Slowly, fumbling for a handhold here, a toehold there, I started climbing the rock again. I tried to control my breathing as each lungful of air brought with it a dizzying muscle spasm.

As I inched up the wall, a million thoughts ran through my mind, most of them centering on how I was going to tender my resignation the minute I got back to Y'Elestrial. If I made it back to Y'Elestrial. Why the hell had the OIA assigned me to this task? There were other scouts, other acrobats in the agency who were better than me. Had this been a punishment? Or had the powers that be decided that the case really wasn't that serious? The idiots had their heads up their butts and now I was about to become another statistic because of their stupidity. I glanced around, surprised to see that I was nearing the top. Maybe anger was the ticket—it kept my mind off of the pain. I visualized our supervisor and mentally took aim with a crossbow as I forced myself toward the crevasse. Just a few more feet… a few more inches and I'd be out.

And there it was—blessed starlight splashing on my face. I clawed at the edges of the chasm, slowly pulling my aching body up and out to roll over on the fragrant grass that carpeted the top of the hill. I'd made it. I actually escaped. Now I just had to get to the forest where I could hide out until morning. Relief pouring through me like sweet cool water, I struggled to stand up.

"Need some help?"

A hand fell on my shoulder and I froze. His voice was dark and low and the sound of his words made me dizzy. Shivering, suddenly all too aware of the sound of the crickets and frogs, of the gentle caress of wind on my skin, I turned slowly, praying that I was wrong. Please, please let me be wrong.

But there he stood, the tall swarthy man in leather with the dazzling smile. Dredge leaned down to gaze at me and I let out a faint whimper. His eyes were as black as the night sky etched with glittering hoarfrost, and when he smiled, the tips of his fangs glistened in the starlight. I tried to move, tried to run but I couldn't look away. He trailed one hand down my cheek, gently caressing me with fingers as cold as the grave.

"Have you lost your way, little girl? The OIA is out of its mind if they think you're any match for the Elwing Blood Clan. I'll take you home with me and we'll have a nice long talk," he said, gathering me up in his arms.

"By the way, in case you don't know, my name's Dredge. And you, my sweet, are going to tell me everything. Then we're going to play a few games."

I let out a little moan as my fractured ribs shifted, sending another wave of pain to lance through me.

"Poor baby. You're hurting?" His face took on a twisted grin and he leaned his head down to whisper in my ear. "Don't worry, you won't be thinking about your broken ribs much longer. First, I'm going to bleed you, cut by cut by cut until the pain drives you mad. And then I'm going to fuck you so long and so hard that every nerve in your body screams for release and you beg me to kill you. Oh, yes, my pet, you're going to find out just how much pain a body can take and still live."

He paused, then a light flickered in those dead eyes. "You know, I just thought of a little gift for your precious OIA. I'm in a whimsical mood. I don't think I'll kill you—well, not for good. No, I think I'll make you one of us and then send you home to feed on your friends and family. How does that sound? Eternal life? Eternal beauty? An eternity of knowing you killed those you loved the best? I shall grant it to you, and you don't even have to ask for it."

Terrified, I tried to beat my hands against him, but my arms were as still as dark water. I managed to force my words to the surface, to breathe out hard enough so I could speak. "No, I won't let you—I won't become one of you!"

"Hush," he said, and my voice disappeared again. "There's nothing you can do to stop me. Come girl, you're in for the longest night you've ever had."

Mutely, I thought of home. We'd just taken in two more stray animals—Trevor and Harlis, stray rabbits. Would Delilah remember to tend to them? She was always bringing home stray animals, and sometimes she forgot to feed them. Camille was busy with running the house, so I took over when Kitten fell down on the job.

And the Harvest Home celebration was approaching. I'd been planning on wearing my new dress and going with our neighbor, Keris. We'd been dating for several months now. His lips were sweet and tender on mine, and when I lay in his arms it was as if I'd discovered a safe haven in which to nestle. Now, like a match to paper, all my plans for the future crumbled into ashes.

