cassie didn't want to be pleased. killing a person shouldn't make anyone feel proud. but it wasn't the killing that brought her a sense of wonder. it was the fact that subconsciously she'd known that she couldn't allow this man to die.

"thank you." she took a deep breath and asked the question that had nagged at her all night. "you sound normal. why aren't you all primitive rage and savagery with the second one in control?"

she could feel his gaze-hot, disturbing.

"exactly because the second one is a primitive force. it only has one focus-violence. when it doesn't have a target, it subsides." he paused. "but it's still there, waiting for the moment it senses anger or any emotion it can hook its claws into. i have to be careful until it fades. oh, and my face will still kill."

"how long until it's gone?"

he shrugged. "not for a while now. i killed again tonight."

cassie swallowed hard. she should leave now, walk into the building, because his closeness was making her forget things she needed to remember-he was a vampire, he had killed ten men tonight, he was a vampire.

but her feet didn't move. everything that had happened today, every moment of emotional turmoil was breaking like waves against the dam she'd erected in her mind. and the dam had sprung leaks. lots of them.

even as she took the step toward him that she knew would change everything, the dam collapsed and her emotions swept her away.

if she thought he'd be the one to wield some common sense, she was wrong. with a guttural groan, he pulled her to him.

"you shouldn't do this to me when the second one is around. it doesn't understand limits."

cassie closed her eyes as she reached up to trace his jaw with shaking fingers. "bring it on. it seems i'm into expanding my limits today. i'm willing to live dangerously for a little while longer."

and with a muffled curse, he covered her mouth with his.

chapter seven

there were moments when people did things they never thought they'd do. this was one of them. she would kiss a vampire.

it was her in-between time-after felicity's death, after she'd killed two men, but before the dreaded instant when she'd have to finally accept that everything she'd experienced today was real. and definitely before she lay alone in her bed and slept, only to live it all again in her dreams.

this was her moment to forget-no before, no after, just now. and what a now it was. ethan wouldn't kiss her gently. not with the second one lurking so close to the surface. but that was okay, because she didn't want kind and understanding right now. she wanted a kiss that would obliterate her memories of the day.

he pulled her to him, and she savored the anticipation. he was sexy, masculine, and warm. who knew a vampire could feel warm? his lips moved over hers-no attempt at seduction, just all hard demand. and she opened to him.

let the sensations begin. or not. because something strange was happening. she'd prepared herself to absorb the scent, the feel, the taste of him. that's what you did when you kissed someone. but instead, she fell straight through the hole that must've been in the bottom of her box of sensations and hurtled into . . .

what the . . . ? darkness, heat, and emotions so strong that they shook her. no up, no down, just feelings-stomach-churning desire and a need that clawed her bloody inside. she was moving too fast, gasping for breath as everything gathering inside her expanded, threatening to fill her universe.

every once in a while she'd catch a glimpse of reality in a flash of light seen out of the corner of her mind's eye-his tongue stroking and tasting, his lips sensual and tempting. but then it would be gone.

emotions. so many of them. all struggling to be acknowledged, to be felt. finally she couldn't stand it anymore. it was too much, too unexpected, too frightening. what the hell was happening? she opened her eyes.

for one terrifying second she stared into the reflection of herself in his glasses-wide-eyed, confused, scared. and then he turned his head away.

"don't look at me when the second one is near. not even if i'm wearing the glasses." his voice was a raspy warning. "unless you have a death wish." he released her and stepped back.

cassie swayed, not sure if she was about to humiliate herself by falling flat on her face. taking a deep breath, she locked her knees and stood tall. it had just been a kiss. right. way to lie to yourself.

"i don't understand." any of it. not what he was or why one kiss felt as though he'd changed her on a molecular level.

"i explained before. you stare at my face and the second one notices. it wants me to chuck the glasses so that it can reach you through my eyes. it wants to kill you." he shrugged. "if it catches me at a weak moment, i'll take them off."

he'd misunderstood her, but that was okay. her reaction to his kiss was too raw, and examining it would hurt.

"we need to go." he sounded angry.

what did he have to be mad about? she was the one who had just discovered a whole new weird world inside her. since cassie didn't trust herself to speak rationally, she simply nodded and followed him.

zareb waited for them in his living room along with the three rescued vampires. he sat in a leather recliner, and the cat lay in his lap purring as zareb idly stroked it. he speared ethan with a hard stare.

"it took you long enough to get in here." zareb's expression said he knew exactly why they'd made him wait. "your friends will be staying here along with you and cassie until we find our favorite undertaker and fit him for one of his own coffins. the bastards won't get through my defenses."

left unsaid was that ethan had been woefully negligent in not erecting a twenty-foot impenetrable wall around his house. cassie noticed that ethan didn't argue about their staying with zareb, so this place must be safe. and cassie was all about staying safe right now.

"how much do we know?" even as he spoke, ethan stepped into a shadowed corner.

cassie had to sit down before she fell down. the memory of what forever after would be known as the kiss, along with everything else that had happened today, was finally taking its toll on her.

the three rescued vampires sat on the couch. they still looked groggy. after removing the knife sheath and dropping it to the floor beside her, she collapsed onto the only chair left. cassie still clutched her purse with the gun inside. she never wanted to be without a weapon again.

"we still know almost nothing. perhaps when their heads clear we'll learn more." zareb glanced at the vampires on the couch as though he could force them into coherency by his will alone.

after being around him for a while, cassie was almost willing to believe he could. "how were they captured?"

"they've been mumbling something about humans that moved too fast and creatures like nothing they'd ever seen before." zareb glanced at ethan and cassie. "anything to add?"

cassie nodded. "the humans that ran at us in the hallway moved like vampires."

"the creatures they brought with them to capture me looked like someone had taken parts from different animals and glued them together." ethan spoke from the shadows.

one of the vampires on the couch continued in a monotone. "big hairy bodies. claws like some prehistoric raptor. fangs of a freaking saber-toothed tiger and . . ." he paused before going on. "and the eyes of a vampire."

zareb frowned. "disturbing."

another vampire joined in. "the creatures didn't maul us much, just helped to subdue us so the human bastards could shoot us up with something that knocked us out." he peered at ethan and then at cassie. he offered her a lopsided grin and a wink. "you look too good for ethan. i'm stark. when you dump his ass, look me up."

cassie swallowed her laughter. now wasn't the time.

the last vampire on the couch finally spoke up. "i heard one of the humans promise to reward the creatures when they visited the neighbors."

cassie remembered the torn bodies and shuddered.

"how did they get to ethan's house? i doubt they could parade their furry friends through the streets without anyone noticing." zareb stopped stroking the cat. it hissed its displeasure but didn't leave his lap.

"a truck? they could've parked behind the house and gotten them inside without anyone noticing once it got dark." ethan sounded as though he was ready for the conversation to be over.

"why are they capturing vampires and putting them in glass coffins? and what did my friend felicity know that got her killed?" cassie's lids kept sliding shut.

they all thought about her questions in silence for a few minutes. none of them offered answers.

zareb finally stood. he set the cat gently on the floor before facing his guests. "i have one thing to add. i was in the minds of the humans down in the basement before ethan short-circuited their brains. one of them was thinking about someone called the collector. i got the impression that this collector was the boss, and that he wasn't garrity." he motioned for the three vampires on the couch to follow him. "i'll show you your rooms."