar. “You eat your steak. I’ll eat my humans. You don't need to get self-righteous with me. As far as I'm concerned – you're just food.”

“I'm food that can talk. And in any case – you don't seem to make up your mind whether you want to sleep with me or have me for dinner.”

“Both, really.”

“But you're not going to. Because I'm special, right?”

Jaegar mumbled something in reply. He sighed. “Do you find me repulsive, Kalina?”

“You personally or you vampires?”

“Vampires.”

“No,” she shrugged. “Not really. I find you surprising.”

“Surprising?”

“Maybe not so surprising. I'm a good Catholic girl. I believe in things I can't understand or explain every day. I believe there's something more than just this world. So maybe vampires shouldn't surprise me.”

“A good Catholic girl.”

“My parents were missionaries. They got blown up by a bomb in Afghanistan.”

“I'm sorry.”

“It was two years ago, before Aaron showed up.”

“Do you find me repulsive, Kalina.”

“Yes,” she said. “But not because you're a vampire. Because you're a bit of a creep.”

“Seriously?”

She blushed. “Well – okay, not entirely repulsive. You're certainly – attractive, physically. I mean – if you weren't such a perv.”

“I'm straightforward,” Jaegar pretended to be hurt. “I thought women liked that sort of thing. Vampires are hard to resist. We have powers that go beyond our looks. Have you noticed?”

“Oh yes,” said Kalina, and she could see Jaegar's grin. “Stuart is certainly very irresistible.”

His smile faded. She laughed inwardly. So – he was the jealous type.

“I guess it runs in the family,” she continued. “That makes you the odd one out.”

“I've never had any complaints before,” he said.

“Guess you've never met a girl like me before.”

“Guess so.”

“But who knows?” she couldn't resist flirting, just a little bit. Once she'd realized she had the power to make Jaegar jealous, she began to find him far less frightening.

“The Greystone men are my weakness, after all.”

“It seems like you are the our weakness.”

An awkward silence filled the car.

“So,” Jaegar said, clearing his throat. “Aaron – was he around a lot? Did he ever just...vanish?”

“Are we still on Aaron?”

“Whatever happened to him – you're our biggest clue towards finding out.”

“He'd be gone, sometimes. I always thought he was drinking. I found this matchbox from a bar he went to, once – Nox – all the way in San Francisco. I got so angry –

he'd promised that he'd stopped drinking! We broke up over it. Over a stupid matchbox.”

“Do you still have it?”

“Yeah,” Kalina gave a weak laugh. “I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. It...I kept it in my purse. To remember him by.”

She handed him the matchbox.

Jaegar's eyes widened. “Nox,” he said. “Our winery supplies them – it's a vampire bar.” He put the matchbox in his pocket. “This could be a clue.”

“What are you, a detective?”

“I was,” he said. “In the days of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. I was hot on the trail of Jack the Ripper – for a time.”

Her eyes brightened. “Really?”

“What, does that frighten you?”

“Are you kidding – that's awesome! ” Kalina sat up straight. “I want to be a history major…when I go to college. I mean – I love, love history. What was it like?”

“What was what like?”

“Victorian England.”

“Oh. Smelly.”

“Smelly? That's it?”

“Well, it's not the sort of thing one reads about in history textbooks.”

Kalina leaned her head on her hand. “When were you born?”

“During the Black Plague in England. Early fourteenth century.” He leered at her. “Does that shock you?”

“I think it's fascinating,” said Kalina. Her eyes lit up. “I should sit you down – interview you. You'd have the most incredible insights.”

“Sit me down any time you like, darling.”

“Do you miss being human, Jaegar?”

“Sometimes,” he said, upon reflection. “Not often. Not like Stuart does. Now and then.”

“Jaegar.”

“What?” he said, a bit too roughly.

“What's Life's Blood.”

Who told you about that?”

“Stuart – and then that girl I...staked. They said my blood was special. What did that mean?”

Jaegar sighed. “We're not sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“There's a legend,” he said. “About a special carrier. A special line of carriers – whose blood makes vampires impossibly powerful. And – the vampire she loves

– she will be able to restore to human form.”

“That can't be me...”

“We believe it is.” Jaegar nodded.

“The vampire I loved – is that why Aaron was with me? To get my blood?”

Jaegar shook his head. “I believe he only got an inkling – later. Did you love him – like that?”

“He loved me,” Kalina shrugged. “But...it was a high school thing, you know? It wasn't true love. I cared for him very much. And maybe I would have loved him, one day. But...not just then.”

“I see.” Jaegar cleared his throat. “I loved him, you know. As a brother. Stuart and I both did. We had been turned together – we are true brothers, you see. Our father, Gerard, was turned too – a vampire. And then he fell in love with a human. About ten years after the Gold Rush – a beautiful young woman called Marilee. She got pregnant when she was still a human – and then he turned her. He couldn't bear to lose her to old age. And the son – Aaron – was born a Dhampir. A rare breed. Half human, half vampire. So he could grow up.”

“But then...”

“Marilee turned him, yes. She couldn't let her son grow older than she was.”

“Where are Gerard and Marilee now?”

Jaegar's face darkened. “I don't want to talk about it,” he said. “They're dead. That's all that matters.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Stuart,” he said, “may try to tell you some things about their deaths. Do not believe it. He was always weak – governed by his emotions. It is – a point of contention between us. Do not believe anything he says on the matter. He is honest in everything else, but in this...he isn't to be trusted. But Aaron, no, he wasn't part of that. He was always an innocent – a good boy, a kind boy, even as a vampire. He even convinced me to turn to Vampire Wine, for a time.”

“So, you're just a big softie after all,” said Kalina.

“There is no shame in loving one's family,” said Jaegar, sharply. “And Aaron was well-loved by all vampires. If that trio that attacked us tonight was behind

“There is no shame in loving one's family,” said Jaegar, sharply. “And Aaron was well-loved by all vampires. If that trio that attacked us tonight was behind Aaron's death, their family's lives are forfeited.”

The car sputtered up to Kalina's home.

“Thanks for the ride,” said Kalina, getting out of the car.

“Aren't you going to invite me in?” Jaegar looked up at her. “I can't enter a house otherwise.”

She smiled at him – a genuine smile, free of their banter, their arguments. “You're not so bad, Jaegar. When you're not trying to hit on me, you can be surprisingly decent. Why don't you keep it that way?”

“Kalina!”

“Goodnight, Jaegar.” She smiled as she closed the door.

chapter 9

Kalina slept soundly for the first time in months. It may have something to do with knowing she was being protected or at least watched over by Aaron’s brothers or that she has the power to keep uninvited vampires from coming into her safe haven of a house.

Ever since Aaron's death, she had been plagued by nightmares that gave way to waking dawns, pacing up and down the stairs of her house at the witching hour, tossing and turning that left her sweaty and hot in her comforter. She had never been able to sleep through the night, no many how many remedies she tried –

chamomile tea, hot chocolate, even her brother's warily prescribed sedatives. But now at last she fell into a deep and dreamless slumber, the sort she had been wishing for for so long. She thought at first that it must have been the exhaustion – in the space of hours, she had met two vampires, fought off another three, killed one, and uncovered too many secrets about herself and her ex-boyfriend to count. But somehow it made things easier. She was no longer wondering, no longer blaming herself or Aaron, no longer trying to piece things together, knowing that they didn't make sense. She had answers – as strange and unbelievable as they were. The idea of her being special intrigued her. It had seemed ridiculous at first. She had often, as a child, imagined what her birth parents were like, fantasized that they might be fairies or kings and queens from a distant land. She loved her adoptive parents – they were, until their deaths, her true parents in every biological sense

– but having the nebulous figures of her biological parents in the back of her mind made it easier to fantasize, somehow, that she was different – set apart – that she was special. She had never really fit in, after all. She had spent her entire high school career focused on the next thing – the next big test, the next cheerleading rally, her SATs, her college scholarship, getting out of Rutherford, making it big. Rutherford had always seemed too small for her; high school had always seemed too easy for her. She had wanted to make it out, to find a new challenge, something bigger, something that could contain all her pent-up energy. Had she wanted to be the carrier of a special Life's Blood gene? Perhaps not. But at the same time, it explained so much. Why she never fit in. Why she always wanted more – why nothing in Rutherford had ever satisfied her – until Stuart and Jaegar Greystone had turned up on her doorstep, promising a world filled with so much more she wasn't sure she could stand it.

When she left for school the next morning, Kalina was filled with a new kind of confidence. She walked straighter. She held her head higher. She strutted – just a bit –

down the hallways before meeting up with Maeve in front of her locker. She had a stake in her bag. She had killed a vampire yesterday. She had a life so filled with excitement – and Rutherford High seemed even duller to her by comparison.

She ran into Stuart in the hallway. His smile – his warm hazel eyes, the color of milky coffee – warmed her; there was a kindness in his eyes that touched her far more than Jaegar's cold flirtations. He was a bit awkward, a bit stiff – a thousand years of practice hadn't cured him of his romantic ideals of women – but she could see behind the shyness that his feelings for her were genuine.

“How did you sleep?” he said.

“Well,” she said. “Really well.” She tossed her head. “I'm sure Jaegar knows that already, though.”

Stuart looked concerned. “What?”

“What with him stalking me and all.” She slammed her locked shut. “Promise me you'll never do that, okay? I don't think I could deal with two of you.”

“You need to be protected,” said Stuart, quietly.

“Don't worry,” said Kalina. “I won't invite any strange vampires into my house.”

“Jaegar?” His attempt to mask the jealousy in his voice was unsuccessful. It started a flutter in her heart.

“I told him he could stay outside – thanks. He's not so bad, you know.”

“He can be charming,” Stuart conceded.

“He's a bit of a creeper, sure,” Kalina said. “But he's not nearly as bad as I thought at first. You just need to know when to stand up to him.”

“He could kill you,” said Stuart, without smiling. “He could kill me. With a flick of his wrist.”

“I don't think he will,” said Kalina. “Somehow.”

“I wouldn't trust him if I were you,” said Stuart. He lowered his voice. “He's a vampire, after all.”

“Yes – so are you.” Kalina said.

“I...I am not as enamored of the dark gift as he.”

“So – I can invite you in? Is that it?” She couldn't help teasing him, just a little bit, as he grew flustered and tried to explain. She could still detect a hint of the English in his accent, not yet flattened by a century in his new homeland.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.”

“Trust you?”

Stuart nodded. “Listen to me – I...I respect you far too much to allow you to...”

“Allow me?” Kalina put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “I didn't realize you could allow me to do anything.”

“Excuse me,” said Stuart, visibly flustered. His hair, floppy and brown, disguised his consternation. “I didn't mean – let me begin again...what I meant to say was...” He sighed. “It is easy for Jaegar,” he said. “Jaegar doesn't need to suppress anything. He is what he is. An animal – a realized self. He doesn't need to think, to pine. He can just be – and be a vampire. And that is seductive – and dangerous in its way. But it is different with me. I...do not wish to be what I am. There is a dark side to me, one I have not shown you, one I do not wish to show you. One I do not wish to show myself.”

He could not look at her.

“If you were to invite me in – and I were to...become intoxicated by the scent of your blood, as happened yesterday – I would have little recourse. I could injure you, quite seriously. And Life's Blood does not restore the vampire who takes it, when it is not given willingly. It provides powers – but they are cruel powers. They are powers I do not want.”

His strength seethed through him. It was not like Jaegar's strength – passionate, wild, unrestrained. His very restraint, his care, his seriousness, betrayed his suppressed passion, just visible beneath the smooth surface of his skin.

“It may seem to you,” he said, “that I am not as much of a predator as my brother, because I do not advertise my vampire nature, nor my inclinations.” He looked up, and there was shame on his face. “But I am as terrifying – I have the capacity to be as monstrous – as he. Within me there is a creature as bloodthirsty, as savage, as Jaegar's. Perhaps more so, for it has not been fed in centuries.”

Kalina couldn't take her eyes off him. As he spoke, his intensity awed her. She could feel him straining against his natural impulses, every breath she took, every beat of her heart, tempting him with that throbbing at her throat. He was like a bow pulled taut, a muscle poised to release. In him she could see a danger she had not realized before – paired with his obsession with goodness, with morality, with respect.

It was, she had to admit, an irresistible combination.

“I trust you,” Kalina said. She placed her hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of her; she could see the effect she had on him. It was intoxicating.

“I would never harm the girl Aaron loved. Aaron had nothing to do with the conflict between my brother and me.”

She spoke softly. “You want to become human, don't you? You want my Life's Blood.”

“I would not allow myself to think...” Stuart was straining against his desire; every ounce of his strength focused on maintaining the cool cordiality with which he spoke to her.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean...”

His resistance failed him. He grabbed hold of her hand and pressed the palm of it to his lips.

It was a courtly gesture; even in its careful chivalry, his tongue pressed lightly against her skin revealed to her the extent of his desire. She could not take her eyes from him; she could not move; she could not breathe.

She gasped; he dropped it as quickly as he had taken it.

“I am sorry, Kalina – I shouldn't have.” He turned to go.

“Stuart.” She caught up with him, breathless. “I'm glad you did.” She smiled at him, and took hold of his face again. “I cared for Aaron a lot – I did. But so much of my anger, my guilt, was over....not loving him enough, not protecting him enough – I thought I was responsible for his accident. I can't be responsible forever. I cared for him – but...I'm not going to mourn forever. I'm not going to move on to tomorrow. But – Stuart...I would like to ask you out on a date.”

His eyes grew wide.

“I was thinking – what with all these vamps trying to kill me and all – maybe you'd want to teach me some self-defense? I can do kung fu – but I think vamps aren't quite as hard to take down as ninth-graders. It can be – like – a study date?”

