Present Day

          There was no way the woman could have known he was waiting in her apartment when she walked in that night.  She couldn’t hear him, because he made no sound.  She couldn’t detect his body heat, because he didn’t emit any.  He had all the advantages.  He could see her just as well in the dark as he could have in full light.  Maybe better.  He could hear every sound she made, right down to the steady beat of her heart and the rush of blood through her veins.  He could smell her.  Strawberry shampoo, baby powder scented deodorant, aging nail polish, a hint of perfume, even the fabric softener scent that lingered on her clothes. 

She stepped into the dark apartment, closed the door behind her, turned the locks, all without reaching for a light switch.  She leaned back against the door and heeled off her shoes, shrugged the heavy looking handbag from her shoulder, along with her coat, and draped them both over a hook on the tree near the door.  Still no light switch. 

She sighed, and padded across the carpet, sank onto the sofa, let her head fall backward.  She worked as a nurse at an elementary school in rural Pennsylvania; spent her days wiping bloody noses and checking heads for nits.  A far cry from her former career.

He waited until she’d closed her hand unerringly on the remote control, and aimed it at the television, before he spoke.  “Don’t turn that on.”

The remote dropped to the floor and she shot to her feet with a broken cry, her hands pressing to her chest as she searched the darkness with wide, frightened eyes.

“No need to be afraid,” he said, stepping from the darker shadows near the door, into the slightly lighter ones that surrounded her.  She could see him now, just barely; a black silhouette in the darkness.  To help her out, he shook a cigarette from his pack, put it to his lips, fired it up.  He watched her fear deepen as the flame lit his face, just briefly.  He took a long pull and released the smoke while she stood there with her heart pounding like a rabbit’s.  “I didn’t come here to hurt you.  I will, of course, if you make me.  I’d probably enjoy it.  But ultimately, it’s up to you.”

“Wh-who are you?  What do you want?”

He rolled his eyes at the utter predictability of the questions.  “Sit down.  Relax.  I only want to talk to you.”  He held out the pack.  “You want a smoke?”

“N-no.”  She sat down, just barely perching on the very edge of the sofa, shaking from head to toe.  “B-but . . . ”

“But what?  Go on, ask.  The worst I can do is say no.  What do you want?”

“Could you t-t-turn on a light?”

“No.”  He smiled, amused by his own little joke.  “See?  That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

She let her head fall forward, catching her face in her palms.  Crying now.  God, he hated crying women.  He reached out for a handful of the blond hair on the very top of her head, tugged her head upward.  It didn’t cause her any pain, but she whimpered anyway.  “Come on, now.  I’m going to need your full attention for this.”

She sniffled, wiped her eyes, squinted through the darkness at him.  If she could see him at all, he supposed she could probably see his hair.  He didn’t really care.  He only refused to turn the lights on because she wanted them on.  He needed her uncomfortable, afraid and off balance. 

“So here’s the thing,” he said.  “I’ve been hunting for this man for . . . oh, more than forty years now. And during the course of my search, I found that he had a connection to you.  A recent one, in the scheme of things.  So here I am.”

“What man?”  Her voice was only a whisper now.

“Frank Stiles.”  He saw the way she jerked in reaction, then tried to hide it. 

“Why is it you’re looking for this . . . Stiles?”

He didn’t have to answer.  But he answered anyway.  “He’s a vampire hunter.  I’m a vampire, you see.  Thought it might be fun.  Turn the tables, hunter becomes the prey and all that.”

“Oh God, oh God . . . ”

“I understand you worked for Stiles five years ago or thereabouts.”  He took another drag, blew a few smoke rings.  “That true?” 

“No.  I . . . I never heard of him.”

He moved his hand too fast for her to follow it, gripped her throat, and squeezed.  He kept the pressure light, just enough to cut off the air supply and reduce the blood flowing to her brain; enough to make her choke and gasp and panic.  Not enough to crush her larynx.  She’d be no good to him dead.  He lifted her right off the sofa by her throat, while taking another drag from his smoke with the other hand.  Then he let her go. She fell sideways onto the sofa, and her hands shot to her throat as she wheezed and gasped for breath.

“You’re going to tell me what I want to know before this night ends.  It really doesn’t matter to me how much pain you want to withstand before you talk.  As I said, I’ll probably enjoy it more if you make me hurt you.  It’s all the same to me.”  He sat down on the easy chair near the sofa, smoking and giving her time to catch her breath.

“Your name is Kelsey Quinlan,” he said at length.  “You are a Registered Nurse.  You work at Remsen Elementary.  Is all of this correct?”

Dragging herself upright again, still pressing a hand to her throat, she nodded.

“And five years ago, you worked for Frank W. Stiles, as something of a research assistant.  Is that correct?”

“Yes.  I did.  B-but–”

“Shhh.  Just answer my questions.  I’m not here to punish you for your crimes, whatever they may be.”

She lifted her head, swallowed hard.  It hurt when she did.  He felt it.  “He’s the one you want to punish, isn’t he?  What are you going to do with him when you find him?  Kill him?”

“Oh, I’ve already killed him.  A couple of times, actually.  Oddly, the man keeps recovering.”

The hand that had been rubbing at her throat went still, and the woman’s face paled in the darkness.  “That’s . . . not possible.”

“That’s what I thought.  But I killed him really well the second time, honestly.  He was very, very dead.  And then . . . well, then he just wasn’t.”  He shrugged.  “So what I need to know from you is, just what kind of research was he doing when you worked for him five years ago?”

Her eyes shot wider.  He smelled her fear. 

“I’m not going to punish you, Kelsey.  I already told you that.”  Again he shrugged.  “Unless you’re into that kind of thing, in which case–” As he said it, he reached for her.

“I didn’t do anything to the girl!  It wasn’t me, it was all Stiles.  I swear it.”

He didn’t touch her, lowering his hands slowly instead now that he had her talking.  The taps were turned, the pump primed.  The information would flow now.  “What girl would that be?”

She blinked slowly.  “The captive he held five years ago.  The half-breed vampire.”

He nodded slowly.  This was in keeping with what the soldier-for-hire who’d worked on Stiles’ security force had told him, after a lot of persuasion.

