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  “Jeremiah, it’s customary to knock before entering someone’s home. No?” Benjamin said, a hint of anger betraying his otherwise cool demeanor.

  “I thought you were expecting me,” he said, closing the door behind him.

  I picked my shirt up from the sofa. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

  I moved as fast as ever down the hallway to my room. I dressed in a peach silk blouse hanging in my closet and got a look at myself in the mirror. I definitely sported close to having sex hair. I took a brush and calmed my mane into a more respectable look with my loose waves hanging down to the middle of my back. In the bathroom, I rinsed my mouth out with minty mouthwash and splashed water on my face. I felt rejuvenated and fresh. Benjamin’s blood was the ultimate pick-me-up. I opened and closed my hands, from fists to open palms. My fingertips were tingling, as if I were stretching out new skin. Everything felt so amazing, especially when things got out of hand with Benjamin. It was some good luck that Jeremiah arrived when he did.

  When I entered the living room, I noticed that Benjamin had changed into a fresh, black t-shirt and khaki slacks. He caught my eye, studying my face, trying to figure out how I was going to deal with what happened before. I only had a couple of options. On the one hand, I could pretend like nothing happened. Instead, I smiled at him, embarrassed. I caught a look of surprise on his face and he looked pleased with my reaction. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but I did know one thing. He wasn’t embarrassed. Vampires as old as Benjamin didn’t get embarrassed.

  I recognized the scar on the left side of Jeremiah’s face immediately. When he moved across the room, I caught a glance of the clear side of his face. Somehow, the scarred side was more attractive, in a rugged sort of way.

  “Hi. I remember you,” I said, joining Jeremiah in the dining room.

  “As I do you,” he said, nodding his head.

  “You saved my life. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said. “Benjamin, may I have a glass of water?”

  “Of course,” Benjamin said, running the tap in the kitchen.

  “You eat? Like human food?” I asked, excitedly.

  “Yes. I’ve been here long enough that I need to feed my body to survive.”

  “So, that means you’re hungry? Let me make you something. I’ll make you a turkey panini in a jiffy!” I hurried into the kitchen.

  “Oh, I’m sure Jeremiah isn’t hungry enough for a whole sandwich,” Benjamin said.

  “Actually, I am hungry,” Jeremiah interjected.

  “Nobody cares what you think, Benjamin,” I said, inspecting the little food I had in the fridge. I decided I should always keep some food in the house in the event that Laura came for a visit.

  I opened the cupboard and pulled my sandwich press from under the sink. A few pots and pans spilled out, causing a terrible clamor in the kitchen. I could hear Benjamin swearing from the dining room. I mean really, what’s the point of having a dining room if nobody ever dines?

  Then, I got a visual of myself spread across the dining room table, completely naked, like a glorious feast, presented just for Benjamin. I swiftly eradicated that dangerous thought from my mind. I took out a couple of slices of bread and smothered them in a yogurt, Parmesan cheese, and mayonnaise blend. Then, I layered two slices of tomato against sliced turkey breast. I positioned the sandwich in between the sandwich press, pushing down to lock the press latch. I waited for the telltale sizzle of the yogurt mixture hitting the hot surfaces.

  I removed the sandwich from the press, unplugged the appliance, and halved the sandwich with a large kitchen knife. We didn’t have napkins so Jeremiah would have to make do.

  “Bon xsangui!” I said, happy to finally be cooking again, although I’d never admit to Benjamin that the smell of the toasted sandwich was almost nauseating.

  Jeremiah thanked me and ate his sandwich quickly. I could tell by the satisfied look on his face that he enjoyed it.

  “That was unexpectedly delicious, Ms. Dahl. Usually, I simply eat for energy. I don’t usually enjoy my meals.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to call me Ms. Dahl. It’s Olivia, please.”

  I could tell that Benjamin was suppressing a smile. He was somewhat amused by my culinary skills. I left the dirty dish in the sink and returned to the dining room to hear whatever important news Jeremiah had to impart. I found it difficult to concentrate, however. I kept thinking about how amazing Benjamin’s lips had felt against my own. And the way his hand traced up and down the side of my body. His blood was thick, bitter, and sweet. Like an aged whiskey. But mostly, I thought about his hands.

  There was a quick rap at the door, then Thomas walked in. Apparently, not many people actually waited for Benjamin or me to answer the door. I would have to remember that little detail. Thomas wore a dark blue t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He looked nothing like a vampire. I could imagine all the unsuspecting girls that no doubt flirted with him as he prowled the streets at night. I could have been one of those girls.

  I was one of those girls.

  “Am I late for the meeting?” Thomas asked as he sat down at the mahogany table.

  “We have a lot of meetings,” I mused.

  “What is that godawful smell?” Thomas asked.

  “Hey!”

  “That would be the delightful stench of Olivia’s cooking.”

  “Stop,” I said, smelling the air. “It does smell pretty bad. Doesn’t it?” I conceded.

  “But it tasted good,” Jeremiah said.

  “You are the nicest demon. Aren’t you?”

  “Yes, speaking of cooperative demons. What do you have for us?” Benjamin said.

  Jeremiah rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. “The demon invasion is out of control.”

