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“You were bleeding from your nose and eyes. You were bleeding to death in my arms.” Richard took a few steps towards the bed, then stopped. “I couldn’t just let you die.” His hands reached outward in a helpless gesture.

I stood up in the silky gown and stared at them both. “Maybe Richard didn’t know any better, but you knew how I felt, Jean-Claude. You don’t have any excuses.”

“Perhaps I could not stand to watch you die, either. Have you thought of that?”

I shook my head. “What does the third mark mean? What extra powers does it give you over me?”

“I can whisper in your mind outside of dreams now. And you have gained power as well, ma petite. You are very hard to kill now. Poison won’t work at all.”

I kept shaking my head. “I don’t want to hear it. I won’t forgive you for this, Jean-Claude.”

“I did not think you would,” he said. He seemed wistful.

“I need clothes and a ride home. I’ve got to work tonight.”

“Anita, you’ve almost died twice today. How can you . . .”

“Can it, Richard. I need to go to work tonight. I need something that’s mine and not his. You invasive bastard.”

“Find her some clothes and take her home, Richard. She needs time to adjust to this new change.”

I stared at Jean-Claude still cuddled on the corner of the bed. He looked adorable, and if I’d had a gun, I’d have shot him on the spot. Fear was a hard, cold lump in my gut. He meant to make me his servant, whether I liked it or not. I could scream and protest, and he’d ignore it.

“Come near me again, Jean-Claude, for any reason, and I’ll kill you.”

“Three marks bind us now. It would harm you, too.”

I laughed, and it was bitter. “Do you really think I give a damn?”

He stared at me, face calm, unreadable, lovely. “No.” He turned his back on us both and said, “Take her home, Richard. Though I do not envy you the ride there.” He glanced back with a smile. “She can be quite vocal when she’s angry.”

I wanted to spit at him, but that wouldn’t have been enough. I couldn’t kill him, not right then and there, so I let it go. Grace under pressure. I followed Richard out the door and didn’t look back. I didn’t want to see his perfect profile in the vanity mirror.

Vampires weren’t supposed to have reflections, or souls. He had one. Did he have the other? Did it matter? No, I decided, it didn’t matter at all. I was going to give Jean-Claude to Oliver. I was going to give the city to Mr. Oliver. I was going to set the Master of the City up for assassination. One more mark and I’d be his forever. No way. I’d see him dead first, even if it meant I died with him. No one forced me into anything, not even eternity.

43

I ENDED UP WEARING one of those dresses with the waist that hit you about at the hips. The fact that the dress was about three sizes too big didn’t help matters. The shoes fit even if they were high heels. It was better than going barefoot. Richard turned up the heat in the car because I’d refused his coat.

We were fighting, and we hadn’t even had one date. That was a record even for me.

“You’re alive,” he said for the seventieth time.

“But at what price?”

“I believe that all life is precious. Don’t you?”

“Don’t go all philosophical on me, Richard. You handed me over to the monsters, and they used me. Don’t you understand that Jean-Claude has been looking for an excuse to do this to me?”

“He saved your life.”

That seemed to be the extent of his argument. “But he didn’t do it to save my life. He did it because he wants me as his slave.”

“A human servant isn’t a slave. It’s almost the opposite. He’ll have almost no power over you.”

“But he’ll be able to talk inside my head, invade my dreams.” I shook my head. “Don’t let him sucker you.”

“You’re being unreasonable,” he said.

That was it. “I’m the one with my wrist slit open where the Master of the City fed. He drank my blood, Richard.”

“I know.”

There was something about the way he said it. “You watched, you sick son of a bitch.”

“No, it wasn’t like that.”

“How was it?” I sat with my arms crossed over my stomach, glaring at him. So that was the hold Jean-Claude had