Ellory bared his fangs and growled softly. Her presence throbbed on the periphery of his awareness, just out of reach, teasing, taunting and luring him, giving him no peace. He'd end it tonight.

How long had he felt that ball and chain in his soul? A quarter of a century, at least. This week it had consumed him; tonight it had become a voice in his head.

Damn you, Benedikt! What happened to you?

Whoever she was, her signature vibration made her shine like a beacon. She was strong, this one.

He cast a glance behind him at his tall blond companion. "She's definitely here. And close."

Meical Grabian shook his head. "If you'd been monitoring our perimeter, you'd know the only vampires in our domain tonight are you, me and your fledgling ragamuffins."

Ellory honed in on his nemesis. She was pure light, not darkness. Not vampire. "Meical, she's human."

His friend became motionless. That was Meical. All stone in the face of the incredulous. "How can she call to you? How was she able to bring you back here, Ellory?"

"That's what I'm going to find out. And then I'm going to be sure it doesn't happen again. The only human I'm picking up on--"

"--is that one down there," Meical finished.

Ellory joined his friend on the other edge of the overhang and took a look. Down on the beach, a lone woman meandered closer to the water's edge.

"I'll bet my last drop she's Dylan's idea of a homecoming gift," Meical whispered. "Probably full of bloodbane. One sip of her and your guts will rot."

Ellory probed the woman's subconscious. No trance. No hint of a vampire's possession. "No, she's unmarked."

"I don't believe it. Turn her inside out."

Sifting through the thousands of fragrances the night breeze brought him, Ellory breathed in the woman's scent, a heady mixture of roses, blood and feminine flesh. Her rage danced along his spine like a caress. He could feel her unsteady breathing, taste the salty tears on her cheek and hear her soul's cry of anger. Grief. A fresh wound. The silence of death shrouded everything inside of her.

Thoughts of his human life emanated from her like a whirlpool waiting to drag him under. The compulsion to go to her gripped him so hard he gasped. She wasn't just curious about him; she was obsessed. Who was she?

His passage from human life had long ago ceased to have meaning for anyone, and that was the way he must keep it. Not that she would believe the truth if she looked it in the face, let alone survive it.

"Simple solution," Meical murmured. "Dispose of her."

"Not until I understand how she formed this bond with me."

"Is that wise? The longer she's alive, the more of a threat she'll become. Your reputation allowed you to reclaim this domain without challenge, but our neighbors are watching you. Any sign of weakness, and they'll be on you and your flock of sucklings in a heartbeat. Just get rid of her."

Ellory shook his head and launched himself off the cliff, hovering in the breeze. "Leave her to me."

Meical scowled, but vanished without another protest.

Sweeping soundlessly down to the ground, Ellory dematerialized and followed the woman. The wind dallied with her hip-length hair. Strawberry blonde. Perhaps more red than gold in the sunlight? He tried to imagine it.

He opened himself to her anger, felt it rock against him like a boat come loose from its mooring--or home to its harbor.

She was angry at him.

Ellory ran a hand through his hair and growled again. What the hell was going on? Well, my lamb, you've found your Captain Benedikt, but I'm afraid he isn't what you expect.

He materialized slowly.

"Damn fog."

At the sound of the deep, resonant voice, Talisen turned to see a man stride out of the mist. She hopped out of his way to avoid being walked on.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't see you."

She pointed her flashlight skyward so it cast a wash of light around them. She told herself not to stare, but she couldn't help it. She regarded him with an artist's appreciation for the physical beauty of a well-endowed male. His gold-flecked mahogany hair curled around the collar of his dark green turtleneck, and his black corduroys hugged him in all the right places. His oak-brown eyes exuded a mixture of reassurance and absolute power.

He looked behind him, to the left and the right, and then gave her a smile a dentist would die for. "Fog does weird things to your sense of direction when you're not used to it, doesn't it?"

Mr. Immaculate didn't seem like the type to get lost anywhere. Talisen pointed at the tree line behind them. "If you're staying at the campgrounds, you want to go that way."

"I'm parked at the visitor's center, actually."

"You can get there from my campsite. Come this way."

She started toward the trees, and the man fell in beside her. He was well over six feet tall and looked capable of snapping trees in two. Talisen firmed her grip on her heavy utility flashlight as they ducked into the darkness of the forest.

"You must visit the park a lot," he said. "You know your way so well."

"It's my getaway place. So, how long are you visiting?"

