Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could I be so stupid? Sure, let's follow the stranger outside to the secluded street. And seriously? Who really wanted to meet a female vampire when there were so many hotties posturing like statues inside the palace - that place where there were actual people to shout out to for help?

A rusted Buick idled on the road. Two doors opened up front and a couple of scuzzbuckets stepped out.

"This her?" one asked.

William nodded. "We've found ourselves an assassin, boys."

I turned to run, but William grabbed me by the hair and yanked back. My entire head felt like it'd been whacked against a wall. Tears leaked out the sides of my eyes. I kneed him in the groin. Did that work on vampires? Thankfully yes. He grunted and let go of my hair.

One of William's henchmen wrapped his arms around me from behind. I stomped on his foot. He shouted. The third one smacked me across the face so hard I fell back and landed on the ground.

Two of them grabbed me and dragged me to the car while a third opened the back door. I was shoved inside. A scuzz got on either side of me. William jumped into the driver's seat.

I looked from side to side. "So which one of you is Renard?"

William laughed from up front. "I'm Renard."

"Of course you are," I said bitterly.

"You're not the only one who can come up with a phony name, Wendy."

"How did you know who I was?"

"Your friend Janine was very forthcoming...once I broke both her arms."

I tightened my hands into fists. "You're disgusting!"

"I'm disgusting?" Renard asked. "What do you call what you did to Ivo and Patrick?"

"Justice."

"Hmm. Justice. And that is what's coming to you, Aurora Sky."

If I weren't so focused on my impending death, I would have told him to bring it. Death was one thing. It could come swiftly; I knew from experience. A drawn-out torturous death was another matter altogether.

If I weren't squeezed in so tight between the two thugs, I might be able to reach under my jeans for my knife.

"You know, I think I left my purse at the party, so if I could just pop back in and retrieve it then meet you fellows back here."

"Funny," Renard said. "Thomas told me the boy was the funny one. When is Dante showing up?"

"He's not."

The vampire to my left grabbed me by the throat. I choked as his hands squeezed.

Renard looked in the rearview mirror. "Wait until we get her to the shack. Then we'll see to it she starts talking."

Shack? No! I'd rather die at the palace than inside a shack. Hell, I'd rather die behind the wheel of a car.

Renard drove down Minnesota Boulevard. There weren't many vehicles out, but a few. I looked over at a group of high school boys cruising beside us. Couldn't they see a kidnapping was in progress? They looked over briefly then sped ahead of us.

Unlike Thomas, I wasn't hooded. There was no need to hood me. Why had Dante covered Thomas's eyes to begin with? He probably hadn't made the decision to off him at that point. Unlike my situation. No mystery there. I'd be tortured, interrogated, and killed. At least the blood suckers wouldn't get a drop out of me.

The shack turned out to be a foreclosed house in a dark neighborhood. A realty sign was posted in the front lawn. The garage door had been left open. Renard pulled in. James got out and pulled me with him. The other vampire quickly joined us and grabbed my other arm.

Renard led us into the house through a connecting door inside the garage. It was cold and empty inside. Renard turned an overhead light on inside the hardwood living room and stepped in the center.

Switch plates were missing from the outlets. Beyond Renard's shoulder, I could see into a kitchen. It was missing all its appliances, as though the previous owners took everything they could with them besides the actual house.

"So this is a vampire hunter," Renard said, looking me over as he paced.

"She just looks like a girl," the vamp on my right said.

"She is just a girl."

I glared at him.

"A girl with very bad blood."

Renard stopped in front of me. "You think my kind shouldn't walk the earth, but the way I see it, you're the atrocity. We've been around for centuries. How long have you genetically altered freaks been around? Couple decades? You were created in a lab. We," he said, stretching out his arms, "are the chosen ones selected by nature to live for all eternity."

Renard smacked a fist into his hand. "Now, when is your freak friend going to show up at Marcus's party?"

"I told you, he's not."

Renard glanced at his cohorts. "Aurora, you've probably been wondering exactly what happened to Janine. We'll show you...starting with your arms."

Renard's goons closed in on me before I could reach for the dagger. They each took an arm in a bone crushing twist.

"Wait!" I shouted.

I needed to stall. I needed my arms back so I could grab my knife.

"Yes?" Renard said.

"I - I don't know exactly when he's coming. He likes to make a late appearance."

