Instantly the Guardian sword shifted, changed, and became a long black spear-dangerous, lethal, tipped in blood that looked way too familiar to me. Fear spiked through me.

"No!" I cried. "Spirit, strengthen Stark! Make that thing go away!" With a noise like the beating wings of a giant bird, the apparition disappeared, the seer stone went cold, and Stark sat straight up, frowning at me.

"What are you doing over there?" He rubbed his eyes. "Why are you making so much noise?" I opened my mouth to try to explain the bizarre thing I'd just seen when he sighed heavily and lay back down, flipping open the covers and motioning sleepily for me. "Come here. I can't sleep unless you're cuddled up with me. And I really need to get some sleep."

"Okay, yeah, me, too," I said, and on shaky legs I hurried to him and curled against his side, my head resting on his shoulder. "Hey, uh, something weird just happened," I began, but when I tilted my head so that I could see into his eyes, Stark's lips met mine. The surprise didn't last long, and I slid into the kiss. It felt good-so good to be close to him. His arms went around me. I pressed myself against him while his lips followed the curve of my neck. "I thought you said you needed some sleep." My voice sounded breathless.

"I need you more," he said.

"Yeah," I said. "Me, too."

We lost ourselves in each other then. Stark's touch chased away death and despair and fear. Together we reminded each other of life and love and happiness. Afterward we finally slept and the seer stone lay cold and forgotten on my breast between us.

CHAPTER ONE

Aurox

The human male's flesh had been soft, pulpy.

It had been a surprise how easy it had been to destroy him-to end the beating of his feeble heart.

"Take me to North Tulsa. I want to go out into the night," she'd said. That was the command that began their evening.

"Yes, Goddess," he'd responded instantly, coming alive from the corner of the rooftop balcony that he'd made his own.

"Do not call me Goddess. Call me..." She'd looked contemplative. "... Priestess." Her full lips, slick and reddened, turned up. "I believe it is best if everyone should simply call me Priestess-at least for a short while."

Aurox had fisted his hand over his heart in a gesture he instinctively knew was ancient, though it somehow felt awkward and forced. "Yes, Priestess."

Priestess had brushed by him, gesturing imperiously for him to follow her.

He had followed.

He'd been created to follow. To take her orders. To obey her commands.

They'd entered something Priestess had called car, and the world had flown. Priestess had commanded him to understand the workings of it.

He'd watched and learned, just as she'd commanded.

Then they'd stopped and exited the car.

The street had smelled of death and rot, corruption and filth.

"Priestess this place is not-"

"Protect me!" she'd snapped. "But do not be protective of me. I will always go where I wish, when I wish, and do exactly what I wish. It is your job, no, your purpose to defeat my enemies. It is my destiny to create enemies. Watch. React when I command you to protect. That is all I require of you."

"Yes, Priestess," he'd said.

The modern world was a confusing place. So many shifting sounds. So much he did not know. He would do as Priestess commanded. He would fulfil his reason for creation and-

A male had stepped out, blocking Priestess's way.

"You way too pretty to be in this here all ey so late with nothin' but one boy keepin' ya company." His eyes widened, as he took in Priestess's tattoos. "So, vampyre, you stoppin' here to get you a little snack from this boy? How 'bout you give me that purse then you and me, we'll talk 'bout what it's like to be with a real man?"

Priestess sighed and sounded bored. "You're wrong on both counts: I am not simply a vampyre, and this is no boy."

"Hey, what you mean by that?"

Priestess ignored the man and looked over her shoulder at Aurox.

"Now you should protect me. Show me what kind of weapon I command."

He obeyed her without conscious thought. Aurox closed on the man with no hesitation. In one swift movement, Aurox plunged his thumbs into the man's staring eyeballs, which made the screaming begin.

The man's terror washed over him, feeding him. As simply as drawing a breath, Aurox inhaled the pain he was causing. The power of the man's terror swelled through him, pumping hot and cold. Aurox felt his hands hardening, changing, becoming more. What had been normal fingers became claws. He pulled them from the man's eyes when the blood began to seep from his ears. With the borrowed power of pain and fear, Aurox lifted the man, slamming him against the wall of the nearest building.