“When I was born,” said Stuart, softly. “Women would never think of asking men for...romantic engagements.” He took her hand. “I am very glad I have lived long enough to see times change.”

chapter 10

Kalina went straight to cheerleading practice after school. She had considered skipping it, given the trauma of yesterday's events, but in the end it seemed better to go. Cheerleading had always helped her release her pent-up energy, her excess anger and pain. The vigorous workout kept the blood flowing throughout her body, and kept her healthy. Besides, if she was going to have to fight vampires in the future, she knew it was important to keep her muscles as toned as possible. She didn't want to deal with Jaegar being insufferable about helping to rescue her again. She had a feeling that next time, he wouldn't let her forget it. It was the first time she had seriously engaged in cheerleading since Aaron had died. She had continued going since then, participating half-heartedly in the workouts, but she'd known that something was different. Aaron was a football player, and when Aaron was alive she would always cheer for him. Without Aaron to cheer for, the sport had lost its appeal, somehow.

But now she was back in full force, somersaulting over the other team members, lifting up the lighter teammates on her shoulders – she had been famous, in her sophomore year, as the only girl on the team with the strength to do it – and performing cartwheels across the turf of the football field. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and she felt all at once that she was at last doing something again, something worthwhile. Her face was flushed and she was out of breath. Even Genie Coltran, who had always maintained a coolly cordial rivalry with her, congratulated her on her forward somersaults. Maeve enveloped Kalina in a big bear hug at the conclusion of the practice. “That was great, Kalina! It's like you've finally got your game back.”

“Guess so,” said Kalina, feeling guilt prickle at her heart. She had never told Maeve about the vampires, and she hated feeling like she was lying to her best friend. But how could she expect Maeve to ever believe her? She'd probably think Kalina had been taking some of Maeve's mother's sleeping pills again.

“I didn't know if it would be the same ever again, after...” Maeve's voice trailed off, and Kalina knew she was thinking of Aaron. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring him up.”

“No, it's good to talk about him.” Kalina gave her a brave smile. “And you know – that new guy...”

“The cute one?”

“Yeah, Stuart. He's Aaron's half-brother.”

“No way!”

“He's been – he's been really nice. Helping me come to terms with what happened.” She mopped the sweat from her brow. “Only – I asked him out.”

“You what?” Maeve's eyes grew wide.

“I don't know – it was in the moment – do you think it was too soon?”

Maeve thought about it. “What do you think?”

Kalina sighed. “I think it's time. And I think...we could honor Aaron's memory...together.”

“Right now?” Maeve laughed.

“What?”

“Well,” said Maeve. “Don't turn around, but...”

“Good afternoon,” said a familiar voice behind her. Kalina whirled around to see Stuart offering her a towel. “That was – a very impressive performance, Kalina.”

“Thank you. You stuck around to watch?”

“I knew cheerleading was important to you. I wanted to see what it was you did. It's quite different from how I imagined it. Much more strenuous.”

“It's different in every school,” said Maeve, blushing crimson. “Some schools just want pretty girls to dance around. Rutherford's super-athletic. We won Regional Champions last year.” Her voice grew high. “Well, I'd better go. The other girls and I are going out for milkshakes – I'm guessing you have plans?”

“Next time, Maeve?” It had been a while since she'd spent proper time with her best friend, but Maeve's wink signaled that she understood.

“Sure thing! Have fun!” Maeve picked up her gym bag.

“Wait,” said Kalina. She remembered the vampires from yesterday – their cruel faces, their sharp fangs – and couldn't help herself. “Be careful, okay?”

“Careful!”

“Whatever happened to Aaron – just...don't do anything dumb, okay? Because I don't want to mourn two of my best friends this year.”

Maeve smiled. “Promise,” she said. “Love you!”

“Love you.”

Maeve trotted off happily. She stopped and turned around. “Hey Stuart,” she said.

“Yes?”

“You going to take care of her?”

“I certainly hope so.” Kalina could almost see his pale skin turn crimson around the cheekbone.

“Because if you don't – remember. You saw what we could do just now. You hurt one of our girls, and you'll have the whole of Rutherford High Cheer Team on your ass. Got it?”

“I wouldn't dream of going up against the whole of the Rutherford High Cheer Team,” said Stuart.

“Make sure she has fun.” Maeve put up a warning finger.

“I'll have her home by midnight.”

Maeve giggled, a bit surprised at her own daring. “Bye!” she chirped, and vanished.

“She's an interesting one,” said Stuart. “She seems to care for you very deeply.”

Kalina nodded. “When I broke up with Aaron – she and I just spent hours watching Xena: Warrior Princess and eating granola bars – talking about how much we hated men. She's a good friend. Normally I'd ask you if you had a good-looking brother to double-date with. But under the circumstances...”

“Under the circumstances.”

“I wouldn't let Genie Colton near your brother.” Kalina laughed. “So, do vampires eat at all? Because I'm craving a burger.”

“We can sometimes digest raw steak,” said Stuart, warily. “If it's bloody.”

“E. Coli,” said Kalina, “you're not going to find raw steak at the Stomping Ground.”

“The Stomping Ground?”

“Old vineyard press. Now the hottest place in town.”

“I think I'll come for the company, not the food.”

“As long as I'm not both.” She saw a shadow flit across Stuart's face and regretted her joke. “Kidding, Stuart, kidding!”

“Please don't joke about that,” said Stuart. She saw again the same darkness she had seen earlier that morning.

“Come on, let's go! We're going to have to walk, though.”

“I have a car,” said Stuart. “A new one. It's outside.”

“Where do you get all this money?”

“Well,” said Stuart. “After a few thousand years, you learn a few things about good investments. I lost a good chunk of my fortune in the Great Depression – but I also purchased several slaughterhouses in New York City for the purpose of keeping animals.”

“Ew,” said Kalina.

“You shouldn't be so shocked,” said Stuart. “Those slaughterhouses are now some of the most expensive properties in SoHo. I sold them for five million dollars, each!”

“That's a hell of a lot of money.”

“I have a long time to spend it.” He took her hand.

***********

The Stomping Ground was lively that night. Kalina and Stuart sat across from each other, trying to hear each other over the din of the music.

“I feel ridiculous, eating all this when you can't have anything,” said Kalina, wolfing down her second order of fries. Stuart withdrew a flask of Vampire Wine from his pocket. “I hope you don't mind...”

“No, not at all.” She looked down. “Is it...real blood?”

“Yes,” said Stuart. “And no.”

“I'm sorry?”

“Are you aware of the rite of Transubstantiation?” asked Stuart.

“I'm a practicing Catholic,” said Kalina. “Of course I am.” She thought for a moment. “Wait – are you?”

“A Catholic? I was. I was born in England long before King Henry broke with the Catholic Church. But we vampires have a...complicated relationship to the Catholic faith.”

“Crosses – holy water.”

“Those can be quite painful. When objects are as invested in belief as crosses or holy water – they become quite powerful. Vampires belong to that same world of magic, of myth and legend – of belief and superstition. I was...extraordinarily religious as a young man. I even considered becoming a monk. But I can no longer enter a church.”

“But...the wine?”

“In the rite of Transubstantiation, the consecrated wine in communion becomes, literally, the Blood of Christ.”

“That's what we believe,” said Kalina. “Technically. I'm not sure how many people still believe it today.”

“But, according to the strictest Catholics – the wine becomes the blood, you understand? It is invested with belief, and thus it becomes, in a sense, magical.”

“Vampire Wine is communion wine?” Kalina furrowed her brow. “But...how can vampires drink something so holy?”

“There is a vampire priest,” said Stuart. “An Italian – from the days of the Renaissance. He was turned after he entered the priesthood. But he had, according to the Catholic faith, given his soul to God – so there was no soul for the vampire to take from him. It was an impossible impasse – he was, in essence, stuck between two systems of belief, of magic – and I don't use that term lightly. He, alone among us vampires, was able to withstand the presence of a church, of a cross, or holy water. And when he performed the rite of the Host, the blood he created was able to sustain us.”

“So – all this Vampire Wine...”

“Consecrated by one man,” said Stuart. “There are not too few of us – vampires who do not wish to drink from humans unwilling. And there are many who think that religion has no place in a vampire's life, like my brother. Those wish to kill this priest – whose name we are forbidden to reveal for his safety. He is hidden safely, where he is able to perform services, to supply us with this wine...for if he were to be killed, we would be forced to resort to violence once more.”

“That's crazy,” said Kalina.

“Belief is a powerful thing,” said Stuart. “It is at the root of all magic, all things supernatural.”

“How can you still be religious?” asked Kalina. “After what happened to you?”

“I doubt it every day,” said Stuart. “I struggle with my doubts daily. Sometimes, when my hunger threatens to consume me, I cannot bear the restrictions my faith puts on me and long to feast, like Jaegar, on human blood. It is a daily struggle.”

“That's what my parents used to say,” said Kalina.

Her phone rang.

“Excuse me,” she said. “It's my brother. Justin – you'll meet him. Hello?”

“Kalina!” The voice on the phone was full of relief. “Thank God – are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.” She paused. “Why?”

“I'm at the hospital. The whole cheerleading squad's just been admitted. Something attacked them – most of the injuries resulted from a panic: bruises, broken bones, split lips they gave each other when they were stampeding. But...Maeve.”

“What happened?”

“Some animal – nothing I've seen before. She's lost a lot of blood.”

“I'll be right over.” Kalina stood up. “Stuart, drive me to the hospital right now.”

“What is it?”

“Something just attacked the cheerleading squad.”

“Jaegar.” Stuart glowered. “Let's go.”

The drive to the hospital seemed interminably slow. Kalina gnawed at her nails in frustration as Stuart drove. At last they arrived, and rushed into the hospital.

“Justin!” She flung her arms around her brother.

“She's alive,” said Justin. “Don't worry, she's alive.” He looked up at Stuart. “Who are you?”

“Can we see her?” asked Stuart.

“It's supposed to be just family...” Justin's voice trailed off. “You're family enough, Kalina. Come on. She's asleep now.”

Stuart followed her in.

The sight of Maeve, lying pale and motionless on the hospital bed, was almost more than Kalina could bear. “Her neck...”

“We don't know what it was, yet,” said Justin.

Kalina turned to Stuart, her eyes filled with questioning.

He nodded. It was a vampire, after all.

“Jaegar,” Kalina spat out the word. “Damn it! Excuse me.”

She stormed out of the hospital, into the night. “Jaegar!” she called. “I know you're out there – get over here right now. And don't even think of trying anything! I have my stake.”

my stake.”

The night seemed to laugh back at her. Suddenly, with a swooping wind, Jaegar appeared before here. “Hi there, precious. You rang?”

“What did you do? What did you do?”

He stalked towards her. He looked like a jaguar in the night – his gait long and graceful – with cool, collected eyes, fixed on her – fixed on his prey.

“Do what?”

“Maeve!” she said. “You attacked Maeve, didn't you?”

“Did I? So many girls, I can't recall...” He bared his teeth at her and licked the blood from his fangs. “Was this one of the cheerleaders?”

“And to think – I almost thought you were a decent guy.”

“I'm a vampire, darling. Underestimate that, and you're a bigger fool than I thought you were.”

“Go to hell!” Kalina couldn't control herself. She rushed towards him, punching him straight across the face, pummeling his chest with her fists. “Aaron – Stuart

– they could control themselves – it was so, so hard, but they could manage it! Why couldn't you? Why can't you?”

Jaegar grabbed her wrist and stared at her in the face, his eyes now dark with fury. “I’m not Aaron or Stuart,” he said. “I never will be. And…” he pushed aside her long hair from her neck to reveal her neck and moved his lips so close to her neck, she can feel his breath on her skin. For a moment, her heart stopped beating. It was only the fear, she told herself.

She closed her eyes, prepared for the worse when she felt his mouth on her neck. There was no sharp bites, no pain. Instead, his lips were kissing her gently along her throat heading up to her jawline and then her mouth. She found herself kissing back. Jaegar’s lips were so soft, yet hard with the pressure of passion pressing against her lips. His kiss was at once hot and cold, gentle and hard. She could not stop kissing him and wanting more…

The moment she regained control she kicked him. Hard.

He stepped backwards, a smile spreading across his face. “Unlike my brothers,” he said, “when I want something, I just take it.”

He vanished into the night.

chapter 11

“Kalina!”

She whirled around, her face red with shame. What had happened? She could have kicked herself for being so stupid – for letting Jaegar in, for getting close to him, for succumbing to the strong attraction she felt for him. He was just as bad as she'd imagined. All the jokes and witty banter in the world couldn't make up for how he had taken advantage of her trust, how he had attacked Maeve! If this was a vampire nature, she wanted no part of it.

“Kalina!” Stuart was running out to meet her. He looked more handsome than ever in this moonlight. She understood now better than ever the strength that it required to live, day by day, without succumbing to the evils of his nature. She admired him – she could only imagine how difficult it was for him to exist, to strain against the bonds of his temptation.

“Are you all right?”

“Jaegar came,” she said, shivering. “You were right about him, Stuart. He's...everything you said he was – and worse! He attacked those girls! He attacked Maeve.”

“Oh, Kalina, I'm sorry.” He enveloped her in his arms. “Please – don't...I will bring him to justice, I promise you that. I can excuse him, say that it is in his nature to sin. But it is in mine, too. It was in Aaron’s. And – we didn't! And he spits in the face of all of us who try to maintain our humanity.”

Kalina was shaking. “When Jaegar told me he was a vampire – I couldn't help defending him. Thinking – you know – it was no worse than eating a hamburger –

it was his nature, but...God, Maeve's my friend. It's different, somehow. When someone can talk to you and reason with you and decide you're food – it can't be someone's nature, it just can't!”

Stuart sighed.

“Screw it – I'm becoming a vegetarian.” She wiped away the tears in her eyes.

