His lids grew heavy, and his voice went low and bedroom deep. “Maybe we should get started on that roleplaying, then.…”

Thirty

Serena wasn’t sure how she ended up in a hospital—at least, she thought it was a hospital. Her vision was blurry and her head was pounding, but she could make out medical equipment. And other, less scary stuff, like chains and giant iron pincers. The steel gray walls made the room seem cavernous, with dried-blood-colored writing and symbols marking them like cave drawings.

She closed her eyes and wondered if she was dreaming. Sucked to be dreaming about a hospital, though. And the beeping sounds were so real…

“Hey.”

Josh’s voice drifted down to her, and she smiled, eyes still closed. “Hey. Did we win?”

“We crushed them.”

“The amulet?”

“Couldn’t be safer.”

She dragged in a relieved breath and tried to pretend she didn’t hear death rattles in her lungs. “Am I in a hospital?”

“Underworld General. The medical center I told you about. We treat a lot of nonhumans here.”

She was pretty sure he wasn’t talking about a veterinary practice. “Where’s Val?”

“On a plane to New York. So, he’s your father?”

“Apparently.”

He took her hand and massaged her palm, bringing circulation into her chilled fingers. “As soon as his plane lands, I’ll make sure you get to see him.”

That wasn’t going to happen, and they both knew it. But it was nice of him to lie. “I wish… I wish I could stay.”

“Don’t go.” Josh’s voice cracked, and she felt his forehead come down on her arm. “Please… don’t go.”

Needing to see him, blurry vision or not, she opened her eyes. “I wouldn’t change anything, you know. I would still have made love to you.”

A hot tear hit her arm. “I would change everything,” he rasped. “Anything for you to not be… not be…”

“Dying.” Ignoring the tug of the IV line, she sifted her fingers through his silky hair, remembering the way it had slid over her skin when he’d kissed his way down her body. The way it tickled her thighs when he’d pleasured her with his clever tongue. “You can say it. It’s okay. But there’s one thing I’d change.” Her face heated when he looked up at her, his eyes red-rimmed and watery.

“What?”

“I would have—God, this is going to sound so stupid—asked you to bite me. You know, the vampire thing.”

One corner of his mouth tipped up. “I wanted to. You can’t know how much I wanted to.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “Maybe you could… could you turn me into one?”

He looked down, as if he were ashamed. “I can’t. I’m not a true vampire.” He bit his lip, the tip of one sexy fang making a deep indent. “But… would you really want to?”

“Become a vampire?” It sounded crazy when she said it out loud, no matter how fascinated she’d been by them. Then again, she was in a demon hospital. “Are you serious? Is it even possible if I’m infected with a demon disease?”

“I don’t know. Just… hang on, okay?” He ran his palm up her arm to her neck to hold her jaw steady as he brushed his lips over hers. She barely felt the contact, but the emotion behind it came out strong, and it warmed her icy body. “If this happens, I want you to bond with me.”

“Bond? Like marriage?”

“Sort of. But deeper. More permanent.”

She started to cry. She didn’t know exactly what bonding entailed, but she sensed that for him to want it was a monumental step.

“It’s okay,” he said quickly. “You don’t have to.”

“It’s not that.” She sniffed and tried to swipe at her tears, but she could no longer lift her arm. Josh knew, and he caught them with his fingers as if they were precious diamonds. “I always dreamed of having a family, but with the charm, it couldn’t happen. And now… now that it’s within my grasp…” She was going to die.

“Fuck that.” Josh shouted for his brothers, who were there in an instant.

“What do you need?” Shade asked, as Eidolon checked her IV and the various machines hooked up to her.

“Keep her well until I get back. And while I’m gone, explain the bond to her.” He kissed her tenderly. “I’ll be back in a little while. Don’t… go anywhere.”

She opened her mouth to tell him she loved him, but nothing came out.

And now he’d never know.

As Wraith stood in the antechamber to the Vampire Council’s meeting room, he prayed to anyone who would listen that the assholes hurried. Gods, he couldn’t believe he was doing this. Couldn’t believe he was considering changing the female he loved into the one species that made his skin crawl

He’d spent his life killing vampires when and where he could, and now he was not only going to get on his knees to beg them for a favor, but he was going to do it so he could spend eternity with one.

Obviously, being charmed didn’t cure insanity, because this… this was crazy.

The iron-studded wood door to the main chamber creaked open, and a massive vamp wearing a black robe and a sword at his hip filled the doorway. “The Council awaits,” he droned.

“I’ll bet it does,” Wraith muttered, as he brushed past the male.

Inside, red and black candles burned in silver sconces and copper candelabras, lighting a room that could have been a B-movie set. From the crimson throw rugs shot with gold and the life-sized, gilded portraits of vampire heroes dating all the way back to ancient Rome, the place was a Hollywood cliché.

The Council members—seventeen of them, sat in a semi-circle in their high-backed thrones. The highest-ranking vampire in the world, the Key, motioned Wraith forward. It took every ounce of willpower Wraith possessed to obey Komir when what he wanted to do was stake them all.

“This is unexpected, incubus,” Komir said as Wraith halted in the center of a pentagram that had been set into the floor with white marble tiles. “What brings you?”

“A request.”

A black-haired female to Komir’s right laughed. “You, who mocks vampire law and kills your own kind, want something from us?”

“That about sums it up.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them, and offered a stiff, “Apologies. I’m exhausted. You know, from saving the world.”

One of Komir’s silver eyebrows shot up. “Yes, we heard.” He tapped his fingers on the arm of his throne. “So what do you want, oh, great hero?”

Sarcastic ass. Wraith respected that, though he hated to respect anything about these fuckwits. He could have asked one of UG’s vampire staff members to turn Serena, but he couldn’t risk the consequences. It went against vampire law to turn a human without permission from the Council. Those who broke the law were subject to a variety of punishments, including execution, a fate shared by their prodigies.

