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“If it’s a choice between you and them,” Jessica spat in answer, “then I would choose the vampires any day. At least they don’t preach the morality of their killing.”

She spun away, trying to ignore the tension between her shoulders, where she expected any moment to feel the point of Dominique’s knife.

CHAPTER 25

IT WAS NOT YET SUNSET when Jessica arrived, once again, at the doorway to Las Noches.

There were fewer people in the room than the last time, which was probably related to the fact that Fala and Aubrey were fighting near the bar.

They stopped in surprise as Jessica entered and began walking fearlessly toward them.

Fala recovered her wits first and slammed Aubrey back into the bar. The sickening crack of a broken bone reached Jessica’s ears even above the music of Las Noches, but she knew he would heal almost instantly.

However, Fala used Aubrey’s moment of pain to whisper a threat into his ear. Jessica could only hear the end of it as she approached. Either deal with it now, or I will.

Fala left the club without giving Jessica a second glance.

Aubrey stretched, already recovered from Fala’s attack. As he turned toward Jessica, she saw him check for the knife at his waist, then shake his head, seeming neither surprised nor concerned to find it gone.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Aubrey said as Jessica approached. “We both are.”

“How do you figure that?” Jessica asked. She ignored the fight that she had just witnessed; she knew she was probably the reason behind it.

Parched from the walk in the sunlight, she considered trying to find something to drink in Las Noches’s bar, but worried that she might knock herself out if she chose the wrong thing. While there was nothing in the bar that could kill a vampire, there was plenty that could damage a human.

“You know most of my kind is trying to kill you — particularly the one who just left — and still you come into New Mayhem at sunset,” Aubrey answered dryly.

Jessica had to laugh at that. “My mother was killed yesterday beside a church in broad daylight. If any of your kind was really trying to kill me, it wouldn’t matter where I was.”

She decided that she could probably identify water if she saw it, so she rounded the bar to search.

Are you trying to poison yourself?” Aubrey inquired, watching her.

“Oh, bite me,” she taunted automatically before the irony of the remark registered.

But Aubrey took her at her word. In a graceful movement, he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her toward him.

“A tempting offer.” He gently brushed the hollow of her throat with the thumb of his free hand as he spoke.

“You wouldn’t.”

He leaned down and she felt his lips at her neck. It would never occur to you to be afraid, would it? he silently asked.

If you wanted to kill me, you would have done so long ago. She projected the thought and knew that he could hear it.

Are you so sure?

No, she answered. But if you bite me I’m going to bite back, and do you really want this crowd to see a human do that? She was well aware that they had an attentive audience by now.

Is that what you want?

Jessica didn’t quite understand Aubrey’s question, but he must have sensed her confusion, because he added, I did something similar to Ather, and we both know how that turned out. Aubrey had been changed shortly after a fight with Ather. He had slit her throat when she had tried to feed on him. Even Fala has suggested that I change you.

You’re right, you are an idiot, she commented in response. And yes, that is what I want, which means you can’t do it.

Jessica was referring to the fact that Aubrey’s line retained its power because every one of them fought. That struggle, as the blood was drained out, was what gave them their strength.

Yes, Jessica was more than willing to become one of their kind. Her hatred of Dominique had finally convinced her. But her readiness meant that she wouldn’t fight, and her strength as a vampire would suffer. She would certainly be weaker than Fala. In essence, if Aubrey changed her now, it would be the same as his allowing