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had changed my mind? I didn’t remember giving up my conviction. Rhys had no plans on allowing my death, so at the very least I had to wait that out. A hundred years of good behavior would gain me the knowledge I sought. Could I hold out? Could I restrain the monster inside me that long?
    I would damn well try.
    Madge giggled. “How quaint. A vampire concerned with killing.”
    “Not everyone is as fond of it as you are,” Rhys said. “Where’s Cade?”
    “In the parlor. Shall I watch your little fledgling for you?”
    I knew immediately I never wanted to be alone with her. At least not until I knew how to handle myself. I looked to Rhys, intending on insisting I be allowed to just go back to my room, to beg him if need be, but he was already ahead of me. No sooner had I turned my head had he taken hold of my wrist. “There’s no need for that,” he said to her. “She’s my responsibility.” He pulled me back towards the house and I followed eagerly, grateful. When had I decided I trusted him?
    Madge didn’t follow us. Even though I knew the way by heart, I let Rhys lead while I thought about other things. Like my next plan of action.
    He deposited me just inside my bedroom door. I hadn’t noticed when we had gone upstairs. I guess I didn’t get to go with him. That sucked. I would have liked to have seen another vampire, maybe hear something about what was going on. So far all I had to judge by was what I had seen of Rhys and Madge, and they didn’t seem all that alike. Which of them was closer to the norm?
    “Stay here,” Rhys said. I nodded dumbly. What the hell was it with me and following his directions? “I’ll come back for you after I’m done.”
    “What do I do until then?”
    He looked at me like I was stupid. “This is your room. Do you expect me to believe you’ve never spent time in it before? That you’ve never needed to entertain yourself?”
    Okay, so it had been stupid. “Nevermind,” I mumbled. He left then, shutting the door behind himself.
    A cacophony of emotions washed over me all at once. Freedom. Confusion. Wonder. Exhaustion. Grief. In that befuddled haze I made my way over to my stereo and pressed play. The familiar sounds of my favorite band pulsed through the air. I tossed my ruined shirt to the floor, and grabbed another plain blue tee-shirt from my closet. I peeked in the mirror before slipping it on, running my finger over my heart where there should have been a scar, if not a gaping wound. Nothing so dramatic. Only a thin pink line. It would fade. Flawless. Aside from that mole that had always been there. I healed fast. Good to know.
    Once dressed, true to form, I turned the volume up loud enough to block out all other sounds in the house. It had always driven our housekeeper crazy. Anne was almost constantly pounding on my door demanding I keep it down.
    It was then I realized I hadn’t seen Anne anywhere. Surely they hadn’t…She hadn’t…
    I turned the music up louder, to the point where I could feel the bass in my bones and threw myself into my unchoreographed dancing. I didn’t want to think about it. I couldn’t change anything, anyway. I lost myself in my movement and in the music. Each hop, turn, and slide shook another thought loose from my head until there was nothing left. I had nearly fourteen years of formal dance training, but I used none of it now. I didn’t want to feel perfectly aligned, I wanted to feel nothing and everything all at once.
    The speakers blasted out song ten before I realized I wasn’t getting tired. As a human I would have collapsed by now. Fine, one check on the pro side of being a vampire. I kept dancing. I didn’t stop until the last song ended. As the final note died away I reigned in my limbs, falling backwards across my bed. I panted, wondering if I really had to or if it was just habit now, and let my eyes close. I had to admit, I felt better. After almost a week of dying and a day of futile resistance I needed to