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body, so you must reach me within a day, two at most, or you will not survive.”
    He stared at the charm in his hand as if it would burn him. “Is this really necessary?”
    “You tell me, Alexander.” She smiled. “Where will they look first when they find out that she has been betrayed?”
    He swallowed in nervousness but then steeled his will and lifted the chain over his head. “How will I find you when the job is done?”
    “That is the other function of the charm. Simply touch a drop of your blood to the metal, and it will teleport you directly to me. Do not use this power unless you have no other option.”
    “Why not?” he asked, lifting the charm to look at it again.
    “The teleport function will require a great deal of energy to cross the ocean without access to the Triumvirate’s fixed-point relay network. It will be powered by a decade of your life, and you will die of your illness within seconds of using it. If I am swift, then I will be able to save you in those seconds, but it will be a near thing. This is an option of last resort, to be used only if you are caught. If at all possible, I would suggest you use conventional transport to find your way to Manchester, and my scions will be able to trace you by the magic of the charm and bring you to me.”
    He stared at the charm for a long moment. Then he slipped it into his shirt. “You haven’t told me what you plan to do with her, if you don’t plan on killing her.”
    She watched him with her eyes half-closed in anticipation. “I plan to offer her a gift.”
    “What gift?”
    She smiled, and her fangs gleamed in the moonlight. “Immortality.”
     

CHAPTER 5
     
    Chapel Hill, North Carolina
    Toby sat on the couch morosely flipping channels, never pausing more than a second or two on any one station. Finally, after he had skipped through the entire menu twice without stopping, Nick couldn’t stand it anymore and snatched the remote from his hand.
    “Okay, that’s enough. Talk to me.”
    Toby slumped farther into the cushions. “What’s to talk about?”
    Nick took in his brother’s defeated posture. “Damn, Toby. I never thought I’d see you this wound up over a woman.”
    “Blow me, Nicholas.”
    Nick sat in the leather recliner across from Toby. “So you got dumped. Either you deal with it and move on, or you go after her and get her back.”
    Toby’s glare could have stripped paint. “It’s not that simple.”
    “Sure it is.” Nick sighed. “You know I was hardly in favor of your getting involved with Layla in the first place.”
    Toby laughed harshly. “Yeah, no shit. You said so enough times.”
    Nick’s eyes shaded toward red. “The point is you did nothing but fight the whole time you were together.”
    Toby snorted as he turned back to the television. “We fucked, too. We fucked a lot.”
    Nick rolled his eyes. “Now that was just too much information, little brother. Anyway, it’s not like you treated her with any respect.”
    Toby’s head snapped around to face Nick. “What the hell are you talking about? I treated her just fine.”
    “Sure you did,” Nick sneered. “That’s why I had to find out you were dating when I found the two of you swimming naked in my pool.”
    “Um, right. Sorry about that.” Toby’s face reddened. “I thought you were supposed to be in France, to meet with Gabrielle Dupont about bringing Paris into the Armistice.”
    “How many ways could Gabrielle turn me down flat? Of course I came home early.” Nick eased the recliner back and put his feet up. “The point is, you kept her your dirty little secret. Did you ever get around to telling Mom or Faith about her?”
    Toby opened his mouth for a scathing reply and then closed it silently. He tilted his head back against the cushions to look at the slowly rotating ceiling fan. “No,” he said grudgingly. “I thought they would disapprove.”
    “And you’d have been right. But that’s no excuse for keeping them in the dark,