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he’d stay on his feet till the last second. “You know, the vampire kiss.”
    She still looked confused. And then he understood.
    “You don’t know about the vampire kiss? About how you can drain a person’s energy just by kissing them?”
    Her eyes slowly widened, and her hands dropped to her sides. “You’re lying to me.”
    The urge to laugh fled. “No, I’m not. You really thought blood was the only way to get energy from us humans?”
    He could almost see the walls go back up around her as her spine straightened. Her eyes, so soft and dreamy seconds ago, became cool and hard again. But beneath their surface, he could swear he saw more than a little shock and horror thrown into the mix.
    “I didn’t know about the…vampire kiss. I am so sorry. I wouldn’t have… If I’d known…” She turned and strode toward the door, not running, but close to it.
    Aw hell. Now he’d really gone and screwed things up. He made his shaky legs work despite the protests his body screamed at him, catching up with her just after she got the front door open. “Lorena, wait. I believe that you didn’t know—“
    She stopped and half turned toward him, but she wouldn’t look at him. In the dark foyer with the darker night waiting beyond her, he could barely make out her profile.
    “I’m truly sorry,” she whispered. “I…I have to go. But trust me, I understand now what you were trying to say tonight. You’re the human, and I’m the monster. Monsters don’t deserve to have lives or dreams. And you know what? You’re absolutely right.” She stepped across the threshold.
    He reached for her arm to stop her, but he might as well have tried to hold onto a speeding car flying past. His fingers slipped right off her arm. He followed her out to the yard. “Lorena, stop. You don’t have to go.” I don’t want you to go, he almost added. Pride and confusion made the words lodge in his throat. How had all his plans gotten so screwed up? He’d practically blackmailed her into coming here so he could warn her away. Now he’d managed to well and truly scare her, and all he wanted was for her to come back.
    But she never stopped, never looked back as she got into her car. Just before she shut the door, she said, “You won’t have to worry about me being around your kid anymore. Good night.”
    Then she started the car and drove away, leaving him with nothing else to do but to crouch down, press a hand to the grass, and draw up energy from the earth to replenish his body. And wonder what the hell he’d been thinking to kiss her in the first place.

Chapter 8
     
    H is mother called later that night. It took a while before her tone of voice got through his muddled thoughts.
    “Wait. Back up, Mom. What are you talking about?” Conor sank onto the edge of his bed and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
    “Haven’t you heard a word I said? I said there’s a vampire here in town! Right here in Taylorsville ! We have to alert the elders, call a meeting of The Clann, form a plan of action. I can’t believe after all these years the vampires would break the truce like this.” Her voice was at a near shriek, each word piercing his pounding skull. Apparently kissing a vampire could cause one hell of a headache afterwards. This one was at the full blown hangover level.
    “Mom, calm down. The vampires didn’t break the truce.”
    “Are you calling your mother a liar?” she hissed.
    “No, of course not. I know there’s a vampire in town. She’s one of the ballerinas with the Houston Symphonic Ballet Company, right?”
    “How did you…”
    “I took Chrissy to see Romeo and Juliet last weekend.”
    “You knew for a week and didn’t tell us?” She was definitely shrieking now. He winced, tempted to hold the phone away from his ear. Though knowing his mother’s abilities, she’d probably know it if he did and become even more irate.
    “Calm down. Yes, I knew, and I was handling it.”
    “Was? What