He regarded her with those strange eyes, making her skin crawl. There was no emotion there, only dead cold. The eyes of a killer.
“Lily Quinn. I’m afraid you’re in some trouble.”
“Who are you?” Lily finally managed to croak. “I don’t know you people, and I know I haven’t done anything. I think you’ve got the wrong person.”
The man chuckled softly. “People? Well, well. The queen’s pampered pet has finally decided to show himself and make nice with you, yes? I’m surprised. Tynan was never gifted with many social graces.” His eyes drank her in, up and down. “Though I can see why he changed his mind. He wants something, of course. Our kind rarely bothers with yours unless we want something.”
Lily fought off a shudder. For whatever reason, this man had the complete opposite effect on her than Tynan had, though she had no idea why—it was a fair bet that they were the same sort of creature. But Tynan had given her the impression of power kept tightly leashed, tightly controlled. This one seemed more interested in toying with her, holding back from his hunger only until he grew bored.
She had a bad feeling it wouldn’t be long.
Desperate to distract him until she could think of some way out of this, Lily tried to keep the man engaged in conversation.
“Tynan. You two work together? He’s a friend of yours?” she asked, trying to stay composed, stay cool. Inside, she felt something beginning to gather. The old, unpredictable darkness she’d kept at bay for so many years now. But she doubted it would be enough to save her, not when she’d deliberately locked it away for so long. And not helping matters, the question earned her a derisive snort.
“No, we don’t work together. He’s not strong enough to handle what I do—he never was. As for friendship, I don’t believe he’d consider us that anymore either. I certainly don’t. But I’m not really in the mood to explain.”
He stretched a little, shifting position again as though he were tiring of this whole ordeal, and Lily was struck by his similarity to Tynan, despite what he’d said. They moved the same way, with a preternatural grace in even the smallest movements.
“You could explain who you are and what you’re doing here, then,” Lily said, wincing when she heard the bite of fear in her tone. But she couldn’t hide it. He couldn’t be real; this couldn’t be real, any of it…
“I myself am no one,” he purred with an inviting half smile. She got the sense that he was trying to pull her in, to lull her into the same trance that Tynan had been able to achieve with merely a look. And yet still, she felt nothing, only the same bright panic she’d felt when she’d first seen him. Her unwanted guest seemed to sense it, and after a moment, the smile faded.
“I’m just the hired help. Expensive hired help, but my employers have excellent taste. And as for you… it isn’t what you’ve done, dear Lily, but what you are that’s the problem.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His gaze was unnervingly direct. “It doesn’t really matter if you know or you don’t. You can bury certain things, lovely Lily, but blood can’t be denied forever. Trust me, it’s a fact I live with every day. Well, night,” he said, his mouth curving slightly. “I’m a vicious killer. And you are, shall we say, a woman of vision. Or at least, I’m assuming you must be, otherwise you wouldn’t have had Ty sniffing at your heels for days.” He cocked his head at her. “How sad. You really don’t know what you are, do you?”
And the hell of it was, she didn’t. She never had. As a child, she’d felt a power inside her that she didn’t understand, but she knew that whatever it was, it made her different, and not in a good way. So she had buried it deep, so deep that it could manifest itself now only in nightmares. But the miserable affliction that had plagued her as a girl, that had left her alone in the world, had never truly gone. What on earth it had to do with this man, Lily couldn’t imagine. And she wasn’t at all sure she’d live to see the question answered.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked. The truth in his eyes was unmistakable.
“What I’m going to do,” the man said, “is be paid for a job well done. But I must say,” he continued, his gaze traveling slowly over her, “the pleasure I’ll get from taking you will be a welcome bonus. Such things are few and far between in my line of work. Still, it’s a living. In a manner of speaking.”
“What are you?” she asked hoarsely, every ounce of her common sense rebelling at the things she couldn’t seem to blink away—the red eyes, the fangs, the pale and perfect skin.
His lips curved in a small, pitying smile. “My dear Lily, please. It’s not much of a stretch to figure it out, even if you don’t want to believe it. Would it help if I spoke in a bad Romanian accent? Not that knowing will matter while I’m drinking you dry, but I try to be obliging where I can.”
He stood then, in one swift and graceful motion that caught Lily off guard. She took a step back. Horror rose in her throat. This was really happening. She was about to be attacked by a… vampire. And Tynan, if he’d ever really intended to help her, was nowhere to be seen.