“The human I would take as my mate is dying. I, ah… humbly… beg that she be turned.” He’d rather be beaten than beg for anything. But this was for Serena, and for her, he’d plead until he turned blue.

A low rumble came from a red-haired male at the end of the semi-circle. “You slaughtered my brother. I’d rather kill you than help you.”

Several others murmured in agreement with Red, and Wraith’s gut did a slow slide to his feet. They were going to turn him down.

“Please,” Wraith said, bowing his head. “I’ll do anything.”

Komir sat there, all imperious. After a long, dramatic silence, he addressed the Council. “Who objects to Wraith’s request?”

Everyone raised their hand, and Wraith’s knees went rubbery.

“Council aside, I’m inclined to grant you this favor,” Komir said, and Wraith’s heart leaped. “But it goes against everything we are. We must choose those we change very carefully. A vampire who sires another is responsible for introducing the changeling to vampire culture. We spend a year with them, teaching our ways, sharing everything from feeding to sex.”

Wraith went taut, couldn’t prevent the low-pitched growl in his chest. No vampire would take Serena to bed. Ever. “I will do that.”

“You? You’ve shunned vampire society and made a mockery of it. Murdered your own kind without mercy.”

“I was wrong.”

“You lie.”

Of course he did. Serena’s life was on the line, and he’d never had a problem with lying. He was usually more convincing, however.

He stepped forward. “See these eyes? They should be brown. But they’re blue because vampires gouged out the ones I was born with. Vampires. Before they did it, they hung me from rafters and peeled off my skin. Burned the soles of my feet with blowtorches. Gutted me so my brothers had to shove everything back in and tack my intestines in place so they wouldn’t slide down to my nail-less toes.” He stepped out of the circle he was supposed to be standing inside. “So tell me, you bunch of dickless fucks, why I should have embraced my vampire half. Tell me!”

Several of them looked away.

“That’s what I thought.”

Komir stood. “Your brothers informed us of your past. Your greatest fear is torture, is it not?”

“It’s my second greatest fear,” Wraith said, his voice strong and sure. “My first is to lose Serena.”

“I almost believe you.”

“You’d better.”

“Perhaps you should prove it.” Komir walked from around the half-moon table and stopped beside a blood-stained platform. “There has been much pain on both sides—yours and ours. But there will be more. If you wish to save your female, you will face your fear to do it.”

Oh, fuck.

“Are you willing?”

Wraith glanced at the platform, and flashbacks of being strung up in the warehouse blazed through his mind.

He fought to stay upright as he faced Komir. The charm couldn’t protect him from this if he agreed to it. “Yes.”

“Then bring her to me.”

Relief flooded Wraith, but dread followed on its heels when he glanced at the altar. No way was Serena coming here, to be laid out like a sacrifice on the stone slab. He knew how the ritual worked. The human would be stripped and laid out before the Council. The members would inspect the human, touch them in whatever manner they wished until the sire, also na**d, mounted them. Sex wasn’t required to make the change, but it went hand-in-hand, and often while sharing blood, the sire and victim f**ked as the Council observed. Or participated.

“You’ll go to her,” Wraith said.

Komir steepled his fingers in front of him. “You don’t truly want this, do you?”

“Serena is too sick to move.” To be safe, he added through gritted teeth, “If it should please you.”

A draft of cold air circulated around the room, bringing with it the Key’s displeasure. He flashed from where he was standing to directly behind Wraith, pressed his chest to Wraith’s back as he leaned in and put his mouth to Wraith’s ear.

“None of this pleases me,” he murmured. “But that you would take a vampire as a mate after all you’ve suffered… perhaps it’s time that the Council gives you a fresh start. But Serena will be mine to indoctrinate into vampire life.”

Wraith wanted to wail with grief, but if this was the only way to keep her from dying, he’d have to deal with it. Somehow.

But the second she was released from Komir’s care, Wraith was bonding with her. She was his and he was going to make sure no male of any species touched her ever again.

“Yes,” he rasped. He cleared his throat and said louder, so everyone in the f**king room could hear. “Yes.”

Komir bared his teeth. “Then let’s go kill your woman.”

Thirty-one

Wraith rushed into Serena’s room with Komir on his heels. Shade was sitting at Serena’s bedside, head bowed, fingers wrapped so tightly around her wrist that her hand had turned white. Shade’s dermoire was glowing fiercely, and Wraith knew he was burning a buttload of energy to keep her alive. Shade didn’t even look up at him. Didn’t say a word.

This was bad. Very, very bad.

Eidolon came in behind Wraith. He was in scrubs, his stethoscope looped around his neck, looking every bit the doctor he was—including his somber expression.

“I’m sorry, Wraith,” he said softly, “but the moment Shade lets go—”

“Then don’t let go.” Wraith turned to Komir. “It’ll still work, right?”

“Perhaps. If she is able to swallow blood.” Komir shook his head. “There’s always a risk—fully ten percent of turnings don’t take. And with her being this far gone…”

“Ah… what’s going on?” Eidolon eyed Komir. “Is this what I think it is?”

“If you’re thinking your brother wants me to turn this human into a vampire, then yes, it’s what you think it is.”

“Hell’s bells,” Shade muttered, still not looking up.

“I won’t argue about this,” Wraith said. E held up his hands and took a step back.

Komir moved to Serena’s side, and Wraith’s heart rate jacked up. Nerves and jealousy were going to tear him apart. Though the elder vamp must have felt the waves of heat coming off Wraith, he ignored them. He walked around the head of the bed and braced Serena’s face in his hands. Gently, he tilted her head to the side. His fangs extended, huge suckers that were, in a moment, going to be buried deep in Serena’s neck.