Darius had invited us to dinner.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous.

“Is that old vamp going to be there?”

I knew my mother was talking about the extreme elder. “Yes. She has fully recovered from her injuries, and from centuries of idle nothingness, from which she is extremely relieved to have woken up.”

“You created a monster.”

“No, Mother. I woke up a monster. There is a difference. And it wasn’t my fault. It was Darius’s fault, which he fully admits to. Which is why he is inviting us to dinner. And now we’ve come full circle.”

“Don’t sass me, missy.”

I sipped a glass of wine as movement caught my eye.

Emery filled the archway, clothed in a tailored suit that fit his wide shoulders before reducing down to his trim hips. Smart black dress shoes peeked out from his pressed gray slacks. His hair was done up in a messy style, short on the sides and long on top.

He straightened out his arm and adjusted his cufflink with the other hand, very GQ. He might’ve spent the last several years rolling around in the dirt in various parts of the wild, but when he wanted to, he could really clean up.

My heart fluttered and I shrugged for no particular reason.

“Penny Bristol, you look beautiful,” he said, his blue eyes soft.

I felt my face flame (my mother looking on with a hard scowl made things awkward) and I shrugged again, still for no particular reason.

“That Marie has good taste for young women.” My mother nodded as her gaze slid down the red silk dress that hugged my slight curves and showed a bit more cleavage than was probably prudent. “Why she was trying to dress me, I have no idea. I don’t have anyone to impress. Waste of time, in my opinion.”

“You have Marie to impress.” I smoothed my shimmery dress down my thighs, suddenly shy and embarrassed and acting stupid. I’d been living with Emery for a week, and usually things were easy between us. He handled my crazy with laughter, and I ignored most everything he did unless it pertained directly to me, because I was used to ignoring my mother. But now, when we were dressed up, and he was looking at me like that, and I was remembering the feel of his hands…

“Emery, how do you plan to earn money?” my mother asked, capable of ruining any moment with gusto.

He sauntered toward me with his confident swagger before reaching around me and into the cabinet. When he reached forward for an empty wine glass, his heat fell across me and I shivered. “I’ve promised my spell-working services solely to Darius. For now. He pays extremely well.”

“What sort of harebrained world traveler promises exclusivity to an elder vampire?” my mother asked.

Emery glanced at me before pouring himself a glass of wine. “A desperate world traveler worried about the woman he was leaving behind.”

Warmth filled my heart and a smile played with my lips.

My mother huffed. “Well, now you’re at his mercy.”

He wrapped his lips around the rim of the wine glass, and a different part of me filled with warmth. After he took a sip, he grinned. “That was before he put her in mortal danger, messed up, and made her fend for herself. For now, it’s wise to keep the attachment. He’s an elder, yes, but he’s the best of the lot. He’ll give me plenty of wiggle room. In the future, I have an easy out and plenty of room for bartering.”

“Worst case, we’ll just sic Darius’s girlfriend on him. She’ll be more than happy to ruin his life.” I edged my hand along the counter like a high school kid on a first date and bumped it off his hip. I was nearly twenty-five, but I was acting like a besotted teenager.

He wasn’t. He slid closer and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

My mother huffed again.

The doorbell rang.

“Reagan is going to meet us there, correct?” my mother asked for what seemed like the eight hundredth time.

“Yes. And Callie and Dizzy. We have lots of backup, Mother, relax. If that old vampire goes crazy, we’ll be fine. Which you know, because your cards told you so.”

“Those cards aren’t always right, you know that.”

“They aren’t ever right for me. But if they’ve ever failed you, you’ve never mentioned it.” Suddenly, all those near misses in Seattle were called into question.

“Come on, love,” Emery whispered softly, sliding his hand to my back. “We don’t want to keep the vampire waiting.”

In other words, he wanted to get away from my mother.

A black limo was waiting outside for us. Beyond it, standing next to the opening of the cemetery, stood Smokey, creepy as ever. He nodded to me as we walked down the stairs.

Next door, No Good Mikey stood near his steps, also watching.

“What’s going on?” I asked, slowing.

“Nothin’.” Mikey shifted so he was leaning against his banister. “Your mother yelled at Smokey for scaring her earlier. I just came out here to see if she’d do it again. Had him scattering like a flock of birds. Ain’t never seen him so spooked.”

“I did not yell at that man,” my mother said, clunking down the stairs behind us in her old boots. Marie was going to hate them. “I simply stated my observation that men who stand on street corners and gawk at women might someday find themselves castrated and thrown down a well.”

“Mother, really?” I pushed Emery to the side and made sure she got down the stairs and moved toward the limo before she came out with something else. “He’s not even on a street corner.”

“He is standing in front of a cemetery. That is worse than standing on a street corner.”

“Then why didn’t you say that?”

“Because ‘street corner’ has a certain ring to it.” She nodded at the blank-faced, handsome limo driver who was holding the door for her. “Couldn’t send a human? They had to send the enemy?”

Mikey cracked a smile, the first I had ever seen from him. “She’s a hoot. She has safe passage in this neighborhood.”

“No she doesn’t.” I pointed at him. “Ban her. Seriously. For your own good.”

He laughed this time, and sauntered off in the other direction.

“Why does everyone always laugh at me?” I wondered aloud, climbing into the limo.

Darius’s front door was fixed. Upon entering the house next to my hard-faced mother, I saw that his entrance way had also been fixed. They’d done unbelievably quick work.

Fragrant flowers lined the stairs like last time, cut from their living plants and on their way to death’s door. They really set the right atmosphere, though I still wasn’t sure if he was intentionally going for that.

Moss, acting the part of butler, greeted us formally, wearing a tux, as stiff as ever. “Miss Bristol, Ms. Bristol, Mr. Westbrook.” Moss offered a slight bow. Very slight. His face could’ve cut granite. Reagan must’ve been harassing him already this evening. “Welcome.”

“Vampires really know how to host,” my mother murmured as we climbed the stairs. “Too bad a body can’t relax in their company.”

Both dining room doors stood open, and as we approached, I felt the first wave of intensely spicy power, vicious and lethal and smooth as silk. It was much more powerful than Moss’s, and it was basically on display, crowding the room and drifting out to catch anyone passing by.

Ja.

“That’s not normal for vampires,” I said, slowing. Magic curled between Emery and me, sparking and fizzing and then collecting above me. I’d largely tried to stop doing that, since it made it easy for me to go off the deep end at a moment’s notice, but amassing elements was my go-to when I sensed even a little danger. It was a hard habit to break. One I wasn’t even sure I wanted to break.

“Just a moment,” Moss said, entering the room.

“Either the vampire doesn’t have control, or she is wondering if you do,” Emery whispered, studying me. He couldn’t feel her magic, but after a week of hardcore training together, not to mention one occasion in which we’d accidentally gotten sucked into (or possibly started, but I really didn’t think it was my fault) a bar fight with a few shifters, he was really good at deciphering my reactions.