“Good morning,” he murmured between kisses. “I could get used to this.”

“Me, too.”

For a while we simply kissed each other, silly and messy and yet more and more intense. My body felt tingly all over, and I wondered if it was too soon to give it another try.

Before things got to that point, though, Lucas pulled back from me and smiled. “I think I’ve figured out what we’re going to do.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that out, too, seeing how we’re na**d in bed together.”

“Not that, wanton woman.” He grinned at me in amazement. “What have I gotten myself into?”

“Something good.”

“That I knew.” Lucas kissed my hand. “What I meant was, I know what we can do next for cash, to get ourselves settled. It means taking another loan, which I don’t like, but at this point I figure we’d better deal with it. We’ll have run through the cash Balthazar gave us within a week at this hotel.”

I had no problems asking for help right now. We genuinely needed it. “You have a friend in Philadelphia?”

“So do you. Think about it.”

And as soon as I thought, I could envision the Phillies cap on his sandy hair. My face lit up in a smile. “Vic!”

Lucas called Vic and arranged for us to meet at one of the downtown diners for lunch. We walked there hand in hand, me in my new green sundress, holding Lucas’s hand. I imagined that people were looking at me differently—that somehow they knew—but I thought probably that was just me being silly. I felt exactly the same, only happier than I’d been in a long while. Lucas, too, seemed relaxed; I couldn’t remember another time I’d seen him completely at ease.

When we went inside, Vic was already sitting in a booth, Ranulf at his side. He raised one hand in a wave. “Guys! Man, is it good to see you.”

I hugged Vic tightly, then did the same for Ranulf. Although Ranulf remained rail thin, with his soft brown hair worn in a bowl cut, he was now wearing khakis and a Hawaiian shirt almost identical to the one Vic had on. I wondered if he’d borrowed it from Vic or whether he was simply buying whatever Vic bought, the better to fit in with the twenty-first century. Of course, dressing like Vic didn’t really mean fitting in, but Ranulf was still catching on to the modern world.

Once Vic was done hugging Lucas, he stepped back and said, “Lucas, this is Ranulf, my roommate after you up and ditched me. Ranulf, this is Lucas. I don’t know if you guys met at Evernight or what.”

“We spoke once,” Ranulf said helpfully, “in the library. I asked you who the saints were that some people spoke of in New Orleans, and you explained that they were not religious icons but a sporting team. It was very enlightening.”

“Yeah, no way I could forget that.” Lucas gave Ranulf a lopsided smile. Although he remained suspicious of most vampires, nobody could really be afraid of Ranulf.

“So what are you guys doing in Philly?” Vic said as we all took our seats in the booth. “Is this some big elopement drama? Do Ranulf and I have to be witnesses?”

“No,” I said. My cheeks felt warm, and I couldn’t tell if I was blushing at the whole idea of getting married or the fact that Lucas and I had sort of already had the honeymoon. “We’re just—well, we’re trying to get settled. And stay hidden.”

Vic looked unexpectedly stern. “Did you call your parents?”

“I e-mailed them,” I answered. “They know I’m all right.”

Lucas turned to me, suddenly tense. “You did? When?”

Oh, no. Too late I remembered what the consequences of that e-mail had been. I’d meant to tell Lucas the truth, but then Balthazar’s capture had distracted me. Although I hated doing this in front of our friends, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer to confess. “The first night we were out on patrol. Remember when I slipped away to get something to eat?”

“Bianca—” Lucas raked his hands through his hair, a gesture I’d learned meant he was trying hard to check his temper.

“You didn’t know the safeguards to take. Do you realize what happened because of that?”

Black Cross had been attacked, and Eduardo had been killed. In a small, miserable voice, I said, “I realize now. I’m so sorry, Lucas.”

Vic and Ranulf were both looking from me to Lucas to me during this, like spectators at a tennis match. “What happened?” Vic said. “You got spammed or something?”

“Spam is good with breakfast foods,” Ranulf said, proud to have remembered something about the current world. “I shall have Spam with my eggs.”

“Not Spam the meat, spam like the e-mail ads for Viagra,” Vic corrected him.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Lucas said shortly. His face was hard and tight as he stared out the window.

“Okay.” I hadn’t really come to terms with my responsibility for what had happened, and I knew I’d be dealing with that for a while. Obviously, Lucas was angry—and he had a right to be—but he didn’t want to hash it out in front of Vic and Ranulf. Nervous and newly guilty, I somehow managed to focus on the conversation at hand. “Vic, basically, we’re kind of on the run. Not from the law, but—nobody can find us. And, um, well, we need a place to stay and food, and it gets expensive….”

“My money is your money,” Vic said, like that was the most obvious thing in the world. “Name it, it’s yours.”