"Actually, I used to live here a long time ago, and I've just moved back." His voice dropped to a gravelly murmur that held more meaning than small talk could account for. "A lot has changed."

Talisen felt like seconding that statement. The anger seethed inside her again, and she focused on following the beam of her flashlight ahead of them.

When they arrived at her campsite, she turned up her lantern and pointed into the gloom beyond its glow. "Just follow that road. It'll take you right to the parking lot at the visitor's center."

"Thanks." He held out his hand. Talisen thought she'd lose herself in his oak-brown eyes. "I'm Ellory Benedikt. If there's ever anything I can do for you, you can reach me through the Gerards up at the Benedikt Inn."

Talisen blinked and stared at him. It couldn't be. It was just too perfect. "You're Ellory Benedikt?"

Snared. Caught. His. Ellory heard her heart leap in response to his name. The answering rush of her blood was almost more than he could bear. Her lips parted, shell-pink lips, perfect for kissing....

She laughed and caught his hand in hers. He loved her firm grip. "You're not going to believe this, but I've been trying to get hold of you."

If only she knew how well she'd succeeded. "Really? What did you need to talk to me about, Ms..."

"Talisen Davies." An edge crept into her tone, latent with anger. "I have some questions about your ancestor, the one you're named after. Captain Arthur Ellory Benedikt. I'm descended from his wife's line, and I'm trying to finish our family history, but I'm stuck on the story of his disappearance."

Ellory silenced a groan. It was dangerous enough to find a clueless human at the other end of this psychic leash he wore, but Maddie's kinswoman? A flesh-and-blood bridge to his human life? How had this happened? Their shared familial connection and Talisen's intense focus on him could account for the strength of her hold over him, but it had taken something truly powerful to create it.

Meical was right about one thing. With the neighbors sizing Ellory up to see if he was enclave material or an easy kill, the way he handled this situation could make or break his family's survival here.

To his knowledge, there were only two ways he could sever Talisen's hold on him. She wouldn't survive the first; she wouldn't want to survive the second.

He smiled down at her with a sting of remorse he could scarcely believe. He, who regretted nothing. "I've always been interested in my namesake. It's a hobby of mine. Would you like to talk about it now?"

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose."

"I have no plans this evening."

Ellory picked up Talisen's two lawn chairs and followed her into her tent. Setting the chairs beside her small table, he sat down while she fetched a briefcase from under her cot, opened it on the table and pulled out a notebook and a pen.

"I have all of my grandmother's notes," she said. "She finished our genealogy, except for the chapter about Madeline and the Captain. I have a couple of family stories about how turbulent their marriage was, and of course I know about Madeline from my side of the family. But there seems to be very little information about Benedikt, except that he went missing and his body was never found. The consensus seems to be that he left her."

Ellory had heard the stories about his "disappearance" for months after his turning. But he and Maddie had been estranged long before that. They were ill-matched from the beginning. Only their honor had held them together. When he'd left his human life behind, Maddie had had his wealth to console her, but not his love.

His love he'd left with another, unspoken though it was.

"How about Benedikt's birth date?" Talisen asked. "I only have an approximate date."

Ellory leaned closer. He didn't miss the soft catch in Talisen's breath. "March 12, 1761."

Whipping her notebook open, she wrote it down. When she met his gaze, her dark green eyes swallowed him whole. "Can you verify that? What's your source?"

"One of his logbooks from The Swan. That was his favorite clipper. The prettiest four-masted lady that ever sailed out of New England." He grinned. "Or so he wrote."

She looked up with a skeptical half-smile. "Your logbook's for real?"

"Yes, and as far as I know, it's the only one that survived. He scribbled personal notes in the margins of some of the logbook's pages. On March 2, 1789, he made an entry about turning twenty-eight that day."

Her skepticism faded to excitement that made her eyes gleam. "That's wonderful. So, he was about thirty-two when he married Madeline. And he disappeared in August the same year."

"I have a box of Benedikt's stuff, actually. It's not much, but you might like to see it."

"I would. Very much."

He didn't know why he'd kept any of it. On one of his few return visits to Camden, he'd found a few of his belongings at an estate sale Madeline's executor arranged to settle her debts after her death. He hadn't found the item he hoped to recover, but it was just as well. He'd rather it be lost forever than end up with Maddie. If there was any mercy in the world, its rightful owner took that cherished relic of his human life to her grave, along with what it had meant to both of them.

