“What were you doing out in the middle of nowhere?”

  When he didn’t answer, she glanced at him. Again, he smiled. “You remind me of a girl I once met. She had a sympathetic way about her. Just like you. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were planning to be a nurse someday.”

  “Not me. I can’t stand the sight of blood.”

  He chuckled.

  When she pulled into the lighted parking lot of the Burger Joint, she realized Ruric hadn’t answered her question. What had he been doing in the woods?

  Though he could have easily opened Emma’s door for her as he stood closer to it, he took great strides to reach Fiona’s door and opened it instead.

  Maybe it was because she reminded him of his old girlfriend. Maybe it was because she hadn’t run him over with the car.

  “I don’t want to rush you or anything, but I have to be home soon. Why were you in the woods?” Fiona asked Ruric again.

  “My brother was supposed to pick me up, but he had car trouble. One of the guys I know, not very well, said he would drive me home. Except he and his buddies were drinking. I told the driver to pull over and let me out before he got us all killed. So he did…in the middle of nowhere. I saw your headlights and thought I could wave you down. I guess you couldn’t see me.” He tugged at his tux. Even his shirt was black. “It pays to wear white when you’re trying to flag down a car at night.”

  “Oh,” Emma said, as they stepped into an order line. “What if he dented Mom’s car?”

  “Jeez, Emma. You should be thankful he’s alive and well.”

  “Of course, I am. But what if there’s a dent in the car?” Emma asked, her voice on edge.

  “I didn’t see any,” Ruric said.

  “But it was so dark,” Emma said.

  “My night vision’s very good.” He winked at Fiona.

  Her body warmed with embarrassment. A total charmer. Just like the other guy. As if they were…brothers. “Is your brother dark-haired, per chance? Wearing a tux tonight also?”

  “He’s at home, so he wouldn’t be wearing a tux tonight.”

  As much as Fiona was afraid to pose the question, she had to know. “Were you ever in Dallas?”

  Ruric’s eyes widened marginally. She took that as a yes.

  “At a mall in Dallas, Texas?” she ventured to ask. “About two years ago? Right about this time of year?”

  Emma eyed them speculatively. “You don’t know each other, do you? I mean, that could be a good thing if you had been friends.”

  “Not friends. I just…met someone who looks a lot like Ruric.”

  “Two years ago? I don’t recall,” Ruric said.

  Fiona wasn’t sure she believed him. She wished, in a way, that he had said yes. Then she would know she wasn’t just imagining things. On the other hand, if he said yes, wouldn’t that be a bit worrisome?

  Emma tried to pay for the meals, but Ruric wouldn’t hear of it. He just smiled in his captivating way, paid for the food, then carried the tray of burgers and drinks to a booth. Emma and Fiona sat across from him.

  Once he’d passed out their drinks, he said, “You both attend Portland High, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” Fiona said, poking her straw into her soda. “How did you know?”

  “The sticker is on the car’s bumper.”

  “Oh,” Emma said, her voice a moan. “Can we pleeeease talk about something other than my mother’s car?”

  “Really, no harm done to me or the car.”

  “You say you live with your brother?” Fiona asked.

  “Yep. He’s twenty-one, three years older than me. He can be as demanding as a mother and father combined.”

  “And your parents?”

  “They died in Wales.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I never knew them. My aunt raised us. Then when my brother turned twenty-one, he brought me here when he’d found a good job.”

  Fiona held up her cheeseburger to take another bite. “Doing?”

  “Working with a local mortician.”

  Emma choked on her drink, then wrinkled her nose. “Creepy.”

  “There’s good money in it. I might go into the business myself someday.”

  Fiona nodded, though the idea that anyone made a living at working with dead people didn’t interest her. She fingered a french fry. “What school do you go to?”

  “Eastside, but I’m transferring to Portland. The girls are much prettier there.”

  Fiona smiled. “I’m sure you’ll break a lot of girls’ hearts if you leave.”

  “The girls had boyfriends already. A guy with a foreign accent and a strange name didn’t appeal to any of them.”

