The Dark Shadow prowled inside me, her senses on high alert, her excitement palpable. Just because she was excited didn’t have to mean I was. She was part of me, but she was not all of me. I refused to be excited about this.

  He is worthy, she said.

  We don’t need a mate, I argued.

  You do.

  Did that mean she didn’t? But vampires only mated vampires, so…

  It was an answer to a question I wasn’t ready to ask.

  The house looked the same as it always did. The shutters hadn’t lowered yet, so I had time to take it in, lit up from within, the warmth of the lights glowing like a beacon, drawing me to him. It was a nice house. Not many weren’t out here. Sea views. Up on a cliff overlooking the Hauraki Gulf out towards Rangitoto Island. Along the front of the house were floor to ceiling windows. Upstairs and down. At night you could see the lights on Waiheke Island in the distance and the closer ones that marked the shipping channel.

  I knew because I’d watched them. With my lover.

  When I’d met Samson, he’d been living in the house with four of Lucinda’s entourage but not Lucinda. She’d been missing. I didn’t know they were vampires and I didn’t know Lucinda was missing. He’d kept that all from me. I’d known the house wasn’t his, because he hadn’t slept in the master bedroom. His bedroom was nice, had its own ensuite bathroom, but it wasn’t as nice as the master suite.

  I’d looked.

  The others hadn’t slept in there either because that had been Lucinda’s room. Hers and Michel’s. But at the time, they’d all thought Michel dead. Talk about secrets. They’d had plenty. I’d had none. Human girl, estranged from her parents, trying to make a go of it in the City of Sails, new bartender at Sensations.

  I wondered, bitterly, if they’d all shared a laugh at my ignorance. At my humanity.

  The vampires that had lived with Samson had pretty much kept to themselves. I would hear them down in the cellar’s gym. Slamming a door as they went out at night. I knew they consisted of three males and one female, but Samson’s and my relationship was new; a whirlwind of lust and love and hunger. So, I didn’t know their names and I sure as hell hadn’t made an impression on any of them.

  Until I turned.

  Then it all came out in all its ugly glory. Lucinda having returned from hiding away in South America. And then Faery. Michel back from the dead. Marcus and Matthias claiming their rightful spot back under the master vampire’s line. Sergei and Nataliya belonging to the Lux Lucis Tribuo. As did Samson. All three of them vampires under Lucinda’s prophesied title.

  And things got complicated. Forget about my new nighttime cravings. We had baggage, Samson and me.

  I let out a little breath of air, which puffed in the cold predawn light, and then crossed the street and walked up the front stairs.

  The door opened before I reached it. And he stood there.

  Mate, the Dark Shadow whispered.

  Betrayer, I said back.

  “Georgia,” Samson purred.

  “I’m not here for a booty call,” I snapped and stormed inside.

  Vampire house, not human house meant no invitation needed. I thanked Lucinda’s Goddess Nut for that. I did not want to detail my weaknesses in front of this man.

  Mate, the Dark Shadow corrected.

  Betrayer, I snarled back.

  She only laughed.

  I gritted my teeth and turned around, once I’d made it into the lounge. Modern expensive furnishings, fine art, wood accents. None of it compared to the vampire who stood before me, hungrily eating me up with his cinnamon coloured eyes.

  “You look good, babe,” he said. I could practically hear the unspoken. Good enough to eat.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked.

  “Lucinda and…”

  I waved a hand dismissively. “The others. Did they go too?”

  “Marcus and Matthias are part of Lucinda’s guard. As are Sergei and Nataliya. They have all moved to London with their mistress.”

  “But not you.” We’d been over this. Samson had declared he would never leave me. I was more inclined to believe Lucinda had left him behind. To watch over me.

  And here I was about to reinforce that theory by asking for information about the Taniwha.

  Great.

  I threw myself into a chair, hanging a leg over the armrest; making myself at home.