“Did this . . . half-breed have a name?  Or did you just assign her a number?”

“She called herself Amber Lily Bryant.  In the files she was Subject X-1.”

Amber Lily.  The Child of Promise.  Then she did exist.  He’d heard stories, of course.  What vampire hadn’t?  But he’d pretty much dismissed them as legends.  And the soldier he’d questioned had been ill-informed about what went on inside the old house in Connecticut where Stiles had conducted his research.  Still, he needed to test his witness, to make sure.

“This girl–she was a half-breed vampire, you say?”

The woman nodded.

“I think you’re lying.  There’s no such thing.  You’re making up tales to distract me from my purpose here.  Everyone knows vampires are infertile.”

“Only the males. The females seem to ovulate for the first few months after being transformed.  I thought–I thought you already knew.  I thought all of you knew about all this.”

Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness now, he thought.  She was staring at him as if she could see his face.  “Why don’t you pretend I don’t and fill me in?”

Nodding rapidly, she seemed to search her mind.  “There was a mortal, one of the Chosen.  You know about them–the only humans who can become vampires.  They all have the same rare Belladonna antigen in their blood.”

“And they all tend to die young if they aren’t transformed.  I know all that, go on.”

She nodded.  “Well this mortal, a male, was mated with a newly transformed vampiress, and X-1 was the resulting offspring.”

He pursed his lips.  “This was a DPI experiment, I take it?”

She nodded.  “Yes.  It all took place before the Division of  Paranormal Investigations was dismantled.  Stiles worked for them then.  I believe he was directly involved with the experiment.  But a group of vampires attacked the research facility–”

“Research facility.”  He snorted.  “Extermination camp, you mean?”

“The parents escaped with the child.”  She lowered her head.  “That’s all the background I was given on her.”

He nodded slowly.  “So even though DPI was never restored as a functioning government agency, Frank Stiles continued the work on his own.  And part of that work included hunting and capturing this half breed child who’d escaped them years before?”

“Apparently so.  But she was hardly a child by then.”

“No?”

She shook her head.  “Eighteen when he held her in Connecticut.”  Her eyes  shifted, downward and the left..  “I did my best to protect her while he kept her.  And she was still alive when the vampires came and broke her out.”  She met his gaze again, and maybe saw the doubt in it.  “They didn’t kill me when they came for her, surely that should tell you something.”

“As a rule, my kind tend to get squeamish about cold blooded murder–even when it’s deserved.  That they left you alive tells me nothing other than that they have weak stomachs.”  He shrugged.  “I’m something of an exception to that rule, myself.”

She sat very still, holding her breath.

“Stiles held the girl for how long?”

“I . . . don’t remember exactly.  A few days.  No more.”

“And he performed experiments on her?”

She lowered her head.  “Yes.”

“Details, Kelsey.  I need details.”  He reached for her chin, tipped her head up so she faced him.  “And I’ll know if you’re lying.  I know you were lying about trying to protect her.  You were as cruel to her as any of them.  Fortunately for you, I don’t give a damn about that.  My interest is in Stiles.  So tell me–and tell me everything.”

The woman licked her lips, and he knew she believed him.  She should. 

“He wanted to know what kinds of powers she had.  Whether she was immortal or not.  What could kill her.  That kind of thing.  He kept her drugged, though, so she wasn’t aware of most of the experiments.  She probably didn’t feel a thing.”

“Really.”  His belly knotted just a little.  “And what kinds of things didn’t she feel, Kelsey?” 

She drew a breath, had the decency to look ashamed.  Her voice a bare whisper, she said,  “Electric shock, enough to stop her heart, just to see if it would start again.  Drowning, to see if that would kill her.  Various toxins introduced into her bloodstream at fatal doses.  Blood letting.  Blows to the head.”

“Jesus,” Edge muttered.

“She revived every time and she was long gone before he could try things like bullets to the brain or wooden stakes to the heart.”

Edge rolled his eyes. Stakes indeed.

“She seems to age like a human, at least, she had the appearance of a normally aging eighteen-year-old, but she revivifies like an immortal.”

“And what else?”

She shrugged.  “He took the usual samples.  Blood, lots and lots of blood.  Tissue, hair, bone marrow.”

“What did he do with them?”

She looked at him hard.  “I don’t know.  I thought he was trying to map her DNA, but he kept a lot of his work secret.  Used to lock himself in a private lab for hours on end, and one of the others who worked for him thought he had two sets of notes, one we could see and the other for his eyes only.”  She shrugged.  “I caught him once, injecting himself with something.  But I never knew what it was.”

He pursed his lips.  He suspected that Stiles had been trying to imbue himself with whatever it was that made the girl immortal–trying to steal her immortality, and whatever other powers she possessed, for himself.  And it looked as if his suspicions were true. The bastard wanted to find a way to live forever without becoming a vampire, without being one of the Chosen, possessing the antigen.  And maybe, Edge thought, he’d succeeded.

“In all the experiments, did Stiles ever find the girl’s weakness?  Did he ever find out what would kill her?”

She closed her eyes.  “Not to my knowledge, no.  If he had, she wouldn’t have been alive to escape.”

It didn’t matter, Edge thought.  He would.  He would find Amber Lily Bryant, and when he did, he would find her vulnerability.  Her poison.  Her kryptonite.  Because whatever it was, it would be the weapon he needed to kill Frank Stiles.

And for the past decade, his one goal in life had been to kill Frank Stiles.

No half-breed vampiress was going to stand in his way.  Not even the so-called Child of Promise. 

He dropped the burned out butt of his cigarette onto the carpet, ground it under his heel as he got to his feet.  “You’ve been very helpful, Kelsey.”

She closed her eyes, sitting very still.  “And now you’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

“Thanks, but I’ve already eaten.”  He smiled at his own joke.  But she didn’t seem to pick up on the humor.  “You’re no threat to me, Kelsey Quinlan.  You’ve told me what I need to know, and I doubt you’re stupid enough to try to warn Stiles, even if you knew where to find him, which you do not.  I’ve been reading your thoughts all evening.  So given all that, why do you think I would kill you now?”

“For my crimes against . . . your kind.”

He shook his head as he strode toward the door.  “I don’t give a damn about my kind.”