  “I think the name Ruric sounds great. It’s a name with character.”

  Ruric leaned back against his seat.

  Emma nodded. “And he has a cute accent, don’t you think?”

  Fiona’s gaze met Ruric’s dark eyes. “It’s very⁠—”

  “Entrancing? Magnetic?” he offered. A slow smile edged upward, and his eyes seemed to smile.

  Fiona quirked a brow and mirrored his expression. “Disarming.”

  “Ah. Well, you see, Fiona, I believed I could use my powers of persuasion on you, but you seem to have an unusually powerful way of holding your own. Which is refreshing.”

  Fiona wasn’t sure what he was getting at. His easy-going manner, and the way he paid for their meals when Emma had run him over, certainly appealed to her. Even more than that, the way he devoured her with his gaze intrigued her, as if she was the only girl he’d ever cared about. Just like the other guy had done.

  When they finished eating, Fiona drove Ruric to a two-story, colonial home. But as soon as she pulled the car curbside, a guy stalked out of the house. His down-turned mouth and knitted brow gave her the impression he ruled over Ruric worse than any parent might. The odd thing was he didn’t look any older than Ruric. And he sure looked like one of the teens she’d seen with Arman at the Dallas mall, though she’d only glanced at them in passing.

  “Levka,” Ruric said. He motioned to Fiona. “She saved me.”

  Levka glared at her, then shook his head. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Obviously, big brother didn’t like it that Ruric was interested in her.

  His dark brown eyes seemed to darken further, then he glanced at Emma as if he finally had just noticed her. She remained quiet. Fiona thought she was worried Levka might grow even angrier if he knew Emma had run over his brother with the car.

  “You pissed off Arman. What were you thinking?” Then Levka stormed back to the house.

  Arman?

  “Don’t mind my older brother. He’s just watching out for me. See you at school tomorrow.” Ruric turned to Emma. “Chin up. I won’t tell Levka that you ran over me.” He smiled, then followed Levka into the house before Fiona asked him about Arman and the Dallas mall again.

  “Jeez, Levka’s creepy,” Emma said as Fiona drove her home.

  “He doesn’t look any older than Ruric, I don’t think. Do you?” But if Arman was with them, they were all three at the Dallas mall, and…there was one other. Was he here too? This was all just too weird.

  “I didn’t think so. What’s up with you tonight? Two guys in tuxes had the hots for you? If Ruric asks, are you going to go out with him?” Emma asked.

  “I can’t quit thinking about the other one.”

  “The one with no name.”

  “Yeah, and how much he seems like…this one.”

  Arman wanted to kill Ruric for meeting up with Fiona, when this was the job he’d taken on to save her from a bunch of ruthless vampires but Stasio held him back and wouldn’t let him out the door. Levka himself was angry enough about what Ruric had pulled.

  “We have been friends for how many centuries?” Arman asked Ruric as he and Levka entered the house.

  “We all need to help her, Arman,” Ruric said, non-plussed. “I am not after your girl, though she certainly appeals. But I couldn’t control her like I had hoped. She’s definitely not human. And I couldn’t get her to leave Emma to drive home on her own when she isn’t even supposed to be driving without a license.”

  Arman let out his breath in a huff. “She is not my girl, and she is cursed! She needs our protection.”

  “Our protection is correct. You can’t do this on your own,” Ruric said. “Do not give me your condemning look too, Levka. We all agreed we had to save Arman from his folly no matter what the cost.”

  “I’m enrolling in her high school,” Caitlin said.

  “And if you need blood?” Levka asked, raising a dark brow.

  Arman knew he wasn’t happy with the notion.

  “I’ll feed at night. I can get through the day now without any problem. She might trust me more than you guys. Besides, I do have my witch’s powers. We need to convince her to go with us and neither of you guys managed to do the job right tonight.”

  “You haven’t formally finished your training,” Levka reminded her.

  “I know some. So she’s a huntress?” Caitlin asked Arman.