Talisen looked up from her notes. "When would be convenient for me to see Benedikt's things?"

"Why not tonight?"

She looked away and pulled her notebook closer, as if for safety.

Ellory kept his voice low and gentle. "Unless, of course, you have other plans."

She shook her head. "No, it's just that...."

"What, Talisen? What's wrong?"

"My grandmother raised me, so I know how much all of this would have meant to her. All my life, I watched her struggle to find out what happened to Benedikt. I think she'd have given my bronzed baby shoes to see something that actually belonged to him." Her teeth grated for a moment. "It should be her sitting here talking to you."

She shoved herself out of her chair and went to the stove to pour some coffee. Ellory watched her shoulders droop, but her voice was clear and even. "She couldn't let it go, even when it stopped being research and turned into souvenir-collecting. It didn't matter how unfounded, conflicting or ridiculous a story was. If it had to do with him, she went after it. She kept hoping to find something to prove his disappearance wasn't his fault. She refused to believe he deserted Madeline."

"The Rudyards are proud people. Proving Captain Benedikt was a man of honor was your grandmother's way to save face."

"The way she talked about him, you'd have thought he was our damned guardian angel."

He could see her shaking now. Her anger filled the tent.

"How the hell does someone have a freak blow-out in her car and die half a block from her front door?"

"And the guardian angel wasn't there to save her."

"I know it's illogical and stupid, but at one time I actually believed he could have saved her somehow, like magic." She returned to the table, eyes glinting with rage and pain. "That's how real Grandma made him seem to me."

Ellory let the silence fall between them. Part of him wished he had been there to save her grandmother, to be their hero; part of him wished he could walk away from this woman and never look back. But that would be like signing Talisen's death warrant. When a vampire relinquished his responsibility for the behavior of the humans living in his domain, it was the same as relinquishing his claim on them. They became fair game for the rest of the vampire community.

As things stood now, Talisen had yet to discover anything about him that made her a security risk to the Enclave, but that wouldn't matter to his neighbors. Humans who dug around in a vampire's past were living on borrowed time. Moving Talisen as close as possible to the summer house would send a message to the Enclave that he had the situation in hand and Talisen was his.

Not even Dylan would violate a sanctum boundary.

The inn was the perfect choice. Close enough to keep her safe--and safely his--but not so close that it broke his primary rule of survival: never--ever--bring your prey home.

"Talisen," he said, "considering what you're going through right now, I think you need to be somewhere more comfortable. Let me get you a room at the Benedikt."

"Thank you, but that's not what I need. Grandma and I had brunch there every Sunday." She added wistfully, "We never spent the night. They never have vacancies."

"The room is already paid for. I put the Gerards to the trouble of having it ready for me, but I don't need it." He read the swift refusal in her eyes and added, "Can you think of a better place than the inn to discuss family history?"

Her gaze softened, and Ellory followed her thoughts as they came and went. She had decided to put aside her defenses. Just like that? Remarkable. Rudyards seldom trusted so easily.

It had to be the bond they shared that had done it. She surely felt the connection between them, though she would naturally chalk it up to their shared interest in family history. Whatever. The important thing was that she had let him in. He might be able to take it easy on her.

Just when Ellory thought coercion wouldn't be necessary, Talisen surprised him. "Thanks, Ellory, but since I can't pay you back for the room, I'd rather not take you up on it."

Ah. That was her pride talking. Fixing his gaze on hers, Ellory built a first-class vampiric compulsion thread by thread and wrapped it around Talisen like a blanket.

She yawned until her jaw popped, and her face flushed with embarrassment. "I really can't go there. I just can't."

He'd never encountered a human as strong as she was. He gave her another mental shove toward oblivion. When her eyes glazed over, he whispered, "I promise you, the memories you encounter at the inn will be happy for you, not sad. You'll feel safe and content there. Come along. Let's collect your things."

She blinked sleepily and, like a marionette, began to gather her belongings.

He didn't like deceiving her. It galled him. Why? The use of deception was a mercy to one's prey. And it wasn't as if she meant anything to him. Or ever could.

Nothing could be more impossible.

Chapter Two

Talisen lifted her head and squinted at the headlights passing in dizzy succession. What in the world?

She looked around the leather front seat of Ellory's car. As they rolled through an intersection, the streetlights glinted off the Jaguar emblem on his steering wheel and gleamed in his eyes.

He glanced at her and smiled, then shifted his gaze back to the road. "Feel better?"

