he shrugged. "you came here to take my blood. you have no right to complain if i take yours." he wondered if she knew there was now an unbreakable bond between them, formed by their exchange of blood. if he let his guard down, she would be able to read his thoughts, just as he could now read hers.

eyes wide, she lifted a hand to her throat. "am i...did you...?"

"no." he made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "i just took a little taste. you're a very healthy a-negative female, by the way. maybe a little iron deficient."

she glared at him. "you said i could go. let me out of here!"

"no."

"why won't the doors open?"

"because i don't want them to."

"what does that mean?" she asked, frowning.

"it means i put an enchantment on all the doors and windows. usually a lock is sufficient to keep unwanted visitors out." he reached into his pocket and withdrew the case that held her lock picks. "stealing my blood may not be against the law, but i'm pretty sure the cops still frown on breaking and entering."

her eyes shot sparks at him. "who are you to talk to me about the law? you're a...a..."

"monster? vampire? warlock?"

"warlock?" she murmured.

he nodded. "dark magick. very dark. my mother was the head of a large coven. a very dark, very nasty coven. i inherited some of her supernatural powers, powers that grew stronger when i was sired."

daisy shook her head. a vampire that practiced dark magick. now that was a scary combination. "what do you want with me?" she shivered as images of black-clad crones performing human sacrifice under a full moon flashed through her mind.

"why were you looking for me?"

"i wasn't. i didn't know you lived here."

"how did you know a vampire lived here?"

lips pursed, she slipped her hand into the pocket of her jacket.

erik frowned. while she'd been unconscious, he had relieved her of the small leather case that contained her lock picks, as well as a couple of empty glass vials and a pretty blue bottle of holy water. he had also found what he had thought was a silver compact. he grunted softly, thinking he probably should have taken that, too. or at least opened it to see what it was. "give it to me."

"i don't have anything."

he held out his hand and murmured a few words in a language she didn't understand. and the next thing she knew, her compass was in his palm. he opened it, then looked at her. "what does it do?"

she shrugged. "it's a compass."

if it was, it was like none he had ever seen before. "what does it do?" he repeated, his voice tinged with impatience. "you know i can make you tell me."

"it finds vampires."

"indeed? how does it work?"

"i don't know, it just does."

"where did you get it?"

"from a witch." a faint smile played over her lips. "a white witch."

"you're a witch?"

"no." she folded her arms under her breasts. "i wish i was."

"wouldn't do you any good."

"why not? everyone knows good is stronger than evil."

"and i'm evil?"

she shrugged. "you said it."

he grunted softly, and then he frowned. "i never thought of myself as evil."

"well, you are. everyone knows vampires are horrible creatures..." her voice trailed off. what was she saying? she shouldn't be telling him what a monster he was. she should be reminding him that he had once been human, that killing was wrong.

"go on," he said, a trace of amusement in his tone.

she shook her head.

he folded his arms over his chest. "i'll finish for you. vampires are horrible creatures. they hide in the shadows. they exist on human blood. they kill indiscriminately. they have no conscience." he took a step toward her. "they prey on the young and the innocent."

"i'm not young!" she said quickly. "or innocent!"

"no?" he took another step toward her, his eyes narrowing, his nostrils flaring.

he was crowding her, but she refused to back up, refused to let him know how scared she was.

"i'd say you were right around twenty-four years old," he drawled. "and as innocent as the day you were born."

daisy stared up at him. how could he possibly know that?

"am i wrong?"

"yes. i'm thirty-five, and i've slept with dozens of men. hundreds."

"liar."

she glared at him. "it doesn't matter what you think. just let me go."

"are you hungry?"

she hadn't realized it before, but she was. she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and it was now...she glanced at her watch. almost five o'clock.

"i'll order you something," he said, pulling a cell phone from his back pocket. "what would you like?"

"i'd like to go home."

"pizza? hamburger?"

"pizza, heavy on the garlic."

