“But that’s a new power for me, Nathaniel. I spent centuries terrified of the light; that kind of fear doesn’t just go away.”

“You can walk in daylight now. It should make you brave,” Giacomo said.

Damian looked up at the other vampire. “It should, but right now it doesn’t.”

Ethan had stopped closing the blinds and was looking at me. “I understand Damian being afraid, but you’re afraid, really afraid.”

I nodded. “I don’t know if I can ride in the plane with the windows shut.”

Giacomo said, “I cannot ride with them open, nor can your beautiful Echo.” He had finished closing the windows just behind me, so that the only window left open was the one by me. I was leaning toward it like a flower anticipating the sunrise.

“I know we have to close them. I’m just saying that my claustrophobia is kicking in, that’s all.”

“We could strap Giacomo, Damian, and me into seats in the back of the plane and you could have your window open,” Echo said.

I looked up into that delicate triangle of a face, those blue eyes that could look as light as cornflowers, a blue that was so rich it was almost violet. I unbuckled and all the men let go of me so I could move out into the narrow aisle and reach her. She took my offered hand. The plane wavered slightly in the air, and I had to swallow and clutch a little tighter at her small hand, almost as small as mine. Nathaniel steadied me with a hand on my hip. I patted his hand and then put my hand against the soft paleness of Echo’s cheek and kissed the small bow of her mouth. She hesitated and then wrapped her arms around me and kissed me back. I thought, as I always did when I kissed her, how small her mouth was; only Jade’s had been smaller, but it may have been the difference in how they reacted to a kiss. Jade had kissed like she did most bedroom things, tentatively, waiting for me to take the lead. Once I made my intention clear, Echo melded her body against mine and didn’t need to be led anywhere.

We broke from the kiss at almost the same time, so that we were staring into each other’s eyes from inches away. I wondered if I looked as startled as she did. I studied her face and the feel of us holding each other, arms still wrapped around each other’s backs. In my high-heeled boots I was almost the same height as she was, and I liked that, too. I had enough tall in my life.

“I value this face more than I fear the window being closed,” I said.

She gave me the smile that seemed shy but managed to fill her eyes with pleasure. I was never sure if it was a real smile or one that she thought would please without committing too much emotion. A lot of the older vamps got to a point where they had very few natural facial expressions, because raw emotion had been punished out of them. Jean-Claude had been cautious around me at the beginning, too. I wanted someday to get a smile from Echo that made me sure it was really what she was feeling.

“We should be perfectly safe in the back of the plane,” she said.

I shook my head. “Accidents happen, so not worth it.”

“So, you do not admire my beauty, too,” Giacomo said, and struck a pose, tilting his face up and to the side to show off the scar that cut across his eye.

I laughed, like he meant me to, and said, “You are quite lovely, but I’m not sleeping with you, so I don’t care as much.”

He looked at me and grinned, and again I wasn’t sure if it was all he was feeling, or the expression that was expected. But he could keep his emotional secrets; I’d worry about the people I was trying to have relationships with first.

Fortune came over and wrapped her arms around both of us, so it turned into a group hug. She kissed me, and her mouth was wider than Echo’s, the lips a little less full, so that it was more like kissing one of the men once my eyes were closed. Though the breasts pushed in against my shoulder reminded me she so wasn’t one of the guys.

“Am I the only one having trouble not making girl-on-girl jokes?” Dev asked.

“No,” Nathaniel said.

“Yes,” Pride said.

“I enjoy the sight of three beautiful women together as much as any man, but dawn is near,” Kaazim said.

Fortune turned to him, still hugging both of us, and said, “You aren’t moved by the three of us together. I honestly don’t know what moves you, Kaazim.”

“To serve my queen and her kings to the best of my abilities.”

“Bullshit,” I said.

Fortune grinned down at me, then said, “I agree with Anita: bullshit.”

“Jake, is that not what moves me?”

The other man grinned, but it was more a baring of teeth, as if he were snarling more than smiling. “I think I would like to be left out of this discussion.”

“Do you not know me after all this time, old friend?”

“I know your innermost desires, as much as you know mine, Kaazim, old friend.”

“Translation: You don’t know,” I said.

Jake looked at me. “That is not what I said.”

It was Damian who touched my arm and made me look down at him. “I know I would be perfectly safe here even with the window open, and I may not die at dawn, but I would move to the back of the plane with the other vampires if that is all right.”

I leaned down and kissed him. “Of course, sit where you feel safest.”

Pilot Jeff came over the intercom. “Sunrise is almost here. Is the cabin secure?”

“Nicky, close the window,” I said.