"I don't even remember nodding off." For that matter, she didn't remember leaving the park. A shudder went through her. Her whole body felt half-numb and half-awake.

Ellory leaned forward and turned up the heat. "I let Mrs. Gerard know we're on our way."

Talisen leaned back in the seat with a weary sigh. She'd missed a lot of sleep this week. Maybe it was catching up with her.

Ellory was quiet, the car hushed and warm. She fought off a yawn and made an effort not to fall back asleep. "What do you do, Ellory?"

Without taking his eyes off the road, he reached into the glove compartment, pulled out a CD, and handed it to her. "My latest."

Talisen read the title aloud. "Midnight Sun. Nocturnes by.... "She jerked her head up to look at him. "E.B. Arthur?"

Ellory made a gesture reminiscent of doffing a hat. "Now that you know my secret identity, you have to swear never to divulge it to another soul."

"Okay. I swear on your new CD that I won't tell anyone you're E.B. Arthur."

"Not good enough."

"What should I swear on, then?"

"Your life, of course. We'll make it a blood pact."

The sudden heat in his voice sent another shiver up Talisen's spine. His electric eyes lent his face a sexy, lethal look. She shivered again.

She skimmed the titles on the CD case. Some were already familiar to her from hearing them on the radio.

"Your music hurts," she murmured.

"Care to expound on that?"

"No."

"Oh, come on. Tell me."

"All right. It's the soul mate thing."

"And that hurts you?"

"Yes, and by the sound of your music, it hurts you too. Don't lie."

He laughed. "So you don't like soul mate songs?"

"I didn't say that. I crave them. That's what it is about your music. It makes me hungry for something I don't have a name for. Or someone. It hurts, but ... it hurts really good."

Ellory looked at her for so long she wondered how the car hugged the road like it did. "Thank you."

He looked ahead again, and Talisen put the CD in the player. His music filled the car's interior with haunting sound, despair mingled with desire and devotion. He composed most of his pieces for piano and electric violin. Like the choir voices that lent his music an ethereal quality, the sensual backbeat was created on a synthesizer. It was a blend of the primitive and the angelic.

She couldn't help wondering if Ellory was like that when he loved someone. How else could he provoke those feelings in others? If he loved like that ... if he made love like that ... what must he be like to love?

"Hey, Ellory?"

"Yes?"

"Will you play for me sometime?"

He smiled without looking at her. "I'd love to. In fact, maybe you can help me with my current piece. It hasn't told me what it wants to be called yet, and I think it's my favorite."

When they pulled up at the Benedikt, Ellory pointed at a nest of twinkling lights, dense foliage and trees further up the hill. "That's the summer house."

"Yes, the place with the jungle."

"It's a mess, isn't it? I don't know what my son Sean can do with it, but give teenagers time and they can do anything."

"You have a son?"

Affection and pride pervaded Ellory's voice. "Three sons, four daughters, all adopted. Actually, Sean works for me, but he and his little sister Shelby are as much my own as the rest. Being a single parent isn't easy, but we all help each other, and they get along pretty well, so it's mostly a joy."

Being rich didn't hurt, either. Talisen grinned. "You're doing a great job if you can raise seven children by yourself and still have time to write such beautiful music."

When they pulled up at the Benedikt and entered the warm, fragrant parlor, Talisen braced herself for a barrage of memories to set in. It had only been a couple of weeks since her last brunch with Grandma.

The smell of spices from the kitchen and the sight of the familiar tavern-style furnishings around her brought back all the fun she'd had growing up with Grandma. But her grief remained distant, as though it belonged outside of her.

It was as if the inn had morphed into a safety zone with Ellory's name on it. She didn't want to question it. She just wanted to feel it.

Ellory put a hand under her elbow. "Okay so far?"

She nodded, amazed. "I don't know how, but yes, I'm fine."

That seemed to please him. He looked downright self-satisfied, in fact. Maybe it was a matter of family pride to him for her to feel secure here.

Mrs. Gerard came out of the office with a beaming smile for Ellory. When she saw Talisen, her face flushed red, and she shook her head at her. "I thought your grandmother was persistent, but you take the cake. I don't know how found Mr. Benedikt, but I hope you didn't give him the idea that I helped you."

Before Talisen could respond, Ellory wrapped his arm around her and gave her a hearty squeeze. "I was just about to thank you for sending Talisen my way. Did you know one of her ancestors married into my family back in the Captain's day? We should treat her like family. What do you say?"

