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  I hadn’t texted him about where I was going, thinking I’d be home either the same time he arrived or a bit beforehand. Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled he was here, but how he managed to track me down in a city this large was astounding, even for a vampire.

  Someone in his Balaj had probably seen me and let him know where I was. And knowing Dario, I doubted that had been a random occurrence. He knew how I felt about his need to protect me, but no matter how much I argued, I’d realized he wouldn’t stop, he’d just make those efforts stealthier and less obvious. I was human, mortal, and terrifyingly fragile in his eyes, even though as humans go I was better suited than most to handle whatever baddies might cross my path.

  Still he worried. And although I chafed under that worry, a part of me found it a bit charming and somewhat flattering.

  “Doesn’t matter. I’m glad you’re here,” I told him before he could reply with some sort of lie. “How did things go up north of the city? With the rogues?”

  He grimaced. “Let’s not talk about that. Let’s dance and drink, then go back to your place and make love.”

  That sounded good to me, although I did want to know what happened up north. If there was a rogue band of vampires that had snatched part of his territory, then I needed to be aware of what was happening. Protecting pilgrims on the path was part of my self-imposed vow, and although I counted vampires among my pilgrims, protecting humans from violent supernatural elements was a priority.

  “How was your day?” His little nibbles trailed from my ear down my neck and I felt the familiar scrape of fangs. Everything south of my waistband tightened and I pressed myself against him, limiting our dance moves further.

  “Let’s not talk about that either. At least for now.”

  I ran my fingers along the back of his neck, feeling the cool smoothness of his skin. One of his hands left my rear to slide up my back. I felt him twist my ponytail into a fist and tug playfully.

  “Good. From the moment I woke, I’ve been thinking of what I want to do to you,” he murmured against my neck. “I’ve been thinking of you spread out before me, of tasting you. I want your tight wetness around me. I want to make you come so hard you can’t do anything but say my name and beg me for more.”

  The erotic breathlessness that his mouth and words inspired came crashing down with unwelcome memories of my nightmares.

  Beg.

  Dario lifted his head and looked down at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” Now wasn’t the time to get into a discussion of my horrible dreams, how I couldn’t seem to bury the memories of that asshole from Philly, how the pain and fury was all twisted up with a seductive need that all came rushing back unbidden at the most inopportune times, like when I was hot and bothered on the dance floor with my sexy boyfriend and he said the word “beg”.

  He pulled away and lifted his hands to cradle my face. His eyes searched mine, and I saw the flash of awareness in them, followed by an expression that made me shiver.

  Dario knew what had happened to me. He’d seen me the night after the first attack, seen how torn up my neck was. With a vampire’s heightened senses, I was sure he’d noticed my runaway heartbeat, the smell of fear and anger twisting with an unwelcome craving.

  Reaching down, he smoothed his fingers over the scar on my neck. “Death was too good for him.”

  “It was a pretty horrific death,” I replied with a wry smile. “And knowing I was the one that killed him was probably the most torturous of all.”

  “I wish I could make all this go away,” he told me, that murderous gleam in his eyes softening to something that looked a lot like love. “I hate that he did that to you. I hate that in death he still finds a way to intrude on what we share together. I want to smash his head in, wipe those memories from your mind, take this scar, this reminder, from your beautiful skin. I want you to be safe, protected, to never know fear.”

  I smiled, because that’s not the way life went. And as much as I hated the nightmares, Dario’s alternative was a bit too much of a suffocating protective cage for me to ever allow.

  Pulling his hand from my neck, I brought his fingers to my mouth and kissed them. “I’m the knight in shining armor in this relationship, not you. You’ll just have to get used to my hundreds of scars, and the panic attacks you’re going to have every time I face down something scary with sword in hand.” My smile faded and I put his hand against my cheek. “Time, Dario. It’ll take time, but I’ll be okay. Just…just please be patient with me as I work all this crap out.”

  He leaned his forehead against mine and whispered, “Of course.” Then he kissed me and I let all the fear and anger wash away with the touch of his lips. And then we just danced, wrapped around each other, my cheek against his chest.

  “Do you want a beer? A glass of wine?” he asked me when the song was over and we finally eased apart.

  I laughed. “No way. I’m just now starting to sober up. But I do want to introduce you to my friends. They’ve been hoping to meet you.”

  I disengaged my arms from around Dario’s neck and grabbed his hand, leading him over to the table where my friends eyed our approach with raised brows and expectant expressions.

  “Is this the hottie boyfriend?” Brandi asked. “Holy crap. Does he have a brother?”

  He had a whole family, all of them vampires. But in my opinion, none of them were nearly as hot as my vampire.

  “Dario, this is Brandi, Anna, Grace, and Liz.”

  The vampire shook hands with all four women, smiling with the sort of charm that I was sure had gotten him the body and blood of every woman he’d wanted. My friends were enchanted. Everyone scooted over and Dario and I took a seat. I watched as he chatted easily with my friends, and felt a strange, giddy warmth in my chest.

  My boyfriend. Yes, he was a vampire. Yes, he was now responsible for the Baltimore Balaj. Yes, we had a whole lot of issues we’d need to overcome in the course of what might be a short and emotionally devastating relationship, but there was no way I was backing out of this now.