Luckily, Dante was safe in Kotzebue with his run-of-the-mill rabid vampire. Kind of missed those kind right now.

"What's the plan, Renard?" James asked.

"Greg and I will head back to the party to get the boy. You'll stay here and guard her until we return."

"And what should I do with her while I wait? Break every bone in her body?" James's grip tightened on my arm.

"No, I have a better idea. Bring her here, boys."

They each gripped an arm and dragged me over to Renard.

"If her blood is toxic to us perhaps our blood is poisonous to her."

We have the same blood, you fool! I felt like spitting the words at him, but that was classified. Renard looked more intent on brutality than information. At least that much was going for me. He didn't want to interrogate me  - just rough me up. Lucky me.

Renard pulled out a knife.

Damn, that was my move.

Renard stepped toward me. "Then again, we could just slit her throat."

The eyes of his cronies lit up like ghoulish orbs in their sockets.

"Do it, Renard!" James yelled. "Gut her like a harpy."

I thrashed under their grip until I saw the flash of the knife's blade just under my eyes. My body seized up in terror.

"You'll have to excuse my associates. They have no imagination." Renard sliced open his wrist in one swift movement, grabbed me by the back of the head, and thrust his bleeding arm inside my mouth.

My instinct was to bite him in self-defense. I did so without thinking. When I bit down, I heard him laugh and, too late, felt the first gush of blood spurt inside my mouth. I gagged in an effort not to swallow, but the blood was already trickling down my throat.

Renard retracted his wrist and opened his mouth over mine. He covered my lips in a wet, grotesque kiss before pushing me backward. The room turned over as I fell. I couldn't move to brace myself. I was locked up, as unbending as a pine tree crashing to the ground.

My tailbone connected with the hardwood. Pain shot through my pelvis. My heart burst into a rapid succession of pattering, as though trying to punch its way out of my chest. I opened my mouth to gasp, but nothing came out. Fear. Adrenaline. They powered my performance. It needed to be convincing.

Every part of me shook: my arms, my legs, my hands, my feet.

No one said anything for several minutes.

When the shaking showed no sign of subsiding, James turned to Renard and asked, "Can we kill her now?"

"No." Renard never took his eyes off me. "We leave her like this."

"Squirming on the floor?"

Renard's eyes widened like a sinister grin over his face. "Suffering. We'll give the boy a preview of what's in store for him - a little taste of their own medicine."

I made sure to keep my body in a fit of motion. My tailbone throbbed from when I'd landed against the floor. Moving around didn't help any.

Renard watched, rapt, for several minutes before bending down by my side. I couldn't see what he was up to with my head back, eyes on the ceiling.

Then I saw his hand reach over my face toward my neck. He grasped a fistful of my scarf and yanked, causing the fabric to tighten around my neck then succumb to his brute force.

Renard straightened up and held the scarf up in one hand. "Got myself a trophy, boys." He wound it around his neck and tossed one end of the scarf over his shoulder. "What do you think?"

"I think we should drain her," James said eagerly.

"I meant what do you think about the scarf?"

"It makes me hungry. It's such a waste that we can't drink her."

"She sort of reminds me of a fish flopping around inside a boat," Greg said.

"Maybe a splash of water would help her." James disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a bucket of water. He dumped it over my face.

I sputtered in addition to twitching.

The vampires erupted into laughter. James looked down at my face. He moved to my side, pulled back his leg, and kicked me with all his strength.

"Don't bother!" Renard snapped. "She can't feel a thing right now."

James shrugged and moved away. It was only voices again somewhere by the window.

Renard was wrong. I could feel pain. I felt pain shooting at my side like a stick of dynamite thrust through my ribcage erupting into hundreds of agonizing sparks.

"Is she still twitching?" I heard sometime later.

Greg got in my face moments later. "How long does this last?"

"She can't speak, moron."

Why hadn't Renard left yet and taken one of his sidekicks with him? I had a much better chance of taking down one vampire than three. It would come down to combat this time. Suddenly I wished I'd put more effort into kickboxing class.

Renard snapped his fingers. "Time to hunt down the boy."

"Double or nothing?" Greg said and the three vampires laughed.

"Sure you can handle the assassin?" Renard said. "She looks pretty scary shaking on the floor."

"I think I can manage," James said. If only he hadn't grabbed Renard's knife.

Now I had to take on an assailant with a weapon.

Renard and Greg clomped out of the house. An engine revved inside the garage. Tires screeched onto the street.