Of course, Mrs. Gerard had to capitulate. "Certainly, sir."

Talisen gave her a disarming smile. "Thanks for giving me a room on such short notice."

The lady winked at Ellory. "We're always ready for Mr. Benedikt, just in case he ever decides to actually take us up on our hospitality."

"I'll only be here for one night," Talisen asserted.

Ellory shot her a chiding grin. "Says who?"

"Says me."

His response was a devilish laugh that loosed a swarm of butterflies inside her.

Mrs. Gerard led them up the creaking stairs. When they bypassed the second story and continued to the top of the house, Talisen's heart leaped. She knew which room was up here. She and Grandma had never actually seen it, only the picture on the inn's web site. And, of course, the Gerards would naturally reserve the best in the inn for Ellory.

Mrs. Gerard pushed a door open and flipped on a light. Talisen followed her in. Turning in a slow circle, she eyed the room around her, speechless with appreciation. They called it the Captain's Suite in the brochures. These had been his rooms.

When Talisen turned and smiled at him, Ellory drew a sharp breath. Mother-of-pearl teeth. Sun-bright, dancing green eyes. She turned him inside out. Before he could help it, he smiled back at her, then cleared his throat and looked away. He'd done the right thing to bring her here. The chance to stay in this room would take the sting out of her embarrassment over not being able to pay for it.

It had been the only stipulation he'd made in his contract with the Gerards: these rooms were not to be offered to the clientele. It didn't matter that he hadn't set foot in them in over two hundred years--and wouldn't for a thousand more. He couldn't tolerate the thought of strangers sleeping here.

"I'll get Jeff to bring up the rest of her things," Mrs. Gerard said to him.

He handed his key to her. "Ms. Davies travels light. Just the cardboard box in the trunk."

She cast a dubious smile at Talisen and left.

Leaning in the doorway, Ellory watched Talisen kneel over a chest at the end of the big four poster, presenting him with an enticing view of her backside. He swallowed hard, going slowly mad at the sight of her beautiful, bobbing behind. She was round and supple in all his favorite places.

She stood, holding up a blue and white quilt she'd found in the chest, and laid it over the rocker by the fireplace before exploring the objects on the mantle. A piece of scrimshaw. A long-stemmed pipe. A pewter tankard.

Props. That was all they were. The pipe was the only thing that moved him. He still missed his tobacco, the pleasant simplicity of enjoying a good smoke and a pint of ale after a day of hard work.

The night wind swept in through an open window. He knew Talisen smelled only the salty sea and the green of the forest. He, however, smelled the blood of potential prey and could hear every heartbeat in the inn. Only hers called to him.

But he still didn't want to set foot in this room. Talisen wasn't the only one who could be haunted by memories of this old place. Though a thousand of his mortal days hadn't burned as brightly as one of his immortal nights, sometimes he longed for his lost humanity. When a vampire fed on a human, he tasted the mortal heart and experienced mortality again. And though few would admit it, that vicarious glimpse of a life they'd never know again was as important to them as the sustenance they took from human blood.

Talisen turned to him with disbelief and delight written on her face. "If Grandma could see this...."

"What would she say?" he asked.

"That she expects the Captain himself to come walking in."

"What would you do if he did?"

She laughed, but dodged his question. "This is a dream come true. How can I thank you?"

"That depends. What's a dream come true worth to you?"

Talisen treated him to a devil-may-care smile and looked as if she had a ready reply for him, but the arrival of the Gerards's son preempted her remark.

While the boy brought up the rest of her things and lit a fire in the hearth, Talisen pulled a heavy woolen nightgown out of her cardboard box and shook it out, filling the room with her scent. She disappeared into the bathroom, which had once been his dressing room. By the time she emerged, they were alone again.

Ellory watched her put away the rest of her belongings, his gaze captured by her every move. The chaste garment made her seem as though she belonged in this room. She stood at the fire for a moment and brushed her hair. The tendrils fell in cinnamon spirals down her back. The firelight silhouetted her curves, and what he couldn't see made him want her more. He winced. If he didn't get hold of himself, the bulge in his fly would make it obvious to her exactly how he'd like to be thanked.

She put the last of her things away in the wardrobe and joined him in the doorway. "You can come in, if you want to. I don't bite."

Ellory winced again. "Actually, I'd best be going. I have work to do, and you need to sleep."

"You write your music at night?"

He couldn't resist. "I seem to be at my best after dark."