  Samson smiled, then glided across the room and sat opposite me. He flicked a hand, and the shutters came down. It was either timed to perfection, or he was displaying more of the hidden talents he’d kept from everyone.

  There was more to Samson Beauregard than what you could see.

  “Trapped,” Samson said with glee.

  My Dark Shadow snarled. I joined her. Samson laughed.

  “If you did not wish to spend the daylight hours with me, you would not have come knocking on my door at dawn.”

  “Necessity is a bitch.”

  He sat forward.

  “What do you need?”

  That was Samson. I might be angry with him. I might want to fight him for the sake of fighting him. But no matter what I did or said or felt, he would always be there for me.

  Mate, the Dark Shadow purred.

  And Jett? I asked, because why the hell not? We were clearly going to have this conversation one day, and Samson needed to cool his thrusters off.

  You like Samson, she said.

  And you? I asked.

  Both are worthy.

  But she’d accept Samson over Jett because of me.

  I’d never felt all warm and fuzzy about my Dark Shadow before, and I refused to do so now, but cotton candy and caramel popcorn spilt out into the room.

  Just as well Samson couldn’t scent emotions otherwise he might have thought I was happy to see him.

  I cleared my throat. Samson grinned back at me.

  Maybe he could scent something.

  “Information,” I announced. “I’m here for information and nothing else.”

  “And yet it is day, and you must accept my hospitality or face the sun’s light.”

  “My timing sucks, so what?”

  Samson’s grin widened.

  “You gain sustenance from my vein. Shelter at my home. Knowledge from my past. And succour at my side. Am I not already your chosen?”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself, vampire.”

  “I wouldn’t dare, love.”

  I glowered at him. He laughed; then stood up and walked to the drinks cabinet. He took a Vanilla Vodka from the inbuilt fridge and poured himself a whisky and then returned to the couches. I stared the mixer down.

  “Freely given,” Samson said dryly.

  I huffed and accepted the drink.

  He sat down in a sinuous glide. Jeesh, he was really putting on a performance tonight.

  “Does Jett know you are here?” he asked, taking a sip of his scotch.

  “I don’t have to tell him everything,” I snapped.

  “Have you seen him at all tonight?”

  “Checking up on your opposition?” I asked archly.

  “The amor certamen requires we share your attention equally until you make your final choice.”

  Fuck. A. Duck.

  “And if I choose neither of you?”

  “You started this.”

  “How?” I practically shouted.

  “Feeding off me for one. As for Jett, what did you do to gain his vampire’s attention?”

  Aliath. Fucking fairy.

  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

  “Georgia? What did you do? Have you fed off him?”

  Yes. I shook my head, my lips in a thin line.

  “You have.” Bloody hell. How did he do that?

  “Are you reading my mind?” I demanded.

  He ignored me.

  “When? No, better yet. Did his blood sustain you? Fill you? Make love to you from the inside out?”

  I blinked at him.

  He grinned.

  “It didn’t, did it? It did none of that.”

  “I’m not here to discuss Jett with you,” I growled.

  Samson grinned, sitting back and taking a long swallow of his drink. I watched his throat move as the amber liquid went down. I hadn’t realised his Sanguis Vitam was already wrapped around me. Wrapped around my own blood life force.

  Slut, I said to the Dark Shadow.

  Coward, she snapped back.

  Whore.

  Mouse.

  Ooh, nasty. Mice were prey. I was no one’s prey.

  Better, she murmured and pulled her Sanguis Vitam back.

  Samson managed one last stroke of his power down my body and then it disappeared.

  “Well, if you’re not here to declare your undying love for me, what can I help you with?” he asked.

  “Taniwha,” I said.

  “New Zealand’s shapeshifters? What do you need to know?”

  “Why did they leave Auckland?”

  “Their Alpha tried to kill Lucinda,” he said simply. “Lucinda didn’t want to die.”

  “She killed him? Or her?”

