Nikolas was wearing white slacks and a black silk shirt, and his hair was tied back with a black ribbon. He had not yet fed tonight, and the skin that she could see was almost white, pearl-like. Black and white, colorless, he matched the room perfectly.
“Welcome to my home, Sarah. Please, come away from the door. May I take your jacket?”
This time it was her turn to laugh. “You can drop the act, Nikolas.”
“There is no act, Sarah. Acting, like lying, is an art I have never perfected. Come into my parlor.”
“Said the spider to the fly,” Sarah finished for him, and he smiled, taking her jacket.
“I never kill until the hour, Sarah.”
“Am I really supposed to believe that?” she asked skeptically.
“I never lie.”
He hung her jacket in the closet and turned his back to her, leading her deeper into the house. She wanted so much to put a knife into his back immediately, but his next words discouraged her.
“What about you, Sarah? I do not kill until midnight. As it is, I’m not sure that I plan to kill you at all. Do you have any rules for yourself, or should we forget all manners and throw ourselves on the mercy of chaos?”
“You want me to wait until midnight to kill you?” she asked incredulously, and Nikolas turned back to face her.
“If that’s what you plan to do tonight, then yes, I would like for you to wait until midnight to
“Hardly.” She leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms. Her right hand rested over the handle of the knife strapped to her left wrist, and she was comforted by the cool feel of silver beneath her fingertips.
“Honor, Sarah,” Nikolas sighed. “Does the Vida line no longer teach its children honor? I invited you, and you accepted the invitation. It would be rather unsporting to spoil the game because you are impatient.”
“I am never impatient.”
“Just like you never shout out,” he answered. “And never cry, even when you make enemies of your friends. Yes, Nissa told me about your conversation,” he said before she could ask. “So, will you follow our rules?”
“I can wait until midnight.”
“Do I have your word on that?” he asked, his gaze intense.
She did not answer immediately. When a Vida gave her word, she kept it, so Sarah was careful how she phrased her answer. “Unless you threaten me, I will wait until midnight to kill you. You have my word on that.”
Nikolas smiled, and for an instant the expression reminded her of Christopher. “Very well, then. Enjoy the bash—you’ll probably never make it to another one.”
CHAPTER 18
BY ELEVEN-THIRTY, Sarah had been introduced to others, some humans, some vampires. She wondered just how much needed to be done before these killers would drop their social detachment and retaliate, and whether Nikolas even cared that his father’s murderer was among the guests.
“Not until midnight.” Kaleo’s voice slipped through the noise of the room, a hint of laughter in his tone, and Sarah repressed a shiver. She glanced over to see a young woman gazing up at Kaleo with the intensity of love— or terror.
“Midnight is only half an hour away,” she argued.
“Is there some hurry, dear?” Kaleo bent his head to kiss his victim’s throat; she sighed, leaned her head back, and when he stood again she leaned against a wall, clearly disappointed.
Sarah jumped when she felt hands on her shoulders. “I thought you never reacted,” Nikolas said, laughing.
“I’m standing in a slaughterhouse where the cattle are begging to become hamburgers. I have a right to be jumpy.”
“Ah.” Nikolas followed Sarah’s gaze. “Heather is Kaleo’s favorite. She has been frequenting these bashes for longer than I have been alive.”
“God,” Sarah whispered, sickened. A blood bonded human did not age. This girl could remain alive, Kaleo’s personal prey, for thousands of years unless he tired of her and killed her.
“Welcome to my world, Sarah,” Nikolas answered. “Why are you wearing these?” He reached to the bandages on her right arm as she pulled away. “Are you ashamed of what they hide?”
“Ashamed?” she echoed, incredulous. “Should I be
Nikolas laughed. “Look around you.”
The comment was well placed. Sarah had already seen several humans with Nikolas’s marks on them. When he entered the room, they greeted him with adoration. While they were discreet in human society, in Nikolas’s own lair they wore tank shirts or sleeveless dresses, going out of their way to show off the marks.
“I’d rather burn them off, personally,” she growled.
“If you really want to, you can always do that later, though I’ve heard it’s painful,” Nikolas commented, apparently serious. “Of course, I don’t suppose you would mind a little more pain, would you?”
Before she could react he grabbed her wrist, pulling her toward him sharply enough that she stumbled and needed to catch herself on the arm of a nearby couch.
“I thought you played by the rules,” she hissed, snatching her other wrist away when he reached for it.
“I do. I’m simply removing these,” Nikolas answered, carefully unwinding the bandage on the wrist he had a hold on.
“Let me go.”
He let go of her arms, but continued to undo the bandages until each of his marks was revealed.
The sudden movement had opened one of the cuts on her shoulder, and he bent his head down to the wound. She felt the soft sensation of his lips on her skin and tried to pull away, but Nikolas grabbed her right arm and held her still.
Pressing her left hand to his chest, with the tip of the spring-loaded knife only inches from his heart, she said, “I consider this a threat. Let me go, or I will kill you where you stand.”
“You’re right,” Nikolas said, lifting his head and releasing her. The taste of her blood, stronger and sweeter than any human’s, had caused his expression to darken with bloodlust. “It isn’t midnight yet, is it?”
CHAPTER 19
“
She spun toward the familiar voice, and nearly swore when she recognized her sister. Kaleo, lounging against one of the walls, watched the confrontation with malicious pleasure—he must have let Adianna in.
“You really have gotten yourself into trouble this time, haven’t you, little sister?” Adianna asked, sizing up the situation.
“What are you doing here?” Sarah demanded, frustrated by her sister’s appearance. Adianna was going to get herself killed.
“Touchy today, aren’t we?” Adianna responded.
“How did you know where I was?”
“I wanted to know what was up with you. I asked this”—she gestured to Nikolas—“thing’s brother, Christopher, and he told me you were here.”
Sarah cringed inwardly. Adianna didn’t