  I reached out and took his hand, smiling as he turned his dark eyes to me.

  “Let’s dance,” I told him as I tugged him out of his chair and toward the dance floor.

  Chapter 5

  The last set was over too soon. As the lights came on I was wrapped tight in Dario’s arms, my face resting against his chest. It was perfect, and as much as I wanted to go back to my house and get busy, I also wanted to stay here.

  “Did you drive?” I looked up at him, starting to ease myself away.

  “Of course.” He chuckled. “Did you think I jogged here from Federal Hill?”

  He could have. Vampires were insanely fast. Plus who knew where those tunnels under his house went to besides Leonora’s former residence.

  “I kinda promised Liz a lift and I’m not sure I’m sober enough to drive yet. Do you mind? Her brother took off with some blonde and she doesn’t have a way back to her hotel. She’s in town for a seminar.”

  “Of course I’ll give her a lift.” Dario stepped away from me, taking my hand as we walked back to the table where my friends were gathering up their belongings and paying the bill—and where Liz was looking rather forlorn.

  “Where are you staying?” I asked her. “Dario and I can drive you back to your hotel.”

  She shot Dario a wary look, then glanced across the room. I followed her gaze and saw the two men she’d been sitting with earlier. They were back by the fire door where Rick had been making out with the blonde woman. And while they weren’t staring creepily at Liz or anything, I could tell she was worried that they might follow her or something.

  Or something.

  “The Sheraton at the Inner Harbor,” she said. “Is that out of your way?”

  “Not at all,” Dario lied. If I’d still been living in Fells Point, we would have gone right past the hotel, but with my new place, we’d need to double back. It wasn’t far, though, and traffic should be light at two
in the morning on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

  “Thanks.” She looked around the room again. “I can’t believe Rick took off like this. It’s so unlike him to not even say something to me.”

  “He did look pretty drunk when I saw him last,” I reminded her.

  She shook her head slowly. “That’s not like him either.”

  “He’s probably back in his hotel room right now sleeping it off,” I said as we headed toward the exit.

  She bit her lip and nodded, following us out. Dario unlocked the black SUV and opened the door for me, then let Liz in the back seat before walking around to get in the driver’s side. Liz was quiet as we headed through town, but her worry was starting to infect me. Did guys get roofied? If the woman wanted to drug and rob Rick, then wouldn’t she have just left him passed out in the bathroom hallway or outside somewhere? He was here for a work seminar. I couldn’t see any reason why someone would want to slip him something besides robbery.

  I glanced in the back to see Liz looking out the window, a frown on her face. What if Rick was passed out in an alley somewhere? Would a club patron notice him? Would the police pick him up? What would Liz do if she got back to her hotel and Rick wasn’t there? Clearly he’d not called or texted her, or she would have said so.

  Digging in my purse I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a name and number down on it before turning around and handing it to Liz.

  “Look, I’m sure everything is okay, but just in case you can’t find Rick, here’s the name and number of a friend of mine with the city police. Tell him I gave you his number and he’ll make sure you’re taken seriously.”

  She looked down at the number and slipped it into her purse. “Thanks.”

  Her voice was small, and I felt another lurch of worry in my stomach. What would I do if this was Roman who was missing like this? Of course, Roman was a Templar Knight and could take care of himself, but I would still worry just as much as Liz was doing right now.

  Dario pulled up to the Sheraton, and Liz had the door open practically before we came to a stop, thanking us once again for giving her a lift as she ran to the doors.

  I watched her as Dario pulled away, that sick feeling still in my stomach.

  “You want to tell me what happened?” Dario asked, his deep voice soothing my worry. “I thought the brother hooked up with some woman and just didn’t tell her.”

  I sighed, leaning back in my seat. “I’m sure that’s all it is. He seemed pretty sober when I was talking to him earlier. Then he was dancing with this blonde. Then he was drunk and barely able to stand and making out with this blonde. Then the pair of them were gone.”

  Dario chuckled. “Sounds like a hookup to me.”

  I frowned. “Maybe she was a vampire. The blonde, I mean. Not Liz.”

  I hadn’t sensed any vampires in the club until Dario had come in, but I’d been pretty tipsy, and not all vampires packed quite as powerful an aura as Dario. That would explain Rick’s sudden drunkenness, as well as his forgetting to let his sister know he was leaving. If that was the case, then he’d show up tomorrow morning, hung over, having had the night of his life.

  Unless…

  “A rogue wouldn’t come this far into the city, would she?” I asked, worried again.

  “I doubt it, but I can’t completely rule it out. There aren’t many of us left and it’s a big city.”

  I thought through the remaining members of Dario’s Balaj that I’d met and couldn’t recall any of them who might be the blonde woman. Maybe she wasn’t a vampire after all. I was probably fretting over nothing. Besides, a drunken hookup by some guy I’d just met tonight wasn’t really my business. If there was a problem, his sister would call the police. And if not, she’d probably chew his ear off tomorrow morning.

  I was going to forget about it, and just enjoy the early morning hours with Dario. Reaching across the car, I snaked my fingers through his.