  “Him. His name was Rick, and he was her best friend before he knew what she was.” He meant before he knew she was a Nosferatin. “She watched him kill his Alpha, a good man named Jerome. And then he took the Hapū, or pack, in a dangerous direction. He turned it against the Nosferatu. Michel did not like that.”

  “So, there’re no more shapeshifters in Auckland,” I said.

  “No Taniwha in any case. I’m sure some others slip in from time to time. Possibly unobserved. But there is a moratorium on Taniwha presence in the city.”

  “So, where did they go?”

  “Gregor took them.”

  “Gregor? The Master of Wellington City?”

  “Yes. Shapeshifters need to be near other supernaturals. They are subject to our laws, and a Master controlled city is safest for them. Wellington is the only other Master controlled city in New Zealand, and the Taniwha would never leave our shores.”

  “What happens if they come back?”

  “If they return to Auckland before its Master lifts the moratorium, they’ll be killed on sight.”

  So, why risk coming back to abduct a couple of politicians, if you could abduct them far away in Wellington where parliament sits?

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” I muttered.

  “What doesn’t?”

  I shook my head.

  Samson leaned forward in his seat, his whisky forgotten.

  “Let me help you, Gigi,” he said, earnestly.

  “So you can get one up on Jett in this amor certamen?” I snapped.

  “So I can help you,” he simply repeated.

  Abruptly, his whole demeanour changed. He looked down at the floor, thinking hard, and then chocolate and taupe eyes came back up to look at my face.

  “I need to help you,” he whispered. “Babe,” he said, “you may not have accepted me as your vampire mate, but I have; my vampire-within has. I can no further walk away from your troubles than I can survive without blood to drink. A life without you is meaningless. You are my reason for existence. My soul, if we have such a thing, is lost without you. I would lay down my life for you to live. I am yours.”

  “Samson,” I said; shocked, horrified and equally enchanted.

  “You do not have to choose. Not yet. Not today. But, please, allow me to help you. Allow me this.”

  “Why?” I said, leaning forward. It was as if our bodies were drawn to each other without our say. “So you can betray me again?”

  “Georgia,” he snapped. “Tell me you would not have behaved the same way.”

  I sat back in my chair, putting distance between us. Distance between my heartache and our history. Distance between me and the truth.

  I’d been so hurt, so angry, so scared when I’d been turned. My Sire had abandoned me. I should have been dead. I’d wanted to be dead. But Lucinda and her ever-present Light had saved me when all I could feel was Darkness, and all I had wanted was to chase death. I’d baulked at all her goodness. I’d shied away from all that Light. And then there was Samson, who’d understood this frightful world I’d woken up in, who was tied to Lucinda and her Light in a way I never could be.

  He’d known. He’d not told me. My anger had turned on him.

  Because Light is stronger than the Dark and I couldn’t give all of my rage to the Nosferatin who had saved me. So I gave the bulk of it to him.

  He said nothing. His face a vampire mask of blankness. Protecting himself as I had tried to protect myself but in a much less confrontational way.

  I’d hurt him. I knew that. In some ways, I’d done it on purpose. In others, it had been unintentional. I was a newly turned vampire. Half-vampire mixed with half-nosferatin. I was a mess. And he had lost something too. I could admit that. He had lost the part of me that was human.

  I wondered if it was my humanity that had attracted him to me in the first place. And then I wondered if he was attracted to the new barmaid at Sensations in the same way.

  And then I played those words he’d just said over in my mind, and I knew, even if part of Samson had been all Light at one time, drawn to the Light of a human, he was Darker now. Closer to his vampire. Just as I am closer to my vampire-within, too.

  And as a vampire, would I have done anything differently had I been in Samson’s shoes? I refused to tell Mark everything there is to know about supernaturals, about vampires in particular. I know the consequences are grave should I fail to follow the rules. Not just Jett’s rules, but the Iunctio’s rules. Even Nut’s rules.

  But I’m not in love with Mark. I was in love with Samson. Still am, if I’m honest.

  What wouldn’t I do for love?

  “Love of a human,” Samson said.