#

Amber pulled her low slung black Ferrari into the driveway of her parents’ palatial home–no matter where they lived, it was always palatial–at midnight.  This  one was a Georgian, red-brick mansion, in an isolated little inlet of Lake Ontario’s Irondoquoit Bay.  It came complete with secret passages and hidden escape routes, and was one of their more recent acquisitions.  The house on Lake Michigan had to be sold five years ago.  Secretly, Amber loved it here far more.  Maybe because for the first time, she’d begun declaring her independence.

“So what do you suppose this ‘family meeting’ is about?” Amber asked, glancing across the seat at Alicia.  “Another reasoned attempt to get us to move back in with them?”

Alicia released her seatbelt and opened her door.  “So far they’ve kept their promise not to pressure us on that.”

“Yeah, in exchange for us staying within a twenty mile radius.”

“After our little adventure in New York, Amber, we’re lucky they didn’t have us imprisoned in a convent somewhere.”

“God, it’s been five years, already.”  Amber opened her door and they both got out.  She closed the door and hit the lock button on her keyring.  “What do you suppose the statute of limitations is on something like that anyway?”

“For normal families, or ours?” Alicia asked.  She shrugged, running a hand along the smooth shiny black of the Ferrari.  “Still, I don’t suppose normal families buy such nice presents for their wayward daughters.”  She wiggled her brows.  “Though I still think you should have gone with the little red ‘Vette..  Then we could match.”

“That would just be too cute, ‘Leesh.”  She rolled her eyes, flung back her hair, and walked side by side with her sister–and she didn’t much care how official or unofficial it was, Alicia was her sister.  It was an odd family, an odd, overprotective, obscenely wealthy family.  The girls had two mothers, always had.  One vampire, one mortal.  And Amber’s father watched over and protected all of them–even though he looked young enough to be their brother.

Which was why she hadn’t told him about the dreams that had been plaguing her for more than a year now.  Dreams that intrigued–and terrified her, though she wasn’t sure why.  Her dreams tended to be pre-cognizant, and everyone knew it.  So there was no reason to trouble the entire tribe, until she’d figured out what this one meant.

Just who the hell was the blonde-haired vampire with the fiery eyes that made every part of her being turn molten when they locked with hers?  And what was in the ornately carved box he handed to her, that made her heart turn to ice with dread?  She could never remember.  Never.  But there was a cold certainty in her mind that what the box contained . . . was death.   She didn’t understand what that meant.  But she believed it.  The tear in the vampire’s eye as he handed her the box was too real to be denied. Death. Whoever he was, he would bring her death.

Amber closed her eyes, and focused her mind on her mother, ordering herself lock the dream away, and keep it entirely to herself.  We’re here, Mom.

By the time the two were on the steps, Amber could hear the locks turning.  The door was flung open, and Angelica, beautiful and forever young, was wrapping her arms around both of them.  “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here.  You just don’t know.”

Amber hugged her mother hard, then stepped away.  “Mom, we’re here every weekend.  How could you possibly miss us already?”  And that was when she picked it up–the tense, sad vibe her mother couldn’t have hoped to hide from her.  Worry. Grief, even.  She felt her blood rush to her feet, and searched her mother’s face.  “God, what is it?  Has something happened to Dad?”

“I’m fine, Amber,” Jameson said.  He stepped into the foyer with Susan at his side, and held out his arms.  Amber went to hug him, while Alicia hugged her mother, then they switched places, and repeated the heartfelt, if obligatory, embraces. 

Wringing her hands, Angelica hurried into the living room, with the others following.  Amber kept looking at her father, asking him silently what was going on.  He told her without a word to be patient, and to brace herself for tragedy.

Amber was on the verge of tears even before she made it to the living room, and settled into an overstuffed chair.  Alicia, though unable to read minds with the accuracy of a vampire, was adept at reading faces, and at feeling emotions.  She too, had picked up on the grief in the air.  She sat in a rocking chair, reached out to clasp Amber’s hand.  Susan sat on the sofa, and Angelica sat beside her.  Over the years, as Susan had aged like any normal woman.  She’d taken on an almost motherly role with Angelica.  She protected her, loved her, and kept one hand on her shoulder now. 

Jameson remained standing, seeming to gather his words in his mind.

“Father, for God’s sake, say something,” Amber exploded at last.  “Has someone died?  Are Eric and Tamara all right?  God, is it Rhiannon, or Roland?  What’s happened?”

Jameson licked his lips, and nodded.  “No one has passed, Amber.  It’s . . . it’s Willem.”

Amber blinked in shock.  Five years ago, Willem Stone had saved her from the hands of a ruthless scientist who’d been treating her like his own personal guinea pig.  Since then he, and the vampiress he’d fallen in love with, Sarafina, had become a part of her odd little family.  But unlike the rest of them, Willem was a mere mortal.  Not one of the Chosen, not one who could be transformed.  Just a mortal man.  The most exceptional, incredible mortal man Amber had ever known.

Almost afraid to ask the question, she forced the words out.  “What’s happened to Willem?”

Alicia’s hand squeezed hers tighter when Jameson said the single word. 

“Cancer.”

It was if he were speaking a foreign language.  She felt her brows bend into question marks.  “What?”

“He has a brain tumor, Amber.  It’s inoperable.  And it’s . . . terminal.” 

“No.”  She searched her father’s eyes, then her mother’s and Susan’s.  “There has to be something we can do.  There has to be something--”

“He’s a mortal,” Angelica whispered.  “Mortals . . . die.” 

As she said it, Alicia and her mother exchanged a knowing look, one of sad acceptance, but it wasn’t lost on Amber Lily.  She wasn’t used to dealing with death.  She refused to accept it as the inevitable end to those she loved.  Even the mortals.

“It can’t happen.  Not now, not yet,” she said, as if saying the words emphatically enough could make them true.  “God, Sarafina only just found him.  How can he be taken from her like this?  They should have had years together, decades!” 

“It’s not fair,” Alicia whispered.  Then she licked her lips, shook her head.  “But, it won’t kill him.  Will’s the strongest man I know.  He’ll beat it.  He will.”

