I stared into the gaping door and then shifted my gaze to the windows, hoping it looked like I was looking at someone, before turning and stalking off. Darius stayed where he was for a moment. He didn’t switch his gaze from the doorway, which told me that he saw something I didn’t, like a hiding mage. After a moment, he followed me, catching up immediately.

A moment of silence passed between us.

“Do you plan to tell me who that was, and what they are after?” Darius finally asked.

“You know that mage I accidentally killed? Well, I took some of his spells, and his cronies want them. Or else those guys were his friends. I really have no way of knowing. This is all hearsay from a nosy neighbor. Do you have a working watch, or some other way of knowing how long we have until you need to scurry into cover?”

“I don’t scurry.”

“So you say…”

“I don’t need a watch to know when dawn is coming. I can sense it. We have four hours, and then we will stay at my residence in the French Quarter. You’re sure you want to leave those men in your house? I can easily remove them for you.”

“If they are who I think they are, there would be no easily. They probably have spells at the ready. Spells you wouldn’t be able to outrun. While they might even be good to question, without my sword, things would be very dicey. I need an arsenal or a new sword before I deal with people like them. We should get some breakfast and regroup—decide the next step.”

“We don’t have time for breakfast. Your longer-than-usual sleep has delayed our plans.”

“Longer than usual?” I narrowed my eyes at him. Rather than reply, he pulled a phone out of his pocket and typed a few words into a text message screen. “Tell me you haven’t been standing outside my windows and watching me sleep. Because that’s creepy, and I don’t hang out with stalkers.”

“You are not human, therefore you shouldn’t have to sleep as long as a human does. That you did sets us severely behind.”

“That does sound logical, but you should’ve asked to make sure. Your bad.” A black Lincoln Town Car turned slowly around the corner up ahead. The streetlights shone in the rolled-up windows as it crept toward us, an urban shark. “That doesn’t look good. That car is a little too nice for a drive-by in these parts, but it could still happen.” I grabbed his arm, ready to pull him away.

“It is my man. He will take us to our next destination.”

“Oh.” I relaxed. I probably should’ve figured that. “What is our next destination if it isn’t breakfast? I need some food.”

The car stopped by the curb, allowing a dilapidated truck to get around him. Darius stepped forward and opened the rear passenger door. He stood to the side and held out his hand, ready to help me in. I let him before scooting across the bench seat so he could slide in after me. Instead, he closed the door.

I scooted back and noticed the dark, piercing gaze in the rearview mirror. While vampires didn’t show up in cameras or video, for some reason, they did have a reflection in mirrors and water and what not. It was one of those unexplained things I had never bothered to dwell on.

“Hi,” I said.

The eyes were trained on me for a moment longer before drifting down to the road in front of him. Another vampire, this one not much younger than Darius.

“Do you always travel with mid-level and upper-mid-level vampires?” I asked Darius once he’d settled into the car.

He closed the door. “Of course, unless I have a new child. And only then when I am teaching or checking on her.”

Creating a child, for vampires, meant giving their blood to finish the transformation from human to vampire. It made the newbie “theirs.”

“Her? Never him?”

“In the last couple hundred years I have found that human males of a certain wealth and influence greatly rebuke any change they are not accustomed to. Any hardship causes them to whine and moan. It is most vexing.”

“I assume the females also come from backgrounds of wealth and prestige so you can take their fortune. Are they any different?”

“They are usually beautiful, use their beauty to secure a powerful man, and usually allow said man to dictate their lives. Within reason, of course. In general, I find guiding female children much easier, with a higher rate of success.”

“They can control themselves better.”

“Generally, yes.” He entwined his fingers on his lap, the visual of patience. “Do you need more of an arsenal?”

“I have to commission another sword. We need to put the order in pronto. I need bullets, as well. I’d hoped to stock up at my house. Like I said, food would be nice. You’ll have to lend me money, obviously, since you took the mark that would ensure I could keep eating.”

He didn’t respond to my dig.

We spent the next handful of minutes navigating the streets of New Orleans, heading over to the Garden District for God knew what. I asked Darius a few times, but the car remained silent. Which was particularly aggravating, since we really should’ve been heading to place the sword order.

Finally, we pulled up at a gorgeous mansion with a huge front of manicured lawns and lovely flowers. A tire swing dangled from a branch, drifting back and forth lazily. I wished I could’ve been there in the daylight to see the marvel that was the gardens.

“Come,” Darius said as he exited the car. The driver did as well, his dark gaze flicking to me before he climbed out of his seat.

I reached for the handle and met empty space. My door had already swung open. Darius stood beside it, reaching down to help me out.

“Wow. I feel like a princess.” I took his hand, warm despite the myth that vampires always ran around with the temperature of iceboxes. He gave me a slight bow as he helped me stand before closing the door.

“This way,” he said, directing me to the front door.

“Are you going to tell me what this is about?”

“No. Stop asking. It is extremely annoying.”

“You act in such a gentlemanly way, but you say such dickish things. How do you manage the dichotomy?”

“With aplomb.” He paused as his man knocked on the door.

The door opened, spilling light across the wooden porch and up the leg of a rocking chair that sat empty and to the side. An older man with padding around the middle peered out through the screen. Seeing who awaited him, he beamed, his smile crinkling his face.

“Well, hello,” he said, opening the door. “Hello, hello. Good to see you, good to see you. I’m so glad you could stop by. Please. Come in, come in!” He pushed at the screen door, opening it a crack.

Darius’s man grabbed it and pulled it wide, allowing us to enter.

As I stepped closer to the older man, I could feel the residual magic pulsing from him. Its vibration calmed me, relaxing my muscles and putting me at ease. It was almost like a homey feeling in chemical form.

I let my hand drift to my gun and stepped aside quickly, giving myself space. I didn’t know why he was making a spell equivalent of Xanax, but I didn’t want to get blasted with it and then have to fight.

“Mr. Durant, so good to see you.” The man ushered Darius into a grand foyer with marble for days and lovely green plants on stands that looked like columns. In contrast, he wore shabby pants covered in burned holes and colored splotches. His T-shirt had a hole at the bottom, also appeared to have been burned, and there were more stains on it than there was white. “Mr. LaRay. Hello.”

Mr. LaRay, our driver, didn’t acknowledge the salutation, and stood just inside of the doorway with his hands clasped in front of him.

“Yes.” The older man turned his gaze on me. His eyes crinkled in the corners with his continual mirth. “And you must be Ms. Somerset. Such a pleasure.”

I glanced at Darius and got a minimal nod. He must’ve alerted this man that I was coming.

“This is Mr. Banks,” Darius said. “He will be assisting you this evening.”

“Assisting me?” I got another nod, but no further explanation. What else was new?

With a half-confused frown, I offered the man a smile and a “Hello.” I didn’t offer my hand. I’d learned the hard way that one should never touch a mage who recently performed magic. You never knew what cooties might suddenly explode across your skin. That had been an exciting lesson followed by a horrible rash.