She only stopped running when her instincts urged caution.

Slowly Skye became aware of her surroundings, of the blood that trickled down her body where the broken glass had cut her and the vampire had dug needle-sharp nails into her flesh.

Music blared from a shabby trailer court, male voices yelled back and forth-rowdy, drunk-and she knew that it wouldn't be safe to appear before them in her naked state.

She recognized this place. It was close to Bangers.

A half-smile formed. Except for the blood, she'd fit right in at the strip-club.

Skye made her way around the trailer court, stopping long enough to rinse the blood from her skin and the athame when she encountered a child's small toy-filled swimming pool, and then she moved on, hugging what shadows she could find.

As she moved, she thought about what she'd seen, what she now remembered of her Angelini mother and her mother's two mates-one werewolf, the other vampire.

Flesh of one father's flesh.

Blood of the other father's blood.

Bound together by Angelini magic.

Skye finally understood who and what she was.

If she'd been born male, she would have been able to shift to wolf form, just as any son that she gave birth to might be able to do. If she'd made her first kill under the direction of her family unit, then she'd wear the tattoo of a dedicated hunter-as her mother did, as the man she'd encountered at Big Daddy's did, though she could not place him in her childhood memories.

Her thoughts shifted into the present, to Gian, her own vampire mate. She could feel his compulsion, his call, buried deep within her mind, tearing at the barriers that had always protected her.

There was no other choice but to involve him. She couldn't return to the dark-magic house alone and there was no time to seek out the hunter she'd encountered at Big Daddy's.

The occult priestess had to be destroyed before others like Brittany Armstrong were sacrificed. Judgment needed to be rendered on the newly made vampires. If not tonight, then later.

Skye paused as she neared Bangers, considered her options, then skirted through the car-jammed parking lot in search of a second, more private entrance. A small measure of relief washed through her when she found it, when she saw that the bartender from the other night stood outside, smoking a cigarette.

She moved toward Sarge, glad that she hadn't been forced to use the front door. If he was surprised by her nakedness, at the knife she held at her side, he didn't show it.

Sarge dropped his cigarette to the asphalt and stubbed it out with the toe of his boot as he stripped off his shirt and handed it to her.

"Thanks," Skye said.

"The shirt's all I can do to help you. Word's out to call if you show up here."

Skye stilled. "Whose word?"

Sarge touched a spot on his neck. "Same guy who's been around before."

"Kyle?"

The bartender nodded.

Skye relaxed. "Call him."

Sarge nodded. "Come on in, there's an office here that doesn't get used much. You can wait in there."

* * * * *

As he watched Gian pace back and forth, Kyle stroked his hand along Haley's smooth flesh and rejoiced in his choice of a companion. She'd only been with him a short time, but he knew a satisfaction that hadn't been present in centuries. Until Haley, he'd never been tempted to bind a human to him, to face the decisions that such a selection demanded.

Kyle caressed her silky hair, unable to contemplate that she might not choose to spend eternity with him-that one day she would turn away from his blood, aging and dying as a human would-or worse, that she would elect to become vampire and not survive the change.

There was an innate purity in Haley, a goodness that shone like a candle in a mineshaft. She hadn't sought him out, hadn't sought his kind out. She'd merely wandered into Fangs one night with some friends from work.

He'd seen her and kept her.

Kyle traced the companion medallion and felt its power against his fingertips. The blood-red stone and engraved symbols combined to amplify his will, to make it impossible for Haley to resist his compulsion, though in truth, he'd never used it for that purpose, never needed to. Instead the medallion served other purposes.

It let others know that he had claimed her. And more importantly, it magnified the safeguards he'd constructed in her mind. She could not kill him as he slept, nor could she betray him-intentionally or otherwise-by leading someone else to his sleeping place.

Kyle feared for Gian. He wished now that he'd tried harder to dissuade his friend from wanting Skye as a companion. But the damage was already done. Now there was no choice but for Gian to try and bind her to him.

The cell phone in Kyle's pocket rang and Haley tensed under his hand. He whispered a kiss across her forehead as he reached for the phone. It amused him to carry it, to embrace this modern technology. He and Gian and Nahir had been fledgling vampires when messages where sent by runners or by word of mouth as peddlers traveled from one small cluster of human settlement to another.

"This is Kyle."

"She's here at Bangers. Waiting in the backroom for you."

