“No, nobody came out this way. Maybe Milos saw.” Raquel pointed up at a rooftop across the street, where I could just make out a figure with a crossbow. Milos—one of the cruelest of the vampire hunters—was the only reason I was still alive.

“You look shaken up.” Dana put her hands on my shoulders.

“You okay, Bianca?”

I shook my head. She pulled me into a big hug, and Raquel embraced me from behind. I could feel their relief as powerfully as my own.

They were two of my dearest friends. They were vampire hunters. They loved me. They stood by while Balthazar was tortured. I was so angry with them I could scream, and I loved them so much it hurt. I knew they were doing wrong to kill vampires, and yet the vampire I had just tried to save had betrayed me. None of it could be untangled; I just had to live with it.

Without a word, I hugged them back and told myself that everything past this moment didn’t matter.

The next day, I was excused from patrol, which was nice enough, but Eliza went the extra mile and gave Lucas the day off, too. Well, “day off,” in this instance, meant “digging through the rubble of our old headquarters instead of hunting vampires.” Some others might join us later, she said, but for now the task was left up to me and Lucas, alone. As long as we were together, I’d take it.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he said for the dozenth time. We were standing near one of the old train car cabins, knee-deep in broken stone. Both of us were as dirty as we’d been the day of the attack.

“I promise, I’m fine. Charity just scared me.”

“She wants to change you,” Lucas said. “And it sounds like she plans to hunt you down.”

“I’m safe while I have my bodyguard with me,” I joked, poking at his firm biceps. Lucas was shirtless, a concession to the stifling summer heat within the tunnels. Before, fans had kept the space livable; now, it was almost a hundred degrees and so humid that walking felt like swimming.

Lucas kissed me, a sloppy, sexy sort of kiss that would’ve made us both desperate for each other, if our surroundings had been any less grimy. When our lips parted, he said, “We really do have to find a way to get some time together.”

“It won’t be long before we’re alone together all the time.” I rested my hands against his bare chest. Shyly, I added, “I can’t wait.”

His eyes sought mine, eager and questioning. Voice low and deliciously rough, Lucas said, “Whatever you’re ready for—whenever you’re ready—I’d never rush you, you know that—”

I kissed him again, and this time the kiss went to my head. Dizzy, I breathed, “I want to be with you. Completely.”

Lucas leaned close once more, but the dizziness got to me—it was more than the kiss. I put out one hand, laughing from self-consciousness, and he took it as he lowered me into a seated position. “I said you were looking pale. Bianca, are you sure you feel all right?”

“It really is hot in here,” I admitted. “Plus I’m kind of hungry.”

“We can knock off any time, you know. They’ll be excavating in here for months. What we get done on any one day hardly matters.”

“There are some things I want to find.” I brushed my sweaty bangs back from my forehead as I looked at Lucas. Once again, I found myself being far too conscious of his heartbeat and the pulse just beneath his skin. “I could do with something to eat.”

“You mean blood?”

I glanced around us, though it was only force of habit; we were alone in the tunnel and could speak openly. “Yeah.”

“Then I’ll get you blood.”

“Not yours,” I said sharply. Right now I could get carried away.

Lucas shook his head. “There’s a hospital not far from here. I’ll make a little blood-bank run. I’ll bring cold water, too.”

“Sounds great.”

After he went up onto the street, I sat with my back against the wall for a few long minutes. All day I’d told myself that I was only woozy because I was hungry for blood and because yesterday had been so frightening. Now that I was working so hard in the heat, wasn’t it only natural for me to feel faint?

Yet the weakness I sensed seemed to go deeper than that—almost as if I were coming down with a virus or something. I so rarely got sick that I wasn’t sure I’d even recognize the symptoms. Probably this was nothing more than a nasty summer cold that just happened to arrive on a bad day.

Sighing, I pushed myself up. If I was going to feel crappy no matter what, I might as well get some work done.

I went into the old subway car, then flicked on the flashlight. Gravel and glass were thick on the floor, and almost everything inside was filthy. But when I saw a scribbled line drawing still taped to one wall, I smiled. That was Raquel’s work, which meant this was our old quarters.

Eagerly I began digging the rocks from beneath the bunk that had been mine. Reaching through the filthy dust, I was able to close my fingers around a scrap of cloth and pull hard, so that my bag emerged from the rubble. The few clothes I’d had would be ruined, but maybe, just maybe—

Yes! I pulled out the jet brooch Lucas had given me when we were first dating. Although its shiny black surface was murky with dust, the fine carving appeared undamaged. Thrilled, I tried pinning it to the cheap T-shirt I wore, but the fabric was too thin; instead, I put it on the waistband of my jeans.

“Hello?” Lucas called from above. I stood on one of the bunks and pushed myself up to see Lucas making his way toward me, paper bags in both hands.

“Look what I found!” I hurried to him, trying to ignore my dizziness. “It’s still perfect.”

His fingers found the brooch at my waist. “I can’t believe you’ve managed to hang onto this through everything.”

“I’ll never let it go.”

Lucas held up one of the brown paper bags and said, “Water.” Then he held up the other and said, “not water.”