How would my family handle my death? Camille seemed so strong but under that veneer of self-assuredness there was a tear-filled well so deep that it would never end. She'd pushed her grief aside when Mother died in order to pick up the pieces for the rest of us. Would she do the same when they found out what happened to me? And Delilah…

Kitten relied on me a lot. She needed me. And Father… he hated vampires. Would he hate me, too? Would he blame me?

When they found out what happened, would they search me out and stake me? Would they mourn for a long time? Or would I be forgotten, a painful memory they'd want to bury with the remains of my soul statue? If I could only give in and let go now, lose consciousness, die, and be done with it… but my mind was too strong and I couldn't will myself to faint. One look at Dredge told me he wasn't about to let me miss a moment of his delight.

Wishing I'd never been born, I gazed up at the stars as he lightly jumped into the shaft and floated back down into the caverns, holding me in his arms. It was my last view of true beauty through clear, untainted eyes.

"Menolly. Menolly? It's time to wake up."

The delicate voice filtered through my dream, yanking me out of the abyss just in time. All memories of the dream shattering, I shot up in bed, a gnawing ache in my stomach urging me to leap up, to grab whoever had disturbed me and make a meal out of them.

I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. I was safe in my bedroom, and the lovely green toile of the bedspread was gently illuminated in the soft glow of the knockoff Tiffany lamp that sat on the desk. Iris was in the rocking chair, far enough away to avoid my grasp during those first seconds of waking when I had the most chance of reacting without thinking. Camille had learned the lesson the hard way—and so had I.

"It's sunset. Time for you to wake." She stood up and smoothed her apron, giving me a gentle smile. No matter how many times Iris had seen me with fangs extended and eyes bloodred, she seemed perfectly at ease. "Anna-Linda's been up since late morning. I've had a long talk with her. She knows what you are, by the way. Apparently you're not the first vampire she's met."

"You're kidding. When did she meet another vampire?" I opened my closet, trying to decide what to wear. Almost all of my clothes had long sleeves and covered my arms and legs. The scars had long faded, but they latticed my body and it was easier to hide them than to explain their presence. I rummaged through the hangers and finally pulled out a pair of low-rise jeans, a hunter green turtleneck, and a brown suede vest. Add in my spiked heel boots and I'd clean up pretty good.

Iris grinned. "When was the last time you wore panties or a bra?"

"Try never," I said, shimmying into my jeans and fastening the buttons. They were tight, but since I didn't have to breathe, I just had to make sure that I could sit down without splitting them. "At least, not Earthside. When I was alive, I wore undergarments, but why bother now? My breasts will never sag."

Repressing a smile, she shook her head. "Whatever you say. Anyway, Anna-Linda told me during breakfast this morning that there's a vampire clan down in Portland, Oregon, where she comes from. Her brother was a wannabe and hung around a group of messed up kids who kept daring the local vamps to take them on. He finally got his wish, except the vampires didn't change them, they just sucked the kids dry. It made the news as a series of ritual killings, but Anna-Linda was hiding in the woods, spying on her brother when it happened. Shortly after that, her mother brought home a boyfriend who started molesting the girl. That's when Anna-Linda hit the streets."

I dropped on the bed to pull on my boots and zip them up. As I gently caressed the suede, I thought over what Iris had told me. The girl was clearly messed up, and if she was telling the truth, we obviously couldn't send her home again. On the other hand, we weren't equipped to take in a human child.

"You think she's playing straight on this?" I stared at Iris. She was an excellent judge of character. She'd know if the girl was lying.

Iris raised her eyebrows. "Interesting you should ask. Yes, I do. However, I did ask Chase to double check her story. He called the Oregon cops and sure enough, there was a mass-murder down there that matches the description of her brother's death. Ritual killings, according to the cops, five victims, drained dry of blood. But the vamps slit all of their victims' wrists and let enough blood flow out to make it look like a murder rather than a suckfest. One of the victims was named Bobby Thomas—Anna-Linda's brother."