  “What?”

  “You were human, Georgia. I was vampyre. Never the twain shall meet.”

  “Is it that simple? Or is it just an excuse?”

  He stared at me for a long time and then looked away.

  “I thought I could have both if I kept them separate,” he whispered. “I thought it was possible to walk in both worlds and survive. But I’d decided it wasn’t enough. That morning in fact. I was going to tell you. Ask you. I’d already prepared my speech for Jett.”

  “What?” I whispered, shaking my head at him. “What are you talking about?”

  He looked back at me, and I saw everything; his heartache, his longing, his desperation, his fear.

  “I was going to ask you to turn. And I was going to ask Jett to do it.”

  Fuck-an-almighty-gobsmacked-duck.

  Samson took one look at me and then stood up and left the room.

  Now he runs, I thought angrily.

  Hunt, the Dark Shadow announced eagerly. Chase.

  And Nut help me, I absolutely did.

  8

  Terror

  Lucinda’s house was hardly big enough to give the Dark Shadow a decent hunt. And Samson wasn’t hiding from me. He was giving me space. Perhaps he thought I’d go ballistic and trash the lounge or something. If I’d done that, he would have felt compelled to stop me; this is his mistress’s home after all. So I found him easily; upstairs, having followed that alluring scent of pine needles and musk to his bedroom.

  No, he wasn’t running, I thought bitterly. He was luring me to his bed.

  Clever, the Dark Shadow said.

  Sneaky, I offered.

  He is worthy.

  I shook my head.

  The door was closed as if he was giving me a token chase but hardly enough to deter me. Although, as I stood on the landing, I realised he was giving me something. The option to turn away without showing my face. He would have sensed me standing there as I sensed him standing on the opposite side of the door. But if I walked away, we could both pretend I hadn’t followed him. Hadn’t chased him down as though he were my prey.

  Mate.

  Shut up.

  I almost did it. I almost turned away and escaped to the guest bedroom in the cellar. But I am no coward, despite what the Dark Shadow says, and I still needed to know more about the Taniwha. Mark and his Norms depended on me.

  So, I reached out and turned the handle on the door, then gave it a gentle push. It swung open on silent hinges, but I didn’t cross into the room.

  Samson was standing in the middle of the space, his large, masculine-decorated bed to one side of him, a dresser with a TV and various articles of inconsequence on top to the other. My attention, though, was all for the vampire who stood staring at me.

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked.

  “You weren’t ready,” he whispered back.

  “And you think I am now?”

  He shook his head. “The amor certamen has required a change in tactics.”

  I didn’t want to smile, but I felt my lips twitch just a little.

  “Feeling the pressure?” I asked.

  “A little,” he said and smiled.

  God, he was gorgeous. His hair glowed softly in the room’s light. Not like the fairies’ hair does, this was more natural; could even be called normal or human. But there is nothing normal or human about Samson. The sleek blond strands met his shoulders, unrestrained by tie or product. And those shoulders; they were broad and hard, leading to well-defined pecs and biceps. He was wearing a caramel long sleeved tee which complemented his smooth cream skin. His jaw was slightly stubbled which spoke to a Darker part of me. His eyes, right then, were all chocolate; rich and decadent. If I inhaled, I knew I would be engulfed in his signature scent. Perhaps more, I wasn’t sure if my talent would work right now. This was Samson, and it usually didn’t.

  But I was turned on, and that played a part, too, I had to admit.

  He watched me and said nothing. This was my choice. Even the Dark Shadow retreated slightly, still there but observing only. This was my choice.

  But what a choice it was. If I acted on my impulses and slept with him, it would set things in motion I was nowhere near ready to accept. If I slept with him, it may well seal the deal and the amor certamen would be over.

  What would happen to Jett and his fairy induced desire to mate with me then?

  I have never enjoyed feeling trapped.

  “The Taniwha,” I said as if we weren’t about to have this conversation in his bedroom. “Do they hunt humans?”