Kyle recognized the bartender's voice. "This is Sarge?"

"Yeah."

Kyle could feel Gian's impatient presence standing over him. "She is unharmed?"

"She's got some vicious-looking scratches...and some bites. Neck, chest, inner thigh. No clothes. Gave her my shirt but didn't ask her any questions. Like I said, she's here waiting for you."

"Your assistance is appreciated." Kyle closed the small cell phone and said, "She's at Bangers."

* * * * *

Gian could smell the stink of black magic around her, but he didn't hesitate to reach for Skye and pull her to him. His fangs ached with the need to pierce through her skin and take her blood, his cock strained to escape his pants and plunge into her slick channel, even as wild rage rushed through him at the damage that had been done to her.

He tightened his grip on her, using one hand to tilt her face upward. "You are safe now," he said before lowering his mouth to hers in a kiss that both punished and reassured.

Skye's heart lightened. In all the years she'd hunted, there had never been anyone to hold her afterward, to care for her. She met his kiss and pressed into his body, wanting to feel him inside her, to celebrate the fact that she still lived. She was wet, aching by the time their lips separated.

Kyle and Nahir came into the office, closing the door behind them. In the close confines of the small space, Skye could feel the combined power, the combined menace, radiating off them.

When she would have pulled away, instinctively preparing to defend herself, Gian tightened his grip on her. "Where have you been?" he asked.

She'd had little time to think about what she would say, how much knowledge it was safe to reveal. She had only a child's vague awareness of the supernatural laws that governed those not human.

Vampires existed. The Angelini hunted them down and killed them-sometimes.

"I found Amy Weldon-or rather, her 'handler' found me," she said, her mind flitting back to the visit with Patrice, to Patrice's anguished sob at the sight of the Death card. It was too much of a coincidence that she'd been taken as soon as she got back to Las Vegas. Somehow Patrice had managed to warn Amy that she was being hunted.

"Where?" Kyle demanded, moving forward and earning a hissed warning from Gian.

"In a house not far from here." There'd been no time to look for an address, but she could find the house again. "There's a trailer park close by. I'll have to backtrack." There was no question that they would go with her.

"How many were at the house?" Gian asked.

One vampire was dead, but Skye didn't know if the man she'd gutted could be healed. "Four, maybe five."

"Let's go," Gian said, moving her toward the doorway.

She allowed herself to be herded to a dark SUV. Kyle took the driver's seat with Nahir next to him. Gian and Skye got in the back.

"Do you know where the trailer park is?" she asked.

"We know this area well," Kyle answered, and she wondered if this was a well-used hunting ground.

When they reached the broken and torn fence that ran along the back of the trailer park, she said, "I'll need to get out and track from here."

Gian gathered Skye and settled her on his lap with her back to his chest. "There's an easier way, a faster way," he said, his voice a seductive whisper that stroked her core even as his fingers caressed the bite on her thigh.

Skye arched, unable to stop her body from answering his call. Blood rushed to her clit, to the lips of her sex. Gian's fingers moved upward, just barely grazing her now throbbing flesh. Her buttocks clenched in reaction, her legs widened, offering his fingers a place in her wet slit. Gian whispered, "Close your eyes. Picture what you saw as you ran. Allow yourself to be there again."

Her first instinct was to resist, to fight the compulsion in his voice, but Gian didn't allow her time to build her defenses. His fingers grasped and pumped her clit, sending an arching wave of fire through her body. His hand alternated between her breasts, rubbing her tight, hard nipples, making them burn for his mouth. "Let yourself go," he whispered before his lips and tongue covered the bite on her neck. She was only vaguely aware of his fangs sinking into her neck as she dropped into his compulsion.

This time she ran not out of fear, but out of ecstasy. She was other, and yet different than she'd ever been before. Everything around her was richer, fuller, her senses wide open, embracing the feel of the air against her sensitive skin.

The smell of lust, of heat, surrounded her. Her labia were swollen, slick, ready. Her body throbbed in time to her footsteps. She felt like a wolf leading its mate on a chase that would end in mating.

Gian was with her, she could sense his presence as she ran, somehow knew that he was communicating what she saw to the others, but she didn't look behind her. He would catch her, and when he did, he would mount her. She leaned forward, pushing herself faster to her destination, aware now that she was panting, that her body was begging for release.