Amber nodded.  “‘Leesha’s right.  God, he withstood torture in the desert, he was given medals for protecting all those men who would have died if he’d talked.  He’s a hero.  He faced down Stiles, he even faced down Aunt Rhiannon and Sarafina and lived to tell the tale!.”

“This is different, Amber,” Susan said softly.  “I know it’s not fair, but it’s the way life works.  Death is--it’s a natural part of the cycle for some of us, honey.  It’s just the way of things--part of being human.”

Amber lifted her head, staring for a long time at Susan, noticing her gray hairs, extra weight, the wrinkles around her eyes.  She looked at Alicia, who’d changed in the past five years in far more subtle ways.  She’d lost the look of a teenager, looked like a woman now.  While Amber hadn’t changed at all.  Not since that house in Byram Connecticut.  Not since Frank Stiles and his experiments. 

She lowered her head.  “Sarafina must be devastated.”

“Rhiannon is with them right now at their place in Salem Harbor,” Jameson said.  “Eric’s doing research at the lab Wind Ridge, but . . . .”  He shook his head.  “There’s not a lot of time.”

Amber’s brows drew together.  “How long?”

“Six months at the outside.”

Her eyes fell closed even as the words were spoken, and tears flooded them.  God, six months.  It was less than a heartbeat.  She sniffed and knuckled away her tears.  “I need to go to him.  I need to see him--both of them.  How is he, have you spoken to him?”

“It was Rhiannon who phoned with the news,” Angelica said softly.  “She specifically asked for you to come.”

Amber nodded.  “And what about the rest of you?”

“We’ll be coming later.  First, we’re heading down to Eric’s.  Roland is already there.  They need all the help they can get with the research,” Jameson said.

“Besides,” Angelica added, “We don’t want to overwhelm ‘Fina and Will; all of us descending on them at once might be a little too much.”

“They’ll want time alone, too.”  Amber swallowed her tears, though they nearly choked her.  “Coming with me, Alicia?”

“One of us needs to stay and keep the shop open, hon.  Pandora’s Box can’t run itself.  But if you need me, call me and I’ll be there like lightning.”

“Alicia, I’d feel better if you went along,” Angelica began.

Amber interrupted her.  “Mom, I’m twenty-three, and perfectly capable of driving to Salem Harbor on my own.”

Angelica thinned her lips.

“We both learned from our mistakes, Angelica,” Alicia said softly.  “We’re not teenagers anymore.  We own a business now.  The Box is already turning a profit.  We’re responsible adult women.  Both of us.”

“I know that.”  Angelica shot a look at Jameson, and he gave her a silent nod.

Amber drew a breath and sighed in gratitude.  Alicia was giving her time and space to do this on her own.  Amber and Will--they’d formed an odd bond when he’d saved her life five years back.  He was like the big brother she’d never had.  She loved him madly, and maybe part of that was because he was an outsider too.  Part of this extended family of the undead, even though he wasn’t one of them.  Just like Susan, and Alicia.  Just like Amber.  Well, not just like, she thought slowly.  Amber wasn’t mortal either.  Amber didn’t know exactly what she was. 

Alicia understood the bond between Amber and Will.  She knew Amber needed to do this on her own..

Nodding hard, her mind made up, Amber she said, “I’ll pack up tonight.  Leave early in the morning.”

“Should I call the airlines for you, Amber?” Susan asked.

“No, I . . . I think I’ll drive.  It’ll give me time to–process all of this.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Alicia got to her feet.  “Are you guys all right?”

“We’re dealing with it as best we can,” Angelica said.  “It’s not easy on any of us.  But Eric’s refusing to give up hope, and maybe there’s some chance he’s right.”

“But you don’t really think so, do you?” Amber asked.

Her mother lowered her eyes, but Amber heard the hopelessness in her heart.

Alicia said, “Amber, let’s get back.  I’ll help you pack, go online and get your driving directions for you, and print them up.  Maybe even make you a few snacks for the road, huh?”

Smiling her thanks, Amber nodded. She got to her feet, let her father hug her hard.  “When you go out there, Amber, forget your own pain.  Think of easing theirs.”

“I will.”

“I know you will.”

#

Edge was staked out in the shadows outside the kitschy little new age-slash-magic shop in one of Rochester, New York’s suburbs, a town called Irondequoit.  The sign in the window read PANDORA’S BOX, and included a stylized drawing of a treasure chest with its lid open, and wafts of purple sparkles spiraling from within.  The apartment where Amber Lily Bryant lived with her mortal roommate Alicia Jennings was on the second floor, and his research showed the two were joint owners of the shop, which they’d purchased from its former owners two years ago. 

Why the Child of Promise was sharing an apartment and a business with a mortal, rather than living under the constant protection of a dozen vampiric bodyguards, he couldn’t begin to guess.  None of the vampires he’d questioned in order to track her down had offered a reason.  The information he’d been able to glean had been piecemeal at best, but he’d been persistent, nosy, less than ethical, and he’d picked up the occasional unguarded thought.  Taken together, the pieces had led him here . . .where she lived in an ordinary apartment with an ordinary mortal girl.  She must be the most sought after prize of every vampire hunter in existence–and he had heard of many, besides the rogue DPI agent Frank Stiles.  And yet she lived like a mortal.  Unprotected. 

If she had guardians, he thought, they ought to be taken out and beaten.

There had been no one at home when he’d first arrived, but the two woman returned around 2:30 a.m. in a car that made his mouth water even more than the red Corvette in the garage had done.  A black Ferrari.  Not that he’d trade his ‘69 Mustang for anything in the world, but hell, a man could look.  

They pulled into the driveway, but not into the two car garage that was attached to the rear portion of the shop. 

He took great pains to mask his presence from the Child of Promise, to shield his mind, his thoughts, his very existence from her.  He had no idea what powers she might possess, whether she had the ability to detect his presence or not, so he was taking precautions. 