  “Your place or mine?” I asked.

  He squeezed my hand. “Yours. That way we’re less likely to be interrupted.”

  I laughed. “Have you met my dog?”

  He shot me a grin. “Yes, and he’s a hundred times better than the five vampires, two Renfields, and half a dozen blood partners that are probably at my house right now.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Blood partners?”

  “I took to heart what you said last month, but with Leonora in charge, there wasn’t much I could do either in the terminology we use, or the nature of our relationships with each other or our human romantic partners.”

  “So no more blood slaves,” I mused, a bit shocked. Dario was more modern than Leonora, but he was still hundreds of years old, and I knew tradition meant a lot to him.

  “It’s not just the term. I want blood partners to be a subset of the Balaj family, not the property of their vampire. I want addiction management for them, a system to help pairs avoid what had always been considered to be an inevitable loss of control and death. I want an appeal process for any issues a human might have, as well as paid treatment for anyone who wants out of the relationship. I want them to have as clear a path to turning as Renfields, if that’s something they’re interested in. I want a fund to give assistance to the blood partner’s family if needed—medical, emergency funds…that sort of thing.”

  I was absolutely gobsmacked.

  “There’s no Master. I’m still the boss, the head of the family, but no one’s Master. I’m putting together an advisement council. Right now our numbers are small enough that everyone could come straight to me with any issues, but as we grow that might not be practical. Besides, I want vampires in our family to have options in bringing concerns to light, and I realize it might be intimidating for the newly turned to come to me directly.”

  He parked the SUV on the road and let me out of the car. I followed him up to the house, thinking about all he’d said. We went inside and he allowed Fulk to greet him with the dog’s usual enthusiasm, then he scooped up Gaia and headed to the sofa.

  “I wanted to wait until everything was in place before I told you because this might take a while. A good many in the Balaj are as old or older than me, and changing the way you’ve done something for hundreds of years isn’t easy. But I wanted you to know a few of the reasons why I’ve been so busy lately, and why I’m not over as much as I’d like.”

  I sat down beside him and curled up against his side, my head on his shoulder and my hand on his thigh—right next to the purring cat on his lap.

  “I’m glad you told me.” I was. And I was thrilled at the changes he was trying to make in their structure and traditions. This was a Balaj that humans could work with, that Templars could work with. This all eased so many of the worries I’d had about Dario’s and my relationship and the potential for us being on opposite sides of an issue.

  “I was worried that you were spending every evening fighting off rogue vampires determined to take the city, and that you didn’t want to tell me,” I continued. “I’m happy to hear it’s more administrative stuff that’s keeping you away.”

  He shifted beside me. “Well…about that….”

  I tensed. “Yes?”

  “There aren’t many of us left after what happened last month, and the word is out that we don’t have the numbers to hold the entirety of the city, or any significant part. Rumors are that a group of rogues are banding together to reduce our territory with the goal of eventually pushing us out. If we can’t keep Baltimore as ours, then I foresee four or five outside factions taking parts of the city, and warring amongst themselves to seize the whole territory.”

  This was bad. It would be bad for Dario, and it would be bad for all the humans caught in the middle of something that would make a gang war look like a tea party.

  “What can I do to help?”

  He reached out a hand to stroke my hair. “Be patient with me when I cancel dates or can’t see you for a few nights. Be my sanctuary, the one person I can turn to and talk about things and
not need to be the boss. Take my mind off this whole mess.”

  I snuggled against him once more. “I can do all that.”

  I felt like such a shit for mentally griping about how our relationship had seemed to turn into nothing aside from a quick dinner and a booty call. He was fighting for the survival of his family. I needed to give him the understanding and the space he needed to take care of these vampires who’d been an important part of his life far longer than I had.

  “You don’t have to do this alone, you know. I can help. The police can help. Maybe I can get a few of my family to come up for a weekend to patrol your borders.”

  I knew as soon as I said it that I was wrong. My family were all Knights. They wouldn’t come to Baltimore to help my vampire boyfriend secure his territory. They’d taken a vow, and unless the Elders sent them here on assignment or unless I was in danger, they wouldn’t help. In their minds, it didn’t matter which vampires controlled the city, or if Dario’s Balaj was pushed out of their territory or not.

  “I’ll let you know if I need you, but I really don’t want to involve the police. We have some human alliances that are helping us as paid mercenaries. I have to tell you now that I’m worried, Aria. The one thing going for us is that these rogues mostly operate on their own. If there is a group, it doesn’t seem to be very large or have the family loyalty, the blood bond, that we do. If a large Balaj were to splinter off and come for us as Simon did, we would never survive, but I’m hoping we can hold out against these individuals and a potential group of ten or twenty rogues.”

  “I’m so sorry.” A vision of more vampire deaths filled my mind, of Dario’s small family fighting for their existence and losing, fleeing Baltimore and wandering without a safe territory with whatever few remained of their family just as they’d done in those centuries when they’d left Haiti.

  And Dario would never leave his family. Even if only one or two remained, he’d still fight and risk his life to keep them together and provide for them. It wasn’t just that he was the Master, or boss, it was who he was inside.