He didn't miss her blush. She bent hastily to slip off her sneakers. One of her socks had a hole in it. He stared at the pink toe peeking out at him and touched his tongue to his upper lip. He was actually salivating. Time to go. Now.

He pushed himself away from the wall and turned to leave. "Sleep tight, Talisen."

"Ellory?"

Halting, he beat down his hunger and hoped it didn't show when he looked back at her.

He watched her bite her lip and struggle with her pride. She finally managed to spit it out, though he lost her gaze to the floor again. "Do you have to go right now?"

Willpower be damned.

He stepped across the threshold. His soulful sprite retreated to the hearth, pushed a chair closer to the fire for him and patted its seat. Sitting down in the rocker close by, Talisen drew her knees up to her chin and watched him with a patient smile as he sat down.

"Meet me for breakfast in the morning?" she asked.

The firelight played with the highlights in her hair. It mesmerized him. He closed his fingers around the arms of his chair until he felt the wood dint and softened his voice, making it irresistible. He knew the honey the human heart craved, the spell of comfort and safety. "You'll sleep late tomorrow. I'll come by in the evening."

She rested her cheek on one knee and looked at him through drooping eyelids. "I never sleep late."

"Tomorrow you will." He added a mental nudge to ease her into slumber. "You should go to bed, now."

"Well ... alright ... but don't get the idea this is my usual protocol with someone I've only just met." She yawned and sighed contentedly, unaware of how beautiful she was, how much he wanted to.... "You're family, so it's okay."

A point to bear in mind. Ellory turned his gaze on the fire. "Go on to bed. I'll stay for a bit."

"That's really sweet of you, Ellory."

Yes, Ellory, that's oh so sweet. The sarcasm in Meical's thought-voice stung in every nerve. Congratulations on your newfound contraband. She's the choicest of prey, innocence wrapped in the body of a goddess, and with a life force like hers--now that you've singled her out--she'll have our kind flocking to her door the minute you turn your back. With any luck, you'll actually survive that kind of notoriety, though it's doubtful she will. Or did you think of that before you reverted to a brainless whelp?

Ellory caught back a growl. Stop bellyaching. I'll mark her as mine. They won't touch her. They won't dare.

And then what? Erase it all from her mind? Replace it with a cock-and-bull story about your mortal demise? Oh, but then you'd have to hang around for the rest of her days, just to be sure no one enlightens her about the truth--like Dylan, for instance. In case you've forgotten, he doesn't give a damn about the Law of the Mark. Seeing as how he's entrenched in the good graces of our new neighbors, and we aren't, I'd say you'd better be making long-term plans for your new morsel.

Point taken, Meical. I'll keep a close eye on Talisen. She'll be safe here at the inn. She's well within my sanctum boundary, and not even Dylan will poach that far.

Ellory, think about what you're doing. I know you'll see reason. Meical withdrew from their thought-path.

See reason? All Ellory could see at the moment was Talisen climbing into the four poster and being swallowed by covers. All he could think about was climbing in after her.

He'd done all that was needed for the moment. He didn't need to linger. Not here, of all places. If he didn't leave now, he wouldn't.

The minute her head touched the pillow, he pushed at her mind with the drugging comfort he could give. Her eyes closed, but he knew she wasn't asleep yet.

"Thank you for everything, Ellory," she murmured. "Promise you'll let me pay you back for this."

It would be so easy. He was practiced at laying humans bare. To feed on her would be exquisite. To feel her respond, as humans couldn't help but do, to the Kiss....

He rose and walked slowly to the end of the bed. "What if I asked you for something precious to you, something difficult to give up?"

She opened her eyes, bright green and glistening from the enthrallment he'd cast over her. A drowsy smile tugged at her soft mouth. "Try me."

His fangs unsheathed completely, and he turned his head aside to hide them.

What was the truth worth to Talisen?

It was a fool's question. She wouldn't believe what had really become of her precious captain. And if she did, she'd wish him a stake through his heart.

Just like any other human.

He squelched a growl, trying to exhale his lust and hunger. He would mark Talisen when it became necessary. Not before. But he would see an end to her curiosity about him, here and now.

Ellory opened his eyes to find Talisen's face inches away. Her mouth closed over his, soft and insistent. He let it happen, just let go, and wrapped his arms around her, even though he knew she didn't know what was happening.

She mouthed her way over his jaw and down his throat, moving against him until he felt every curve of her through the woolen nightgown. He savored her kiss, dancing in the light of her soul and soaking up the warmth in her.