Not that she would have noticed him anyway, he realized once he took in her state.  She got out of the car, took two unsteady steps toward the two story building where she lived, and then stopped, braced one arm on the brick wall, and lowered her head.  Her hair was long, perfectly straight, and so dark he’d thought it black at first.  But it wasn’t.  It was the darkest shade of auburn imaginable, deep shades of burgundy that gleamed in the glow of the streetlights.  If pressed, he would describe her hair as black satin, rinsed in blood.  It hung forward, so he couldn’t see her face.  But he could feel her–sense her, the way he could sense any other living creature.  She didn’t feel like a mortal, but not quite like a vampire either.  There was an electric energy about her, a static charge that made his skin prickle, his groin tighten, and the fine hairs on his arms stand erect.

She made a sound, a sob that caught in her throat, and he realized she was crying.

Edge took an instinctive step closer, jerking into motion like a kneecap tapped by a doctor’s mallet, before stopping himself.  He dismissed the gut reaction, covering it with his more characteristic sarcasm.  Just what he needed, he told himself.  More blubbering females.  What the hell was wrong with this one?

The other one was beside her a second later, and then the two hugged each other fiercely, both of them sobbing.  The other girl was clearly the mortal one.  She had short hair, as blonde as his own.  It would be curly if allowed to grow long, but in its present state, it shot out in all directions in a stylized mess that looked good on her.  She was attractive.  She smelled faintly of magic.  He thought she’d been doing more than stocking the shelves and managing the register in that shop of hers.  She’d been studying, experimenting a bit, and keeping it to herself, he thought.

“I can’t wait until morning, Alicia,” Amber said, when she could control her sobbing enough to speak.  “I need to leave sooner.  As soon as I can get ready.”  She sniffled, wiping her eyes and stepping out of the other woman’s arms.  “I didn’t see any sense in giving Mom a reason to object.”

“And she would have.  She’s trying, Amber, but she can’t help but be overprotective.  Throw a few things in a bag, hon.  I’ll go online and get the directions while you pack.”

Amber nodded and the two went up the exterior stairs to the second floor apartment, arm in arm, locking the door behind them.

Not that a locked door had ever been a problem for Edge.

Chapter Two

Edge couldn’t take his eyes off the woman--and she was that, a woman, not a girl, and not a child--of promise or anything else.  Twice, she stopped what she was doing, went very stiff and alert.  She felt his presence, despite all his efforts to conceal it.  She felt his eyes on her.

He leaned against the bricks on the little balcony outside her bedroom, watching her through the sheer black curtains as she packed clothing into a suitcase.  Every now and then she would pause, as grief swept over her.  He could feel it.  She wasn’t shielding herself tonight–either because she thought there was no one around who could read her, or because she didn’t care.  He rather thought it was the latter.  He wasn’t certain what had happened to her tonight, he thought perhaps someone had died.  It was that kind of grief.  And yet, there was something else lying beneath it.  Something she was struggling to ignore.  A kind of stubborn denial.  A streak of rebellion he recognized.  A fighter looking for a fight.

It was buried, under all that grief, but it was there.  He’d know it anywhere.

As she moved around her bedroom, adding items to her suitcase, he was finally able to see her face.  She had these huge, deep, wide set eyes, oval and thickly fringed. They were stunning, her eyes--such a dark shade of blue he’d thought at first they were ebony.   The rest of her face was beautiful, pale and delicate and finely boned.  He’d never been overly fond of beautiful women.  Wouldn’t have given this one a second look–--f he’d had any choice in the matter.  But it didn’t seem as if his mind or body were obeying his personal preferences here.  She drew him on so many levels his head was spinning.

It must be one of her powers, he decided. 

He turned away.  But he had to watch her, had to figure out what she was doing, how he could best get her to tell him what he needed to know.  So he looked back again, just in time to see her glancing out her bedroom door into the hall, before closing the door and locking it.  She was trying to be quiet, acting . . . sneaky.

Frowning, he watched, riveted. 

She climbed up onto a chair, and reaching above her head, pushed one of ceiling panels upward.  Now this was interesting.  Reaching into the opening, she tugged out a large file box, one of those cardboard numbers for storing documents and file folders..  Edge moved closer to the glass, riveted as she climbed down, set the box on her bed, and removed the lid.  Her lips pursed, she tugged something out of it; a black three ring binder, with a white label on its spine.

Squinting until his eyes watered, Edge focused on that spine, and eventually managed to read the words on its label.

“X-1: Volume A.”

“X-1,” he whispered.  It was Stiles’ name for her.  Then those binders–the box was full of them--had to be his notes.  “I’ll be damned,” he muttered.  “She’s got everything he learned about her--all of it, right there.”

And maybe the answers Edge needed.  The key to Stiles’ vulnerability.

She skimmed pages for a while, and Edge slipped inside her mind, trying to listen in.  Her parents thought these notebooks were still locked in the safe at their home, he heard her thinking.  She felt a little guilty about that.  Someone called Eric had made copies of everything and taken them to his lab, while the originals had been secured in the house at Irondequoit Bay.  Only they weren’t.  They were here, hidden in her bedroom.  He couldn’t get deep enough to read through her eyes, to see what she was seeing--but he felt her frustration before she slammed the book closed.

Whatever she was looking for, she wasn’t finding it.

She dragged another suitcase from underneath her bed, slung it onto the mattress, and opened it.  Then she piled the notebooks into it, lining them up carefully, side by side, then adding a second layer, narrow front to wider spine.  Finally, she laid a few articles of clothing over the top, and then zipped the bag.  She put the empty cardboard box under her bed, double checked the ceiling panel to be sure it was in place, and then unlocked and opened her bedroom door.

“I’m about ready,” she called, snagging the two suitcases from the bed and heading into the hallway.

Edge left his post, then, jumping to the ground, and creeping around to the front of the apartment again, where she’d left her car.  The trunk popped open before she even exited the house.  Remote control, he guessed.  Then she was hurrying from the apartment, with her friend on her heels.   She slung the cases easily into the trunk and slammed it and went to the driver’s door. 

The blonde handed her a sheaf of papers and a grocery bag.  “Here are your directions.  And a few snacks for the road.”

Amber Lily–God, the name was ill suited to her, Edge thought.  She was more vibrant than amber, and far tougher than any fragile lily.  At any rate, she took the bag and peered inside.  Then the other one took it back from her, opened the passenger door, and set it on the seat.  She laid the sheets of paper on the dashboard, and turned to Amber again.  “I love you, you know.”

“I know.  And I know why you’re not going with me.”