Just as the house she sought came into sight, Gian plunged into her wet channel. In part of her mind she knew that he pumped in and out of her with his fingers, but it didn't lessen the sensation, didn't lessen the pleasure spiraling through her, pushing her to crest and flood his hand with her orgasm.

She came back to herself, panting, her body damp, wet where her juices had soaked into Gian's pants, coating his rigid cock with her essence.

He was rock-hard underneath her, holding himself completely still as though he feared any movement would be unbearable. Need began to build in Skye's body again, but she forced it down, forced her thoughts away from what had just happened, from the presence of the men in the front seat.

Kyle drove until he found a place where the car couldn't be seen from the house where she'd been held. Without a word, he and Nahir slipped out of the car and disappeared into the night.

Gian fought the urge to rip his pants open and mount her. There was too much at stake, too much that had to be done.

He fought the desire, but when her buttocks pressed down on his erection as she reached for the door, intending to follow Kyle and Nahir, his control snapped. He pulled her from the car and pressed her chest to the hood, spreading her legs and freeing his erection in a blur of motion.

The smell of her arousal swamped him, filling his mind with only one thought, to cover her body with his, to fuck her, claim her, to celebrate that he hadn't lost her.

He rammed into her, knowing by her scent, by the blood-connection that deepened each time he bit her, that she wanted this as much as he did.

She moved against him, her hungry moans and writhing body inflaming him further, pushing him to pound in and out of her with fierce hard strokes. He could feel her body opening, coaxing him to move deeper, closer to the hidden recess that allowed an Angelini female to lock her mate's cock into her body. He was only barely able to avoid the temptation of her, only barely able to wrest some measure of control back.

He covered her body completely with his, grasping her hands in his, as he once again sunk his fangs into her neck, this time sharing the orgasm with her.

Kyle and Nahir eased out of the shadows a short while later. "They're gone," Kyle said. "I sense no one in the house."

"I'm going in there," Skye said.

"Of course," Gian said, making no effort to restrain her. The men went with her, pausing and watching as Skye broke a window and started to climb into the house. She hesitated only briefly, aware that none of them was moving forward. A memory of Gian insisting that she invite him into her apartment flashed through her mind. "You can come through here or hold on a minute and I'll unlock the front door and you can come in that way." Gian stepped forward, boosting her through the window and coming after her, the other men followed.

The stench of evil-fouled blood was everywhere. The front rooms a mess.

The men moved toward the back of the house but Skye saw her clothes dumped carelessly next to the sofa and went to them, taking the time to pull on her jeans and boots, to note that her cell phone and wallet were still there, before stuffing her bra in a pocket and tying her shirt around her waist.

Only her panties were missing.

Disgust rolled through her, revulsion at the thought that someone had kept her panties as a trophy or souvenir. She shook it off and went to find the men.

They stood around the altar, staring at the naked body that lay facedown, spread-eagled on the symbol-marked surface. Blood and intestines oozing out from underneath him in a sloppy mess. A smaller measure of blood escaped from the slits on his wrists.

He smelled of semen, of blood and bowels, of death.

Only his ankles were tethered at the corners of the altar, but Skye didn't think they'd been bound in order to restrain him. He'd probably been past caring by then, the chains used merely to keep him from sliding off the altar as he'd been butt-fucked during the ceremony in which his blood was drained.

Gian pulled her to him and Skye didn't need to hear his words to know that he was envisioning her lying on the altar instead of the man she'd gutted during her escape. Kyle turned away and moved to the coffins.

Their lids were thrown back. Skye was sure they'd be empty, but Kyle's hiss had the blood freezing in her veins even as her heart sped up. Gian didn't release her as he moved to where Kyle, and now Nahir, stood.

Tension radiated from Kyle and his gaze never left Skye's face. She braced herself against showing any reaction.

The female vampire she'd destroyed lay pale and still in the coffin, in perfect repose other than the gaping hole where her heart had once beat. "Do you know her?" Skye asked, trying not to gather herself in preparation for an attack.

Gian's grip tightened on her and a small hiss escaped. Kyle appeared to back down. "She was a friend of Amy's. I don't know her name."

Skye sensed that the danger had passed. She said, "I want to search the rest of the house."

Gian released her. "Hurry."

Skye looked around the room. "My prints are here. My DNA."

Something that looked like humor flashed in Gian's eyes. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Hurry with your search. We will make the necessary preparations here."

