His gaze moved between the little bottle and me. “Fine.”

My heart thundered. He took the vial from me, his touch avoiding mine.

In the flash of an eye, the potion was gone. “I didn’t murder either of those people.”

The words flowed easily from his lips, and the slightest bit of tension left my body.

“Who was the woman.”?” he asked.

“A similar victim.”

“With a necromancer’s mark?”

“Yes.” I looked to the left of him.

“Why won’t you look me in the eye?” he asked.

“I’ve heard about your power to control people.”

“I don’t need eye contact for it to work.”

I frowned. “You haven't tried it on me, then?”

“In fact, I have.” His hand moved toward my face, and I froze solid.

Gently, his fingertips rested against my chin. The slightest pressure moved my head. Suddenly, I was looking right at him, unable to drag my gaze away from his icy eyes. It seemed like heat flickered in their depths, but that couldn’t be right. He was an ice-cold statue, no matter how much he heated me up inside. I’d never thought I had a death wish, but my interest in this guy suggested I had a big one.

“I’m really immune to you?” I asked.

“It seems that way.”

“And that’s…rare?”

“Exceedingly.” Interest rang in his voice.

I wanted to know more about him. And that required touching. The contact between my face and his hand didn't count. I needed to lay my own hand upon him.

I drew in a deep breath and slid closer, hoping he wouldn’t notice. His gaze sharpened as he watched me.

“Do you want to use your power on me?” he asked.

“You know about that?”

“I know everything.”

“Hardly.”

“I do.”

“What’s my favorite ice cream?”

“Everything that matters.”

“Oh, that matters.” I inched forward a bit under the guise of leaning against the wall.

He held out his hand, palm up. “I know what you want. Go ahead.”

I glared at him, not liking that I was transparent. I was also wearing about twelve square inches of fabric right now, so it wasn’t like I had any secrets here. And I wanted to know his secrets.

Quick as a snake, I shot my hand out and gripped his.

Heat surged up my arm, suffusing me with warmth. Attraction tightened in my lower belly, and a shiver ran over me.

But there was no information to be had.

I blinked up at him. “There’s nothing.”

“Really?”

“This can’t be right. My power always works.” It might not show me what I wanted to see, but it always showed me something. I tried not to focus on the place where our palms still met. Awareness buzzed through me, so intense that it made my head spin. I didn’t know if I wanted to run away or throw myself at him.

Both.

Visions of us in bed together flashed in my mind, but it was just my imagination. In fact, my imagination was pretty damned stellar at conjuring visions of him naked. Lots of lean muscle and eager hands and a hot mouth.

Whoa, girl.

I jerked my hand back, shocked.

That was all my imagination. Right?

“Done so soon?” he asked, his voice smooth.

Gasping slightly, I tried to get it together. I was just drunk, that was all. And I should be using this opportunity to grill him for more information if I couldn’t read it from a touch.

But what did it mean, the fact that our powers didn’t work on each other?

“Why are you so interested in this murder?” I asked. “That is, if you aren’t the murderer.”

“Would you be standing in a darkened hallway with a murderer?”

“I’ve done worse. And I can protect myself.”

“Without a weapon? Without shoes, even?”

Yeah, he had a point. I was woefully underprepared. I could blame the witches and their potions all I wanted, but I’d gotten myself in here.

I stepped back. “Well? Why are you so interested?”

“Carrow?” Mac’s voice sounded from the room outside the hall. I turned to look for her and saw her enter the hallway with a confused frown. “What are you doing back here alone?” she asked.

“Alone?” I turned back to the Devil, but he was gone. “Shit. That bastard.”

“What bastard?”

“The Devil of Darkvale came here.”

Mac laughed like I was crazy. “That ambrosia hit you hard.”

“No, I swear it.” I turned to her, heart pounding. “I know he was here. I saw him.”

Mac’s brows rose. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. That’s unusual.”

“He doesn’t normally come to this party?”

She laughed again. “He doesn’t socialize at all. Honestly, I don’t know what he does in the evenings. Torture people for fun?”

