The Land Rover pulled into Michel’s hangar at the airport then. A gleaming private jet awaited us, the pilots already in the cockpit. Sun beat down just outside of the hangar, but we could exit the car and make it to the plane without getting burned.

  Samson took the time to glaze Carli further; perhaps even use his reality-altering talent to really send the message home. I knew Samson. If he truly cared for someone, he wouldn’t have done any of that. The girl was a tool and nothing more.

  My Dark Shadow curled up into a little ball and pretended not to feel guilty about the way she’d acted.

  I soothed her with the knowledge that I had momentarily been fooled by the ruse as well.

  Samson followed me into the cabin and shut the door behind him. He was familiar with the controls, and the pilots clearly trusted him. He spoke briefly to them, and then the plane pulled out of the hangar and onto the tarmac. The shutters were closed on the aircraft already, so there was nothing to do but sit down, buckle up and wait for liftoff. We received permission from Air Traffic Control faster than I would have thought possible.

  “It’s good to be vampyre,” I said.

  “Yes,” Samson offered and smiled.

  I wasn’t sure what to do with this detente we had, so I ignored it for now. I read for a bit. Watched a repeat of Friends on the entertainment system and then took my leave and went to the bathroom.

  I stared at myself in the mirror and wondered what it was that Samson saw when he looked at me. I saw a pale face; attractive, but nothing to write home about. Too blonde hair and too red eyes. I wasn’t hungry as such, but with the Dark Shadow so close to the surface, I was more vampire than vampire hunter right now.

  Which reminded me about my one remaining stake. I pulled my jacket back and peeked inside the pocket where the silver stake rested. It was part of a pair; a gift from Lucinda. Its partner had gone missing when I’d staked my Sire. Egyptian made, lethal, sharp, and covered in a beautiful design and words I did not understand. I wasn’t sure the words meant anything, other than Handle With Care, but the design was beautiful.

  I sucked in a breath of air and reached into my pocket, hissing out the breath again when the silver stung like a motherfucker. I pulled my hand out and shook it. Blisters had already formed on the tips of my fingers.

  “Well, that sucks,” I said.

  Yes, the Dark Shadow agreed.

  We both stared at my fingertips as the blisters healed thanks to all that glorious blood.

  What does it mean? I asked.

  The Bitch Queen has robbed us.

  She needs to die.

  All fairies should.

  I liked the way my vampire-within thought.

  Pushing the silver stake issue aside, I washed my face, checked my hair and then returned to the main cabin. Samson glanced up from his tablet computer and inhaled sharply.

  He was beside me in an instant.

  “You’re hurt.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Where?”

  “I’m not.”

  “Show me.”

  “Back off!”

  He snarled, fangs flashing. I hissed back, eyes bleeding to red. The pilot suddenly announced over the intercom that we were about to make our descent into Wellington City. Both of us backed down, but not without our vampires-within snarling at each other.

  “Your courtship techniques suck,” I said, sitting as far away from him as I could manage.

  “On the contrary,” Samson replied smoothly. “Your Dark Shadow is in love.”

  Oh, he did not…

  He winked at me. I rolled my eyes. Jerk.

  The air in the cabin changed as the plane began its final approach. I wanted to look out the window; a spillover from my human days. I’d never been to Wellington before. I wanted to see what it looked like from the sky. Try to spot landmarks I’d only ever read about or seen on TV. Mount Victoria. The cable car. The Beehive.

  I did none of those things because the sun would do more than blind me. Sunlight affected me as it did any other vampire. I was nothing special where that was concerned. But silver? Having to be invited into someone’s home? Those I’d been exempt from because those could help me hunt rogue vampires.

  I hadn’t realised until that moment how much I clung to the Light side of me. The Nosferatin side of me. Without it, I felt a little lost. And it was only getting Darker.

  My Dark Shadow tried to soothe me with a little of my Light. But it only reinforced how she had control of it now, and I didn’t. Why that? Why did Sofiq choose that? She’d said something about it being easier to control me this way. Had she given Aliath even more control over my future somehow?

