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strength I could muster. Flesh ripped and ribs cracked under the force of my blow. The next moment, my mouth filled with ashes. I’d heard staking led to instant death, but I couldn’t have imagined that a person could be there one moment and simply not be there the next—nothing but a thin layer of white powder.
    Lost in what had just happened, I didn’t have time to pull back before the end of the leg hit my chest.
    Sputtering and blinking hard against the dust that was everywhere, I rolled to my side and looked around.
    The other vampire snarled and lunged at me before I could sit up. I was on my feet and swinging the table in no time. It caught him on the head and stopped him in his tracks.
    “You bitch!” He took a couple of steps back. “I should have killed you after all!”
    That voice I knew. “Willoughby?” That wasn’t possible. He was supposed to have met the sun half a dozen years earlier.
    Before I could move, he was out the door, promising we’d meet again. “And the next time, I’ll make things right.”
    Technically vampires can’t faint, but I was as close to that as physically possible. I went to Alex, legs feeling as sturdy as noodles, and let out a sigh of relief when he inhaled. Carefully I picked him up and carried him to the armchair we’d spent the night in. “Alex?” I was relieved when he opened those beautiful gray eyes of his as soon as I called his name.
    “Cherry?” His lips moved slowly. “Who were—What— What ?” He let his head drop back and squeezed his eyes shut again. “Were they vampires?”
    “Yes. I dusted one of them, but the other escaped.” I took his hand between mine, and my heart clenched when he pulled away. I tried to keep my voice from wavering. “Are you all right?”
    He looked at me and, with a rueful smile, whispered, “I’ll survive.” His voice was hoarse.
    “You’d better.” Tears filled my eyes again, making my vision blurry. What was it with me and crying? Still, I could make out the narrowing of his eyes as he studied my face.
    “They—These are real tears?” When I nodded, he muttered, “I thought they’d be blood.”
    “I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. The guy who escaped was my maker. He was supposed to be dead. Dead dead. He must have been after me and you were in their way.” I shouldn’t have spent the night. I shouldn’t have…
    “What’s done is done.” He touched the back of his head gingerly and winced. “Why did you help me instead of run?”
    “Oh, I dunno. Because they were attacking you?”
    His eyebrow quirked, one corner of his mouth twitching before he elaborated. “They’re your people. You should be helping them.”
    “That’s not how it works. We’re not a pack.” I kept reminding myself that he’d offered to hold me and keep the sadness at bay just before the attack. For that reason alone, I wouldn’t lose my patience and bite him to shut him up.
    “So what?”
    “Do you help criminals out, just ’cause they’re human?” He shook his head. “I didn’t think so. Besides, I like you more than I do them.” Spelling it out for him should do the trick. “Plus it’s my fault they were here. They must have followed me to the club and waited until it was dark again to make their move.” There were enough holes in my theory for it to be used as a fishing net, but the gist of the matter was that I was to blame.
    “I don’t think they were after you.”
    I reached for his hand again. When he didn’t avoid my touch this time, I gave him a gentle squeeze. “What do you mean?”
    “Can vampires enter someone’s home uninvited?” He coughed like his lungs were on fire, and I wondered if he’d taken a punch or two before I’d come out of the basement.
    I patted his back. “No. They have to be asked in by the owner of the house or a direct family member. Unless the owner is dead, of course, in which case…” The horror of what I’d just said made me instantly numb.
    Alex