“Maeve will be fine,” said Stuart. “When the doctors weren't looking, I slipped her some blood. She's still asleep – but the blood will help her heal faster.”

“Thank you,” said Kalina. “I'm sure she'd appreciate it. You know if she believed in vampires.”

“Will you tell her?” Stuart asked.

Kalina nodded. “If that's okay with you. I think she deserves to know what happened. But – is it okay?”

“We can't keep our secret forever,” said Stuart.

“I'm glad you're here,” said Kalina, quietly. She kissed him quickly on the cheek. “Take me home?”

“As you wish.” He took his keys out of his pocket.

They drove home in silence.

“Is every day going to be like this?” she said. “Now that I'm in with vampires.”

“Not every day,” he said. “But many days. And many will be worse.”

“What a life.”

“I'm sorry to get you involved,” said Stuart. “But – you were involved from your birth. It's in your blood. I can smell it on you. As you get older – if you'll excuse my vulgarity, riper, in the minds of vampires – you will be in danger, whether we're around or not.”

vulgarity, riper, in the minds of vampires – you will be in danger, whether we're around or not.”

“Like I said,” said Kalina, as they pulled into the driveway of her house. “I'm glad you're here.”

They stopped the car and got out. Stuart walked her to her doorstep.

“Well,” he said, clearing his throat.

“Well,” she echoed him. “Fun date, huh?”

“Fun date.” He couldn't help laughing.

She stood up on the tips of her toes and kissed him. “Better now?”

He looked at her in surprise. “Yes. Much better.” He wrapped his arms around her, and she could feel the warmth of his kiss spreading from her lips throughout her body, like hot tea on a cold winter's night. His body was cold – ice-cold – but his kiss felt real, felt alive. He wasn't like Jaegar – or Aaron. No, he was strong. Mature. She could trust him. She felt his desire pulse through the kiss, his suffering, his self-control.

She pulled away slowly to look at him. On his face was a look of inexpressible joy.

“I'm so glad you did that,” said Stuart.

“You're so strong,” she said. “So brave. To live the way you do.”

“It's a struggle,” he said. “But easier – now that you're with me.”

“Do you want to come inside, Stuart?” The invitation escaped her lips.

He pushed her through the doorway and continued kissing her as they moved towards the couch; she pulled him down towards her, wrapping her legs around him. He stopped, pulling away, composing himself.

“It's okay,” she said, stroking his face. “Whatever you're comfortable with – it's fine with me.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“But – would you mind sticking around? I feel safer with you here. You can sleep on the couch, if you want. Or – next to me.” She laughed. “I won't try to seduce you in the middle of the night. Promise.”

“I can't say I'd object,” said Stuart. “I'm sorry – I don't mean to...be difficult. But my self-control – I'm still a vampire, Kalina.”

Kalina stood up. “I understand.” She stopped. She suddenly felt very lightheaded. The exhaustion of her cheerleading practice, the stress, the attack on Maeve, Jaegar's kiss, was suddenly too much for her. Her vision began to swoon before her. “I'm still a....” It was the last thing she heard before she fell to the floor.

***********

Kalina woke up to find her brother standing over her.

“Kaley?” Justin stroked her forehead. “You're okay!”

“What's that smell?”

“Bacon! Your boyfriend's a wizard with a frying pan.”

“That's not all he is,” she murmured, her mind still cloudy with sleep.

“What?”

“Nothing – what happened?”

“Low blood pressure, Kaley! How many times have I told you – someone with low blood pressure should never, ever skip dinner! No matter what your cheerleading friends say!”

“I didn't...” she trailed off. “How long have I been out?!”

“Two days!” said Justin. “Thank God this Stuart guy was willing to stick around – I was able to make my shifts.” He cupped her cheek with his hand. “You really know how to pick the good ones. He stayed watching over you for two days.”

“God, Justin!” She blushed. “If you like him so much, you can marry him!”

“I like my significant others in skirts, thank you very much.” He swatted her with the pillow. “I swear – you and guys – moths to a flame, Kaley. I'm going to have to quit my job just to make sure none of these boys have any bad intentions.”

“I don't think you have to worry,” said Kalina.

Justin turned red. “Just remember,” he stammered. “There's a box of condoms in the downstairs bathroom. Just in case...”

“Ew!” Kalina sat up and hit him with the pillow. “Ew! Ew! Ew! That's gross, Justin! It's none of your business!”

“I know it's gross!” said Justin. “Believe me, I don't want to have this conversation any more than you do. It's even weirder for me – you're my kid sister!” He sighed. “But I'm also your acting father figure. And I'm a few months away from being a doctor. And...it's my job to keep you healthy and safe and responsible.” Justin sighed. “Just –

please – don't tell me anything! I don't want to know! As far as I'm concerned, you're still playing with Barbies!”

“Believe me,” said Kalina grimly. “I wasn't planning on it. And I never played with Barbies.”

A knock came at the door. “Is she up?” she could hear Stuart's voice.

“Come on in!” she said.

“Eat,” said Stuart, bringing in a large plate of bacon.

“You hungry?” Justin asked him. “I can get another plate for you.”

“I'm good,” said Stuart, a bit too quickly. “Eat, Kalina.”

Justin tactfully retreated.

“Are you going to make breakfast for me every morning? If so, I should get sick more often.”

“Only if I get to do this every morning.” He kissed her forehead.

“Sounds like a fair trade.” She kissed him again.

“Kalina, can I tell you something?”

“Sure.” She began digging into the eggs.

“I've...wanted to do that ever since I first saw you. But...given the circumstances – I wouldn't have imposed – have presumed...I'm very glad you presumed for me.”

“I'm glad I did too,” she said.

chapter 12

Kalina and Stuart spent the next week in something approximating happiness. They fell quickly into a routine – after school they would visit Maeve in the hospital for an hour or two, then head to the vast expanses of land behind the Greystone Manor, where Stuart would teach Kalina how to fight. It was a romantic kind of tutelage –

punctuated with kisses and laughter between bouts of serious fighting – and by the seventh day the routine felt so natural to Kalina that she could hardly believe it had only been a few days since she had first met him.

Jaegar, for his part, had not been seen since that night in the parking lot. He had vanished, for better or for worse, leaving Kalina with little more than the memory of his kiss and a feeling of hot anger in her heart. She did not miss him; nevertheless, she could not stop herself from wondering about his whereabouts, and hoped in the end that he would stay away for as long as he could.

The first step had been to reveal the secret of the vampires to Maeve. Kalina had been dreading the conversation – she imagined Maeve's look of horror when Kalina revealed that the thing that attacked her was of the same breed as the thing that she herself was dating, imagined that Maeve would accuse her of madness. But when she sat down next to Maeve's hospital bed one Wednesday afternoon, she found the words came easier to her than she'd expect.

“Maeve,” she said softly. “Do you have any idea what attacked you?”

Maeve shook her head miserably. “That's the thing,” she said. “It was a person. I mean – it wasn't an animal; it didn't look like an animal. It looked like a human being. Only...it had fangs. And it bit me.”

“That's strange.”

“And the weird part is – it didn't feel like just some weird psycho trying to bite me for whatever reason. Whatever attacked me didn't feel human! It was fast – so fast!

And strong. Strong enough to fight off an entire cheerleading squad. And its eyes – I remember it was like being a deer in the headlights, you know? I couldn't move. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't move away.”

“I know,” said Kalina softly.

“Do you think I'm crazy?” Maeve's eyes widened. “I know it sounds crazy, but...”

“But what?”

“Okay, you have to promise not to judge me, okay.”

“I promise.” Kalina squeezed her hand.

“I think – I think whatever attacked me – was, like, a vampire or something.” She covered her face with her hands. “I know, it sounds stupid. It's so crazy – I don't even know why I'm saying it. I mean, I know vampires don't exist, it's just a fairy tale...”

“You were attacked by a vampire,” Kalina said gravely. “I'm certain of it.”

Maeve removed her hands from her face. “How?” she asked.

“Because,” Kalina said. “Vampires do exist. And some of them live in this town. And I talked to one of them.”

“You talked to a...”

“They're not all bad!” Kalina said hurriedly. “The one that attacked you was one of the bad ones. But there's good vampires, too – ones that don't drink human blood –

ones that are safe.”

“What do they look like?”

“Like regular people,” said Kalina. “Only...prettier. And they don't have to just come out at night, either. They can come out at any time of day – if they're wearing this special ring with Life's Blood in it. It hurts them, but they can do it if they have to. And then they're faster than normal people, and stronger, and if they stare at you long enough they can control your mind.”

“And I thought I sounded crazy.”

“Maeve,” said Kalina. Her voice was heavy with the seriousness of her words. “I need to ask you a favor. I need you to promise not to tell anybody about this.”

Maeve sat up in her hospital bed. “Promise,” she said. “Cheerleader's honor.”

“Stuart's a vampire.”

“What?”

“Stuart's a vampire. And so was Aaron. And so was Jaegar – that's the vampire who attacked you. He's Stuart's brother, but the two of them have been feuding for centuries since Stuart's good and Jaegar's – well, he really isn't.”

“Stuart's a vampire?” Maeve's mouth gaped open like a fish. “And so was Aaron?”

“I know it sounds like a lot to take in...but whatever happened to you that night you were attacked – that was a vampire. Because the vampires have moved back to town, and made this place a whole lot more dangerous.”

“How do you know you can trust Stuart?”

“I just know, okay?” Kalina's voice grew sharp, even defensive. “He's not like Jaegar. He doesn't drink from humans.”

“Yeah – and what about that vampire who attacked me, huh? I'm sure he didn't drink from humans either!”

“It isn't like that!”

“A vampire's a vampire!”

“No – that's not true – listen.” Kalina's voice rose. “If a person attacked you, you wouldn't blame another human for it, would you?”

“No, but...”

“Then why blame another vampire?”

“It's different!” Maeve was shaking. “I saw what I saw! Those creatures – they're not human, Kalina. They're dangerous.”

“Stuart saved your life!” said Kalina. “He gave you some of his blood while you were sleeping to help you cure faster. Thanks to him, you're almost better already!”

Maeve stopped. “Why did he do that?”

“Because you're my friend.”

“How long have you known about this?”

“Only a few days.”

“Hey Kalina?”

“What?”

“I'm really tired now. I think I need to – just ponder this for a bit. Do you mind coming back tomorrow?”

By the next day, Maeve had seemed to reconcile herself to the prospect of vampires, and to Stuart in particular. A good night's sleep and some serious considerations had calmed her nerves. “But never go anywhere without a stake,” she said. “I don't care how cute or nice he is – just keep it in your purse. Just in case.”

And that was her final word on the matter.

Meanwhile, Stuart had helped Kalina learn to fight – if not as well as he – then nevertheless well enough to defend herself from his blows. He showed her the full range of vampire powers – from flying from treetop to treetop to rushing past her in a single gust of wind, from compulsion – he had to be very careful in this matter, for while she understood the necessity of recognizing the warning signs of compulsion upon her she was reticent to give up her control – to hand-to-hand combat.

“All this served me well,” said Stuart. “For many centuries.”

“What did you do all that time?” said Kalina, retying her sneakers after a long and physically draining bout of karate.

“I fought, mostly,” said Stuart. “My father, Jaegar and I. We were all mercenaries in the army of a Roman general, Octavius.”

“A vampire.”

“Yes, a vampire. He was perhaps the strongest vampire I knew. And the most dangerous. I pity any human that he encounters.”

“Why did you fight for him?”

“A vampire has to make a living somehow,” Stuart said. “And we can't exactly open bank accounts or get normal jobs. At least, we couldn't, in those days. And our skills were out of date. Who wants someone handy with a broadsword once gunpowder was invented? But Octavius took us in. He gave us something to do.”

“Did you kill people, then?”

Stuart flushed. “Other vampires,” said Stuart. “Octavius had different troops for different devices. Jaegar often served as an assassin – using his skills to murder humans, hired by humans. He was involved in several of the Renaissance quarrels – he killed a Borgia or two, I know that much. I chose to fight more fairly. We involved ourselves with disagreements between vampire clans. I was killing my own kind, true, but it felt less like murder.”

“You said Vampire Wine was only invented during the Renaissance. What did you do before that?”

Stuart's face darkened. “Please don't ask me that,” he said. “You already know the answer. Animal blood only has some of the nutritional properties vampires need to survive. I...did my best to kill as few as possible.”

“I'm sorry.”

“It is a difficult thing,” said Stuart. “I killed in order that I might live. It was cowardly – in a way. Jaegar always said it was different for vampires – for we were killing food, part of the food chain. I admit I was too cowardly to let myself starve to death. I feared what would happen afterwards – what God's plan was for vampires. Especially vampires who had killed. And choosing who would live and who would die – when I was forced to feed. It is a choice I hope you never have to make, Kalina.”

“I'm not afraid,” said Kalina. “It's not your fault.”

“It was my fault,” said Stuart. “I cannot forgive myself for that cowardice – what stopped me was technology, not my own morality.”

“So, if Vampire Wine weren't available...”

“I don't know what I would do,” said Stuart sharply. “But I'll tell you one thing. I would get as far away from you as possible. The location of Father Botticelli is one of the most closely-guarded secrets in the vampire community for this very reason. If some ill were to befall him – we would be lost.”

“Couldn't you just turn another priest?”

“No vampire with enough soul to drink Vampire Wine could do that to another human being,” said Stuart.

“But if it saved the lives of all those other humans you'd have to eat otherwise...”

“It's not worth it,” said Stuart. “Changing another – it is worse than death. A clean death sends the victim to the afterlife. But vampires – they last forever.”

“Let's stop talking about this,” said Kalina. Something in Stuart's tone scared her. There was a darkness in him that she could not reach, could not touch – she approached it with a mixture of pity and fear. She wanted to help him wash away his guilt, to redeem himself, and yet she could not deny that there was something thrilling about his danger, his capacity for terrible things. Every time he kissed her, and she knew that he was straining against his temptation to consume her totally, she felt the same rush of adrenaline she felt whenever she was doing a particularly strenuous somersault on the cheerleading pitch.