He could even joke about giving me blood. With a grin, I reached into that sack and pulled out a bag of blood, fresh from the hospital freezer and deliciously cool. Normally I liked my blood close to body temperature, but on a hot day like this, something cold would be perfect.

“Huh,” Lucas said, furrowing his forehead. “I didn’t think about getting, like, a straw.”

“I can bite through with my fangs,” I said, then thought better of it. “Or just poke a hole with your knife.”

“Why not fangs?”

“You really don’t mind seeing me like that?” I glanced up at him through lowered eyelids.

“Considering how hot and heavy we’ve been every time I saw your fangs, I have to say I kinda like seeing you like that.”

He was almost daring me. I enjoyed this. “Okay,” I said. “Watch.”

With the blood right there in my hands, it wasn’t hard to give into it—the familiar ache in my jaw, then the extension of what looked like my canine teeth. When the points jutted into my mouth, I covered my lips with one hand, then let that hand drop.

“There,” I said, letting him look at me. I felt so exposed, until he smiled, and then I felt—invincible.

“Go on,” he said. “Eat.”

I bit into the bag, welcoming the cool rush of blood into my mouth. Lucas had only been able to grab a single pint, so I went slow, making it last. Closing my eyes to savor it better, I swallowed once, twice—

“Oh, my God.”

It was Raquel’s voice.

My eyes flew open as Lucas and I whirled around to see Dana and Raquel, who had just come down into the tunnel. Eliza had said others might come later, but they were here early. Here now. Watching me drink blood.

Chapter Eleven

“WAIT,” I SAID, HOLDING OUT MY HANDS. “HEAR us out.”

Raquel and Dana didn’t run, but they didn’t look like they were going to listen, either. They were both frozen, shock-still, staring at me—at the friend who had just been revealed as a vampire, the creature they hated most in the world.

The bag of blood fell from my trembling hands. Red droplets spattered onto the dust and gravel. I felt like I might plunge to the ground with it at any second. My fangs slid back up into my jaw as though they were trying to hide.

Why hadn’t I heard them? My vampire senses should’ve warned me. But I’d been feeling weak—and Lucas had distracted me—and here we were.

For what felt like eternity, we faced one another. Everyone was breathing hard. When I looked into Raquel’s eyes and saw the na**d hurt and terror there, I wanted to cry, but I held it together.

Dana broke the silence. “You had better start explaining.”

“No,” Raquel said.

“I know how this feels,” Dana said to her. “Believe me, baby, I know. But we better learn what we can.”

“Please,” I began, but Raquel stared down at her sandals.

Lucas and I shared a look. He probably stood a better chance of explaining to Dana than I had of explaining to Raquel. He began, “You want the long version or the short version?”

“I’m gonna want both versions,” Dana said. “And you can top them off with the long-ass director’s cut version when those are done. How about starting with the short version?”

“Bianca was born to two vampires.” When Dana frowned, Lucas continued, “Yeah, I know. It turns out vampires can have children—doesn’t happen a whole lot, but it happens. Her whole life, they told her they’d turn her into a vampire someday and she accepted it, because that’s what you do when you’re a little kid and your parents tell you how things are supposed to be. Then she went to Evernight, and we met, and she wised up about what vampires are capable of. So she left with me and joined us. She’s not a full vampire and she won’t ever be.”

That left out some key elements of the truth, but they were the elements I wanted to discuss least right now. Lucas had done a good job, I thought.

I couldn’t tell if Dana agreed. She remained still, her long braids hanging past her shoulders, one hand on the stake in her belt. “Funny how she’s drinking blood if she’s not a vampire.”

“I need blood as well as food,” I said. “I’m part vampire. That’s not something I can change.”

“What’s the difference between a part vampire and a full vampire?” Dana demanded. “Because if they both have fangs and drink blood, I’m not seeing how I ought to spend time with either kind.”

I stepped forward hesitantly. Raquel backed up, a move that felt like a slap across my face. But I continued forward, taking it slow, grateful for Lucas walking directly behind me. “The difference is that I’m alive,” I said. “You can feel my pulse, if you need proof. Go ahead.”

It felt so scary, stretching out my hand.

Dana took it like it was no big deal, her fingers pressing into my wrist. I wondered if she could tell, from the speed of my pulse, how frightened I was.

Her eyes flickered over to Lucas. “How long have you known about this?”

“Since halfway through my time at Evernight Academy. I found out pretty much the same way you just did.” Lucas put one hand on the small of my back, comforting me. “Then Bianca came clean and told me the story. I realized—how I felt about her—because of who she was, it didn’t matter what she was.”

Dana shot me a look. “You have this one wrapped around your finger but good.”

Was she actually joking around with me again? It seemed like too much to hope for. “I don’t know,” I said. “He’s pretty stubborn.”

Lucas didn’t join in the banter. “Dana, tell me what you’re going to do.”

“I honestly don’t know,” she replied. Her broad face, normally never without a smile, was gravely serious now. “I believe what you’re telling me, but the fact remains that having a vampire in our organization, knowing what we know—I don’t think that’s a great idea. I don’t care what kind of vampire she is, she shouldn’t have jack to do with Black Cross.”