“Could it be Nerissa?” Delilah stood, but I motioned for her to sit and silently crossed to the door, wishing I hadn’t already taken off my boots.

We were al leery ever since the skirmish in late October when Iris had almost gotten kil ed.

We’d inadvertently left our home open to invasion and paid for it. After that, we begged some brawn from the elven goon squad back in Otherworld. They didn’t look particularly strong, but the three elves posted outside the house were deadly when it came to martial arts and magic.

Trenyth, Queen Asteria’s right-hand man, had arranged for them to stay with us for now.

We had two peepholes, one at Iris’s level and one at Delilah’s. I used Iris’s, and, to my surprise, saw my daughter.

“Erin?” What the hel was she doing here, and alone? I didn’t like her wandering around without supervision. I might be an overprotective mother, but I knew what risks there were out there, how great the hunger was for a fledgling and just how easy it was to slip.

I yanked open the door.

“Erin, what are you doing here? Is Sassy with you?” I glanced outside, scanning the yard, but there was no sign of the older socialite.

Erin shook her head and dropped to the floor, kneeling in front of me. As her sire, I’d always take on a certain godlike essence to her, and she’d fear my displeasure for a long time. At least until the day her powers grew to the point where she could destroy me. But considering who my sire was, chances were that day would never come.

Dredge had been one of the strongest, deadliest vamps to ever walk either Earthside or Otherworld, and I’d fed directly from his veins. Erin was once removed from him, and she was also human.

I’d turned Erin a little over a year ago, when she was forty-nine years old. She’d always been butch until Sassy took over fostering her. Now she was dressed in Chanel, with a stylish haircut, and her tan had faded into the albino skin that most vamps sported. Erin would never be beautiful, at least not to most eyes. But her heart was pure gold, even in her new state.

I held out my hand for her to kiss, as custom dictated. She pressed her lips against my pale skin, and I motioned for her to stand. “Come in. What’s going on? Why are you here? If you needed me, you could have cal ed and I’d have come right over.”

I led her into the living room and nodded for Camil e and Delilah to leave us. Not good for Erin to be around the living much. Not yet. The temptation to drink was a strong force. Thirst burned in the young.

Erin waved at my sisters, and they waved back as they left the room, Camil e with a stricken look on her face. Erin had been her friend, and Dredge had used her as a weapon when he came after me. Collateral damage. So far, two of Camil e’s friends had lost their lives thanks to our enemies.

“We’l be in the kitchen,” Delilah said as they slipped into the hal way.

I motioned for Erin to sit next to me. “What’s going on? Why are you here?” Vampires didn’t usual y dil ydal y with smal talk. It was a waste of words.

“I’m worried about Sassy.” Erin gazed at me, her pale brown eyes fading into the mist. They were shifting to gray, as most vampire eyes did over time. She drew her hand across her face and pinched her brow. “Mistress, Sassy, she’s . . . something’s not right.”

“What isn’t right? Can you be more specific?” I had a sinking feeling I already knew the answer but hoped I was wrong.

“Last night someone came to the house. I don’t know who it was, but I know it was another vampire. He brought . . .” She stopped and swal owed, fear clouding her face. “I don’t want to get Sassy in trouble. She’s done so much for me.” As a look of clarity raced through her eyes, I realized that Erin was, indeed, growing and learning.

“Tel me. I know you’re afraid, but you can tel me anything.” I reached out and slowly stroked her face, running my fingers down her cheek. I’d vowed never to sire a child, but here she was, my daughter forever until one of us walked into the sunlight. How could I not care what happened to her? And her behavior would reflect on me.

Erin shuddered at my touch, raising her hand to cover mine. “I know I can. That’s why I came to you. Someone came over last night; a vampire, but I don’t know his name. He brought a girl with him. Sassy told me to go to my room and stay there—that she had some business to attend to. I was angry. Earlier we’d had a fight. I wanted to wear my jeans but she wanted me to wear some designer crap. Anyway . . . she and this guy disappeared with the girl as I pretended to do what she told me to. I know I’m supposed to obey her, but something felt wrong.”