“Let's not talk,” she said again, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him.

His lips collided with hers; his mouth opened into hers. He pushed her down upon the sofa and began unbuttoning her blouse; she opened the buttons of his shirt and felt her lips press against the smooth expanses of his chest.

They did not stop; they could not stop. Their bodies were tangled into each other – their limbs at angles across the surface of the couch. They had both by now stripped to their underwear, and Stuart's arms were tight upon her back.

“We have to stop,” he whispered, and she gave a little moan in reply.

“Just a second,” she said. She knew it was dangerous; danger was part of the thrill.

“You know what I'll do...”

She kissed his shoulder.

“Damn it!” With a searing noise like the sharpening of a knife, his fangs had revealed themselves – betraying his desire. “Oh – God – I'm sorry, I'm sorry.”

“No, it's okay.” She cupped his face. “Let me see them.”

“I don't want you to...”

“It's okay,” she smiled at him. “It's part of who you are.”

She examined the fangs. They were long and sharp, white like ivory. “I want to know all of you,” she said.

“Don't be so sure of that,” said Stuart before he pulled himself away.

A few days later Kalina mentioned to him the matchbox Aaron had given her, and Jaegar's detective-like reaction to it. “Nox,” she said. “Is that anywhere important?”

Stuart's face darkened. “The Stromboli Brothers,” he said. “They sell our Vampire Wine. They're our main San Francisco client.”

“I see.”

“But Aaron had no reason to spend too much time there – normally I handled the...” Stuart looked up. “I was in San Francisco at the time – why would he have

“But Aaron had no reason to spend too much time there – normally I handled the...” Stuart looked up. “I was in San Francisco at the time – why would he have gone himself to the Stromboli Brothers without contacting me?”

“I don't know,” said Kalina. “Can I guess the next step is heading to San Francisco?”

The following day, Kalina and Stuart loaded up the car for a weekend in San Francisco, to head to Nox. Maeve had long since made a full recovery, thanks to Stuart's vampire blood, and she urged Kalina to go. “I'm better than ever,” she'd said.

“Well, off we go!” said Kalina. “You know, I feel like a detective.”

“Very good,” said Stuart.

A car drove up past them before they had made it out the driveway. A happy-looking pair in athletic shorts – a man and a woman, leaped out.

“Hi there!” said the man. “We're a couple of hikers – just here for some trailblazing from Texas. Any of y'all got a map?”

Stuart stiffened as Kalina searched in her purse. “I've got my GPS if you want to...” She almost opened the door before Stuart grabbed her wrist.

“Oh, shi...”

Before she could recognize what was happening, Stuart had bolted out of the car, and was engaged in violent combat with both vampires. She could see a haze of blood and claws; screams and shouts filled her ears.

“Stuart.”

“Don't get out of the car!” he called.

She rifled through her purse for the stake.

“Don't move!” Stuart was a strong vampire, but he could not repel two at once. She could see bruises appear on his body as they beat him; as he beat them.

“Oh no you don't,” she said to herself.

“Over here!” she cried, leaping out of the car. Before the first one could react, she drove a stake straight through his back. The woman looked over, startled, giving Stuart enough time to stake her. The two corpses sank to the ground and swiftly decomposed into ash.

“I told you to stay in the car,” Stuart said, gasping, before he collapsed.

“Stuart!”

She cradled him in her arms. “Stuart...”

“I've lost a lot of blood.” He coughed.

“Just drink from me, it'll be...”

“No!” Stuart's voice grew louder. “I can't – not Life's Blood.”

“Well, who else are we going to find to give you blood? Nobody else knows you're a vampire...”

Stuart coughed as she dragged him into the back seat of the car. Maeve.

They drove as quickly as they could to Maeve's house. In breathless gasps, Kalina explained the situation.

“Oh, hell no,” said Maeve. “I'm not letting a vampire drink from me again.”

“Please – Maeve – just a little! It's what Stuart did to help you. You could have died if it weren't for him.”

Maeve looked Stuart up and down, her eyes wary.

“If you don't do this, he'll die! I'd do it myself – but I can't.”

“Why not?”

“Wrong blood type,” Kalina stammered. “Maeve, please, it's life or death!”

“Well,” Maeve considered. “He did help me before. Are you sure he won't...get too aggressive.”

Kalina pulled out her stake. “If he tries, he won't get that far.” She caught Stuart's surprised eyes. “But he won't get that far. I promise. But if it makes you feel better.”

Maeve held out her wrist gingerly. “Go ahead,” she said. “But Kaley's got a stake!”

Stuart took her wrist gratefully and bit her as tenderly as he could.

“Ouch!”

Kalina watched Maeve's face – from the initial indignant pain to something different, smoother. Maeve closed her eyes; her lips parted. “It's not so bad...” she said, her voice trailing off dreamily. Why – Maeve was enjoying it! She leaned back upon the sofa, her eyes heavy and her breathing became more labored. “Wow...”

Maeve sighed, and Kalina could almost hear her heartbeat grow faster and more powerful as Stuart continued sucking the blood from her wrist. She could hear Stuart's soft moans – the sound of something not unlike life returning to him – the pleasure he took in feeding, at last – after so long. Against herself, she felt jealous. How was it that Maeve could give Stuart such pleasure, such life, when she could not; how was it that Maeve could experience this, but she could not?

“Hey, that's enough now!” she said, a bit too loudly for her own comfort.

“You don't have to...” Maeve said, as Stuart forced himself away. His eyes were wide with gratitude as they searched her.

“Thank you, miss,” said Stuart. “You are very kind. When...I am recovered, should you still be ill, I am happy to provide you with more of my blood.”

Maeve giggled, the daze of the bite still lingering over her.

Kalina swallowed down her jealousy. Maeve had saved Stuart's life, after all!

And yet all she could think, as Maeve and Stuart stared into each other's eyes, was that this was an experience that Stuart and Kalina would never be able to share together.

chapter 13

In the days following Stuart's attack, Kalina considered going out to Nox many times. She wanted something to do – anything was better than being alone with her own jealousy. Stuart had fed on Maeve several times following the first healing – at her suggestion – for while the first blood had staved off death, he was not entirely cured. She knew, in her conscious self, that Maeve was in no way malicious or aware of what she was doing – the ecstatic look on her face when Stuart was biting her was proof that she wasn't truly in control of her own actions, and certainly Maeve would never betray her trust. But Kalina nonetheless couldn't stop the jealousy that she felt watching Stuart's lips tight on Maeve's wrist or neck, watching Maeve's face as she felt the vampire's breath hot upon her neck. Kalina had read about humans that gave themselves willingly to vampires – not all their blood, but just enough – Stuart had mentioned this group of feeders, those that derived pleasure from the endorphin high that come when you drank a vampire's blood, or when he drank yours. She could see the ecstasy in both their faces, and it was unlike anything she had seen before.

Stuart was a vampire. Of course he was! She had known that! And yet, seeing him biting Maeve, she felt for the first time that his vampirism was something that she could not be a part of, could not share, that could not be explained away with a philosophical or logical argument about humans' and vampires' places in the food chain.

And yet Maeve could share it – and she could not! What was there about her blood that made her so special, so important to be protected? At the first, it had made her feel special; now it sickened her. When her own boyfriend couldn't drink from her – if he wanted it, if she wanted it! When it was placing her in danger at every turn. That every vampire she met would look at her with lust in his eyes, because her blood represented the key to everything he ever wanted – either eternal power or a chance at being human once more. It sickened her! Her own blood distressed her; her own body disgusted her. She threw herself into her old sports – kickboxing, cheerleading. She practiced jogs and tree-climbing out in the vineyard, working out all her excess rage and pain in desire into taut, hard muscle. When she was working out in the vineyard one morning, a breeze whipped across her face and she sniffed something on the horizon. She stopped. A vampire. She When she was working out in the vineyard one morning, a breeze whipped across her face and she sniffed something on the horizon. She stopped. A vampire. She tensed her muscles. She felt the soft breeze flow around her ankles – he was coming. He came up behind her; in a flash, she dodged away. He came at her again; she feinted to the left, then rounded around to his side, turning around quickly to place her hands palms down at the opening of his chest.

“Gotcha,” she said, her hands exactly at the spot where she would have staked if she had one with her. Jaegar laughed. “Stuart has taught you all he knows, I see.”

“To stave off creepy vamps like you.”

Jaegar seemed as cool as moonlight. He betrayed no embarrassment for what had happened between them last time, and Kalina tried as hard as she could to tame her blush. Even right now she felt her body instantly responding to the closeness between them.

“I see,” said Jaegar. “So, I can't sneak up on you now?” He moved closer.

“Not if you want to remain undead.”

“Fair's fair,” said Jaegar. He withdrew.

Then suddenly, Jaegar closed in and surprised her. It was as though she was under compulsion whenever she got this close to him. Her brain clouded as he engulfed her in his arms, his head bent down to her neck. She could feel the tip of a sharp fang barely touching her skin. She froze, not sure what to expect. What if he means to really do it?

Jaegar could sense Kalina tensing up and he retracted his fangs, surprising her with his lips instead and then the feel of his tongue licking the spot where his fangs would’ve pierced through. She was feeling woozy with desire and fear at the same time until he let her go, his eyes still looking straight at her, blazing with desire. He pulled away. “See,” he said. “Lesson one – never think the danger's over until it’s over. The danger's never over. You should have learned that by now. Now, just imagine, what if I had been one of those vampires that you are so worried about.”

“You were one of those vampires...”

“Was I?” Jaegar arched an eyebrow. “I guess we'll never know, then.”

“Guess we'll never know.”

Jaegar helped her up. “You're a little shaky,” he said. “Figures Stuart taught you. He fights a little better than a schoolgirl in kindergarten.”

“Well, Master Jaegar.” Her words were cool and chilling. “At least Stuart was here to teach me. What have you been doing all this time? Seducing women?

Slobbering up blood? What?”

“I am doing,” Jaegar said slowly, “precisely what you should have been doing ages ago. I'm solving the case of my brother's mystery! But of course you think I'm a monster – I couldn't possibly do something without an ulterior motive, certainly could never love...”

“We haven't spoken,” said Kalina stiffly, “since our last ‘entanglement.’” She hoped she could pry an apology from him.

“An entanglement?” Jaegar seemed amused. “What a funny phrase. What a silly word! We didn't entangle at all, as much as I would have liked to. In any case, I'll have you know, you pert inquisitive thing, I went to Nox. I've assembled leads. I'm well placed to find Aaron's killers.”

“And?” Stuart shouted across the vineyard as he entered.

“Well, darling brother,” said Jaegar. “The trail of conspiracy brought me back here. Back to Rutherford, the Greystone Wineries and more.”

Stuart was abashed. “How could you say...”

“I'm saying, my dear brother, that you are now a suspect.”

chapter 14

Kalina felt ill. A suspect? She searched Stuart's smooth, calm face and could find no trace of malice there. His eyes were wide and blue like the sky after a summer storm; his mouth was unsmiling, but kind even now that his anger blazed like a stone fire against Jaegar. “How dare you,” he whispered. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing!”

“I'm not accusing anyone, dear brother,” said Jaegar. He stalked around the two of them like a great feline encircling his prey. “I'm only commenting – that's all. And it seems that you knew the Stromboli Brothers were interested in a – how shall we say it – monopoly on Vampire Wine? It looks like they wanted to kidnap Father Botticelli for themselves – and force him to make more wine, with the profits going directly to them.”

“Aaron would never give up that secret!” Stuart shouted.

“But would you? For a price – perhaps? Or for the location of the girl with the Life's Blood you've been seeking for so long.”

“It isn't true!” Stuart's voice cut like a knife through the air. “Kalina – it isn't true. Jaegar here is looking for any excuse to rail against his brother – isn't that right, Jaegar?”

Kalina felt vaguely sick. She remembered how she had felt when Stuart had first revealed he was a vampire – full of apprehension and thinly-veiled terror, terror she had swallowed down in her willingness to trust, to be open, to get closer to Aaron's family.

“You're not wrong,” said Jaegar. “But – all the same. Isn't it suspicious that you haven't gone after the Stromboli Brothers yet?”

“We were planning to,” said Stuart. “We were attacked before we could leave.” He raised his voice. “But I do not believe the Stromboli Brothers would have killed Aaron.

”

“Who are they,” asked Kalina. “Like – vampire mobsters?”

“Not the Stromboli Brothers,” said Stuart. “They're not entirely clean, but they are professionals – and they're wine-drinkers, not cannibals.”

“Don't use that word!” said Jaegar. “We're only part of the food chain.”

“The Stromboli Brothers wanted to muscle in on our arrangement with Father Botticelli – this much is true. But they have codes of honor – and killing Aaron makes no sense; he's the only one with the information about the location of Father Botticelli. Killing him wouldn't have solved anything – and they know it would have brought down the wrath of the vampire magistrate upon them. It's a stupid thing to do. No – someone else must have done it. Someone with far less honor.”

“But we were going to the Stromboli Brothers,” said Kalina.

“I believe they may have information,” said Stuart. “But I at least do not make false accusations without reason.”

“Kalina does,” said Jaegar darkly. “Isn't that right, Kalina?”

“What are you...”

Stuart took hold of her shoulders. “Don't listen to him,” he said. His fingers were tight and possessive on her; she felt uncomfortable. He stroked her hair. “He's only trying to do what he always does – isn't that right?”

“Stuart...”

Stuart took her into his arms; his embrace was tight, uncomfortable. She knew what he wanted – for Jaegar to see them together, to make him jealous. She felt Stuart's mouth on hers, pulling her closer, pulling her more tightly, filled with desire for her...