Skye knew instinctively what he meant. The house would have to be destroyed, burned until there was no taint of evil, no clue as to what had happened. The forensic evidence would be lost, any clues that might be unearthed would be destroyed. She paused only momentarily then accepted the cost.

This was not a matter for the police. She'd been lucky to survive the fledgling vampire's attack. She doubted someone not born into this other world, prepared for this task, would be as lucky.

She left the ceremonial room and returned to the front of the house. The witch's room was empty of anything other than clothes. The second bedroom had three mattresses on the floor. Male clothing was jumbled on and around them. A black robe lay folded on the end of one bed, its neat positioning a testament to the fact that it hadn't been used that night.

Skye went to that bed and found fliers advertising discount nights from a couple of strip clubs-Bangers, and the one she hadn't visited yet, Toppers. An empty wallet lay in a corner, stripped of identification and money, but the scent of the man who'd owned it lingered underneath-the man Gian had killed.

She picked up the folded robe. It smelled new, unused.

Her memories moved to the day she'd saved Haley. This smell-his smell-hadn't intermixed with Brittany Armstrong's, hadn't reeked of tainted blood then or on the night he'd almost killed her.

An initiate, not yet a servant, though perhaps all the men hoped to become vampire too. Skye searched her mind for distinctions but found only the knowledge that the Angelini did not use their blood magic to create servants as witches and vampires did.

The second man had cleaned out any thing that might identify him, but mixed in among the dirty clothes were a couple of blackjack chips with a Toppers logo. The final bed probably belonged to the dead man on the altar. She hit the jackpot with a pair of cutoffs. In the back pocket was a wallet with a driver's license. She slipped the license in her pocket and kept searching, moving to other rooms until Gian found her and said, "Ready?"

"Yeah. Ready."

They returned to the SUV together, but Kyle and Nahir didn't join them. Gian got behind the wheel and started driving. As Fangs came into sight, Skye thought about the Harley for the first time since the night's activities had begun. "I need to go to the airport. I need to know if they've got my bike."

Gian took her wrist in one hand and laughed softly. "Not tonight."

Shivers ran along Skye's body, but she wasn't sure whether they were from anticipation or wariness. The smooth flow of his voice promised pleasure but the death of the vampire fledgling might demand retribution. She tested his grip on her wrist and knew that without true violence, she wouldn't be able to break it.

Gian parked the SUV in a reserved parking space behind the nightclub and pulled Skye from the car. A man-a vampire-who she'd never seen before appeared at the back entrance as though silently summoned. His long, deep red hair made her think of a waterfall of blood.

"You will find this of interest, Brann," Gian said as he offered the athame that Skye had taken in her escape.

The vampire nodded. His eyes flicked to Skye and back as he took the knife.

"My companion," Gian said. "Kyle and Nahir are doing what's necessary. They will seek you out when they return."

"Good." The other vampire's gaze met and held Gian's before he turned and disappeared back into the club.

"Not a man of many words," Skye said as she allowed Gian to lead her to the bedroom where she'd awakened after the first attack on her.

"No, but dangerous all the same," Gian said, positioning her against the wall and leaning down to nuzzle her neck as he added, "Just like you are."

Desire pooled low in Skye's body when his lips pressed against the bite mark on her neck, but he didn't do more than flutter a kiss over it before moving up her neck, along her chin, before finally resting his lips on hers as he captured her in his dark gaze.

Instinctively she tried to shift out of his grasp, but he maneuvered her so that he held both of her wrists overhead with one of his hands. There was a deep stillness about him, like a predator about to strike his prey.

His free hand moved to cover Skye's heart before he whispered against her lips, "Did you kill the fledgling?"

She couldn't stop the accelerated beat from pounding against his palm in a quick rush of uncertainty. The flame deep in his eyes grew. She could feel the compulsion to answer, but fought it off.

Gian smiled against her lips before sliding his tongue along the seam and tempting her into a kiss.

Despite the danger-or perhaps because of it-Skye's body tightened with need as her tongue dueled with his. When he pulled away, his mouth went unerringly to the bite on her neck. This time he took it between his teeth and bit down. Skye arched against him in silent pleading, her body fully aroused.

Once again he released her, only to trail teasing licks and kisses upward until his gaze met hers. "Did you kill the fledgling?" There was more compulsion this time.

Skye's heart raced in response. Her survival instincts kicked in. "There was no choice."