  “Yes. I couldn’t control her any more than Ruric could, though I tried. Why her parents wouldn’t have told her what she is doesn’t make any sense,” Arman said. “I tried to remove her from the dance with my hypnotic suggestion. I thought it was working and then she broke free. I only know we have to free her from that family. She doesn’t belong with them and I’m afraid of what they plan to do to her.”

  “How is she cursed?” Caitlin asked again.

  Stasio said, “I’m still researching the family. I still don’t know. Since you’ve been having dreams of her, Arman, did she seem to recognize you when you met her at the dance?”

  “She did. But it was more than that. We had a real physical attraction that seems to transcend time and space. And I think she might have remembered me from seeing me at the Dallas mall,” Arman said.

  “Oh, about that, I’m afraid she did. She asked me if I’d been there,” Ruric said. “I said not that I recalled. I was afraid she would think we followed her here and would think we were up to no good. There isn’t any easy way to handle that.”

  Arman shook his head. He hadn’t thought of the consequences of her recalling that incident two years ago.

  “We don’t know what her curse is, Caitlin, but I suspect she has no clue she’s a huntress,” Levka said. “In other words, that means she’s not even trained in the art of swordsmanship to fight rogue vampires.”

  Jasmine smiled. As their assassin, she came in handy. “Count me in for going to high school. This could be fun.”

  Going to school was not Arman’s idea of fun, but saving Fiona was a necessity, if the nightmares he was having was any indication. “I’ll be there.”

  Stasio was too busy to say whether he planned to go to the school with them or not as he searched documents online.

  Ruric only smiled. “I’ll go, but since I believe she really thinks we were in Dallas when she was.”

  “Which could make her all the more wary of us,” Arman said, exasperated. “What if she believes we all came here for some nefarious purpose where she is concerned?” That’s what worried Arman. He should have come alone.

  4

  When Emma pulled up in front of Fiona’s great aunt’s two-story, colonial brick house, ten cars still sat curbside and again, Fiona couldn’t help but wish that she still lived with her parents. Not that her home life had been so great in Dallas where everyone made fun of her about her father being the town drunk, and her mother, the ultimate enabler, who hid his liquor, which only catapulted him into more drinking binges.

  Why her mother had gone out with him that fateful night was still a mystery. Fiona couldn’t help envying her brother, Justin.

  “Well, here we are,” Emma said cheerfully.

  Fiona realized then, she’d been staring at her great aunt’s house, lost in the past. “Yeah.” Except for the dim lights of candles flickering behind sheer white curtains, the house looked dark. Ambience, her great aunt would say.

  “Are you all right?” Emma asked.

  “Yeah.” Not really, but Fiona definitely didn’t want to tell Emma about her family. It was best to pretend they were as normal as everyone else’s. Though the truth was Emma’s mother was kind of a flamboyant, artistic flake, and her husband had abandoned them and then got himself killed, so maybe not everyone else’s families were all that normal either.

  “Call you tomorrow. But it’ll be later. Randy and I are going to the Oregon Coast in the afternoon.”

  “Seashore,” Fiona parroted, when she thought she saw something travel across her great aunt’s roof like a panther moving silently, swiftly—something large, black, and…a person? Oak trees stretched their massive branches over the roof, swaying in the cool breeze, casting dancing shadows across the gray shingles.

  Too vivid an imagination? Or did she now need glasses?

  “Fiona, I’ve picked you up and dropped you off at your great aunt’s house what…fifteen times in the last three months since you moved here? You always seem so happy to leave her home, and so reluctant to return. Is there something wrong?”

  “No, sorry. I told you I hadn’t slept well last night.” Though, since Fiona had moved here, she hadn’t slept well any night. She couldn’t put her finger on the reason either. “Listen, have fun at the seashore. Maybe we can go there together sometime.”

  “Yeah, get a boyfriend and we’ll make it a foursome.”

  Fiona’s hopes were instantly dashed. “Yeah, okay. As soon as I see Tux again, I’ll ask him if he wants to go.”

  “Tux?”

  “The guy I danced with.”

  “Sure, great idea.”

  A tall, thin man, dressed entirely in black, pulled the curtain sheers aside in her great aunt’s living room window and stared at Emma’s car.