My stomach sank and I had the nasty feeling I knew how this was going to end. “What happened?”

“I fol owed them. They took the girl down to Sassy’s safe room. I was able to watch without being seen. They savaged her, Menol y. I wanted so bad to go join them, to feed, but I forced myself to remember what you taught me about honor and the path we walk. And I don’t think the girl wanted it. They . . . fel on her and . . .” She paled—if vampires can pale—and hung her head, looking sick.

“It was bad. It was real y bad. I’ve never seen Sassy so cruel.”

“What did she do?” I didn’t want to know, and yet I had to.

“She went down on her, then fed from her. Down there. The girl started screaming but fel into a stupor. When Sassy finished, the male vamp took his turn. Neither one of them was looking for just food. And then . . . they drained her. I know she was dead,” Erin whispered, bloody tears trailing from her eyes. “It made me sick. I ran back to my room and kept my mouth shut. I wanted to come right over, but if they knew I was gone, they’d have come after me. Tonight, Sassy went to a party and left me home, so I slipped out.”

I stared at my daughter. What the fuck had I been thinking, leaving her in the care of someone I didn’t real y know? What the hel had I done? I wanted to punch something but stopped. If I put a hole through the wal , Iris would have my ass.

“What has Janet said about these goings-on?” Janet was Sassy’s lifelong companion—a combination older sister/ personal maid. The elder woman was as delightful as Julia Child and as prim as Emily Post. I’d come to love how she looked after Sassy.

“Not much of anything. I don’t think she knows. Janet’s real y sick,” Erin said, staring at the floor.

My stomach lurched. Janet had a brain tumor that was slowly eating away at her life. “Is she . . .

her tumor?”

“Yeah, I think she’s in the last stages. She’s been in bed a lot lately. And she’s scared, Menol y.

Sassy . . . Sassy keeps talking about turning her, and Janet keeps begging her not to.”

“Crap. How long do you think Janet has?” I bit my lip, wanting to cry. Janet didn’t deserve to be harassed at the end of her life, and the old Sassy would never have even thought of turning her best friend.

“A few days at the most, but it could be any time. She’s been asking about you.”

“I’l go as soon as I can—in the next night or so. I promise. Meanwhile, you’re not going back.

You wil sleep here tomorrow, with me. But you must promise to be on your best behavior. And I’l find a safer place for you to live.” I stood up and held out my hands. She took them and smiled at me, bravely. Erin might have been a grown woman when she died, but al vamps revert back into an awkward stage for their first few years after death. In essence, Erin was both a middle-aged woman and a shy teenager.

“Come now. I’m going to take you down to my lair and get you some blood—wait til you taste what Morio makes for me. It’s almost as good as being alive again.” It wasn’t ideal to reference life in a newly minted vamp’s presence. Erin would stil be mourning her loss, but with the flavored blood my sister’s youkai-kitsune husband prepared for me, Erin would get a little taste of her former life back.

“Come.” I led her into the kitchen. Delilah and Camil e looked up. “Erin’s going to be staying with us for the night. She’l sleep in my lair with me. I’m just going to get her a bottle of blood and settle her in, and then I’l be back.”

Camil e flashed us a warm smile. “Erin, it’s so good to see you again.”

Erin stared at her, wistful. “I know. I just wish . . .” Her voice trailed off as I pul ed out a bottle of strawberry shake-flavored blood and led her behind the bookcase, into the secret staircase leading to my lair. I settled her in with the television and the blood, then returned upstairs.

Delilah and Camil e were waiting. “Trouble. I have big trouble.” I told them what Erin had told me.

“Not Sassy!” Delilah’s jaw dropped. “What the hel are we going to do? How can we stop her?”

“Sassy told me some months back she felt her predator rising and was having trouble control ing it. Looks like she wasn’t lying.” I stared at my hands. “In one sense, it’s none of my business. Vampires take out people every day and I don’t do anything. But six months ago she made me promise that when she lost sight of herself, I’d put an end to it. She didn’t want to become like this.”

“Does that mean you’re planning to kil her?” Camil e bit her lip, tears streaking down her cheeks. “Sassy’s our friend. Is there anything we can do to help her?”