“Do you?”

Amber nodded.  “I do.  And I’m grateful.  You’re right, Alicia.  I need to go alone.”

“I’ll come later.  Give you a few days to be alone with Will.”

Who the hell was Will, Edge wondered.  And he wondered it with a passion that surprised him.

“I don’t know how alone I’ll be.  Aunt Rhi’s there.  And don’t forget ‘Fina.  I’ll be lucky if she lets him out of her sight.”

“She’s not going to handle this well.”

“I can’t imagine her handling it at all,” Amber said.  She lowered her head.  “God, they’re so in love.  I just don’t know how she’ll go on if he dies.”

“I’m afraid--she might decide not to try,” Alicia said softly.

Amber stared into her friend’s eyes.  “Let this be a lesson to us both.  A girl can’t afford to fall so deeply in love that she can’t live without a guy.  It’s too risky.”  She shook her head.  “God, when I see how desperately my parents need each other it scares the hell out of me.  If one of them should lose the other–”

“I know.  I know.  But that’s not going to happen.”

“It could. But not to me.  Never to me.” 

“You wouldn’t know it to see how you’re reacting to this news about Will.”

Amber lowered her eyes, sighed. “It’s different with Will and you know it.”  She sighed softly.  “Will saved my life.  I just can’t help thinking there might be some way I can . . . return the favor.”

“Oh, Amber, don’t,” Alicia said softly.  “Don’t get your hopes up.  You may be Super-Chick, but you’re not a goddess.  You don’t have the power to cure cancer.”

“I know that,” she said. 

But Edge got the feeling she didn’t really mean it.  He felt that stubborn determination, that fight, kicking its heels up somewhere inside her again.  She tamped it down, and wrapped the other woman, Alicia, in her arms.  “But if there were anything I could do, I would.  I owe him my life, you know.  If I could give it to him, I’d do it in a minute.”

“He wouldn’t take it if you offered.”  Alicia kissed Amber’s cheek, then brushed her fingers over it, maybe to wipe away a tear.  “Go, and be careful.”

“I will.”

She got into the car, put in the key.  Alicia pulled something from a pocket, and handed it through the window to her. 

“A CD?”

“My favorite traveling mix.  Stroke-9.  Matchbox-20.”  She frowned.  “Ever notice all our favorite bands have numbers in their names?”

“Sum-41 on there?”

“Actually, they are.”  The two of them laughed.  Amber took the CD from its case, and slid it into the player.  Music, smooth and mellow, wafted from the car.  Amber put the car in gear, pulled it slowly away from the curb. 

Alicia stood there for a long time, watching her, waving.

Edge tore himself away from the emotional goodbye long enough to dash into the apartment–the two women had left the door unlocked, and the one who might sense him there was gone.  He moved through the apartment far too fast for human eyes to detect him and found the computer easily--it was in Alicia’s bedroom, and its screen still showed the driving directions the girl had printed out for her friend.  He read the screen quickly.  She was heading to some place called Harbor Rock, in Salem Harbor, just outside Salem, Massachusetts.  He memorized the route, all of ten hours by car.  He was slightly surprised that it tended to avoid the Thruway, which would have been faster.  Then he ducked into Amber’s bedroom when he heard Alicia coming back inside.  He exited through the same window he’d been looking through moment ago, closed it behind him, and then headed away from the apartment, into the darkness. 

A few blocks away, he found his Mustang.  It had been glossy and black in its youth.  Now it was dull and faded, and he owed the little car a paint job in return for its years of loyal service.  It would do until he got where he needed to be, though.  He planned to be riding in a fancy little Ferrari within a few hours.

Amber Lily was as soft hearted as they came--she’d revealed as much.  Going by the neighborhood, and what he’d seen of the apartment, not to mention the car, he’d say she was fairly well spoiled too, used to being pampered.  Soft hearted and sheltered. 

This would be like taking candy from a baby.  He’d just have to be careful–because she was no baby. 

#

Amber had been driving for two hours, and it was after five a.m., when she hit something. She felt the impact, the thud, saw the form bounding off the hood of her car.  A person!  God, she’d never seen him!  Her stomach lurched as her foot jammed the brake pedal to the floor.  Tires squealed and the stench of hot rubber assailed her.  “God, almighty, where did he come from?”

She wrenched her door open, and lunged from the car, only to be jerked back by the force of the seatbelt.  Fumbling, impatient and clumsy, she got it unbuckled and scrambled out of the car, racing to where the man lay very still, on the pavement.

“God, are you all right?  I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.  I just didn’t see you.”  He was lying face down.  She knelt beside him and touched his shoulder.  “Please,” she whispered. “Please be all right.”

He moaned, and Amber opened her senses, probing his mind for pain, for injuries.  But what she found there shocked her so much that she jerked her hand away from him, shot to her feet, and backed rapidly toward her car.  “You’re a vampire!”

Slowly, he brought his hands upward, pushed his upper body off the pavement, and lifted his head.  “That doesn’t mean I’m not hurting like hell right now.”

He turned over, better to look at her, and she sucked in a breath so fast she hurt her lungs.  My God, it was him!  The vampire from her dreams!

She stopped backing up, but didn’t move any closer either. She watched him like a hawk as he got himself upright, brushed the dirt from the front of his leather jacket and jeans.  He thumbed the blood from his scraped cheek, then stared at the smear of it on his thumb. 

“How do you know what I am,” he asked, as if he’d just thought of it.  Then he widened his eyes a little, lowered his hand.  “Was it an accident at all, you hitting me?  Or are you one of those vamp-hunters I keep hearing about?”

She relaxed a little.  If he was afraid of her, she probably had no reason to be afraid of him.  Other than the dream, at least.  The one where she felt certain he was bringing her a gift–death in a pretty box.  Whatever the hell that meant.  “I’m no vampire hunter.”

He frowned at her, took a step closer.  She didn’t back away, so he took another.   He was limping a little.  He had the posture of a wolf sniffing the air, but he wasn’t sniffing.  He was feeling.  Sensing.  “You’re one of the Chosen–and yet, not exactly.  You’re not mortal.  But you’re not one of us, either.”

She pursed her lips, lowered her head.  “Look, it doesn’t matter what I am.  I’m no threat to you.”

