a vampire falling in love with his or her servant was almost as taboo as revealing the existence of vampires to the human world. vampires were superior beings, regarding their servants at best as treasured pets, but pets all the same. love suggested some type of . . . equal footing, at least on an emotional level. unthinkable.

even so, alanna suspected lady lyssa's idea of love was still a different concept than jacob's. however, the queen had delayed the business which had brought alanna before her, allowing her servant the time to lift her from the floor, get her settled and comfortable, even speak to her. when he left alanna's side, moving to stand behind his lady's chair again, alanna dared a quick glance. lady lyssa showed no disapproval. nor did she seem less queenlike for it.

"lord brian has told me that if a more powerful vampire than lord stephen third-marks you, there is a possibility we can override lord stephen's hold and track him. he also feels that would permanently break your mind. though it was not his intent that you overhear that information, my understanding is that you did, and immediately volunteered to submit to such treatment."

"when lord stephen is brought to justice, my life will end, my lady. my sanity does not seem of great importance during that temporary period. if i cannot help you, it's best to remove me from the equation." the cape's warmth helped her straighten further, though she kept her eyes downcast.

"i have a different alternative in mind," lyssa said, after a weighted pause. "you met evan. do you remember?"

alanna struggled with the change of subject. "no, my lady."

"when lord brian was testing the blocking serum, he and his servant helped calm you. he's an artist. his servant, niall, is scottish."

she almost forgot herself and lifted her head. instead, she tightened her fingers around one another. just an inconsequential bit of memory, suddenly so significant to her. a piece of reality stephen hadn't been able to twist into a nightmare.

"though your mind is blocked, your importance to him is such that stephen might use other methods to find you. so we will use the rabbit to flush the wolf a different way. one that poses less risk to you, but perhaps not so much less that it insults your inhserv protocol."

she didn't know what to make of that remark. sarcasm? sympathy? straight fact? fortunately, lady lyssa wasn't requesting a response.

"evan is a made vampire, one with no political standing. part of the fabric of our society rather than an outstanding marker upon it." rather than condescension, lyssa's tone suggested amused irony. "he has an incurable case of wanderlust but, as luck will have it, the next few months he plans to be in the southern region of the united states, which is where i will be moving council headquarters once i conclude matters here. you are being put in his care until the situation with stephen alters. evan will second-mark you, for brian believes evan's strength and age, less than stephen's, will make that possible without damage. evan agreed to lord daegan taking his blood as a sire so that he can communicate with him as needed, a conduit to your mind and location."

no vampire allowed another vampire to take their blood, not if they could prevent it. it was done by overlords and region masters to ensure the loyalties of the vampires within their territories, or by vampires forcibly imposing dominance on weaker ones. what little she knew of evan didn't seem to fit that assessment, but it didn't matter. the decision was out of her hands.

she hadn't imagined serving another vampire. no one of political stature would want her again, and an inhserv was too integrated into the upper echelon to be used anywhere else. lady lyssa uttering lord daegan's name in her presence was a prime example. only the council members and their servants-and of course lord stephen had been on the council-knew daegan was the council assassin, dispatching vampires who broke the laws of their volatile world. she'd been in his presence rarely herself, but he exuded exactly what he was. the top predator in a world of predators, perhaps only surpassed by lady lyssa herself, and alanna wouldn't be putting money on the winner of that combat.

in short, alanna knew as much about vampire politics and etiquette as the queen. but it was a moot point. when stephen was apprehended, he would be executed. as soon as a vampire died, blocker or no, his fully marked servant died with him.

was the burden of dealing with her, putting him in stephen's path, a punishment for evan? a debt he owed to the council?

"niall will arrive friday to escort you to him. until you receive any further direction from the council, you serve evan as a servant should. obey him as you would obey me, in all things."

"yes, my lady." the command of any vampire was law, as long as that command didn't conflict with orders from the servant's master or mistress. even their will could be overridden if the command was issued by a higher-ranking vampire, though the servant could expect punishment for it by her vampire later. stephen had done so severely, once or twice, when she'd obeyed the directive of a council member who outranked him. he hadn't expected her to disobey the council member, any more than she'd been surprised to endure his ire and abused ego over it. being the outlet for his anger was part of her responsibilities.

pushing away any tension she had over serving a vampire again, she accepted her charge. she was to treat evan as her master, even though he would withhold the vital third mark that would bind her irrevocably to him, and she would be bait for stephen, her true master. it made her tired and sad.

if a servant was allowed preferences-and she wasn't-she would have preferred death.