  I’d thought it was because I was imbalanced. More Dark than Light. But I couldn’t deny that without my Light I was weakened. And being weak was something I did not like.

  Hunt shapeshifters, the Dark Shadow said, getting me back on task. Save Norms. Kill Queen.

  Sometimes the Dark Shadow was more beast than sentient being.

  Heard that, she said and I smiled.

  “What’s so funny?” Samson asked. I’d almost forgotten he was there. Almost.

  “Something my Dark Shadow said.”

  “You’re getting on better with her now,” he observed.

  I arched my brow. Maybe he was right. But I still wanted my Light back.

  “She’s part of me,” I offered as explanation.

  “But not all of you,” he said, just as the plane’s wheels touched down on tarmac.

  And no, the Dark Shadow was not all of me. If she had been, I would have been mated to Samson or Jett by now. And I think Samson knew it. It wasn’t my vampire-within who was unsure. To her, things were really quite simple. We needed a mate to compensate for our weaknesses, and both of these two vampires were worthy.

  And now we were weaker than we had been before. Would she simply lose patience with me and one day take the decision out of my hands?

  She said nothing, which said more than if she had talked.

  The plane taxied into Michel’s hangar in Wellington; I hadn’t even known he’d had one. But at one stage, Michel had been the only Master vampire of a City in New Zealand, so it stood to reason he had a widespread network. Now he was no longer a Master of any City; Jett had taken on Auckland and Gregor had claimed Wellington some time ago. No, Michel was a member of the Iunctio Council; a far more dangerous thing. At least he was on my side. If you could call being persuaded by Lucinda not to kill me as being on my side.

  I knew of one other council member, though, who would gladly see me meet the final death, even if he miraculously let me go when faced with a silver-haired fairy.

  We waited for the plane to cut its engines and then Samson got up and opened the door, calling out a thank you to the pilots. They’d wait for us. Gas up the plane and take a break and be ready for when Samson wanted to get back to Auckland.

  Of course, by tonight, I’d be leaving Wellington another way. Fucking fairy.

  Which meant I had to get what I needed from Gregor and his Nosferatin and trust Samson to get that information back to Mark.

  Time was definitely marching.

  A car was waiting for us. Long, sleek, dark-windowed and black. I was guessing the Master of Wellington City had a flair for the dramatic. I slipped in with Samson following behind, and then the driver took off. I couldn’t see him behind the raised, smokey glass that separated the driver’s area from us, but I guessed he was trustworthy because Samson didn’t seem fussed.

  “Gregor has a nightclub on Lambton Quay,” Samson suddenly said, again as if he could read my thoughts and knew who I’d been thinking about, “right in the CBD.” Of course, he did. Vampires liked the nightlife, and they especially liked the nightlife in and around the VC. Or Vampire Central area. “It’s called Desire de Sang.”

  “You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

  Samson grimaced. “He’s French. They tend to be overly cliché about things.”

  I smirked.

  “He’ll no doubt see us there,” Samson went on. “Assume everyone you meet is a danger to you, even if they are Norms. Gregor is not to be taken lightly.”

  “I can handle myself.”

  “I hope so,” he said quietly just as the car pulled to a stop beside a door in a back alley.

  “No cover?” I asked, peering out of the tinted windows and taking in the sunlit sky directly above the limousine.

  “A test,” Samson said, and he didn’t look pleased.

  “He sounds like quite the charmer,” I offered, gripping the door handle and opening the door before I could chicken out.

  Not that the Dark Shadow would have let me. The sun might have hurt her too, but she’d be damned if she let this testy Master Vampyre see that. She might be damned anyway, but she still had her pride.

  My skin blistered immediately, and then I was in the shadow of the stoop. Samson flashed to my side, studying the whorls of smoke drifting off my cheeks. He frowned but didn’t have time to pass comment, as the door opened and a black maw greeted us. Dark and forbidding. Gregor, the Master of Wellington City, certainly liked to ‘test’ visiting vampires.