Ellory Benedikt, what the devil are you doing to yourself?

Ellory tore his mouth from Talisen's and dragged in a breath. Damn it, Meical, what are you tonight? A jack-in-the-box?

Just thought you'd like to know that fledgling you asked me to look after is attracting too much attention. You'd best tend to her soon.

Ellory closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing. I'm just leaving.

I rejoice to hear it.

Shut up, Meical.

Meical's laugh faded into the darkness.

Ellory swept around the side of the bed and eased Talisen down into the covers, shushing her softly when she tried to keep kissing him. "You're going to sleep, Talisen. Right now. And you won't remember this. Understand?"

She shook her head. "No. I need you. I need you so bad."

He wrapped her in a drowsy compulsion so inescapable it made her gasp. "You will forget this happened. You will sleep. When you wake up, you'll realize you've found out what you wanted to know about Captain Benedikt. He ... he...."

Ellory blanched with the effort to say the words, to dispel her curiosity about him forever. No more questions to make his neighbors nervous and threaten his fledglings's safety.

But he couldn't. For the first time in two hundred and fifteen years, a human cared about what had become of him.

Where was the harm in indulging her a while longer? She'd know the truth soon enough--and then she'd wish she didn't.

Talisen rolled away from him, curled into a tight ball, and started sniffling. He knew that wasn't her true nature. She was a Rudyard, through and through, a lioness who hid her fears from predators like him. If not for his hypnotic enthrallment, she'd never show her tears like this.

Ellory said gently, "Talisen, if you go to sleep now, you'll dream. You'll dream about your Captain all night long."

Her sniffling stopped. She was listening.

He knelt by the bed and tucked the covers more securely around her, lowering his voice to a lulling whisper. "He'll take you out to sea with him and show you beautiful places you've never dreamed of. You'll live a lifetime in your dreams tonight. With him. He'll be everything you need him to be. And when you wake in the morning, you'll feel safe, and you'll know ... this night of dreams was as precious to him as it was to you."

He watched her body relax and probed her mind. The sweet world of her dreams beckoned him. He could make it so real for her. She'd feel the soft touch of the sea wind on her face, hear the lap of every moonlit wave, enjoy the smell of polished wood, red wine, and leather in his candlelit cabin ... take comfort in the warmth and softness of his bed....

But that was an indulgence that would only make things more difficult for both of them.

Ellory rose, and with one last look at her, let himself out quietly, locking the door behind him.

Even though no locks could keep her safe from him.

Ellory let the night wind carry him over the wooded hills, caught a gust that took him higher, and then descended to a weathered overhang atop Mount Battie. He stood in the drizzle, filling his lungs with the wet night air and listening to the preternatural heartbeats of his kind. The night wind sang to him of their goings and comings, deeds and misdeeds.

It was time to check on his fledglings. Closing his eyes, he scanned their favorite hunting grounds and detected their presence at a movie theater in town. He grinned. They'd stuffed themselves and were lounging in the back row, as absorbed in the movie as the humans around them, some of whom were sleeping off the effects of his children's voracious appetites.

Reassured that they were safe, he turned his attention to the task at hand. The trespasser.

It took him only a moment to find her. Hers was the erratic heartbeat of the newborn vampire, and she was sick with hunger. He snatched at her frenzied thoughts. In human terms, she was about sixteen. Not a local. He could glean no description of her creator from her memory. She'd been set upon by a vampire up north last night, brought here by another, and tonight, passed off to a third. No choice. No explanation. Only brutality, then abandonment.

Ellory dilated his pupils until the woodland area below him could conceal nothing from him. There. A staggering blur of yellow hair and pink sneakers on the edge of a clearing. He launched himself into the night sky and landed flat-footed in the wet grass to intercept her.

He waited until she saw him, gave her a second to realize the inevitable, and with a silent command, stopped her in her tracks. She screamed when her legs buckled beneath her. She rolled into a sobbing, shuddering heap.

He circled her slowly. How far into her transformation was she? Her soiled clothing smelled of human offal and death. Her body had rid itself of all that was human and now quickened with all that was vampire. She stared at him, wide-eyed with terror, until a hard pain wracked her body, and she screamed.

Ellory went to her and held her, enveloping her in a mind-drugging daze until the spasm passed. If she didn't feed soon, she'd die. But she deserved a choice.

"Don't hurt me!" she moaned.

