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silent envy. Guardians, demons, nosferatu, and hellhounds had the ability to hold items in an invisible pocket of space…or something. No matter how many questions she’d asked, Savi had never been able to determine exactly what it was, but it resembled the hammerspace in a video game: it didn’t matter the size or shape of the item, the Guardians could shove it into their cache, carry it around without effort, then make it reappear with a thought.
    Selah gave a quick smile before shifting her form. For a moment, Savi stared at a mirror image of herself, down to the clothes and jewelry. Then Selah altered it slightly, darkening her skin, widening her face, narrowing her eyes, thinning her lips.
    “Colin will be here in a few minutes,” the Guardian said, and her voice was also like Savi’s—perhaps a bit lower in tone. “Follow his instructions. I need your clothes; I can’t return them. Tomorrow, take the files you need off the computer. I’ll come back for it then.”
    Lilith must already be at work, changing the story, creating lies, and destroying evidence. Savi nodded her permission for Selah to take them; her skirt, sandals, and shirt vanished into Selah’s hammerspace, and Savi stood barefoot on the cold floor in her underwear.
    Nani shook her head. “You won’t leave me nude,” she said in her accented English.
    “We’ll worry about yours later. With luck, they won’t get past Savi to look at you. I’ve got to get back before they charge the bathroom. I hope they don’t shoot me.”
    Savi winced. “Sorry.” Bullets wouldn’t kill a Guardian, but they’d still cause considerable pain.
    “No worries; I’m tough.” Selah disappeared.
    Nani sank onto the sofa with a sigh, kicked off her sandals. “Dress yourself, naatin . You’ll become ill.”
    Savi crossed her arms beneath her breasts, shivering. Not just clothes—a shower was a necessity; she didn’t want to stink of fear and blood and nosferatu when Colin arrived.
    She found her bathrobe in her luggage and shrugged it on, wincing as the rough terry slid over her shoulder. She had to tie the belt one-handed.
    A scratch sounded at the door connecting her apartment to Hugh’s house. Sir Pup. And the vampire, if the knock accompanying it was any indication.
    Dammit. She glanced around the apartment—the silk paintings, the DemonSlayer posters, the jumble of mismatched furniture—and sighed. No time to straighten anything. Nani would likely spend the entire meeting apologizing for Savi’s clutter.
    She opened the door, and the hellhound streaked through and almost toppled her over in his eagerness to welcome her home. Then he stopped and growled, each of his three heads swinging around as if to search out the source of the nosferatu scent.
    “It’s okay, Sir Pup,” Savi told him. “It’s just Nani and me. I had an adventure.” Smiling wryly, she lifted her gaze to Colin’s face.
    Oh, god. It wasn’t fair. She’d prepared herself for it, yet still her breath caught and her heart began to hammer in her chest. And he knew it. Her psychic shields blocked her emotions, but couldn’t hide her physical reaction.
    Yet there was no mockery in his eyes as he looked her over. His perusal was quick, intense. “Invite me in, Savitri,” he said quietly.
    The request startled a laugh from her. “Vampires don’t need an invitation.” She pitched her voice low as well; Nani knew Colin wasn’t human, but probably assumed he was like Michael and Selah. Perhaps even Lilith. No one had disabused her of the notion—her fear of the nosferatu was too great. She had accepted Hugh’s friends and background, but she wouldn’t like knowing Colin was basically half-nosferatu. Demons, Guardians…they were tolerable. Nosferatu were not.
    “No,” he said, and the tips of his fangs showed when he smiled. “But I am a gentleman, and a gentleman doesn’t enter a woman’s house uninvited.”
    She willed her heartbeat to return to its normal pace. She