  I strode down the hallway, Samson at my side, my Dark Shadow awake and wary.

  Good prey, she said.

  Master Vampyre, I shot back.

  Just because he is a Master does not mean he isn’t our prey.

  She was crazier than I thought.

  We came out into an empty clubroom floor. Reds and blacks and too much vinyl. I almost burst out laughing. Kitschy vampire didn’t even cover it. But at least there was light.

  There was also one single occupant in the room. Male. Vampire. Sanguis Vitam oozing off him as though he had oodles of the stuff to spare.

  He did. Because I recognised him.

  “You,” I whispered.

  And in the next breath, my neck was in his clenched hand.

  10

  Threatened

  Gregor, the Master of Wellington City, was the Enforcer for the Iunctio. How was that even remotely fair?

  “You walk into my home without any care, creature,” Gregor snarled.

  “Gregor!” Samson shouted. “This is…”

  Sanguis Vitam slammed into Samson and threw him across the clubroom floor, making him land hard against a booth seat. The wood frame cracked under his weight, but Samson’s body kept going. Through the table that was bolted to the floor and partially into the wall behind it.

  “I’ll deal with you later,” Gregor growled.

  My Dark Shadow rose within me; I didn’t fight her. In this, she would be harder to kill, and I was just as furious as she was. Nobody hurt Samson and got away with it. Nobody.

  Her Sanguis Vitam lashed out and tangled with the Enforcer’s. But although I may now be closer to a level two Master vampire, the Enforcer was not only a level one Master but the Master a City. He drew on the power of the vampires within Wellington’s city limits and swatted her Sanguis Vitam into the next century.

  It hurt. Inside I made a pitiful sound full of pain, but the Dark Shadow held firm and glared at Gregor with all her self-righteous red-eyed fury.

  “You will release me, Vampyre,” she said.

  “I let you go once. That was a mistake.” He tilted his head to the side and studied me. “Where is your fairy protector now?”

  “Behind you,” she said in what had to be the most impressive bluff ever delivered by a vampire.

  Gregor didn’t move an inch, but he sent some of his Sanguis Vitam out behind him to check for threats, and it was enough for the Dark Shadow to hammer home her anger at being contained.

  I twisted out of his hold and rolled away from his next strike. The air buzzed with power; both his and mine. He came at me, eyes completely platinum in colour. I’d never seen a vampire with such unusual eyes. The platinum made them seem angelic, especially with the iridescent Sigillum that surrounded them, but the snarl on his lips looked anything but celestial. Team that with the scar down the right side of his face and he looked positively demonic.

  I danced out of the way, using as much speed as I could claim being a vampire. But he wasn’t lacking in that ability either. He slammed into me, making us roll to the floor. Fists punched, claws raked, Sanguis Vitam flew all around us; popping bulbs and fracturing furniture.

  It had little effect on him, and I was starting to feel lethargic.

  I couldn’t battle the Enforcer. He was too old. Too powerful. Too frightening. So, I did the next best thing and attacked his nightclub.

  The bottles behind the bar, sitting on row upon row of glass shelving, shattered into a million tiny pieces. The scent of alcohol wafted on the air, and then I went for the mirror backing. Cracks sounded out, followed by the tinkling of glass falling. In one hit, I’d cost him tens of thousands of dollars.

  He slammed my head into the wooden floor, breaking the floorboards in half.

  Light, I managed to whisper inside my head to the Dark Shadow.

  No, she said and ramped up her Sanguis Vitam, this time going for the chandelier hanging above us.

  I was on my back, looking up at the Enforcer. His hands were wrapped around my throat and squeezing ever tighter. My vision was blurring, but I could still see the massive chandelier sway. I didn’t much care for her plan, but then she sent me an image of one of my stakes.

  She knew as well as I that the silver would burn. But what’s a burn compared to losing our head? And the only way I’d get stake to chest on this vampire was if he was distracted by something big enough to cause some damage.

  I slipped my hand inside my jacket. Platinum stared down at me out of emotionless eyes. He’d take my head and not feel an ounce of guilt for it. He deserved to die.