The moment we were alone, James circled me with the knife as though he were a vulture preparing to swoop in at any moment and pick my bones clean.

I reached slowly down my leg, sliding my fingers under my pants and closing my fist around the hilt of the dagger.

The shaking stopped. I jumped to my feet, done playing the victim.

James's eyes widened. His surprise didn't stop him from lunging. I jumped back, but not before the tip of his blade slid into my abdomen.

I screamed.

Getting bit hurt. Stabbing was a different kind of pain. Quicker. Colder. Deadly.

I put a hand over my stomach and looked at James.

When he smiled I realized, this is real; he's going to try and kill me.

I could lead him in a circle around the room like I had with the rabies vampire, or I could get this over with once and for all.

I let out a battle cry and charged. My shoulder rammed James in the chest as I twisted sideways upon impact. He stumbled back several steps.

Before I could lunge in for the stab, James rushed me. I crouched at the last second. Wham! James tripped over me, hit the ground, and dropped his knife. I grabbed his leg with my free hand as he scrambled after the blade.

He kicked backwards landing a blow over my windpipe. I dropped my dagger.

My stomach stung. My tailbone ached. I couldn't breathe.

James snatched his knife and scrambled back. I clutched my neck with both hands until James grabbed my arm and sliced open my wrist. I didn't feel it at first. I was still trying to breathe.

James grabbed my other wrist and made his third cut.

A cry gurgled in my throat.

If only I could pull the same maneuver as Renard and thrust my wrist inside James's mouth.

It was worth a try.

I held my wrist out and rasped, "You know you want it."

James looked from my bleeding wrist to my eyes. "I might not be able to drink your blood, but I can still drain you dry."

He stabbed me in the thigh. I cried out.

I reached around frantically for my knife. My fingers grasped the hilt. Black dots floated over my vision. I dragged my body over the floor, smearing a red trail across the hardwood. The dagger scraped against the ground with every push.

I was going to die in a pool of my own blood, wasn't I?

If I died, Fane would never know why I broke up with him. I didn't care if he was a vampire. I did it to protect him.

Fane.

I called out to him in my head. Desperation made me hope for the impossible. Fane was the last person who'd be out looking for me.

James inched his way over, a sadistic smile over his face.

When I'd backed myself against the wall he crouched beside me. James touched my neck with the tip of the knife. "Is this where he bit you? Is this where Ivo took his last drink?"

His breath reeked. If I hadn't been kicked in the throat I could have breathed through my mouth rather than my nose.

James leaned forward with the knife, pushing the blade into my neck.

The scream that came from my throat, ripped my air ways back open.

James flinched at the shrill noise and dropped his knife in surprise. There was no time to think. I pitched myself forward and plunged my dagger into his chest. James's body crashed to the ground beside me.

I relaxed my hold on the dagger. My eyes fluttered shut. I slumped against the wall, listening to the sound of my own breathing.

So this was the end? I would die in a shack after all. Hopefully death claimed me before Renard returned.

The front door burst open. It was thrown so hard it crashed against the inner wall.

Noel spoke first.

"Aurora, oh my God!" She crouched by my side.

At first I thought I imagined the second voice.

"Aurora?"

My heart fluttered. Fane. I got to see him one last time after all. I tried to smile.

"She's been stabbed," Noel said.

Fane's face appeared over me. "Jesus Christ!"

He disappeared quickly. Fabric ripped through the room. Fane returned with blue strips of cloth and held one at my neck.

"Tighten these around her wounds," he instructed Noel. "If you need more, check the duffel bag on the kitchen floor."

Fane pressed the fabric tightly to the wound on my throat. "We need to get her to a hospital."

"No!" Noel cried.

Fane scowled.

"The hospital can't help her," Noel said. "I need to get her on base."

"Too far," Fane said. "I'm less than a mile away. Go buy bandages and disinfectant and meet me there: 880 Alder Circle. Here, take my wallet. Go!"

Fane looked down at me after Noel left and scooped me into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder. The temperature outside was only slightly colder than inside the house. Fane reached for his car door handle while holding me against him. He laid me gently on the back bench in his car.

He didn't say anything during the drive. It was as though he believed I couldn't hear. Or maybe he didn't want to talk to me. Noel must have enlisted his help out of desperation, which meant he knew what I was. If he was upset with me before, he had to downright hate me now.

