"i must go for now," my aunt said, as nyles staggered to his feet. he looked like a truck had run him over. considering how much punch those hellhounds were packing, that probably wasn't far off the mark. "we have a great deal to discuss, justin." she came closer despite elyssa's nasty glare and lowered her voice. "i need a decision in one week. otherwise, i will be forced to pursue other options."

"turn myself over to you or you'll go after my sister? is that it?"

"i am not alone on this. there are...other parties involved who desire your cooperation, but above all, your safety. i hope you see my plan is for the greater good."

"as in your good," elyssa hissed. "you want to ensure you stay in power."

vallaena raised a blonde eyebrow. "i make no secret of my desire to keep the status quo, templaras. please, consider the offer."

"i'm not accepting anything right now," i said, giving her my most heartfelt glare. "but we need to discuss these 'others', and i want to see the bigger picture. there's a lot going on that you're not saying."

her dimples showed again. "of course." she straightened and motioned nyles toward the exit. "i hope to hear from you soon, nephew."

"you heading out, blondie?" shelton said, joy practically dancing in his eyes, probably because part of the circus was leaving his house.

"i am."

he headed out the door, giving her a curt motion to follow him. she gave me one last gaze, as if trying to divine what choice i would make before following the sorcerer out.

anxiety hammered my heart into a solid heavy lump in my chest the moment she was out of sight. i wanted to throw up and kill the person responsible for this mess, and not necessarily in that order. elyssa pressed a hand to my cheek and kissed me on the lips.

"we're not going to let this happen," she said in low tones. "we'll find underborn and stop him. i promise you, we will stop this." her hand tightened on mine. "and i'm going to shove vallaena's threats back down her demon-infested pie-hole."

the burn of tears hit the backs of my eyes and i took a deep breath to ward them off. now was not the time to get sentimental and turn into a pansy in front of everyone.

meghan came to my cot and gave elyssa a cup of something. "justin, you need to sleep. this will help you."

much as i wanted to argue and stay awake to figure out what to do next, i realized she was right. until i regained my strength, i was useless to everyone. i nodded as elyssa gave me a querying look. "don't let me sleep too long," i said.

"i'll be right beside you, hot stuff." she winked. "maybe i'll even break me off a piece while you're out of it."

"you did not just say that," i said, a smile overcoming the melancholy tug on my facial muscles.

she smiled and leaned down until i felt her warm breath on my ear. "i think i just did." her teeth nipped my earlobe.

a shiver of pleasure went through my body and almost made me forget the room was full of other people. not that i could lift a hand to make good on the friskiness. "you'd better watch out once i'm feeling better."

"not only will i be watching out, i'll be looking forward to it." her full lipped smile made me want her so badly right then; i wished i could sweep her off her feet and kick everyone out of the place. instead, i leaned forward and sipped the brew meghan had prepared until the sweet-tasting mixture was gone.

elyssa curled up next to me, our faces just inches apart, and squeezed me. she backed off, her eyes wide. "you might be weak, but something is still working."

i tried to smile but sleep dragged me down and away.

chapter 22

i woke up alone and in the dark. panic took me full in the chest and i jerked off the cot, flailing and hitting something soft with my knee. i went down face-first and landed on a bed. an empty bed, from the feel of it. i felt for the other side and touched something. a pillow, maybe? i moved my hand over it and realized it wasn't large enough to be a pillow. it felt almost like skin except it wasn't warm as it should be. then i found a knee and recoiled in horror. had they dropped a dead body in the bedroom with me?

i stumbled back away and felt the edges of the bed, frantically making my way around it and to the light switch while my night vision strobed off and on like a bad florescent light. i flicked the light on. felicia's still form lay there, her eyelids fluttering as the light hit them. she pushed herself up on one elbow and gazed at me groggily.

"you're awake?" she asked.

i looked down at myself. "uh, looks that way. why am i in here?"

"they figured it was too noisy out there. i came in to get some shuteye myself since shelton won't let anyone sleep in his bedroom."

"vampires need to sleep?"

"duh. remember when you broke into our home? all the cots and beds?"

as if i could forget anything about that awful night. "guess i ruined your game of dance revolution, huh?"