"garlic doesn't repel vampires," he said, laughing softly. but it was a remarkably offensive odor to one with a keen sense of smell. still chuckling, he called information for the phone number of the nearest pizza place.

as inconspicuously as she could, daisy searched her pockets for her cell phone, only then realizing that the phone he was using was hers.

filled with fear and frustration, she stomped out of the kitchen into the living room. she paced the floor, her thoughts racing. she had to get out of here. the pizza man! of course, when the pizza arrived, she would yell for help.

she was sitting on the sofa when the vampire entered the room.

"your pizza will be here in twenty minutes. i also ordered you a salad and a coke."

"thank you," she said, and then wondered why she was being so polite. he was keeping her here against her will. he had promised to let her go, and now he had reneged on that promise.

he took a seat on the other end of the sofa. "relax, daisy. i'm not going to hurt you."

she snorted softly. "uh-huh. everyone who believes that, raise your hand."

erik shook his head. "you're right, i'm up to no good. i only ordered the pizza to fatten you up for later."

he swore as her heartbeat slammed into overdrive. "i'm kidding. dammit, i'm not going to hurt you." he took a deep breath. "so, what's the going rate for vampire blood these days?"

"two hundred dollars an ounce if it's from a young vampire. three hundred if the vampire is over a hundred years old." she canted her head to the side. "how old are you?"

"old enough that you could probably get five or six hundred."

"really? it doesn't matter, though. i only hunt the young ones. less dangerous that way, you know. but still lucrative."

"how do you know how old they are?"

daisy folded her hands in her lap. her father had a list of the names and descriptions of all known vampires and their last known lair. it helped her to avoid the old ones, but she couldn't tell erik that. the list was a family secret. she wondered why he wasn't on it.

"i'll have to remember to hunt the old ones if i'm ever strapped for cash," he muttered dryly. "on the other hand, i guess vampires could start selling their own blood and put your kind out of business. how'd you get into your line of work? it really doesn't seem like the kind of thing a pretty young girl would find fulfilling."

"it runs in the family. my father works out of new orleans. there are a lot of young vampires there." her brothers were hunters, too. brandon trafficked in blood; alex preferred to take heads, but that, too, was information erik didn't need to know.

erik snorted softly. and they called his kind monsters. sure, he preyed on mortals, but for survival, not profit.

daisy clasped her hands in her lap. she hadn't intended to tell him anything about her family, so why had she? had he worked some sort of vampire magic on her? she was no closer to the answer when the doorbell rang.

the vampire rose fluidly to his feet. "not a word," he warned. "or i won't be responsible for what happens to the young man outside."

daisy bit down on her lower lip as erik opened the door and paid for the pizza. it was all she could do not to cry out for help, but the thought of being responsible for the delivery boy's death kept her mute.

erik put the pizza box, the soda, and the salad container on the coffee table. "might as well dig in. it's the only food in the house."

"are you just going to stand there and watch me?"

he shrugged, then wrinkled his nose against the strong smell of garlic, pepperoni, and tomato sauce. although garlic didn't repel him, he found the odor decidedly unpleasant.

"i'll take a walk while you eat," he muttered. "enjoy your meal."

daisy watched him leave the house. she waited a few minutes, then went to try the front door, hoping against hope that whatever magick he had used to secure the door had lapsed when he opened it. but luck was against her. the damn door refused to open.

with a wordless cry of frustration, she picked up the pizza box and hurled it against the door. it made a satisfying smack as it struck the wood. the lid flew open, raining cheese-filled crust, pepperoni, and tomato sauce over the carpet in a gooey mess.

she stared at it in horror for a minute, then shrugged. if he wanted to keep her here as his prisoner, then he could just clean up after her.

sitting on the sofa, she nibbled at the salad, drank half the coke, then threw the remains of the salad and the drink against the door. the green lettuce made a nice contrast to the red sauce and yellow cheese.

fear rose in the midst of defiance as she stared at the mess she had made on the floor. and then she stiffened her spine. no matter what erik said to the contrary, she knew he was going to kill her. better to go down fighting back than just sit there like some sacrificial lamb and wait for him to drain her dry.