“Don't let anything come between us, Kalina,” said Stuart. “Please – don't let him lie to you.” She sensed the fear in his voice – a fear borne out of centuries of sibling rivalry. Had he lost women to Jaegar before?

Stuart kissed her, his mouth warm against her lips.

She heard Jaegar's voice in her ears. “So, you think you're with Prince Charming, right? And he's trying to keep you safe – because he loves you? Ask him the real reason he won't sleep with you!”

When he pulled away and she opened her eyes, Jaegar was gone.

She crossed her arms. “What did you do that for?” she said.

“Kissed you – I always kiss you.”

“No,” she shook her head. “Not like that. That wasn't for me. That was for Jaegar. You wanted to show me off – to show him that he couldn't have me.”

“Kalina, please...” She saw in his eyes that it was true. “It wasn't like that.”

“I didn't realize you were only with me to make Jaegar jealous.” Kalina knew she was speaking irrationally – more out of anger and jealousy and the stress of the past few days than out of any logical reason – but she felt a lump in her throat just the same.

“You know that isn't true. I,” he cleared his throat, “I feel very strongly about you. I care for you very deeply. But – Jaegar, you know what he's like...”

“What did he mean – the real reason you won't sleep with me?” Kalina put her hands on her hips. “What was Jaegar talking about?”

Stuart sighed heavily. “I didn't want to tell you,” he said - “I wanted you to be free of this burden.”

“This burden? What burden?”

“Please – I didn't tell you for your own sake. I didn't want to put that responsibility on you...”

“What responsibility?”

“Your Life's Blood – if it is drunk normally, it provides a vampire with impossible power. But if you give it as part of love...”

“Yes, I know – it turns the vampire human, right.”

“But only in – a particular circumstance.” Stuart's voice grew heavy. “If you are...chaste.”

“Chaste?” Kalina's voice grew a note higher. “Like – a virgin?”

“Yes,” Stuart's voice dropped to a whisper. “I thought if I told you, you would feel an obligation to me, to...”

“You lied to me!” Kalina's voice rose in righteous anger. “You said it was for my protection – that you were afraid of hurting me!”

“That was all true,” said Stuart. “How can you doubt it? I thought I was doing the right thing!”

“This whole time – you just wanted the Life's Blood. You wanted to make me fall in love with you – so I'd give it to you willingly – and keep me away from Jaegar because you wanted to make sure I'd stay a... ew! Ew!”

She stormed away from him. “Don't touch me!”

“It wasn't like that!” Stuart insisted. “I wanted to do the right thing. I thought if you knew what the conditions of the spell were, you would – make your choices based on that, rather than on...your heart.”

“Did you even like me?” Kalina continued on, her eyes full of tears. She was too hurt to listen to him. “Or are you only with me because you think I'll make you human again?”

“I'm crazy about you!” Stuart rushed to her, taking her hands in his.

“But you can't suck my blood. You can't be with me. You can do it with Maeve – but not with me.”

“You're special!”

“So special you can't even touch me!”

“Is that what this is about?”

“Hello!” a voice echoed through the vineyard. It was bright, chirpy, female. “Blood delivery service!”

Maeve sauntered into view. On her face was a smile of ecstasy – the experience of giving Stuart blood had, in the past week, brought color to her cheeks and her lips. Where before she had seemed shy, even meek, now she was filled with confidence, from the way she strutted across the vineyard to the almost seductive manner in which she tossed her hair.

Kalina was angry with her, despite herself. She knew that Maeve had no idea what she was doing – that it was she, Kalina, who had begged her to give blood, and yet she could not help the jealousy that overtook her, that flowed in her veins instead of blood. Maeve could give her blood to Stuart; in return, Maeve could experience what she had experienced, the lusty high of sharing blood with a vampire. But Kalina – for all her “specialness” - was forbidden.

“We'll talk about this later,” said Stuart. “Please – please, don't be angry.”

“Hi, Maeve!” Kalina's voice was brittle and sharp. “Great to see you.”

“I've been taking vitamins, just like you suggested. And avoiding aspirin to make sure the blood doesn't clot.”

Stuart nodded awkwardly, his eyes on the ground. Why wasn't he looking at her? Kalina couldn't help wondering. What was going on between them? Is that what he really wanted – he was stuck with Kalina to groom her for her Life's Blood – but he really wanted Maeve? Kalina blinked back her tears. She was being irrational; she knew it! But she couldn't help the anger blazing up within her.

They went into the house.

“I even brought Band-Aids!” said Maeve brightly.

“Kalina,” Stuart's voice was trembling. “Do you mind if I...”

“Oh, go ahead!” said Kalina. “Totally fine! Totally!”

If Stuart had been able to perceive the irony in her words, her silent plea for him to refuse the blood, she might have been able to forgive him. But centuries of being undead had not yet honed him to the subtleties of female communication, and he nodded at her words, taking Maeve's neck into his mouth. The unbridled joy on Maeve's face was more than Kalina could bear. As she moaned slightly when Stuart's fangs sank deep into the white flesh of her throat, Kalina felt pain bubbling up inside of her, a blinding rage that closed her off to common sense. Of course they wanted each other! How had she been so stupid? How could she not have seen it before? Stuart had wanted Maeve all along – she didn't have to remain a virgin, she didn't need to be protected from her own Life's Blood. She could make her own decisions; she was free.

Kalina couldn't believe how stupid she had been! Somewhere, deep inside of her, a rational voice was telling her that she was being more stupid now; its cries were drowned out by her jealousy.

“Fine!” she said. “If you guys just want to do it, just bone already! I don't mind! Obviously, I'm stuck being a virgin forever!”

Stuart stopped immediately, turning to her. On his face was abashed confusion.

“What?”

Had tears not been stinging at her eyes, she might have seen that there was nothing but utter perplexity on his face at her words. Nevertheless, she found that she could not stop the torrent of anger that came out of her.

“I mean, obviously she's the one you want!”

“Kalina, what? No!” Maeve's voice was rich with concern. “You know we're only doing this because you asked...”

“Oh, come on – like I can't see how much you enjoy it!” Kalina stood up. “I'm going,” she said. “Don't follow me! Or do you need to make sure your precious Life's Blood isn't being deflowered somewhere?”

“Kalina, please!” Stuart ran after her. “It's not like that! It was never like that. Even if you weren't the carrier – I'd still want to wait – want it to be special...”

“Special special special!” Kalina shouted. “Well, maybe I don't want to be special! Maybe I want you to do with me what you're obviously enjoying doing to her!”

“You think I don't want to do that every day?” Stuart's voice was filled with anger and pain. “You think it's not a battle every time I see you?”

“I've already had one boyfriend who would run away every time things got...out of hand,” said Kalina. “I don't need another.”

She got into her family’s spare car and slammed the door shut. “I'm going!” she shouted.

“Kalina!”

But the car was already speeding down the dark and dusty road. Night had come over them, and Kalina could see a shimmering moonlight through her tears. She didn't know if she'd been right or wrong – as her anger settled, she felt sorry for her harsh words. But the idea still filled her with disgust. Having to stay a virgin for some stupid vampire curse? She'd been happy to wait – she wanted her first time to be right, after all – but the idea of some vampires deciding whether she could or couldn't have sex filled her with disgust, with rage.

Her mind flickered to thoughts of Jaegar. He'd been open and upfront about desiring her – no lies, no euphemisms – just a direct blaze in his eyes and the sensation of his mouth upon her lips...

No, she couldn't think about...

In a haze, she saw a deer in the middle of the road. Crap. She pressed on the brakes as quickly as she could, swerved to avoid it, but it was too late. The car veered sharply off the road and down into the woods; she saw a tree grow larger and larger before her – and then there was the sound of a crash, and the splintering of glass and wood, and then she saw nothing at all.

chapter 15

“Kalina! Kalina!”

Kalina opened her eyes. Through the swooning haze she could feel a pounding pain in her leg, and a further throbbing at her ankle.

“Kalina!” It was Jaegar's voice, but it was softer than she was used to hearing it. She remembered that he had sounded cruel, callous, when he spoke to her, but now his voice was rich and deep, filled with concern. His hands were lightly tapping at her cheeks, trying to rouse her into consciousness. but now his voice was rich and deep, filled with concern. His hands were lightly tapping at her cheeks, trying to rouse her into consciousness.

“Kalina, wake up!”

“Where am I?” She looked around. “The car...”

“Smashed to pieces,” Jaegar said. “But you're fine – I think. You had a broken ankle; I've put a splint on it. Just don't move it.”

“Where am I?” Kalina sat up. “Am I safe?”

“I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you're asking,” said Jaegar. “I'm not going to bite you – don't worry. Vampire's honor.”

“I crashed the car...”

“And it's a good thing I found you! Or you might have been someone else's vampire meat by now! What were you thinking – taking a car out in the night like that?

That's the second time you've wrecked a car this month. If you ever borrow mine, I’d be sure to add more insurance.”

“My head,” Kalina moaned softly. “I feel like...”

“Like you've just crashed a car?” Jaegar chuckled.

“Yeah, exactly. I was...upset.”

“You and your lover have a fight?” Jaegar stood up and began pacing around the room.

“I don't want to talk about it,” said Kalina. “It's none of your business, anyway. I should call Stuart – let him know...” She thought of Stuart and her face fell. How could she speak to him after the fight they'd had that night? Shame spread across her cheeks in an uneven blush.

“What happened?” Jaegar let his hand lightly brush Kalina's shoulder.

“I'm not so sure I like being special,” said Kalina, “being protected.”

“Well, you picked the wrong vampires to hang around, then.”

“Where are we, anyway?”

“We're in Carmel – at a friend's summer house. Funny – vampires have summer houses, too. Considering they don't like the sun...we're in the basement; I'd rather avoid the UV rays if I can help it.” He cupped her face. “Tans don't suit me.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

He sat at the foot of her bed. “Where would be the fun – the tension – if you're already out of the game? What's a game of cat and mouse without the mouse?”

“Ew.” She swatted him away.

“You can recoil,” said Jaegar. “Now I know you're improving.”

The room at last came into focus. Kalina thought back to the events leading up to this moment – the fight, the crash, Maeve, her discovery. The memories flooded her brain; against herself, she winced.

“Why did you do it?” she said.

“Do what?”

“Drink from Maeve?” She propped herself up on her elbows. “I mean, why are you so nice to me – and then how could you do something so horrible to her?”

“Who says I did?”

Kalina gasped. “You did, of course...”

“Did I?” Jaegar smiled at her. “Think back...”

No, he had never come right out and said it – but she had accused him, and he had not contradicted her; she had assumed...

“I believe, Miss Kalina, that you said it.”

“I don't understand. Why did you let me...”

“You believed what you wanted to believe of me.” Jaegar said coolly, rising and striding about the room. “You wanted to believe the worst of me, so you did. So I let you. I might as well have – in any case. I am a vampire. I will not be tamed, Kalina – by you or anyone else.”

“I'm not trying to tame you,” Kalina shot back. “But if you hurt my friends, I can promise you – I will stake you.”

“One hundred years ago,” said Jaegar. “I would have had no compunction about hurting your friends.”

“So what changed?”

“Aaron,” said Jaegar. “And you.”

“And me?”

Jaegar sighed heavily. “I find that...I do not wish to hurt you.” He drew in breath. “Make of that what you will.”

The stillness in the air was uncomfortable. Kalina almost found herself wishing that he would go back to teasing her again – that they could go back to the pleasant normalcy of their rivalry and banter.

“Do you love me?” she asked him.

“Don't be ridiculous,” said Jaegar, a beat too quickly. “Vampires do not love.”

“Do you want me?”

“Yes.”

The simplicity of it, elemental and primal, astounded her. It had been so difficult, with Stuart – the way he always pulled away, the way he always stopped, the way he guarded her purity with such fanatical self-restraint.

She laughed weakly. “I'm seventeen. I've got two mind-blowingly gorgeous vampires fighting over me. And for this spell to work, I'm supposed to remain a virgin!

”

“Life's so hard, sometimes,” said Jaegar.

“Jaegar,” she leaned in.

“What?”

“If...if I wanted to – you know, would you?”

“Do you want to?” His eyes took on a mysterious shimmer.

“That's not the question – I'm just asking... if...”

“Am I a red-blooded vampire or not?” said Jaegar. “Don't ask such ridiculous questions. Especially when they're so tantalizing...”

He reached out for her; she pushed him away.

“I don't want to,” she said sharply. “I just – wanted to know.”

“Not satisfied at home?”

“It isn't like that!”

“Not getting what you need – as they say on the cover of women's magazines?”

“No – it isn't that...”

“What, then?”

“I want to drink your blood,” Kalina said, simply.

“What?” Jaegar rounded on her.

“I saw – I saw the effect it has...when a human and vampire share blood. And you can't drink mine. And I'm injured – you said it yourself – and vampire blood heals. Well, I want to try yours.”

Jaegar considered her, amused. “What a very forward request! Some vampires would have you killed for such audacity.”

“Will you do it or not?”

She couldn't explain what it was she felt. She only wanted to know what it was Maeve and Stuart had known, to know what it was that was denied her.

“Very well,” said Jaegar. His teeth flashed in the lamplight. “If you insist.” He held his own wrist to his mouth and bit in deeply into the flesh. She could see the dark veins open up, and the blood fall in a gentle trail down his forearm.

“Do I just...”

“Do what feels natural.”

She took his wrist and pressed it gingerly to her lips.

“Like this?”

“Like this?”

“Your body will tell you what to do.”