"dance central, actually."

i shrugged. "didn't mean to."

she pushed her petite body into a sitting position, the movement quick and graceful. "supposedly, older vampires don't need much sleep and normal sunlight doesn't hurt their skin either." her eyes softened and she looked down. "thank you, by the way."

"for what?"

"you saved me from a freaking hellhound, that's what! i guess it must have knocked me out." she looked up. "how did you stop it from killing me?"

i thought about it and still had no idea. "i told it to stop. i guess all my yelling and screaming confused it."

she laughed. "maybe i should've screamed instead of punching it in the nose."

i couldn't keep a smile off my face at the memory. "i should thank you for saving me. that was crazy brave smacking that monster in the schnauzer."

felicia reached over and took my hand in hers. i realized her hand wasn't warm as it should be, but it wasn't cold either. it felt soft and normal to me, though i wasn't sure why she'd taken my hand.

"i'm sorry, justin." a tear glistened in one eye before making a slow journey down her pale cheek and past her crimson lips. "i'm a horrible person for letting those vamplings almost kill you and your girlfriend and for helping to kidnap your father. i just thought spawn were these really evil creatures, you know? maximus told us all these terrible stories about your kind, so i thought we were doing something good."

i patted the top of her hand. "it's okay. i mean, it's not okay to kidnap people and try to kill them, but somehow we all made it out of there alive."

she nodded. "i thought the felycan was gonna kill us. when i woke up later on the floor, i couldn't believe i was still alive." her wide eyes looked at mine as more tears tracked down her face. "you had every right to kill us for what we did."

"well, i didn't, thankfully, or your brother might not have been so willing to help me out." a part of me wanted to be nice and tell her i forgave everything. another part of me stirred with anger and resentment. but i didn't totally blame her. i placed most of the blame on maximus's shoulders. i'd settle that score one day soon.

"how did you change?" she asked.

"change?"

"into that demon thing."

i remembered being cornered by the vamplings. i'd just taken elyssa's essence and thought i'd killed her so i could fight them off. and then i'd lost control and raged. manifested into my spawn form, annihilated the vamplings, and chased the vampires until i somehow had managed to barely control the beast and turn it back around so i could save elyssa.

"i don't know and i don't care to do it again," i said.

"i'm never messing with another spawn again. i thought maximus could be scary, but you guys are effing terrifying."

i laughed, although i knew she was right. and i was only half spawn. "are you done with maximus?" i asked. "i have to agree with your brother. your almighty leader is only going to get you into worse trouble."

she nodded. "i want to leave him, but i obviously have a problem with addiction whether it's drugs or sexy, hot vampire men. ever since becoming a vampire, drugs don't really affect me much because of the healing factor, so i was able to go cold turkey. drinking blood was the next big rush. you can't imagine how alive it makes you feel. and sex while feeding is even more amazing."

"uh, tmi, felicia. really didn't want that image in my head."

she laughed and kissed me on the cheek. "too bad you're taken."

i suppressed the urge to flinch from her kiss. yeah right. me and felicia? not gonna happen. she was cute, but the girl had serious issues.

"i've been wondering," i said. "why didn't the vamplings attack you and the other vampires?"

she shrugged. "they'll attack anything, but if there's hot blood, they go straight for it. most of us can mask our presence, too, using compulsion, but it's really hard for us younger vampires. this cute italian guy, raphael, was bitten when he tried to sneak a drink of your dad's blood." her eyes looked down as if talking about the crime heaped fresh shame on her. "we had to lock him in the crypt with the vamplings because the virus infected him and turned him into one. his screams were just horrible."

"but a vampling bit elyssa and she didn't turn."

"really?" felicia's eyes widened and met mine. "she would've shown symptoms by now. they're freaking nasty."

"is there a cure?"

"supposedly, if a master vampire feeds you his blood shortly after infection, it'll kill the virus. but we don't have a master vampire we can ask." she shuddered. "poor raphael. he was really good at dance central, too."

a spark of panic shot into my body. i had to ask elyssa if she was feeling okay.

"i guess you must be feeling a lot better," felicia said.