  “Invasion is right.”

  “Tell us something we don’t know,” Thomas said.

  “I haven’t told you what they’re looking for.”

  Benjamin stood abruptly, sending his chair back. “You never said they were looking for something.”

  “We just thought they were sick of the underworld. Out here, to have a good time,” Thomas added.

  “They’re searching for a demon. A woman, to be exact.”

  Thomas was leaning back in his chair. “Please. Elaborate.”

  Jeremiah cleared his throat again and looked me in the eyes. Apparently, he’d been hiding this nugget of information for some time. He was finally coming clean with the vampires. It’s not like Jeremiah owed them his help, but he’d been supportive in their plight, thus far. It was strange that he’d kept something hidden from them.

  “She doesn’t know she’s a demon. She was banished from the underworld years ago. She was given a soul and has been living out a sentence. Each time her body dies, her soul is reincarnated into another body and the cycle goes on.”

  Benjamin, Thomas, and I just stared at Jeremiah, letting the story soak into our brains. So, the demons were looking for one of their own, who didn’t even know she was a demon. And I thought I had it bad!

  “So, where is she?” I asked Jeremiah.

  “That’s just it. No one knows where she is. More and more demons are being dispatched to find her.”

  And this rogue demon is that important?”

  “They won’t stop until they find her,” Jeremiah said, solemnly. “They will drink the blood of every vampire to stay alive and strong. They will murder as many humans as it takes to find her. They don’t care if they obliterate the whole state.”

  “Well, that sucks,” I said, leaning back in my chair.

  “Indeed,” Jeremiah said. “It sucks.”

  “Why do they search for her so fervently? What makes her so important?” Benjamin asked.

  “I don’t know how familiar you are with demon politics. In the past century, our king, who ruled for thousands of years, was murdered. The man who murdered him took the throne.”

  “Let me guess,” Thomas said. “That’s when we first saw an i
ncrease in demons crossing over?”

  “Precisely,” Jeremiah said. “The demon woman who was banished is the rightful heir to the throne. Her sentence is almost up. If she were to return to the underworld, the people would support her, and overthrow the current king.”

  “He plans to get to her first and have her killed before she finishes her sentence?” Benjamin surmised.

  Jeremiah nodded. “Although, it’s more complicated than that. If he has her killed before the sentence terminates, her soul will simply reincarnate into another human. She must be killed just as she returns to her demon form. Not many know that detail, however.”

  “Wait,” I said, after piecing a couple pieces of information together in my head. “Her father was the one that banished her? The old king?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s a bit harsh. No?” Geez, I couldn’t imagine any scenario where my dad would have punished me like that.

  “What she did was… bad,” Jeremiah said, without further explanation.

  “But she’s in the Miami area?” I ventured.

  “Yes, it appears so.”

  Okay, well that was a lot to think about. Legions of demons were crossing into our world, hell-bent on hunting down a renegade demon. But not just any demon. Oh no, this was the alleged “Queen of the Underworld.” Great. I should like to take this moment to marvel at the superb life choices I’d made up to this point. I stared at Benjamin as he discussed the most recent demon attacks with Thomas and Jeremiah. As much as I wanted to hate him for getting me wrapped up in the demon disaster, I almost couldn’t. Almost.

  The solemnity of the situation told me that I was now a part of something bigger than I ever could have been in my human life. I was strong, fast, and a member of an elite group that could affect change for humans and the people that I cared about. Well, mostly, that was Laura. For the first time, I was almost glad that my parents weren’t living in such dangerous times.

  I imagined families gathered around their televisions, shocked by the latest mugging or horrific murder that happened during a robbery. All the while, completely oblivious to the underworld war that was happening right under their noses. I’d seen the demons at work, with my own eyes, and knew they could wipe out the entire human population in just days if they chose to.

  “I want to help,” I said. “I want to stop them.”

  “Olivia,” Thomas said, “we need to think about this logically. We can’t intervene and risk plunging the vampire race into the realm of public knowledge.”

  “I understand that,” I said, hoping Benjamin would jump in and back me up. “But we can’t just let them tear through all the humans. They don’t even need the human souls to survive, but look how rampantly they kill them.”

  “Olivia,” Benjamin said.

  “No, Ben. I don’t want to hear it. You may have completely lost your connection with humanity, but I haven’t. Not yet.”

  “I have to agree with Olivia,” Jeremiah said.

  Hooray! Finally! Someone agreed with me. Too bad it was one of the demons and not a vampire.

  “Most of these demons are hooked on human souls. It’s like a drug. If we kill them and make it difficult for them to attack the humans, they will become disoriented and unorganized.”

  “It would be easier to keep them away from vampires,” Benjamin argued. “If we keep them away from vampires, they won’t be able to survive in this world, and then we’ll be rid of them.”

  I guess that would solve the human problem as well. Though, I was still disappointed at their lack of compassion for the human race. Humans were their primary food source, after all!

  “I should be going,” Jeremiah said. “I can already tell that the leaders are becoming suspicious and beginning to distrust me.”

  “Stay in the game, buddy,” Thomas said.

  Jeremiah nodded and left the house.