“I don't think it's telling me...” She stopped. She had inhaled the scent of his blood – vibrant, deep – like musk and vanilla, as dark and aromatic as Arabian coffee. Her mind closed instantly. Rational thought evaporated. She could not think; she could only feel – feel a desire to consume as strong and overpowering as anything she had ever felt. She felt the taste of his blood on her tongue; she felt his flesh cold and tantalizing on her lips. And then she was sucking it down, tenderly, at first, and then in ecstatic gulps, and she was aware of nothing but the taste of him in her – and the taste filled her mouth and her throat, the lining of her stomach, the space in her ribcage, burning in her blood, flowing down to her fingers.

He pulled away. “That's enough,” he said.

She looked up. “My God,” she whispered. “That's amazing.” Something between guilt and ecstasy flooded her.

“Any more and you'll hurt me.”

Rationality returned to her. “Oh, God...”

“Kalina.” His voice had grown soft now, even kind. “Are you all right? Was it...all right?”

“I don't know,” she said. “It was intense.”

“When a human and vampire feed off each other, it creates a kind of psychic connection. So don't be surprised if you feel something...drawing you – at first.”

So – there had been something between Stuart and Maeve – even if they themselves had not been aware of it! Her heart leaped in her mouth.

“I know,” she said. “Stuart...he had to feed from my friend – from Maeve. He gave her his blood – and then he had to drink from her when he was attacked...”

Jaegar's kindness vanished. His face darkened with jealousy. “I see,” he said. “So you wanted to even the score.” His voice grew cold. Kalina flushed. “I don't see you complaining,” she said. “Anyway, the pain in my leg has gone.”

He couldn't help but laugh. “You're a feisty woman, Kalina. You're wasted on my brother. You're strong.”

“He's strong,” she said. She thought of him with Maeve and gulped.

“Strong enough to resist doing all sorts of things I'd be more than happy to oblige with doing...” He stopped. “I won't ask you again,” he said. “And, despite what you may think of me, I'd certainly never force you. I used compulsion on you, yes, before I came to know you. I've used compulsion on many women in my past. But I don't want you like that. I like you best like you are now – your strength, your passion, your life. I like a woman who isn't afraid to stand up to me. I need a woman like that.”

He touched her hair lightly. “I will never use compulsion upon you; I promise you that much. Vampire's honor. But, on that matter...You know where I stand. But – if you ever change your mind – now that you've tasted vampire blood...you know where to find me.”

“I'm dating your brother,” Kalina said quietly.

“Are you?” He sighed. “Yes, for now – let's get you back. I'll drive.”

He drove her back the following evening. She had texted Justin – told him she was staying with Maeve. She made no such contact with Stuart or Maeve, although she received a series of text messages from them. She knew she'd have to say something – as they pulled up to Greystone Wineries, she couldn't imagine what. Stuart raced out to meet them the second he saw Jaegar’s car. “What the hell are you doing here?” he hissed to Jaegar. “Haven't you ruined enough already?”

He caught sight of Kalina and stopped. “Kalina – are you all right? I called a couple of times, but you didn’t pick up.” He took her hands in his. “God – Kalina – I'm so, so sorry.” He pressed them tightly to his lips; she thought of the taste of Jaegar's blood, and could not look at him. “I promise you – nothing happened – nothing would ever have happened.” He looked up. “Jaegar – what the hell have you done to her?”

“It's fine,” said Kalina. “He helped me – I crashed my family car; he helped me get better...”

“He helped you get...” He turned to face Jaegar. “You didn't! Tell me you didn't!”

“She asked! Besides – looks like you already found someone willing to drink your blood.”

“That's not the...Kalina, did you?”

“You told me it would help – if a human is injured,” Kalina said, instinctively on the defensive, “It was fine when you did it to Maeve! It was fine when she did it to you!”

“That's different!” Stuart sighed. “With Jaegar? ”

“I do have a habit of my beating you to women,” Jaegar said lightly. “Like Marilee, for example.”

“Don't you mention her name!” Stuart's voice had become a roar. “Don't you dare mention her name – after all you've done! After what happened to Father!”

“Time to face the facts, little brother,” said Jaegar. “You'll never have what I have. And I believe you'll find your girlfriend feels the same way.”

“I do not! ” said Kalina, hotly. But they could not hear her. They were lost in an argument that had gone on, without her, for centuries.

“I want you out of here!” cried Stuart.

“I just saved your girlfriend's life. If she even is your girlfriend.”

“I am, ” said Kalina.

Stuart could not resist any longer. He struck Jaegar clean across the face, his rage giving him strength. In his eyes, Kalina saw the power that he had so long been resisting, the dark force he had tried so hard to suppress. In its elemental fury his passion was stronger, even, than Jaegar's – he had starved it for so long, that it came out in the full force of its hunger.

Jaegar fell back, stunned. “You're stronger than I remember, little brother. But don't get too cocky. Remember, I am still your elder. And your better.” He shoved Stuart back down to the ground.

Kalina had enough. “Fine,” she said. “You guys fight it out! But when you're done – come find me! I'll be inside!”

And with that, she stormed into the house.

chapter 16

The first thing Kalina saw when she went back inside the house was the man sitting in the chair. He was extraordinarily handsome and reminded Kalina of the broadshouldered half-naked men on the covers of romance novels. He was in his mid-to-late 20s, tall, with long, jet-black hair and a deep tan – far darker than a normal vampire. His muscles were strong, even sinewy, hidden beneath the perfectly tailored folds of an Italian suit. He looked rich, powerful; he sat in the armchair like a man of bearing, perfectly poised, waiting for her. His long fingers were touched together in a steeple; his eyes were piercing and gray, the color of a sword's blade.

“I've been waiting for you, Kalina,” he said.

“How did you know my...” she stopped. Vampires knew everything. And from the cruel glimmer in his eye, she had a feeling that he was one of them. “Never mind. What do you want?”

He had to be a vampire – there was no way anyone else could sneak past Stuart and Jaegar unnoticed, even in the midst of their fighting. They guarded that house with their lives; it contained all their secrets.

“I warn you, I have a stake.”

“What a way to treat an old family friend!” He gave her a look of shock. “Really, where are your manners?”

“Where's your letter of introduction?” she shot back. “I don't talk to strangers.”

He looked her up and down; she could feel his eyes burning into her.

“So,” he said softly, his lips curling around the words. “You're the girl causing all this trouble around here. All the little Greystone boys up in arms over you. I haven't seen this much fighting since Helen of Troy. Now, that really was a war.”

Shock spread across her face.

“Oh, you know I'm only joking. The Trojan War was before my time. Not by much. The Battle of Actium was more my style.”

“Ancient Rome...” Her voice trailed off. “Octavius!” Stuart had spoken to her many times of Octavius, of his band of mercenaries. He was the one responsible for turning Stuart, Jaegar and their father into vampires – recruiting them into eternal life in exchange for eternal servitude – the one who had saved them from the Black Death, but who in the end had not been able to save them from themselves.

“I thought you released them,” she said. “For good service – what do you want with them now?”

“Who says I want them, now?” said Octavius. He inhaled deeply, his nostrils alighting on her scent. “Life's Blood,” he breathed. “I love it when a woman smells as good as she looks. It's a good guide to how she tastes...”

Kalina took a step back.

“Delicious,” he pronounced.

Kalina tried to search for Stuart or Jaegar out of the corner of her eyes, but she could catch no glimpse of them. Her heart began pounding in her chest. Were they still fighting? Or had something...happened. No, she couldn't think about that now. She tried to remain calm.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him, trying to muster up more ferocity than she felt.

“What am I doing here?” Octavius sighed. “Why, my dear, I am here merely out of simple curiosity. So many vampires have been hunting for years, searching for that very special virgin who carries Life's Blood. It's been centuries since we've had another like you, my dear. Those rings your two lovers wear – some of the most precious gems in the business. Some vampires, like your precious Stuart and that dear boy, Aaron, wish to become human again. Others have more ambitious goals. They want to become invincible. That taint of evil that comes with it – well, it is a price one might pay.”

Kalina kept her eyes steady on Octavius. “And which category do you fall into?” she asked. She had a feeling she already knew the answer.

“Oh, years ago, when I first became a vampire – this was during the time of the first Caesar, a great, great man, if a proud one – I would have died to become mortal again!” He laughed at his little joke. “I was still a human, you see, in many ways. I still loved my fiancée. Drusilla, she was called. And she was beautiful. And I was meant to marry her – and the night before I was to crown her with orange blossoms and carry her over my doorstep...I grew turned.”

“I'm sorry,” said Kalina.

“Don't be. She killed herself after the shock of my...condition. She did not bother to stay, to listen to me – to hear what I had to say; for I loved her then, despite what had happened to me. She merely took the coward's way out. And I learned then that there is a great difference between humans and vampires. Humans are cowardly. Vampires are brave. Vampires are predators. Humans are prey.”

“And now you are a full vampire?”

“My heart is hardened,” said Octavius. “As well it must be. And now I serve without mercy. Without regret.”

Kalina couldn't help gulping.

“Maybe for a pretty thing like you I might change my ways,” said Octavius, with a wry grin. “But you seem to be deciding among enough Greystones already. Oh, I'm not all bad. I don't think I'm bad at all. My opponents would say otherwise – but I do what I believe is right. Under my laws. My rules.”

“I think I have enough suitors already,” Kalina said, her voice trembling. “And don't try to use compulsion on me – I know that trick!”

“Compulsion is for vampires too young to have mastered their...more natural charms.” Octavius smiled. “I know you're attracted to me – don't be shy. I'm a vampire; it's in my nature...to attract.”

“And to destroy?” Kalina said, deflecting the question. Her hormones were out-of-control enough already; she didn't need to be in a room of powerfully seductive vampires to make it worse.

“Oh, I've done all that,” said Octavius. “I have turned hundreds of men – perhaps even a thousand – into vampires. I've crushed them of their lives, stolen their potential to be human, what their lives might have been: births, marriages, deaths, children, love, sunlight – without a second thought. And after thousands of years on this Earth, can you imagine how many humans I've taken to satisfy my thirst? Can you even guess?”

“I'd rather not,” said Kalina. She thought it was rather time to chalk him up wholeheartedly to the “bad” side of the column, all things considered.

“And I've been searching for you – or for someone like you – for ages. I even told the Greystone Brothers my suspicions – that a carrier of Life's Blood was to be born in this area. How else do you think that slobbering young boyfriend of yours first found you?”

“Aaron? What does Aaron have to...”

“I turned him, after all – as a favor to his poor, beautiful mother, who could not bring herself to do it. And so he owed me his existence – and with it his loyalty. Of course, poor, confused boy – he rather messed up my instructions. I instructed him to find the Life's Blood and bring her to me. Not to fall in love with her himself, not to protect her, not to seek her humanity. But you're dangerous that way, Kalina. Once a vampire knows there's Life's Blood in your veins, flowing through like a torrent of fire, he will never be able to look at you the same way again. You are the holder of such power. One drop can give a vampire the ability to walk in the sun without burning. That’s pure humanity traveling through your veins. Don't pride yourself, girl. Every vampire you meet will likely fall in love with you. Or rather – with what you can give them...”

“You killed Aaron, didn't you?” Kalina shot up. “When he didn't bring me to you!”

“I would never do such a thing,” said Octavius, raising an eyebrow. “But my underlings are very protective of me, and of my honor. If provoked, who knows what they might do? Vampires who are disloyal are punished. And I have thousands of followers out there who were willing to teach the young pup a lesson in just what disloyalty means.”

“What do you want with me?” said Kalina. She remembered what Stuart had said – if all seemed lost, it was better to kill herself than to let a vampire take her Life's Blood – and shuddered. She prayed that Jaegar, or Stuart, would come in at any moment.

“What a heartbreaker you are,” he said. “To gain the love of one Greystone brother. But all three! What qualities might you possess...I've wanted to drink from you for centuries. I've dreamed of it. Life's Blood.”

“And become evil? All-powerful? Is that it?” Kalina's fingers tensed on her stake, but she knew already it would be no match for him.

“Don't be so cynical, my darling. Perhaps you'll fall in love with me, and your blood will make me human again.” He almost looked sincere. Kalina rolled her eyes.

“Listen,” she said, her voice shaking. “I've had enough vampires trying to get into my pants for one day, so you'll excuse me if I'm not exactly interested.”

“What a situation you're in,” said Octavius. “If you give your blood freely, chastely, with love – your love will become human. But if he is not your love – he will become your worst nightmare, the most evil, decadent creature you could imagine. With your blood. What a terrible decision to make. And which will you choose? The good one

– or the dangerous one? I'd tell you which one I'd choose...although it doesn't matter, in any case. I'd have to kill him.”

Kalina swallowed. Hard.

“Or – you could avoid the situation altogether. Instead of driving the brothers further apart – instead of forfeiting their undead lives, why not first consider the alternative?”

Kalina looked up.

“Me.”

“You want me to be your lover?” Kalina shuddered. “Or your food?”

“Just my servant for now,” said Octavius. “My feeder. I believe your blood must still ripen, first. I don't want to taste you just yet. What a waste it would be – like opening a wine before it's matured. I'd want to keep you, until then. And, when you're old enough – I daresay you will come to my bed on your own.”

“How dare you!” Kalina stood up, her fear forgotten in her rage. “How dare you? First you killed Aaron, and then you have the gall to...”

Octavius rose, his voice chilling with calm. “Think about it,” he said. “But I warn you – you haven't got long...”

He vanished.

chapter 17

What had happened to Stuart and Jaegar? The moment Octavius had vanished, Kalina bolted, calling their names into the night sky. Octavius wouldn't have just left her like that – not without having something up his sleeve, not without knowing... And why hadn't they come to find her?

Their faces both appeared before her; her heart beat strongly with love for both of them, and she could not tell herself in the madness of her tears, her running, the beating of her heart, which one of them she loved more.