  I wrapped my hand around the stake, feeling my skin blister. The smell of burning flesh hit the air, just as the chandelier fell.

  The Enforcer scented the charred flesh and squeezed harder. He didn’t have enough time to finish what he had started.

  The chandelier hit him; hit me. My stake entered his chest as he threw himself sideways.

  I was left tangled up in industrial strength wiring and the tempered steel struts of what had to be a half tonne of lighting.

  The Enforcer lay on his back a few feet away staring down his chest at the stake that protruded out of it.

  “What the fuck?” he said.

  He reached for it; it couldn’t have made it into his heart, or he wouldn’t have been so cavalier about touching it. He would have known exactly what pulling a stake out of his own heart could have done. It required a steady hand and a level one Sanguis Vitam Master. He had one, but from where I was sitting, he definitely did not have the other.

  So, I’d missed. And it would likely be the only chance I ever got. Failure was not a welcome emotion; I was just grateful that in my current state I couldn’t scent the bastard.

  He hissed when his fingers wrapped around the stake, but he pulled it out slowly, taking his time, being sure not to let it touch the chamber of his heart. He lay the offending article down on the floor beside him and then let out a slow breath of air as if getting himself back on level ground.

  His eyes swept across the clubroom to me and he began to rise.

  I couldn’t move; I was effectively trapped under the chandelier which was ironic. My Dark Shadow had made it fall. She wasn’t sorry; as she’d seen it, it had been our only chance to distract him enough to stake his heart.

  But I’d missed. Fuck my life.

  He prowled toward me, taking his time, dragging this out, like the sick, sadistic prick that he was. The stake lay on the floor behind him, glinting in what remained of the lighting in the room. Taunting me with my failure.

  “It has been a while since anyone has managed to get so close to the heart of me,” he said.

  “Not close enough,” I muttered.

  “No,” he agreed. “This ends now.”

  I wondered if Samson was OK. I wondered if he would wake up to a pile of dust where I had been lying. I wondered if he’d survive that. We weren’t mates. So, in theory, he should have been OK. But I couldn’t deny that there was something that bound Samson and me together. And if it wasn’t love then what was it?

  The Dark Shadow growled.

  Now we use your Light, she said, and I felt whatever it was that held it contained, within her grasp and not mine, give. And Light flooded me and the room, eating up all the shadows.

  It took a second or two, and maybe the Enforcer letting out a frustrated growl helped me, but I realised the Light in the room wasn’t actually mine.

  “I told you I’d be home shortly,” the Enforcer said. “Are you checking up on me, ma ange?”

  A young woman walked in from the rear of the clubroom; dark-skinned, exotic looking eyes, long black hair. She shone with Light. Brighter than the room she’d just bathed in it. Gregor’s Nosferatin, I guessed.

  She stopped beside my stake and looked down at it, a soft frown marring her otherwise beautiful features. She crouched in a move that was sinuous; like water flowing. And picked the stake up. Twirling it in her hand, she tested its weight, then brought it closer to her eyes for a detailed inspection.

  “I know this work,” she said. “My kin made this.”

  Egyptian. That’s why she looked so exotic.

  Her eyes came up and studied me where I lay. She didn’t seem perturbed by the fact that I was currently tangled up in a prison of my own making. She cocked her head and frowned. I couldn’t look away. I was aware the Enforcer had stopped advancing on me the moment the Nosferatin had entered the room. As if he she held sway over the ancient and powerful vampire. A Nosferatu such as he would have known exactly what she could and couldn’t do. He clearly knew her well; he had a pet name for her. Maybe they were lovers. Maybe she was his mate. But I hadn’t thought anyone could have halted the Enforcer in his tracks once he’d committed to something.

  And he sure as hell had committed to ridding the world of me.

  A sound came from the back of the nightclub then, drawing all of our attention. Wood creaked, plaster crumbled and fell to the floor. A broken table went flying. Then out of the depths of smashed drywall and shattered furnishings, Samson strode across the clubroom floor.