“If he really was Vlad the Impaler, then maybe.” The thought made me shiver. If history was anything to go by, Vlad had done horrible things. If he was truly a vampire, then those horrors could have been multiplied tenfold.

And if the Devil really was that man, then I didn’t want his interest at all.

Liar.

“He came here for you?” Mac sounded nervous.

“He said he was interested in me. And I got confirmation that his power doesn’t work on me. And that he didn’t commit the murders.”

“He took Eve’s potion?”

“Yep.”

Mac whistled low. “Well, try to avoid him if you can, anyway.”

I nodded. It was the best idea I’d heard all day, even as part of me screamed to get closer to him. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah. Jeeves gave me the potions to change our faces. And I got some stuff to sober us up.” She shoved a glass at me. “Drink that. You’ll feel normal in no time.”

I swigged it back as she drank her own.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said. “It’s nearly dawn.”

“What?” Shock lanced me.

“Time flies at the Witches’ Guild.”

“No kidding.” Exhaustion tugging at me, I followed her from the house. As we walked through the pool room, I passed Coraline and pointed to the bikini I still wore. “Can you put me back to normal here, please?”

“Fine.” She gave me an up and down look. “But you look better like that.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. My own clothes, please.”

“If you insist on those abominations.” She waved her hand at me, and my clothes reappeared on my body, replacing the bikini.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, babe. Come on back anytime. We like you.”

A bit of warmth flared to life inside me. More possible friends? The witches were kind of iffy, but that was cool.

Not to mention the magic. That part, I certainly didn’t hate. It filled the air here, sparking off people as they partied and drank.

Though it was almost dawn, the party was still heaving. People danced, so many of them that the crush of bodies was nearly impossible to navigate. All around, revelers with horns and fangs and wings danced the night away, living their best life. Like it was normal that they existed.

Which it was.

Thank God it was.

My life had been in black and white, and now it finally felt like it was in color.

We were almost to the foyer when a hand grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop. I spun around, instinct making me ready to lash out.

A small woman held me, her grip shockingly strong for someone her size. Her face seemed to flicker between age and youth, a shimmery apparition that was hard to focus on. She was beautiful in either version—I just wanted her to pick one.

Her eyes burned with pale fire as she stared hard at me, her brow creased. I felt Mac appear at my side, but I couldn’t turn away. The woman’s gaze had me snared.

The crowd parted to give us space. No one turned to watch us, but there was something about the woman’s presence that made them give her a wide berth.

“Yes,” she said softly. “You are as I expected.”

“What?” I frowned down at her.

“You are the one who will thaw him.”

“Thaw who?”

“She’s not a Fire Mage,” Mac said.

The woman ignored her, leaning up to peer more closely into my eyes. “Be wary, girl. You are bound to the Devil, and you may grow to like it, but there is danger there. Grave danger.”

“Bound?” Was she talking about the Devil of Darkvale?

“Like, Fated Mates?” Mac demanded. “Impossible.”

“Yes, impossible,” the woman said. “Turned vampires do not have Fated Mates like born vampires do. But turned vampires like the Devil—the immortal ones—have Cursed Mates. Beware. It could cost you your life.”

“What the heck?” Cursed mates?

The woman let go of my arm and disappeared.

Like, really disappeared, right into thin air.

Shit, shit, shit. I didn’t like any of this. I didn’t understand it. And I didn’t want to believe it.

But there was no denying everything I’d seen in the last twenty-four hours. Magic was real, and it had me in its grip.

I looked up at Mac. “Cursed mates?”

“Never heard of it.”

I shrugged I off, not liking the sound of it. “Who the hell was that, anyway?”

“We call her the Oracle, but no one knows for certain. She’s the most powerful seer in the city—way more powerful than me. She’s lived here for centuries.”

“Yeah, her face was…” I waved my hand in front of my own and made an expression that suggested nuts.

“I don’t know what that is, either. But let’s get out of here.” She tugged my arm, and I followed her, head spinning.