“I am so torn.” I looked up as Iris entered the kitchen, Maggie on her hip. “Hey, Iris—we have company. Don’t go into my lair alone, okay? Erin’s staying with us for a little while and I think she’s safe, but she’s so young I don’t dare trust her alone around you guys.”

Iris blinked, blurry eyed, and nodded. “Sure thing. Care to tel me why we have another vampire staying here?”

“Because Sassy’s crossed the line into her predator.” I held out my arms for our calico girl, and Iris handed her to me. “Maggie, baby, how are you tonight? Did you wake up?”

“Mel y . . . Mel y . . . Maggie threw her fuzzy arms around my neck and buried her head against my chest, promptly fal ing into a light snooze. I cuddled her, burying my face in her soft downy fur, clinging to the innocence in my embrace, holding her tight.

Maggie was the only one in our lives untouched by the demons—though even she had started out her life in a demon’s lunch bag. Luckily, Camil e managed to rescue her. But she was our touchstone to hope, our hearthstone to unconditional love. The baby gargoyle would take a long, long time to grow up—hundreds of years—and we’d be here for her.

Iris started the tea. “I take it we’re up for an al -nighter? Tea and cinnamon toast?”

Camil e moved to the fridge and pul ed out the bread. “Sounds good to me. So you haven’t answered yet.” She glanced at me. “Do you have to kil Sassy?”

Iris set the kettle down. Hard. “Sassy Branson? You’re seriously talking about staking her?”

“I told you, she’s crossed into her predator self. There’s no coming back once that happens.

When the bloodlust takes hold to that degree, it’s easier and easier to slip until there is only the hunt and the chase and the frenzy.” I pressed my lips together as Maggie began to play with my nose, then tugged on my hair. She was the one creature I’d never felt anger at. Somehow, the baby gargoyle effected a soothing balm on my soul and temper.

As Iris made tea, and Camil e and Delilah fixed their toast, I carried Maggie over to the window and peeked out into the winter night. A few snowflakes were fal ing—the first of the season—and I felt a chil inside so deep it shook my core. Sassy had always been a champion of mine. She’d taken my side when Wade dumped me out of Vampires Anonymous, and now . . . now would I stand at her door, stake in hand? Would I take her down in a bloody battle and dust her? Would she curse me or thank me?

Either way, I knew the time was coming when I’d have to deal with her. And meanwhile, what about Erin? She couldn’t stay here. And then there was the vampire serial kil er who was prowling the night.

Feeling bathed in blood, I turned back to my sisters and Iris. “It’s snowing,” was al I said.

CHAPTER 3

That night was the first night anybody had ever stayed in my lair with me, that I knew of.

Sometimes my sisters stashed Maggie down there, or Iris hid there when necessary, but I’d never intentional y invited anybody in for a slumber party.

When I joined Erin, after Camil e and Delilah went to bed, she was sitting in the armchair, watching a late-night monster movie— The Return of Dracula. She startled as I came in, scrambling to kneel. I let her, then gently laughed and sat on the arm of her chair.

“At ease, Erin. Sit down and watch the movie.” I motioned to the screen. “Thank heavens we don’t dress the old-school way anymore, huh?”

She blinked, cautiously taking her seat. “I’d look pretty bad in a cape and low-cut dress. Did you cal Sassy, Mistress?”

“Not yet. And you can cal me Menol y in private.” I really wanted to pay a visit to Sassy, but first I had to think over what I was going to say. But I knew I’d have to talk to her eventual y. As Erin and I settled in to watch the movie, around four thirty the phone rang.

“Menol y! Thank God, you’re there. Is Erin with you?” Sassy sounded flustered. “I just checked on her and she’s not in her room. I’m so sorry—but I thought you might know where she is. I pray she’s not lost.”

Either Sassy was fishing to find out what I knew, or she real y did believe Erin had taken off somewhere and gotten herself lost. Either way, the longer I kept Sassy in the dark about Erin spil ing the beans on her nocturnal blood sports, the better. At least until I decided what to do about the problem.