“Not unless you’re behind wheel, at least.”  He tempered the words with a smile, and when he smiled, a dimple cut into his cheek and he held her gaze, and her heart turned a somersault. 

My God, she thought.  Looking into his eyes had the same impact on her as it did in the dream.  It was like electrocution.  It made her heart race, and her stomach feel tight.  It heated her blood and tingled her skin.  Who was he? 

He closed the remaining distance between them, still limping, and extended a hand.  “They call me Edge.”

She took his hand.  It was large, and very strong.  She liked the slight pressure it exerted around hers, and the way her blood warmed and pooled somewhere in her center at his touch.  “Edge, huh?  That a nickname?”

“What, you don’t like it?”  He pressed his free hand to his heart, keeping his other one around hers a second longer.  “I suppose yours is better?”

He was asking her name.  “Amber Bryant.”

He blinked, and pushed his brows together.  “Not Amber Lily Bryant?”

With a sigh, she nodded.  It was tiring, being something of a legend, at least among the undead.  “Guilty, I’m afraid.”

“Well, that explains the mixed vibes you send out.  You’re the Child of Promise.”  Shrugging he said, “But I’m afraid it doesn’t suit you at all.”

“What?  My name?”

He nodded.  “No more than mine did, originally.  It sounds like something fragile and delicate.  A hothouse flower afraid to go outside.  You don’t look like a hothouse flower to me.  Exotic, yes.  But wild.  Tough.”

“So you’re saying I need a nickname?”

He nodded.  “Amber Lily.”  He snapped his fingers.  “Al.”

“Al?  That’s exotic and wild?”

“No, but it’s tough.  How about Alby?”  He smiled.  “Yeah.  Alby.”

She lifted her brows.  “I could get used to it.”  In truth it made her skin tingle when he rolled it off his lips. 

He finally released her hand, and ran his own over his side, wincing a little as he did.

“I’m sorry about hitting you.  Are you hurt badly?”

“A broken rib, I think.  Nothing major.  It’ll heal with the day sleep.  Guess I just won’t make as many miles as I’d hoped tonight.”

“You’re . . . traveling on foot?”

“Only since the car died, a few miles back.”

She licked her lips.  How many times had her parents warned her not to trust strange vampires?  But so far, every vamp she’d ever met had been decent–especially to her, their legendary Child of Promise.  “Where are you heading?” she heard herself ask.

“Salem.  You?”

She blinked.  If Alicia were here, she would say it was a sign.  No such thing as coincidence, she would insist.  Synchronicity didn’t happen by chance.  She’d been doing too much reading about magic and Wicca lately, Amber had decided.  Still, there was some part of her that agreed with her friend’s logic. 

“Salem,” she said softly.  “That’s a long walk, even for a vampire.”

“Too far to sustain any sort of speed,” he said, nodding.

“You um . . . want to ride with me?”

 “Are you kidding?  I’d pay to ride with you.”  He licked his lips, lowered his head.  “If I wasn’t broke, I mean.”

“It’s okay.  I don’t need money.”

“Kind of guessed that from the car you’re driving.”  He looked past her at the car.  “You must be rolling in it.”

“My parents are.  It was a gift from my father.”

He smiled at her.  “Spoiled, then, are you?”

She smiled back at him.  “Rotten.” 

“Must be nice.”

“You wanna drive it?”

He sent her an astonished look.  “Really?”

“It’s the least I can do after running you over.”  She tossed him the keys, and he caught them.  He seemed to forget about his limp as he walked to the driver’s door, and got in.  She got in the passenger side, fastened her seatbelt.  He ignored his own. 

“You’re actually . . . nice, aren’t you Alby?”

“I try to be.  Why, aren’t you?”

“No,” he said, shifting the car into gear, straightening it out, and then stomping the accelerator.  “No, I don’t think anyone who knows me would call me nice.” 

He shifted, pressed the gas pedal down until the motor roared, shifted again.  The car flew through the night in the way she guessed it was designed to do.  She’d never driven it that way in her life.  The car came to life under his expert touch, seemed almost to sit up and purr in response to being driven so hard. 

She was a little bit jealous.

Reaching forward, she hit the play button on her CD, and was surprised as hell when Edge began singing along.

He drove like an expert, faster than she would have done herself, but so professionally that it didn’t make her nervous at all.  He exuded confidence.  And danger.

And yet she wasn’t afraid of him, even though she probably should have been.  Especially given the dream.  But that was kind of the point of letting him ride along, wasn’t it?  To find out what the hell that dream meant, what it was that tied this man to her psyche, and her subconscious.

After the song ended, Edge reached out to turn the CD player off, and glanced her way.  “So why is it you’re heading for Salem?  Vacation?”

“I wish.  No, a friend of mine is sick.”

“A mortal friend, then?”

She nodded.  “Yes.  A very good one.”

He frowned a little, looking her way often, as if he enjoyed it.  “It’s unusual, a vampire having good friends who are mortals.”

“I’m not a vampire,” she told him.  “And most people would describe me as somewhat unusual.”  She tilted her head, studying him in profile.  He had the bone structure of a work of art, she thought.  Broad, angular jaw line, and cheekbones to die for. 

“What?” he asked, looking at her.  “I have someone in my teeth?”

She smiled at the joke.  “So you don’t have any mortal friends?” she asked, just to change the subject from her reasons for staring at him. 

“Mortal or otherwise.”

She blinked.  “You don’t have friends at all, is that what you mean?”

“That’s what I mean.”

“Don’t you get . . . lonely?”

“Depends on how you define loneliness, love.  Do I get to wishing I had a group of well-meaning busybodies prying into my shadows and meddling in my life?  Not on your life.  Do I wish I had a pile of others depending on me to take care of them?  No way in hell.  Been there, done that.  It’s far too much responsibility than any sane person would take on.  I’m not up to the task, anyway.  Do I sometimes crave a body besides my own in my bed?  You bet I do.  But it’s easily remedied.  And friendship doesn’t have to enter into it.”

She didn’t imagine he’d ever had too much trouble finding willing women to share his bed.  The man was hot.  And just enough of a bad boy to whet any female’s appetite.