He smoothed her matted hair out of her eyes. "Do you remember what your name is?"

"Jenny. I think."

"All right, Jenny, this is what we're going to do. I'm going to help you, but you have to decide how I'm going to do that."

He filled her mind with an image of the choice he was offering her. He made it very clear what she was, what she would always be, if she chose to live on. The powers that were hers. The limitations. The darkness. The loss of the sun.

Ellory tried to give her an image of the light that waited for her if she chose death, but it was difficult for him to envision it himself. The best he could do was describe it as a warm, safe haven that was within her reach, where she would never be hurt or frightened again.

He waited for her to make her decision, ready to take her life painlessly or open a vein in his wrist and finish what her creator had started.

She shuddered and gasped, "I want to stay."

"Then you will. These hard few hours will run their course, and you won't have to face them alone."

Ellory sat against a tree, drew her back against him, rolled up his sleeve and bit his wrist. Letting the blood flow for a moment, he pressed the wound to her mouth and whispered to her. She found the flow with her tongue, lapped once, twice, and moaned. A second later she found the vein and clung to him, suckling hard.

Caressing her head, he exhaled a soundless sigh. "Look around you, Jenny. See how beautiful nighttime is. You can be part of it in a way you never could as a human."

She nuzzled his wrist, biting harder. Her thought-voice was barely a sigh in his mind. Nothing's as good as this. I'll never get enough.

He laughed softly and laid his head back against the tree, savoring the contentment of the moment. Presently he felt her mouth slow, pucker, and loosen. He smiled. She was sound asleep, with her fledgling canines already in evidence and still nipping into his flesh.

What she needed now was a safe place to weather the night. Her stupor wouldn't last long. She'd wake up just as famished and terrified as she'd been a moment ago, but she wouldn't be alone. Running his hand under Jenny's chin, he freed his wrist from her fangs, licked his wound until it healed and called to his children.

They were there in seconds, supple shades stepping out of the darkness, crowding close, their faces tender with concern.

"This is Jenny," he said. "She's had a hard coming-over. Her creator abandoned her."

Ellory's little Brit, Georgina, a golden-haired vampiress with the body of a ten-year-old, reached down and touched Jenny's face gently. She filled her high, nasally voice with all the clout of her one hundred and fifty years of survival. "Right then. First thing she needs is a bath. Let's go, girls."

Adrienne and Delfina took Jenny from Ellory and supported her between them.

When Ellory stood up, the world tilted away from him, and he swayed on his feet.

Christophe reached to steady him. "You gave her too much."

"No more than I'd give you. I'll replenish myself and come home to feed her again shortly. She has a grueling night ahead."

"We've fed well. Let us nurse her."

"It's too dangerous. She won't be herself tonight."

He watched his children examine their new sister. He was so proud of them. They had compassion that was rare among his kind.

Even Meinrad, just in his sixth year as a vampire, was capable of clemency toward his prey. He took too many risks and had to work at self-control, but even now, he was--

Nowhere to be seen.

Ellory growled. "As usual, we seem to be missing someone. How many times have I told you? Stay together!"

Christophe sighed. "He was with us earlier, but--"

"Not Sartori's club again? He knows I've forbidden you to go there."

Adrienne shrugged. "It's neutral ground. We aren't trespassing. Where's the harm?"

Ellory dismissed her remark with a wave of his hand. "Sartori isn't careful about his clientele, human or vampire."

Georgina's ethereal laugh interrupted his rant. "Oh, get over it, Ellory. He's a novelty, that's all. A human who knows what we are and caters to our needs? What fledgling wouldn't want to see that?"

"Sartori can't be trusted," Ellory warned. "That's how accidents happen to pigheaded, snaggle-toothed fledglings like Meinrad who think they're invincible!"

"I'll go get him," offered Christophe.

Ellory shook his head. "I want all of you safe at home for the rest of the night. Just because Jenny's creator abandoned her doesn't mean he won't want her back when he realizes she's run away."

The fledglings nodded and, holding Jenny close, they shimmered out of sight, taking her with them.

Ellory scented prey close at hand and moved swiftly in that direction, calling on Meical as he did so.

Meical's laughter resounded in his mind. I'm on my way to Sartori's now. I'll bring the rascal home.

If he's not dead already.

You can't save them all.

Ellory snarled in response. He spotted his quarry ahead of him on the path, a jogger out for a late-night run, and caught up with him in a single lunge.