Demon in My View

'Don't you have any conscience at all? '

'Not that I know of,' he said with nonchalance. 'Now, much as I love your company, I really do prefer to dine alone.'

He was enjoying this, Caryn realized. He could easily have avoided the argument by disappearing and finding prey elsewhere, but instead he was playing with her.

'You'll kill her,' Caryn protested.

'So?'…Aubrey…responded,…sounding amused, as he took a step toward her. Caryn flinched but did not move away from Shannon. If he was determined to kill tonight, she had no hope of preventing it, but her conscience would not allow her to leave. 'Are you planning to stop me?' he mocked. 'If you were one of your cousins, I might at least pretend to be worried…though probably not. As it is, I know you'd never fight me even if you had the strength.'

He was speaking the truth. No one in her line had harmed another creature since Evelyn Smoke, the first of the Smoke line, had stopped hunting vampires.

'Please, Aubrey,' Caryn entreated, beginning to despair.

'Caryn, go away. You're beginning to bore me.'

'Let her go,' Caryn persisted, though her tone was hardly commanding. She was sickened by his game, and worse, she worried what would happen when he reached the end of his patience.

'That would accomplish very little,' Aubrey pointed out. 'I would just have to draw someone else from the house. Would you like to say that this girl's life is more important than, oh, her boyfriend's? Or—'

'You're having a great time, aren't you?' Caryn finally shouted, standing and stalking toward him as her anger gave her courage.

Waiting for her to continue, Aubrey lounged casually against an oak tree. Had she been from any other line—Vida, or Arun, or even Light—she would have killed him then. But the last of the Light line had died nearly three hundred years earlier, and the Vidas and Aruns had other vampires to deal with that night. So Caryn Smoke did the only thing that her training would allow her to do in this situation.

She took a deep, calming breath and stretched out her left arm with the palm up, exposing the pale tracery of veins at her wrist.

'Here,' she said softly, her fear almost hidden. 'My blood is stronger than human blood.' Her voice quaked for a moment, but she forced herself to continue. 'You wouldn't need to kill me.'

Aubrey's gaze flickered to the pulse point on her wrist, but that was the only sign that he cared for the offer at all. 'And what is to stop me from draining you dry?'

'Your word that you won't.'

She saw the amusement in his gaze. Had the situation been reversed, she would have understood the humor. Taking his word for her safety was like a vampire's accepting the word of any other witch. Most witches lied and broke promises almost by habit when it came to Aubrey's kind. Vampires weren't considered people, so even the proud Vida line had no hesitation about deceiving them. In general, only the Smoke line considered honesty important when dealing with Aubrey's kind.

A vampire's word was said to be broken as easily as a wineglass, and Caryn had no doubt that Aubrey's was just as fragile. In reality, the only thing that might keep her alive was Aubrey's awareness that killing a Smoke witch brought down instant retaliation from all the vampire hunters in the other lines.

Caryn's heartbeat quickened with fright, but she used all the discipline she'd been taught to keep her resolution from wavering.

Aubrey took the wrist she offered and used it to draw her toward him. He put a hand on her forehead and gently tilted her head back. Her heart rate tripled in an instant, but she balled her hands into fists to keep from trying to pull away.

Don't worry, she heard him say in her mind. It won't hurt.

She felt a sharp stinging when his teeth pierced her skin, but it faded almost immediately. The combined anesthesia of vampiric saliva and his whispering voice in her head dulled the pain completely. Caryn's legs gave out under the pressure of Aubrey's mind, and she felt him put an arm around her back to hold her up.

You taste good, he said absently.

I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or a threat, she mused. Her fear had disappeared, and her thoughts were becoming incoherent as she lost blood and his mind tightened its grip on her own.

Caryn tried to focus. She had been taught so much discipline…why couldn't she think?

She had been prepared for pain, but there was none. She felt extremely relaxed, as if she was floating… She was dreaming…wasn't she? Did it matter?

She imagined herself resting on a beach in the warm sun, or maybe meditating atop a mountain beneath the full moon. She was relaxed, peaceful, calm, happy to forget…

Forget what?

Caryn tried to focus, but it was nearly impossible. Aubrey's mind pulled at hers, numbing and soothing it. With intense effort, she drew herself out of her trance. There was far too much danger to forget what was happening.

His mind still held hers, and it was increasingly difficult not to let herself fall back into the seductive void. But if she gave in, would she ever surface again? He would probably kill her.

Would you rather it hurt?

Caryn had the vague idea that Aubrey was taunting her, but she could do nothing about it.

Eventually, after what seemed to be hours, Aubrey reluctantly pulled away. Caryn collapsed, suddenly aware again of her own body.

She was dizzy and weak, and her pulse was hurried as her heart attempted to circulate her thinned blood. Through foggy vision, she saw Aubrey hesitate, as if debating whether he really wanted to let her go.

Then he disappeared.

She put her head down for a moment, trying to clear her mind, then carefully crossed the clearing to make sure Shannon was all right. Hopefully, when the girl woke she would just assume she had drunk too much. She would never know how close she'd come to dying.

With this thought, Caryn put a hand over her own heart, feeling the rapid beating. Unlike Shannon, she was completely aware of how close Death had brushed by her tonight.

CHAPTER 13

Jessica had been writing all evening, but by the time midnight came the inspiration had died. She was restless and knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep anytime soon. The best way she could think to burn some energy was to go for a walk.

The round moon lit her path through Red Rock Forest, and she soon found herself at her favorite spot: a large oak tree about a quarter of a mile in. She pulled herself onto one of its large branches and relaxed. Something about the night always calmed her.

Finally, under a broad canopy of leaves, she drifted into sleep.

Jazlyn's heart labored hard, unused to its task. Her Lungs burned with the constant effort of breathing. But finally she fell into blissful unconsciousness.

Instead of the death-sleep that she had grown accustomed to, she dreamed of the world she was now trying to escape. She dreamed that she was running through a city street at midnight, chasing her frightened prey. She dreamed that she was flying far above the nighttime desert in the form of an eagle. She dreamed that she was walking in a graveyard, toward the grave of her once-husband.

Jazlyn woke gasping for breath. It took her several moments to realize where she was, which was something that hadn't happened to her in a long time. Her very survival had frequently depended on her ability