  “Got to go.” If Fiona could have sneaked into the house and avoided her great aunt’s party guests, she would have. But she’d been caught.

  “Night, Fiona. Oh, and please don’t tell anyone I ran over a guy tonight. Okay?”

  “I won’t. He was fine. No one needs to know.” Fiona knew if she told her great aunt about it, she would never let her ride with Emma again. Fiona climbed out of the car, wondering if the man at the window realized how rude he was, staring at her like that. But it was more than rude. Defiant, as if he wanted her to know he knew she had arrived home, and she needed to get inside. Worse, she worried he would realize she wasn’t comfortable at her great aunt’s house and mention it to her. Relations were already strained enough.

  She’d never seen the man before, his dark hair banded in a ponytail, and his soulless dark eyes watching her while she walked to the front porch. Was he worried for her safety? Or afraid she was contemplating running away?

  Which she had. But where would she go? Nowhere, and she would be worse off than before.

  He turned away from the window as if he’d satisfied his need to control her will. Quashing the irritation she felt, she reached for the doorknob, but the door swung open wide, and a pretty brunette about Fiona’s age, smiled back at her. Startled, she stared at the teen. What was a young person doing at her great aunt’s Halloween bash?

  “Hi, you must be Ms. Power’s grandniece, Fiona. I’m Clarissa. Pleased to meet you.” She offered her hand and Fiona stood staring at her costume, the most riveting silk and jeweled, ankle-length Egyptian dress she’d ever seen. “Like it?”

  Fiona shifted her gaze to Clarissa’s smiling face. “It’s beautiful. It must have cost a fortune.”

  “Garage sale item.”

  “Really?” Fiona looked back at the dress. No way could anything that regal have been sold as a cast off.

  “Come on in.” Clarissa motioned to the house as if she lived there instead of Fiona.

  Yet, when had Fiona ever felt that it was home? Never.

  The whole place was decorated in black and white. Black leather couches, black velvet comforter-covered beds, white dressers, side tables and coffee tables. White urns decorated in black cuneiform, others displaying hieroglyphics, and some Chinese symbolism sat on tables.

  Even her great aunt had a black and white personality. It was either this way or that. No shades of gray. Woe to the poor soul who attempted to argue with her.

  The whole house smelled of cinnamon and vanilla, the fragrance wafting from the candles lit throughout the house.

  Fiona tried to slip away unnoticed, like she usually tried to fade away in her great aunt’s house. Clarissa, apparently playing the part of an Egyptian princess or queen, walked in front of her and headed for the living room.

  The man Fiona had seen staring out the window caught her eye. He leaned down and spoke to her great aunt sitting on one of the black couches. She nodded, her platinum blond hair braided, hanging down to her waist, her costume, some kind of Viking dress, and her feet were clad in fur-covered boots.

  Fiona wouldn’t call her great aunt typical. Far from it. In great shape, she wore spandex shirts and skinny jeans like a teen. No way would she let her hair go white, and she’d had eyeliner tattooed around her eyes to simplify her afternoon makeup routine. Three facelifts, too, to remove the wrinkles, and a couple of eye jobs to remove the bags, she’d mentioned to Fiona to explain how come she looked so young. No wonder she looked like she was fifty when she was closer to eighty years old. Not only that, but she was not an early riser. She was an all-night party girl. Yet, she demanded Fiona stay home most nights, lecturing her that evil men prowled after young women in the evening hours. Fiona attributed her great aunt’s distrust to never having raised any children of her own.

  Still, the spry woman wasn’t at all what Fiona had expected. She had been her father’s aunt and wouldn’t have anything to do with them while Fiona’s father went on his drunken binges, so Regina had said. Which was nearly all the time, once he’d lost his insurance job, which was due to his earlier drunken binges.

  Fiona’s attention shifted to the man dressed simply in black from his shoes to his turtleneck. Was he playing the part of a cat burglar? Stiff, that’s what he looked like, as if he didn’t really want to participate in the costume dress up bit for Halloween.