I stood up and made my bed as Iris fluffed the pillows for me. She was an expert housekeeper, that was for sure. Until she moved in, we'd never had crisp sheets or pillows that whispered when we nestled our heads on them. In fact, we hadn't bothered with an iron or ironing board, but now one was set up in the laundry room and it got its weekly workout. That was one chore Iris chose to handle the old fashioned way rather than via magic. I tugged at the corner of the fitted sheet, pulling it taut to smooth out the wrinkles, then slid the elastic under the mattress.

"Stupid… just so stupid. I don't know whether I feel sorry for those poor kids or just wish somebody would have slapped some sense into them. I guess it's too late for either," I said, pulling the comforter into place.

Iris added the pillows. "Most of them don't know any better. They're all angsty and full of hormones. Some of them come from broken homes. You vampires, you're predators. Maybe you aren't really immortal, but you're invulnerable to a majority of woes. You wield power, something so many of these kids crave—power and control over their lives. You can't blame them, really. I think we're done here," she added, glancing around my room. "Everything seems in order. I'll come down tomorrow while you sleep and dust."

"Thanks," I said, following her up the stairs. "You're probably right. A lot of them get so hung up on the glamour, they don't see the reality. And a lot of my kind start out with the best intentions. Drink only enough to keep alive. Don't take an innocent life. But the truth is, those resolutions get harder to keep the longer you go on unless you have some tangible reminder of why they're important."

"Whatever the case with her brother, Anna-Linda knows you're a vampire and she didn't seem fazed. In fact, oddly enough, I think she was pleased," Iris said as we entered the kitchen.

Voices were coming from the living room. I assumed one was Anna-Linda—it sounded like a young woman, but the other, I didn't recognize. "Who's here?" I asked.

"Chase is here. So is Zachary Lyonnesse and one of the women from his Pride," Iris said, an odd tone filtering into her words. "I like her. Her name's Nerissa and she specializes in helping troubled youngsters. She works with DSHS, though they have no idea she's a Were."

"DSHS?" I asked.

"Yes. The Department of Social and Health Services. Nerissa suggested we find a foster home with a Supe family for Anna-Linda because that way, anything the girl says to the foster parents won't be suspect. Delilah thought of Siobhan and called her. She said she'd be happy to keep the girl for a while."

Siobhan Morgan was a friend of ours. A selkie originally from Ireland, she was a wereseal who passed in society for a full-blood human. She was gentle, kind, and loved children in a way that I didn't fully understand. She was also diplomatic, smart, and able to keep control of a situation.

"Really? I know we can't keep Anna-Linda but… it just seems wrong to farm her out again. Although letting her stay with Siobhan would be far more satisfactory than pawning the girl off on strangers."

Iris shook her head. "This morning, Anna refused to go to a shelter. The girl was threatening to run away the first chance she got if she had to leave here. Chase doesn't like the situation, but he won't interfere. I think it helps that Nerissa has a background working with troubled youth—she convinced him a Supe home would be perfect." Iris motioned me on while she stopped in the kitchen. "Now you go on while I make some tea."

As I entered the living room, I could sense that tensions were running high. Delilah was sitting between Chase and Zach, a tight look on her face. Ever since Chase found out Delilah had slept with the werepuma, the two men had kept a careful distance from one another. Chase and Delilah had been through a couple of rows about it, but they seemed fairly stable at this point.

I had a feeling the only reason Chase wasn't rocking the boat was because he feared an ultimatum that would result in her choosing Zach. Though I wasn't fond of Chase, I did feel sorry for him. I had serious doubts that Delilah could weather a relationship with an FBH, but it was her business.

The last bit of light slipped away and dusk proper hit as I nodded to our guests. I walked over to the window, peering out at the blanket of white that covered the yard. The temperature was still hovering around the thirty-degree mark and hadn't budged in days.

Anna-Linda flashed me a tentative smile. "Thanks," she said. "I forgot to say it last night because I was so tired, but thank you, for saving me." She scooted over on the sofa and patted the cushion next to her. "Here, you can sit here next to me."