The flame in the deep centers of Gian's eyes flared-hot, hungry, possessive-commanding that she immerse herself in it. His free hand moved from her heart and opened first her shirt then his. Pressing his naked chest to hers, he whispered, "Admit that you're my companion, accept the medallion."

Searing heat radiated from the ancient pendant pressed between their two bodies. Fire poured through Skye's veins and she rode the crest of a wave that was equal parts pain and pleasure until she found the strength and escaped from Gian's hypnotic gaze.

She was panting, disoriented, but still able to warn, "You won't control me."

Gian smiled slightly, showing just a hint of his fangs. "You have bound me to you, now I will bind you to me."

His lips covered hers, and as his tongue mated with her tongue, Gian unzipped her pants, toying first with her engorged clit, before covering it with his palm and pressing two fingers deep into her slick, swollen cunt.

She tried to fight the desire, the enthrallment, but her body had already chosen him. As he began pumping his fingers in and out of her, she could do nothing but whimper and arch closer, begging him with her body to form a deeper bond.

Gian pulled her body against his and carried her to the bed. When she felt the cool linens underneath her, Skye's survival instincts rose to the surface for a split second, but he was too strong for her, too fast. He held her down as he stripped them both of their clothing, and then he was on top of her.

"Admit that you're my companion, accept the medallion," he demanded again as his tongue swirled around her nipple before drawing it into his mouth.

Her womb rippled with each hard suck to her nipple. She bucked against him, opening herself and rubbing her wet folds against Gian's penis. But he didn't enter her.

Gian switched to the other nipple, making her whimper and cry out, making her open herself wider and plead silently for him to complete her. The bite he'd left over her heart ached for his touch. The blood roared through her veins like a fire through dry forest.

Skye was shaking with need when he lifted his head and moved up her body, taking her hands and pinning them above her head as he thrust deep into her channel. She cried out, fighting the restraint even as she pumped her body upward to welcome him, to take him deeper. Of their own accord, her lips moved along his neck, traced the pulse until she found the place where it beat hard and fast near the surface of his skin.

At the feel of her lips on his throat, Gian slammed his cock into her, seeking the place reserved only for males lucky enough to take an Angelini mate. She whimpered underneath him, yielding, opening herself so that the tip of his penis could reach her hidden recess.

He held back, driving the hunger and the need to bond higher and higher until all she could think about was his possession. When he felt the sting of her teeth against his flesh, he gave her what she wanted.

Every cell in his body screamed in satisfaction as she locked him inside her, milking his semen with each shuddering orgasm as she took his blood with each deep swallow.

Feelings such as Skye had never known washed over her, through her. She opened herself to them, wanted more of them, knew that she would forever crave them, even as the dark wave of ecstasy consumed her.

She was shuddering, panting, crying when she became aware again. When she would have tried to separate their bodies, Gian prevented it.

With his penis still sheathed in her tight channel, he took her face between his hands, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Admit that you're my companion, accept the medallion."

She closed her eyes, fighting herself, fighting him. But when Gian's fangs sunk into her neck, she was lost. "Please," she begged, wrapping her legs around his waist as she arched into him, pressing her flesh to his and feeling the burn of the pendant between them.

He pounded into her-fast, fierce-striking her clit with each thrust. She writhed against him, begging, shivering, yielding when he sheathed his fangs and brought her face to his chest and commanded her to take his blood. She couldn't resist the compulsion, didn't want to, her mouth closed on his flesh and his blood spilled into her, once again sending her into oblivion on a dark wave of ecstasy.

She was still cradled in Gian's arms when consciousness returned. His dark eyes stared into hers but there was no compulsion, no attempt to pull her soul into his.

"I would never harm you. I want to protect you. Serve you," he whispered, his voice blending with the darkness itself as he tilted her head and brushed his fangs against the sensitive mark on her neck before sinking into her flesh-slowly, like a cock penetrating a vagina-flooding her with warmth and caring, with a joyous sense of belonging.

Do you accept what I offer? he asked, the medallion burning between them.

"Yes," she sighed, yielding for now, but knowing to the depth of her being that she would never settle for less than being his equal.

Satisfaction raged through Gian as he placed the pendant around her neck. The ritual was almost completed. Once again he sheathed his fangs and guided her mouth back to the bite mark over his heart.

"Again," he commanded, knowing triumph when she willingly bound herself to him through blood.

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