“Do you ever . . . just wish for someone to talk to?  Someone who gave a damn what you had to say?”

He tilted his head.  “Is that the kind of friends you have?  The kind who listen, and give a damn what you have to say?”

She smiled.  “Sure.  But they’re also the kind who pry into my shadows and meddle in my life.  I think it’s tough to get the one without the other.”

“I think you’re right, there.”  He sighed. “You have lots of them?  Friends, I mean?”

“Mmm.  Friends, family.  Guardians and protectors.  Mostly vampires, but some mortals too.”  She looked at him, and suddenly smiled.  “Hell, I have so many I can afford to share them with you.”

“Whoa, no thank you.  I don’t need them.”  He studied her face for a moment, before turning his gaze back to the road.  “Doesn’t look as if it’s been doing you much good, lately at least.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been crying tonight.”

She ought to be used to the sharp observations of vampires, she supposed.  It shouldn’t surprise her.  And yet it took her off guard. 

“The sick friend?” he asked.

She nodded.

“What’s wrong with him, exactly?”

Blinking, she frowned at him.  “How do you know it’s a him?”  She’d erected a shield around her thoughts from the instant she’d realized he was a vampire, and able to read them.  So he couldn’t be picking things up from her mind. 

“Rarely see a pretty woman crying over a girl.  This fellow in Salem–your lover?”

She smiled broadly.  “No.  More like a beloved older brother.  He saved my life once.”

“Did he really?  An ordinary mortal?”

“Will is probably the farthest thing from ordinary you’ll ever come across.  He was a colonel in the Army.  Special Forces.  Captured in the desert, tortured until he escaped, and he never told them a thing.”

He lifted his brows, turning slowly to face her as she spoke.  “Are you sure you’re not in love with him?”

“I’m sure.”

“Not even sleeping with him?”

“Never.”

“Never?”

“I meant I would never sleep with Willem.”

“Oh.”  He grinned at her.  “I thought you meant you were a virgin.”

She turned her head toward the window.  “You’re getting a little personal for someone I only met an hour ago, Edge.”

“You let me drive your car.  I figure that puts us on intimate terms.”

“You figure wrong.”

“So are you then?”

She frowned at him.

“A virgin?”

“Why do you care?”

“Curious, is all.”

“Well, I’m not going to satisfy that curiosity.  So stop asking.”

“Mysterious, aren’t you?  I like that.”  He reached across the seat, trailed a forefinger down her cheek, making her shiver.  “I like a lot of things about you, Alby.”

She lowered her eyes, tried not to let her face turn red or her heart start racing, because he would hear it.  But God, his touch sent a thrill through her, right to her bones.

“You never answered my question.”

She swung her eyes to him, shocked he was still asking.

“About your friend, I meant.  Will.  What’s wrong with him?”

“Oh.”  She let her anger fade.  “Cancer.”

“Terminal?”

She shrugged.  “That’s what they’re saying.  But I’m not ready to give up on him just yet.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“I don’t suppose . . . no, never mind.”

“No, go on.  What were you going to say?”

He slanted his eyes toward her.  When he looked at her, she could feel them touching her, and this time they slid from her face, down to her neck, over her chest, and hips and legs, all the way to the floor.  “It’s just--well, you must have different--powers, for want of a better word--than the rest of us.  Is healing fatal diseases one of them?”

“I don’t think so.”

He frowned at her and she knew what he was asking.  “I don’t know everything about myself, Edge.  It’s not like there’s ever been anyone like me before, anyone I could ask.”

“Surely you’ve tested them.  Are you immortal?”

“I think so.”

“But you age like a mortal?”

“Used to.”

“Used to?”

She pursed her lips, and said nothing. 

He slid a hand over hers, where it rested on her leg.  “Poor lamb, you’re rather lost, aren’t you?  In spite of all your friends and their meddling?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“No, you’re not.  You don’t even know who you are.  Or who you want to be.”

She met his eyes.  He held her gaze, smiled gently, and looked like a fallen angel.  “Stick with me for awhile, Alby.  I’ll help you find yourself.”

She frowned, amazed at how her body responded to the touch of his hand, surprised that she let him turn her hand in his own, lace his fingers with hers.  He had to draw his attention to the road again, but he kept on holding her hand. 

“How?” she asked.  “You don’t even know me.”

“I’d like to, though.  I’d like to explore every part of you, inside and out.  And while I’m at it, you may as well do the same.  Who knows what discoveries you might make?”

When he looked at her again, his eyes made it clear that she had not misunderstood him.  He’d meant for his words to sound as sexual as they did.  To rub over her senses like velvet over satin.  Like his finger over the very center of her palm.

“It’ll be daylight soon,” he told her.  “We should find a place--a dark, private place where the sun can’t touch me.”

She had never been so turned on in her life, she thought wildly.  “I know just the place.  Pull over, right up here.”

With a smug, half smile, he pulled the car off onto the shoulder of the road.  Amber reached to the dashboard and hit the trunk release button, then got out while he was frowning at her.  She went to the rear of the car, looked into the open trunk, and waited for him to join her there.

He glanced at her, then at the trunk.  “Not very romantic, love.  And not a lot of room for . . . movement.”

“Then I suggest you lie still.”

She’d moved around behind him while he spoke, and as she delivered her reply, she pressed both hands to his back and shoved hard.

He flipped right into the trunk, taken off guard by the sudden attack, and even as he rolled onto his back with a shocked expression on his face, she looked at the lid, flicked her eyes downward.  It slammed closed.

He swore, a stream of profanity issuing from beyond the trunk.

“You deserved worse.  You ever hear of manners, Edge?  You were way out of line.”

“You were loving every minute of it.”  He hit the trunk, a half-hearted punch that didn’t even dent it.  “Open it up or I’ll kick your pretty car full of holes.”

“You do that, you’ll be walking the rest of the way to Salem.  It’s twenty minutes to sunrise.  Just be still and go to sleep.  When you wake we’ll be in Salem.”

“Spoiled, evil little . . . . ”

“Watch it, Edge, or you’ll wake to find yourself dumped on the roadside in a nice sunny spot around noon.”

He was still muttering under his breath when she walked to the driver’s door and got behind the wheel.

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