She ran outside to where Jaegar's car lay parked. She gasped. She could see that something had happened there – some fight, some terror. Pieces of clothing laid strewn around the glade – she recognized Jaegar's shirt, stained with blood; alongside it, she saw Stuart's jacket, lying torn. The plantings of the vineyards had laid strewn around the glade – she recognized Jaegar's shirt, stained with blood; alongside it, she saw Stuart's jacket, lying torn. The plantings of the vineyards had been flattened – whole lines of grapes razed and even burned to the ground. Something terrible had happened here.

“Stuart!” she called out. “Jaegar!” She ran through the night. “Where are you?” Only her own voice answered her, echoing back through the expanses of vineyard.

“Where are you!” Tears filled her throat. “Please answer me! Someone! Anyone!”

At the thought that anyone could be Octavius, she cupped her hand over her mouth. She closed her eyes and prayed, trying to remember the prayers she had recited with her rosary as a child. She wasn't sure it would do much good for vampires, but even Stuart had spoken to her of the power of belief. She heard a groan in the distance.

She raised her eyes heavenwards and whispered out a thank you.

“I'm coming!” she called.

The groan grew louder as she followed the sound, through thickets of trees and vast expanses of vine. She made her way through the labyrinth of thorns and sounds, trying to find the voice, the speaker, praying it would not be too late.

“Jaegar!”

He was stripped to the waist, bound to a wooden stake in the earth. His bare chest was covered with bruises and cuts; his marble tones uncharacteristically sullied by brown, ugly welts.

“Jaegar!” Kalina rushed over to him. “What happened? Who did this?”

“Don't touch the ropes,” he murmured. “Acid.”

“Were these Octavius's men?”

“Some goons. Seven to eight of them came at me right when I was distracted by Stuart. I staked two of them, but they overpowered me. They had to be Octavius’ men. They were well-trained.” He nodded, wincing at the rope against his flesh. She could hear the sizzle of flesh underneath them and felt sick.

“I've got a pocketknife,” she said, rummaging through her bags. “Like a boy scout,” she said. “Always come prepared.”

He laughed in the midst of his pain. “Just for the record,” he said. “Sorry for hitting on you. In case I die tonight.”

“You're already dead,” said Kalina. “And you're not sorry.” She smiled at him. “You just want me to forgive you.”

“Maybe I do.”

She began cutting the ropes with her knife, careful not to let them touch her flesh. “I'm sorry – I know this has got to hurt.”

“Didn't see it coming,” said Jaegar. “But they – they must have killed Aaron. They must have been behind it all. Life's Blood.” Jaegar winced. “I never thought...not Octavius. He was a man of honor.”

“Honorable enough to turn you and your whole family?” Kalina cut open the last of the ropes. “Honorable enough to make you join his army? To kill millions?”

“It wasn't like that,” Jaegar said. “He...he gave us purpose. He gave us a reason to live...forever.” He fell forward, free of his ropes. She rushed to him and took him into her arms. “Are you alright?” She kissed his cheek.

“Kalina, I need to get out of here...”

And then she saw his hand. Where there had been a finger – a ring, preciously sealed with a drop of Life's Blood inside, there was only a bloody stump.

“The finger will grow back,” he said. “But the ring...” She knew the consequences. A vampire without a ring like that would be a pile of ashes before the sun was high in the sky.

“I wouldn't have let that happen,” said Kalina. “They got Aaron – I'm not going to let them get to you, too.”

Jaegar raised his eyebrows. “Are you saying you care for me at last?” He gave her a mocking grin. “Can it be?”

“Yes, fine,” she said. “I care for you. But don't go getting a big ego about it, okay?”

“Oh, I won't,” he said. “I promise. I'll be as humble as ever.” He scrambled towards her. “But you've got to know something...” He took her hands. “I care about you, too. You have no idea how much.”

With that he kissed her. This wasn't like the other kisses he had given her – mocking expressions of lust, of power, or passion. This was a soft, romantic kiss: the fullest expression of his soul upon her lips.

She was too stunned to stop him.

“Now,” he said. “Don't go getting a big ego about it, okay?”

She couldn't help laughing. “Okay,” she said. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“I thought, you know. I kept thinking, if I died, well, I didn't want you going around thinking I was a no-good vampire jerk.” He tried to lighten the mood. “Of course, I was a no-good vampire jerk – always have been – but with you...” He sighed. “I guess I've gone soft a little,” he said quietly. “I'd almost forgotten – how much I could care for anyone...”

He kissed her again; his mouth was warm and deep – against herself, she opened her mouth to his kiss. She stopped him – although her heart begged her to continue.

“Not now,” she said. “If Stuart's out there – if they've done to him what they did to you – I need to find him. Now. There isn't time.”

Her heart swelled with fear – the thought of losing Stuart terrified her to her core. How could she explain to Stuart what she felt for Jaegar – or for Jaegar what she felt for Stuart?

Adrenaline coursed through her – but she knew it was not just her fear that prompted it.

She loved them both.

chapter 18

“He's your brother!” Kalina cried. “I don't care what else you're feeling – whether you're mad, jealous, or what! He's your brother, and we have to help him.”

Jaegar gave a grim smile. “I don't know where he is,” he said. “I told him to run – I told him I'd fight them off myself – to save himself...”

“You did?” Kalina frowned. “After all that?”

“He's my brother,” said Jaegar, softly. “And I couldn't have both of us dying. Who would protect you then?”

“Did he run?”

“He refused,” said Jaegar. “Stupid boy – he's such a brave boy, my brother. Brave, but stupid. He wanted to fight. He wanted to fight for you.” He laughed. “I don't think he'd let me take all the credit.”

“I looked all through the house,” said Kalina. “He's not there. I would have heard him come in when Octavius was in the living room. And he's not in the vineyards, either.”

“You're right,” said Jaegar. “I know my brother all too well. I would have sensed him – we have a connection.”

“Even after – everything you two have been through?”

“He's my brother,” said Jaegar, with difficulty. “And I want him to be happy. And if you love him...”

“Can we stop talking about love for a second?” said Kalina. Her face flushed. She had enough to be dealing with without trying to make a choice between the two of them.

Jaegar took her comment as a reproach, and he made a considerable effort to hide the jealousy on his face. “Of course,” he said. “I only meant...”

“Where does Octavius live? Around here?”

Jaegar shook his head. “In Milan,” he said, “in a big palazzo near the Duomo. Nowhere near here. He must have made a special delivery. Just for you. Don't you feel special?”

“Does he have friends in the area? Associates?”

“He has friends in every area,” said Jaegar. “His spies are everywhere. Thousands of vampires existing just to do his bidding.”

“How did he get in the house? I thought vampires had to be invited.”

“Vampires don’t need an invitation to another vampire’s house. Invitations are needed only in a dwelling occupied by a human. But Octavius and my father were close friends,” said Jaegar. “Before my father's death – he visited and stayed with us on vacation. And...we always thought him to be an ally. I couldn't have known...I close friends,” said Jaegar. “Before my father's death – he visited and stayed with us on vacation. And...we always thought him to be an ally. I couldn't have known...I only started suspecting recently, when we were in Carmel. I found out from one of the Stromboli Brothers' wait staff that some muscle had been poking around the place.”

“So Father Botticelli...”

“Had nothing to do with this,” said Jaegar. “Octavius has no need of cash. And I doubt a vampire priest would concern him a great deal.”

“Have you spoken to Octavius lately?”

“Not for centuries. Not since my brother and I...fell out last century. We lost touch. It was only through Aaron that I began hearing of him again, for Octavius I knew was attempting to recruit Aaron for some reason or another...”

“I see.” Kalina sighed. “Me,” she said, swallowing hard. “That was his mission.”

“You?”

“To seduce me and take me to Octavius. Only...” she shuddered. “He fell for me, instead – he saved my life. And that's why they killed him. Because of me. And now...Stuart – and it's all my fault.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “It's not your fault,” he said. “Whatever blood courses in you – it isn't your fault. It is your destiny.”

“Same thing.”

He kissed the top of her forehead. “You're special,” he said. “Believe me – you are, Life's Blood or not.”

“You wouldn't even be attracted to me if it weren't for the Life's Blood,” she said. She wasn't sure if she meant it.

“Just like you wouldn't even be attracted to me if it weren't for me being a vampire.” He stroked her cheek. “Supernatural life is complicated.” He touched her hair lightly.

“Or maybe it's just really simple. Maybe, if we were both human...” his voice trailed up. “Come on – it's almost sunrise. Let's get going!”

“Why would he take Stuart?” said Kalina, as they walked to the car. “It's me he's after.”

“I believe,” said Jaegar stiffly, “He was under the impression that Stuart was the one you would choose – were you to have a choice.”

The last time she had spoken to Stuart properly, the two of them had been fighting – her mind clouded with jealousy and anger. Had she meant what she said –

her suspicions about Maeve, her rage about the secret he had kept from her? Or had she meant it when she had kissed him at her threshold, closed her eyes while in his arms, stared with a mixture of terror and arousal at the power he held back so carefully, for fear of hurting her, for fear of consuming her...

“Stuart is my boyfriend,” she said.

“Then why did you let me...”

“I don't know, okay?” She turned away from him. “It's not easy. The two of you...always around...all this pressure – I don't know what I think!”

“What do you feel, Kalina?”

She could not look him in the eye. How could she tell him what she felt, when she wasn't even sure herself?

“I feel worried that Stuart is going to be burned to a crisp at sunrise, okay? We have to go find him.”

“No,” said Jaegar. “It's too dangerous. Believe me, Kalina – I'd follow you anywhere – but that's just where Octavius wants you.”

“Well, he'd better be careful what he wishes for, then.”

“Octavius will drink your blood, become invincible! I can't let you...”

“You can't tell me what I can and can't do, for starters,” snapped Kalina. “And I'll either go alone or you'll go with me – you tell me. But I can tell you that one of those choices is probably going to get me killed, but the other is definitely going to get me killed, so you pick one!”

“So you can be with your precious boyfriend?” Jaegar rounded on her. “So you can give him your blood and the two of you can grow human together and old together and make human babies together...”

“For Christ's sake, Jaegar – I'm seventeen! As far as I'm concerned, you can both have the blood – I just want to make sure someone I care about isn't killed! Is that so hard to believe?” She softened her tone. “In any case, I'd do the same for you. If it were you.”

“It's not about the blood,” said Jaegar softly. “It's about you. You're the only woman who can...match me.”

Her face colored as they got into the car.

“I care for you, Kalina,” he said. “And forgive me for that.”

“Don't be sorry,” she whispered. “Please don't be sorry.”

“Do you love him?”

“I care deeply for him,” she said. “But...I care for you too. It's different – it's so different, with each of you...I don't want to – I can't just pick one of you! My life has been so much richer with you both in it. And I can't say goodbye to either one of you. And I need to make sure you both stay alive. For Aaron – too. Because Aaron would have wanted it this way. He wouldn't have wanted either of you to get hurt. Family was so important to him...he always used to talk about it, how he wanted a family one day...” her voice trailed off.

They got into the car.

“For Aaron,” said Jaegar. “I'll come with you. I'll do whatever you need.” He sighed. “And, at the end of the day – or night, as it were – he is my brother.”

They were silent.

chapter 19

They drove onwards into the night. Jaegar had been making frantic telephone calls throughout the night, calling up favors from all the vampires he knew –

many of whom, he explained, were or had been in Octavius's army. He spoke to them as he had always spoken to them – as a member of Octavius's loyal team – and implied that he wished to find Octavius for purely business-related reasons.

“It's dangerous to be an informant,” he said to Kalina. “I hope Octavius doesn't find out who told me.”

Kalina shuddered.

At last, Jaegar slammed his phone shut. “Drive faster,” he said. “We're going to Beverly Hills.”

“Beverly Hills?”

He shouted an address at her.

“Staying at the house of some film director he turned two decades ago. I should have known - Octavius could never resist glitz and glamor. During the Renaissance, he always had the gaudiest doublets, though he did look impressive in them…”

Kalina pressed down onto the gas.

They drove all through the night, alternating shifts at the wheel. As the time wore on, Kalina found that her strength was beginning to fail her, and when she was given blessed respite in the passenger's seat at the front of the car, she found herself beginning to doze off, despite her worries, despite her fears. She didn't have the energy to remain both awake and afraid.

She woke up with a gasp.

“Nightmare?” Jaegar asked her. They had stopped the car across the street from a large, stucco Tuscan villa, surrounded by an electric fence. “Afraid it's about to get worse. We're here.”

“There are so many guards,” Kalina said. She had a feeling the burly men scanning the gate with cruel, dark eyes weren't her standard-grade security guards.

“We'll never get past them.”

“We'll have to come back in daytime,” said Jaegar.

“But – without the ring...”

“I'll find a way,” said Jaegar curtly. “But we've only got an hour until dawn.” He sighed. “May I suggest we find a hotel?”

“A hotel?”

“It's either that, or you can lock me in the trunk of the car. And I'm really not in the mood to be stuck in a tiny cramped space for who knows how long.”

“A hotel sounds fine,” said Kalina.

Jaegar nodded.

They drove up and down the strips of Beverly Hills until they came to a rickety motel, with a bright pink painted sign and peeling paint on the walls.

“The Sunrise Motel,” said Kalina with a wry smile. “Fitting, I guess.”

They checked in silently, and the proprietress of the establishment gave them a knowing smile. “Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I'm sure,” she said.

“Uh, sure,” said Kalina.

“We'll pay cash,” Jaegar broke in.

She demanded a hundred dollars; he threw it down before her in five crisp views.

“Room with a view?” the woman asked, rubbing her eyes.

“No thank you,” they said in unison.

“My husband doesn't like the light,” Kalina explained lately. “Hurts his eyes.”

“Yeah, sure,” said the woman, in a voice that clearly betrayed her disinterest. She threw the key down upon the desk before them. “Be out by dawn tomorrow –

hear me? And don't go messing up the rooms; we charge for extra cleanup.”