“I don’t want to die. Please. I’ll… I’ll give you whatever you want. There has to be something I can do!” she cried, hearing the desperation in her own voice. When it came down to it, she would beg for her life. Oh yes, she would beg. She would scream.
And that was exactly what this creature wanted.
He chuckled again, a sound that grated on Lily’s ears.
“Dying is easy,” he said, striding toward her. “Nothing to it. But if you want to run, by all means, do. It’s so boring when your partner just lies there, don’t you think?”
Lily felt the reality of the moment crash through her system at once. Staying still meant death. Running probably meant the same, but she had to try. She burst into motion, whirling back into the hallway, her feet barely touching the floor as she willed herself toward the front door.
She moved faster than she ever had in her life. Time seemed to crawl sluggishly, every second drawing out into an eternity. His laughter echoing in her ears.
He was toying with her. She was only human, no match for the strength and speed he would surely possess. Still, Lily reached the door, all of her will focused on the dead bolt that she needed to flip, the knob she needed to turn. Her vision narrowed until they were all she could see, all that existed. A strange sensation shimmered through her that had nothing to do with fear. It felt electric, like the charge gathering in the air before a storm.
She remembered this, what to do with it. Shreds of those memories were still within her, locked away in the dark. If she could just tap into that current, make the door open…
At the instant before Lily gave all of her amassed energy the final push she both feared and needed, several things happened simultaneously that sent the world from grayed-out slow motion into Technicolor hyperspeed. The front door slammed open so hard it nearly came off its hinges. Something big, black, and yowling like a banshee came flying in from the night. Behind her, a hand slid into her hair and yanked her back so hard her teeth clicked painfully together. There was a rending sound as her shirt was torn down the front, baring not only her neck and chest, now scored by her assailant’s eager claws, but also something else… something she had been taught at an early age to cover at all cost, now burning fire bright along her slender collarbone.
She saw her attacker’s eyes go wide as they lit on her strange tattoo, a mark she had carried before she had any memories, before her parents were ripped from her and she was thrown upon the mercy of strangers. She saw the instant of horrified recognition, heard the hiss as his lips peeled back to reveal dagger-sharp incisors.
As though in a dream, she heard Tynan’s voice.
“Damien! Lily, no—”
But she couldn’t stop. All of Lily’s focus, all of the power she’d drawn into herself, hit critical mass at that moment. With the door already open, its purpose lost, it had nowhere to go.
Nowhere but out.
She shrieked as power burst from her in a wave, tearing through the house with the force of a sonic boom. Lily felt her body bow sharply as the surge left her, her vision lost to a blinding flash of white. Pictures fell from the walls, glass shattered. The floor beneath her shuddered as though the Earth had moved. She was held rigid in the air for a single second, then dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap. The hands that had gripped her had vanished as soon as the power had let go.
Unfortunately, so had all of Lily’s strength. She lay there, dazed, drained, eyes closed, listening to bits of glass dropping to the floor. All around her was silence. She knew, in a dim sort of way, that she should get up, run. Her attacker could be anywhere.
But all she could do was stay where she was. This sensation was one she also knew, though Lily thought she’d locked it away tight. She had experienced it only once, and as a much younger child. It had changed everything.
Ruined everything.
Chapter FIVE
SHE KNELT WEEPING in the middle of her ruined nursery, shattered toys littering the floor. A young, attractive woman watched from the doorway, eyes wide with horror, one hand resting protectively on her still-flat belly. A child of their own. An unexpected thrill. They wouldn’t need her anymore, Lily knew. Not with a baby of their own flesh and blood. They would send her away, the little changeling whose oddities were becoming too numerous to ignore. An embarrassment. What would the press say if they ever found out? They would send her away, and she’d been so… angry….
“Lily. You’ve got to get up, Lily. We don’t have much time. He’ll be back to finish the job. His sort doesn’t quit until they’re finished. Lily?” A pause. “You’re not going to blow me all to hell if I touch you, right?”
There was a tentative, shuddering breath, then a gentle nudge at her shoulder to go along with that rough-edged brogue she couldn’t ignore. She waited a moment to see if he’d go away, if this would all just pass. Because she knew that when she opened her eyes, her well-ordered little life, the one she’d always dreamed of, would be over.