  “Well, guess I’ll do my part and go kill some of those bastards,” Thomas said. “Good night, Olivia.”

  “Good night, Thomas.”

  I went into the kitchen to clean the dish Jeremiah had used. I was surprised to find a bottle of dish soap by the sink. I guess those blood stains can be hard to get off your hands sometimes. Yuck!

  “So,” I said, cleaning the dish. “Why does Jeremiah help you guys? What’s in it for him?”

  “A question I ask myself all the time,” Benjamin called from the dining room.

  “And that doesn’t worry you?”

  “The demons can only overpower a vampire in large numbers. He knows I could kill him at any moment. He’s been helpful for a long time now. I have no reason to distrust him. Some men like to keep their own secrets,” he said.

  What sort of secrets did Benjamin have? I didn’t know that much about him. Only that he was a very old vampire that was turned against his will. And after all these years, I was the only person he’d ever changed. Thomas mentioned once that the vampire that made him had made more than ten vampires.

  I tore a couple sheets of paper towels from the roll I’d brought over from my apartment. I dried the dinner plate until it was squeaky clean and returned it to the cupboard—presumably to see another day in… who knew how long? Though the smell was repulsive, I enjoyed cooking again. It was nice to do something normal for a change, like making a sandwich and doing the dishes.

  “Why do you have a dishwasher if you never use it?”

  “It came with the house,” he said.

  I hadn’t realized it, but he was standing directly behind me. I turned around and leaned back against the counter. We stared at each other for a long moment. I wanted to snake my hands under his shirt and feel his cool skin under my fingertips again.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Honestly, I feel better than perfect. My blood thirst is completely satisfied. I’m only embarrassed that I let things get out of hand.”

  Benjamin nodded, thoughtfully. “Embarrassed, but not sorry.”

  Well, shit, he had me there.

  “Please, don’t,” I said, looking down at my feet.

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. Do we have to go down this road tonight? Right now?”

  “No, we do not.”

  I nodded, not knowing what else to say.

  “Dawn will be here in an hour.”

  “I’m going to do some reading in my room. It’s been a long night,” I said, tossing the dishrag in the sink.

  Benjamin nodded and retreated to his side of the house. I let out an unnecessary breath and withdrew to my room. I was tired. Not physically, of course, but mentally. I’d come close to killing Laura, learned of a possible demon-vampire war, and had almost let myself get carried away by my attraction to Benjamin. I didn’t hate him anymore. I’d grown tired of hating him. Life had taken me in another direction and Benjamin was simply the catalyst to that change. Now, more than anything, I didn’t want to give in to my attraction to Benjamin because I needed him too much. I couldn’t jeopardize the only trustworthy resource I had in my new life. The vampire world was dangerous and full of its own rules; and I needed someone like Benjamin to guide me through the war zone.

  I dressed in my pajamas and settled into bed. Picking up an old mystery from my favorite author, I let my brain go on autopilot. As the night inched closer and closer to morning, I became painfully aware that Benjamin had not come to my room for the day’s sleep.

  I left my room to find him. I started from the living room and then to the fight room, finally peeking through the French doors outside, before arriving at his bedroom. I knocked on the door, then just barged in. He wasn’t there. He was away from the house so close to dawn.

  Was he upset?

  No, I decided, he was hungry.

  The thought of him drinking another woman’s blood made me feel... ill. So many thoughts raced through my head as I walked through the house. It wasn’t good to feel so attached to Benjamin. Maybe it had been a mistake moving in with him. Just as I walked throu
gh the living room, I heard the lock to the front door click, and the door opened as Benjamin stepped inside the house. I felt a new wave of emotions flowing through me. Everything was heightened by my new status as a vampire. Above all, I felt a longing.

  “Everything all right?” he asked, closing the door behind him.

  “Yes, I was just worried that you weren’t going to make it back before dawn.”

  “I am old, Olivia,” he said dismissively. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

  I nodded. “Were you out feeding?”

  “Yes.”

  I nodded again, upset that I had to fight with my emotions to keep them from surfacing.

  “This upsets you,” he said, sounding curious.

  “Yes,” I replied, like an insolent child. I didn’t want to see his face, so I kept my head down and continued walking to my room.

  He was faster, of course, and stopped me just before I reached my room. In the small hallway, his scent permeated the space.

  “What is it that you want, Olivia?” Benjamin asked. Towering over me, his face searched my own face for answers. If he could have magically plucked the answers from my head, I would have appreciated it. Honestly, I had no idea what I wanted from him.

  “To not feel so much,” I said. It was the truth anyway. “To feel safe. To know that I’m not in danger.” My response didn’t address all of the issues brought up this evening, but it was satisfactory.

  I moved past his large body and into my room. I turned the light off and got into bed. Dawn would break within minutes. Surprisingly, Benjamin followed behind me. He stretched out on the bed with pillows propping him up. He was still wearing his clothes from earlier. A good two feet separated us on the expansive bed. When I felt the crackle, the shift in the air that meant dawn was about to break, I scooted my body across the bed until I was cradled in the crook of Benjamin’s arm.

  “Rest, Olivia,” I heard Benjamin say before falling into the day’s sleep.