Jaegar took her aside on their way to the room. “I need to go find something to eat. It's almost dawn. And somehow I don't get the sense this place stocks Vampire Wine.”

“Eat,” Kalina grimaced. “Like a person?”

“That waitress at the diner where we refueled a few miles back – you were asleep. I think she's a feeder – I can smell it on her.”

“That's disgusting!”

“Would you rather I take it from someone unwilling?” Jaegar snapped.

“Just – just be back before sunrise,” she said. “You can't be out late, not without your ring.”

“Jealous?” He forced a grin at her before ducking out, leaving his bag on the room dresser.

Kalina sat down and buried her head in her hands. The exhaustion was getting too much for her. At the same time, she found Jaegar's absence something of a relief. Without his powerful presence commanding the room, she had time to think, to reflect, to gather herself. Jaegar needed another ring – that much she knew. She searched through her possessions, trying to find something that would suffice. She tossed aside gum wrappers and loose change until she found what she was looking for.

Aaron's class ring.

He had given it to her when they had first begun to go steady – it had been a sign of his affection for her. A garnet – the class stone – sat grooved at the base. She pried it off with her nails. Praying the scent of her blood wouldn't be picked up by all the vampires in L.A., she found a stray safety pin in her bag, pricking her finger just enough to let two drops of her blood fall into the groove where the stone had been. She then pressed the stone back into place, sticking it with an end of gum. Not quite as elaborate as the gorgeous antique Jaegar had been wearing previously, but it would have to do. Then all that was left was to sit and wait. At last, moments before the rosy fingers of sunrise spread out across the sky, Jaegar barged in.

He stopped; he sniffed. “How dare you!” he bellowed. “Knowing how I feel – what are you playing at?”

“What?”

“You've been bleeding – you know, you know what I have to do to control myself – and you just parade your blood around the room!”

“Would you keep your voice down?” Kalina locked the door. “It's for your own good...”

“What are you talking about?”

Kalina held out the ring. “I made you a ring,” she said. “I had to wait until you were gone – in case you...pounced.”

His jaw dropped. “I see,” he said. He put out a hand gingerly and slipped the ring onto his ring finger, which had healed. “Thank you.” His voice was gruff and hard. The tension was still in the air, thick enough to strangle both of them.

“You could at least be grateful,” she said.

“I am grateful,” he shouted.

“You don't have to shout at me!” she sat back down. “I'm only helping.”

“By rubbing it in...”

“Rubbing what in?”

“Isn't it bad enough,” he said, “knowing the blood that consumes my thoughts – all night and all day – is going straight to my brother? Watching you go to him?

Watching myself lose you – I, who had never lost a woman in my life!”

“It isn't like...”

“Watching the woman I care for go to my brother, to make him human – to take everything I want – and then having to smell that blood!”

“I'm sorry!” Kalina shouted. “But if I didn't do it there's no way we'd make it to Octavius's alive.”

“And you'd never save Stuart,” said Jaegar with a sneer.

“Would you just stop it?” Kalina stamped her foot in rage. “You're acting like a child! You think it isn't complicated enough already?”

“What's so complicated about it. You love my brother...”

“Jaegar.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. She knew now could be the last chance she'd ever get. “I feel a lot for you, too.”

She couldn't stop herself. She had been drawn to him from the start, her body craving him ever since she met him. His blood coursing through her made her instinctively pull closer to him. She kissed him, wrapping herself so tightly into him that she couldn't breathe, bowled over by the force of her own passion. He stopped short. “Kalina.” His eyes burned into hers with unspoken need. He reached out to touch her face so gently, so softly. She had penetrated his last resolve.

“If, if it were you in the legend, only if – and not Stuart - would you? Would you become human? You always said...”

“For you,” he held her tightly. “For you – I swear. Centuries of women – and none of them has ever compared to you.”

He pulled her down to the bed; she allowed herself to melt into his arms.

**********

Kalina slept curled into his arms until the sun was high over the horizon. Then they woke together. It was time to strike. They tested out Kalina's ring, opening the curtains slowly to make sure Jaegar's skin didn't burn.

“How is it?” Kalina asked.

“Not comfy,” said Jaegar. “But it'll do.”

They drove to Octavius' house. The guards had vanished in the light of day – and there was only the electric fence to contend with.

“Remember,” said Jaegar, wincing at the sunlight. “Be absolutely silent.”

It was far less difficult than they thought to break into the mansion, to climb over the electric fence – Jaegar was able to fly her over, evading the alarms – and into an opened window on the top floor. The house was large and opulent, with enormous windows casting baroque shadows on the floor, filled with gaudy chandeliers and gold inlay on the walls.

“Clearly a millionaire's palace,” whispered Kalina.

They made their way down the corridor, stakes in hand, checking one room then another for any sign of Stuart. Jaegar raised his head and sniffed. “This way!” he said. Together they followed the scent until they came to a small, dark room at the end of the corridor.

“Stuart!” Kalina cried as he opened the door.

He was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, bound and gagged. They swiftly untied it.

“No – don't!” Stuart said, as they removed the gag, but it was too late.

“Nice to see you two again,” said a voice from behind them, as smooth as satin. Octavius stood in the doorway, flanked by armed guards. On his finger was Jaegar's old ring. “And of course, my darling Kalina.”

“I'm not your darling,” said Kalina.

“Not yet, perhaps,” said Octavius, smiling. “But soon you will be. And, I hope, your choice in that matter is gradually becoming clearer. Guards!”

The guards rushed at them, and soon Kalina, Stuart and Jaegar found themselves fending off what felt like a never-ending swarm of vampires. They tried fighting, but were clearly outnumbered. She felt arms close about her shoulders, pinning her arms to her sides, and she stopped.

“Let's stop the resistance, shall we?” Octavius whispered into her ear. “You know how it's going to end. Now, tell me, which of these two fine brothers will get your blood?” He laughed. “Not that it matters...”

Kalina pushed him away with all her strength, pulled out a stake, and drove it into his chest.

Instead of collapsing to the floor, he only laughed. “You missed,” he said. “By half an inch, but you missed nonetheless. Feisty, aren’t you? I like that fighting spirit, but your technique can be improved. It must have been Stuart who taught you how to fight; Stuart's always been the weaker one.”

Stuart glowered, thrusting his stake into another vampire.

“Stand down, men. I will deal with these two rebels myself.”

In a flash he rushed to Stuart and Jaegar, picking them up easily – one with each hand, and throwing them across the room.

“Don't you want to see what a real vampire can do?”

Well over six feet seven inches, he stood towering over them.

“Make your choice now – Kalina. Or I shall make it for you. And then neither vampire shall survive....”

chapter 20

Kalina looked from Stuart to Jaegar, and then back at Stuart again. How could she decide? It was too soon – she had already felt, in the weeks since she had first met Stuart and Jaegar, that she had been running through twin storms – two hurricanes of emotion that had left her drained, left her soaked and exhausted. These two vampires – she owed her life to them; they had both loved her, for they had both loved Aaron, and they had both done their duty to Aaron in protecting her, in giving their lives for her. They had struggled against their temptations – for her blood and her body alike – in order to keep her safe. Coming to love Stuart had been easy. He had been so gentle, so earnest, his honesty underlying that steely strength of self-denial she had seen so often in him. He reminded her of Aaron, yet he was the version she wished Aaron would have become, had he lived. Had Stuart loved Maeve, too? She remembered his gratitude as Stuart had looked up at Maeve following a feeding – but she couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't overreacted, if she hadn't gone too far in her jealousy. Had she been angry, after all, because Maeve was allowed to participate in acts denied her – that Stuart had worked so hard to protect her from himself? She didn't agree with what he had done, of course, but as she stared into his deep hazel eyes she found herself unable to deny that he had meant well, that everything he had done he had done out of love for her. And yet Jaegar! She had despised him when she first met him – despised his cocksure arrogance and his blithe surety that she would come to love him after all. Had he been right? Their rivalry, their wordplay and fighting had turned slowly into something else – their passion slowly morphing into grudging respect, and then finally to something like...

And after what had happened last night...

No, she couldn't think about that now.

“I can't decide,” she said at last. Stuart and Jaegar both looked up at her, dumbstruck.

Octavius laughed. “Young love,” he said at last. “So confusing.”

Kalina stared. Why was he making her decide – why was he testing her like this? If all he wanted was to be the most powerful vampire in the world, he could have easily taken her against her will, sucked her blood immediately, without this charade of pretense. But...he was trying to see if she loved either of them – to see if her heart was already taken. Why?

There was only one answer. He wanted her love. Not for her own sake, but for what was running in her veins.

“You should know, Octavius,” she said, her voice trembling. “What about Drusilla?”

“What about Drusilla?” Octavius said, only a note too harshly.

“Weren’t you in love with her once? Enough to be betrothed – right? Enough to go back to her, after you'd turned, to try and show her what you were, to see if she would still love you...but she killed herself. To avoid the pain. To avoid the shame. How terrible for you.”

“It was necessary,” said Octavius.

“And why not take me right away? Why try to court me – why try to make me decide who I love...to choose...unless you miss her so much, unless you despise your vampire self so much...to be with Drusilla again, to be able to feel her arms – warm – encircling around you, holding her in your arms. You say vampires don't experience love. But...surely you're the most romantic creatures of all?” She knew she wasn’t being very clear, but she had to talk it through, make sense of it, get to Octavius.

“What are you talking about?”

“Searching for centuries – for a cure to your own condition, a cure that will somehow bring you back to the humanity you've lost, for a woman long since dead.”

“That has nothing to do with...”

“Why look for Life's Blood? The virgin with the magic potion that will make it all right again? Unless...”

“Silence!” Octavius thundered.

Kalina thought harder. “It's a pity I'm not the one you're looking for.”

“Nonsense – Aaron was a winemaker, with the finest nose in all the vampire kingdom. He could smell any blood.”

“Except when he was drunk on Vampire Wine, which he was, most of the time. A small price to pay for keeping his innocence.”

He leaned into her and inhaled her smell. “Delicious,” he said. “Like no other. Your blood is indeed a rarity.”

“But is it Life's Blood? Have you ever smelled a carrier? Do you know what she smells like?” She put her hand on her hip. It was now or never. “Plus, didn't you say that the carrier is supposed to be a virgin?”

She looked him up and down, trying to see if he bought it. Stuart and Jaegar were looking at her with something between shock and astonishment. He waved away the guards. “I wish to speak with Miss Kalina alone,” said Octavius. “Bring her to my room. I will speak to her in private.”

She had gotten to him. The last thing he wanted was for her to reveal his desire for humanity before the guards. If he did not drink from her, they would take it as weakness. And if he drank from her – and if she was not a virgin – how could he be sure his chances for humanity wouldn't be dashed...there was only one way to find out for sure.

She smiled to herself. She was almost getting good at lying. But would she be able to see the plan through...?

“Take the Greystone brothers into the basement,” said Octavius. “I have plans for them.”

epilogue

The guards led Stuart and Jaegar down a dark, dank hallway.

All things considered, Jaegar thought, biting his lip, it was probably better than a sunny one.

The guards led them to an edge of the basement, where iron cuffs hung welded from the walls. The guards thrust the brothers into the cuffs and left, their footsteps echoing as they walked away.

“Well done,” said Stuart, when they had gone, his voice dripping with irony. “I see you've managed to do what you've always done.”

“Oh, it was inevitable,” said Jaegar, trying to keep his voice far lighter and more airy than he felt. “I've always been good with women.” Somehow the charade masked his terror.

“She's the one, Jaegar!” Stuart hissed. “You knew – you knew I loved her...”

“Did you?” Jaegar leaned against the wall. “Or did you just love what was in her veins?”

“What kind of a question is that?”

“You heard her yourself – she can't be the carrier. For very...interesting reasons. I am sorry about that, dear brother – but I'm afraid I've rather spoiled your gift!

Do you still want her – now that her love won't make you human again? Because I can promise you, I do...”

“How dare...” Stuart began, but his voice was cut off by a cry in the dark.

“Stuart?” the voice was weak, but they recognized it immediately. “Jaegar? Thank God you're here.”

Their heads whipped round to the corner, where they could see a figure crouching in the darkness.

They spoke in unison.

“Aaron?”

PULSE continues in

Book 2 of PULSE

Life’s Blood (PULSE, #2)

October 2010

From Bestselling Author

Kailin Gow

Comes

PULSE Book 2

Life’s Blood

Just when her relationship with Stuart and Jaegar seems complicated enough, there are more vampires in the peaceful wine country town of Rutherford. Amidst the growing danger to her and everyone she loves, a proposition is given to Kalina which would change her life forever. Wicked Woods

By Kailin Gow

Briony had to move to Wicked Woods, Massachusetts to live with her Great Aunt Sophie after her family disappears on vacation. The woods at the edge of Aunt Sophie’s inn are filled with secrets and inhabitants both seductive and deadly. Among them is a beautiful boy name Fallon who saves her one night in the woods. As Briony gets closer to Fallon, she learns he has a secret, as do most of the residents of Wicked Woods…

The Stoker Sisters

By Kailin Gow

Two sisters... Born during the time of Jane Austen... Set to marry for advancement, but escaped their fates by becoming vampires. Now vampires in the 21st century, hunted by a sect of rogue hunters, the sisters meet a mysterious boy who holds the key to their destinies.

BITTER FROST

All her life, Breena had always dreamed about fairies as though she lived amongst them… beautiful fairies living amongst mortals and living in Feyland. In her dreams, he was always there – the breathtakingly handsome but dangerous Winter Prince, Kian, who is her intended. Then she sees Kian, who seems intent on finding her and carrying her off to Feyland. If she is his intended, why does he seem to hate her and want her dead? And her best friend Logan has suddenly become protective. Things are getting strange…

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