"Come on," he said, urging his car along as he drove, but the tank moved at its slow, smooth pace.

I drifted out of consciousness until the car choked to a stop in Fane's driveway. Fane jumped out, came round to the back, and gathered me into his arms.

He kicked at his front door. Joss opened up and was nearly knocked over as Fane entered with me.

Joss hurried after us. "What's going on?"

"She's been cut in five places."

"What happened?"

"Vampires got her."

"What the deuce? Did they drink from her thigh as well?"

Fane laid me on the couch gently. "They didn't drink her. They found out she's a vampire hunter."

Joss's eyes doubled in size. "And you brought her here?" He stormed to Fane's side. "Francesco, she has to go."

"She's not going anywhere until I see to her wounds."

"But why?"

"Don't ask me that," Fane said somberly.

He crouched by my side, checked the wound at my neck, and reapplied pressure. His hands shook as he unzipped my jeans. Fane pulled my top up halfway. Our eyes met.

There was a knock at the door.

"Who's this now?" Joss asked.

"Come in," Fane called.

Noel hurried in with a plastic shopping sack.

"Who's this?" Joss repeated.

No one answered.

"I have gauze and Hydrogen Peroxide," Noel said.

"Good. Clean out the wounds on her stomach and thigh. I'll take care of her wrists and neck."

Noel paused to look at Fane.

His eyes narrowed. "Noel, I've got it."

They pulled the rags off. Noel swabbed at my stomach. My eyes fluttered.

Fane stopped wrapping one of my wrists and placed a hand on my cheek. "Stay with me, Aurora."

He held my gaze for several beats before returning to my wrists.

Once the blood was cleaned up, Fane wrapped my wounds in gauze.

He peeled back a large square bandage for my neck, pressing firmly as he smoothed it over my raw skin.

Noel looked me over. "Aurora, are you okay?"

"No," Fane said. "She shouldn't talk. Tell me who else was behind this and where I can find them."

Noel wrung her hands. "It was a vampire going around calling himself William at Marcus's place. He came alone, but I saw him leave with two others in a tan Buick. I called Marcus when I got the bandages, and he confirmed that they had just returned to the party. He said that the guy calling himself William is wearing the red scarf Aurora had on earlier."

Joss huffed. "Marcus."

Fane tensed his jaw. "Does Marcus know Aurora's an assassin?"

"No."

"Good. What does this William look like?"

"I believe his name's really Renard. He came after Aurora after she..." Noel glanced from me to Fane. "Offed an acquaintance of his in Fairbanks."

"Bloody hell," Joss said.

Fane stood. "I'll be back."

Joss stepped in his way. "Don't do this, Francesco."

Fane glanced back at me. "As long as this guy's breathing, Aurora's not safe."

Joss moved in step with Fane as he tried to sidestep him. "I won't let you do this."

Fane slipped around him. "Take care of her."

I reached a hand out to stop him, but no one saw. Fane slammed the door behind him.

"Hell! Bloody hell! Bloody hell!" Joss bellowed. "He's going to get himself bloody killed. And for what purpose? To save a bloody vampire hunter." He turned and looked at me. "Is she truly one of those newfangled vampire hunters?"

Joss looked at Noel suddenly. "Are you?"

"No," Noel said. "I'm an informant."

"Bloody brilliant. Francesco leaves me behind with an assassin and a spy."

Noel shrugged.

"Can't you get her out of here?"

Noel's forehead wrinkled. "I need to get her to one of our doctors. Could you help me move her to my car?"

"You want me to touch her?"

"Her skin can't infect you."

"I'm still not getting anywhere near her."

"Come on," Noel said, losing patience. "I need help."

Finally I managed to sit upright. "No," I croaked.

Noel and Joss looked at me.

"I have to help Fane."

Noel's face loosened up. She came to my side. "Aurora, we have to get you on base. You've lost a lot of blood. You may need another transfusion."

"Oh, great," Joss said. "Fill her up with more of your toxins."

"No," I said.

"Can you get up?" Noel asked.

"Blood."

"What?"

If I shared the same blood type as vampires, wouldn't it stand to reason that consuming human blood would rejuvenate me?

"Bring me blood."

Noel looked at Joss as though he might be able to decipher my request. "I don't understand."

Joss studied my face a moment. "I believe your friend is requesting blood."

"You mean she wants to..." Noel's eyes widened.

Joss looked at us both darkly. "Drink blood."