2

there wouldn't be much to pack. stephen's household items had been seized by the council, and most of the items she'd brought to the castle before everything transpired were gone, stolen while she was in the infirmary. however, upon her return from the meeting with lady lyssa, she found everything else had been taken. apparently, the small corps of inhserv in permanent residence with the council were sending one last message. since it would be three days before niall came for her, and she didn't want her new master's representative to find her unprepared, she quietly approached the household staff, offering to help out with their duties in exchange for a couple of changes of clothes and basic toiletries. hairbrush, toothbrush, makeup. feminine products, since her health had improved enough for her monthly courses to resume.

within a few hours of that discussion, a knock at her door revealed jacob. glancing at the sign that had been tacked there by the inhservs, his mouth tightened, his blue eyes getting cold, making it clear his mistress wasn't the only one with a dangerous side. when he reached for it, she lifted a hand.

"please don't. it's better to leave it."

after a close study of her expression, he nodded. stepping inside the room, he put down an armload of packages and store bags. "these contain the items you requested from the staff."

she couldn't have been more mortified if lady lyssa herself had delivered them. "i didn't-"

"no, you didn't. but you should have." he touched her face, drawing her gaze up to him. "if you need anything further like this, alanna, you'll come to me or victor and let us know. don't let me find out otherwise."

victor, belizar's servant, had run the castle before lyssa took the council head's position by force. in that interesting way servants had, victor and jacob had overlooked their vampires' differences and worked together to keep things running efficiently.

"i didn't intend to cause you any additional work. if there's anything i can do . . ."

"you won't be helping the household staff." picking up her hand, he examined the thinness of her wrists. "if you need something to keep you occupied, i'll give you desk work. there's plenty of correspondence. god knows, both victor and i hate doing it."

jacob had been the only one to touch her since . . . evan and niall. she didn't want him to let go of her hand. the strength and gentleness of his touch, the mild but unmistakable sternness of his voice, awakened a craving in her so strong she almost swayed on her feet. drawing her dignity around her, even if it was a tattered cloak, she steadied herself.

"thank you. anything you need, i will be happy to do."

over the next three days, he'd kept her busy as promised, though she suspected it was more of his unexpected kindness than a real need for her assistance. but today that came to an end. she was preparing to join her new master. even if the main purpose of her placement was to draw stephen out of hiding, perhaps she'd prove to be of true use to evan. while drawing out stephen was a use, she wasn't certain how functional that was to evan's needs, except as a way to be rid of her sooner.

she'd become a burden.

when she was done packing, she sat on her bed, the suitcase before her. her mind stepped back into that painting on her flesh. the hazy sun, the small dots of white flowers . . . the casually possessive graze of fingers over her sex. it was the only thing worth remembering anymore. that and adam. but thinking about adam was still too painful, because it connected to everything else.

she'd had four other siblings. three considered her an oddity in their world of school, sports, making friends. dating. but adam was her twin. on his eighth birthday he'd asked for only one gift. to be enlisted in the preenrollment training with her. her parents had refused, not wanting to lose both their firstborns, but adam persevered, appealing directly to the inhserv rep who made monthly visits to check on her progress. all she'd had to do was see the two of them side by side, red-haired, fair-skinned twins, and adam's will persevered.

alanna was considered exceptional by the trainers. hungering for the ability to serve and do everything needed for a vampire master or mistress, she had no resistance to full submission, no need to determine her own sexuality or any other preferences. those decisions belonged to her master or mistress.

though the vampire world was dominated by born vampires, the council advanced a handful of made ones who demonstrated enough power and machiavellian traits to warrant notice. as such, they often assigned an inhserv to a made vampire who met their qualifications for the privilege. alanna's job had been not only to serve stephen, but to give him insight into the politics and culture of the born vampire world, to help him adapt to their ways. since she was only sixteen, it was an unprecedented honor to her.