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His eyes
were the same color as his raven colored hair. Black ice , she thought as she met his chilly gaze. Vampire ,
was her next realization. She didn’t know how she knew it; she
certainly hadn’t known it about the man sitting across from her
now. She still wouldn’t have suspected it, if she hadn’t seen his
reddened eyes and fangs in the alleyway.
    She’d escaped one hideous nightmare only to
find herself right in the middle of another one. Her heartbeat
picked up, something they could detect. She tried to slow its beat
as she forced herself to keep her face impassive. She wouldn’t give
them the satisfaction of seeing her fright before they ripped out
her heart, turned her into some type of blood donor pincushion,
drained her dry, or whatever it was they planned to do to her.
    Her lips compressed as she stared at him
before turning back to the man across from her. She didn’t know
why, they were both lethal, but she felt more comfortable speaking
with the blond man in the chair. Maybe it was because she’d met him
under more normal circumstances originally, or maybe it was his
stunning, golden boy looks that made him appear more inviting and
trustworthy. Whatever it was, she found herself able to deal with
him a little bit better.
    People assumed most of their neighbors
were pleasant and normal too, until they found out they were serial
killers who liked to wear human skin for fun , she reminded
herself.
    “Where am I?” she demanded.
    “At a friend’s. You’re safe here,” Ian told
her.
    “Am I?”
    The hoarseness of her voice drove him to his
feet. He lifted the glass of water Mandy had left at her bedside
and handed it out to her. She eyed it like she would the poisoned
apple. “It’s only water,” he assured her.
    “Is it?” she inquired.
    “You are safe here,” he said again.
“Besides, we wouldn’t need to poison or drug you.”
    He had a point there. Paige glanced at the
water again before forcing herself up in the bed. Her sore muscles
protested the movement, but she refused to be lying down with this
monster looming over her. Glancing around, she searched the room
for a possible weapon, but she didn’t see anything she could use to
defend herself. Her eyes fell on the needle stuck in her arm. If
anything, she could always rip it out and stick him in the eye with
it, but she’d still have to get by the one in the doorway. She
didn’t think any of them would take well to her blinding golden
boy, but she was willing to find out if she ever got the chance to
try an escape.
    “No one is safe around a monster,” she
murmured when she focused on him again.
    Ian’s eyebrows shot up at her words. “I can
assure you, I’m not a monster.” Her jaw locked; she turned away
from the glass of water he still held out to her and folded her
hands in her lap. Ian focused on Stefan as he tried to quell the
strange twinge her words had caused him. “Let Mandy know she’s
awake.”
    Stefan eyed her for a minute before stepping
out of the room. “Do you remember what happened?” he asked her.
    Paige refused to meet his eyes again so she
stared resolutely at the wall on the other side of the room. Who is
this Mandy he’s talking about, and how many vampires were here in
this house? More importantly, what were they going to do with her?
She tried not to dwell on that final question; she was afraid she
might go a little crazy if she did. Panicking and insanity wouldn’t
do anything to help her escape this situation. No, only a level
head and some damn good luck were going to get her out of here.
Unfortunately, she tended to be about as lucky as the gum on the
bottom of someone’s shoe.
    “Of course. I suffered blood loss, not brain
damage,” she retorted.
    He returned the glass to the table. “Aren’t
you a prickly little cactus of gratitude, I did save your life,” he
drawled.
    Her eyes briefly flitted toward him, a vein
jumped in the corner of her eye, but she didn’t respond to him
before