A chill went down my back. "What kind of punishment?"

He stared at me. "Whatever punishment I choose."

"No blood," Rhiannon said. "You will not take blood from her. And you can't maim her."

Regina gave Lannan a long look and a veiled smile crossed her face. "Lannan would never maim such a lovely young woman."

"Wait." I caught my breath, feeling the world hedge in around me just a little bit more. The only way to avoid accepting their deal would be to leave town, but even then, they'd hunt me down. As she reached for the papers, I pulled them away from her.

"The part about helping us with my aunt--it's not in the contract. I ask again: Can you help us rescue my aunt and our friend Peyton? If I'm going to sign something that puts my life in danger, I have to make more than a couple grand a month for it."

Regina and Lannan looked at each other, then at Geoffrey. I had the distinct feeling they were conferring without us hearing a word.

After a moment, Lannan looked directly at me. I struggled to keep my composure and realized that if I looked away, they'd say no.

"You seek to up the ante, then you'll up the service to blood."

I started to protest but Lannan held up his hand.

"Once per month, I drink from you," he said. "I won't force you to drink from me, and I promise to avoid enthralling you, at least on a permanent basis. I won't make you my bloodwhore, although I think I'd fancy that. Yes, I would. But you will remember who your master is. You may be of the magic-born, but you are still but a step away from human and we have not been anything near to human for thousands of years."

Shit. If Grieve smelled Lannan's scent on me, he'd freak. "Won't that tip off Grieve that I'm hanging out with you?" Anything, anything to stave off being a living juice box.

"That remains your problem to deal with as you see fit." Lannan shrugged. He waited, tapping his foot lightly on the floor.

Watching my future narrow bleakly, I shrugged. What choice did I have at this point? And if it helped save Heather and Peyton . . .

"I'll do it," I said grimly. "Just make sure you don't take enough to leave me weak, nor turn me into a bloodwhore. If you'll honor bind yourself to that, we have a deal."

"You know, we don't have to offer you any of this," Geoffrey said. "But we do so out of our respect for your aunt, and for Marta, who we firmly believe was killed by the Indigo Court. That's another possibility . . ."

"What?"

"Perhaps we should have you check in to her death. The police certainly won't. And Anadey has her hands full. You might be able to confirm what we know. Truly, it remains easier to attract flies to honey instead of vinegar."

"And I'm your honey," I whispered, as Lannan took the contracts out of the room to be changed.

Regina smiled and walked over to me. I was still standing, so preoccupied in thought that I didn't even think to curtsey. She stepped so close that I could feel the crackle of energy sparkling around her.

"My brother enjoys his toys. He may play with you all he likes, and I grant you permission to enjoy it--he's a very good playmate. But remember: You are never, ever to believe that you can lure him away from me. We are a mated pair. You will not interfere or attempt to play one of us off the other. On the other hand, if you choose to play with both of us . . . I won't object in the least."

And then, she leaned forward and gave me a long kiss on the lips, and her taste and smell were so intoxicating that I didn't even flinch.

Chapter 12

With Regina's words echoing through my head, I stumbled back. She winked at me but the effect creeped me out--with her haunting obsidian eyes.

"Trust me, I have no intention of coming between the two of you, and I don't have any designs on your brother," I said, my knees buckling. Fucking hell, I'd agreed to give it up to her brother once a month, and I wasn't talking sex. Even that would have been better than bloodletting, I thought. Then again, remembering his reputation, maybe not.

"Good. Then as soon as you sign the contracts, you'll be free to leave. You're welcome to stay and join the party, if you think you can stomach it." Her voice was cool and I couldn't help it: I locked her gaze.

A challenge. She was issuing me a challenge. Seeing if I had the guts to deal with their world. I turned to Leo and Rhiannon, forcing myself to steady my voice. "You can go home, but I'll stay for a while."

I didn't dare show fear, even if they could smell it on me. Vampires were predators, they'd respect me if I held my ground. Well, as much as they'd respect anyone who wasn't part of their world.

"We'll stay with you," Leo said, crossing his arms.

"Healer, it may require a stronger stomach than you have." Regina sauntered over to him and placed one stiletto nail of hers under his chin. "Are you sure you're up to it?"

"He'll manage," Geoffrey said. "He's my day runner. To turn tail would tell me he's the wrong mortal for the job. Isn't that right, Leo?" He gave Leo a look that could only have one answer.

"Of course, Lord Geoffrey." Leo smiled, but I could sense the tension behind his words.

Regina let out a low chuckle. "I promise you safety. With Cicely working for us, and this young lion working for Geoffrey, we will do what we can to ensure you remain untargeted by any member of the Vampire Nation who lives in this area." She paused, then added with a silken smile, "Unless, of course, you issue an invitation."

At that, Lannan reentered the room and Regina was back to business. She held out the contracts to me and I glanced over them again, making sure they hadn't changed anything else without me noticing. But everything looked on the up and up, although I lingered over the promise to give Lannan my blood once a month in return for their help with Heather.

"Pen?" I said.

"Here, consider this the first of many gifts," Lannan said, his fingers lingering on mine as I accepted the Mont Blanc he offered me.

I stared at the pen. Probably worth a good grand, and here he was handing it over to me like it was a stick pen. Slowly, I pulled off the cap. A fountain pen. The contracts were on the coffee table and the dotted line loomed like a demarcation line.

Unsigned, I still owned myself. Signed, and they owned a piece of me. But if I didn't agree . . . too many chances for all of us to get hurt. Too many opportunities for the vampires to prove just how tough they were. And I had no doubt they could back up their threats.

I slowly signed my name and put the pen down.

"Now, just a little more of your blood, please--a single drop, at the end of your name." Regina reached for my hand. She lowered her mouth to my thumb and opened the very end of the wound again, using one fang to pierce the skin. A delicious shiver raced through me and I felt myself rise on wings. Then, she pulled away, and I squeezed one drop onto the paper, at the end of my name.

Lannan held out his hand. I slowly placed mine in his palm and he lifted it to his lips where he slowly licked along my wound with his tongue. Heat rose through my body. I wanted to squirm, to slide into his arms, to feel his lips cover my neck, my breasts, my stomach.

My wolf growled then, deep and angry, and I jerked my eyes open. Lannan smiled, seductive and cunning and wicked all rolled into one.

"Oh yes," he whispered. "This is going to be an interesting partnership."

I gasped, the wind knocked out of me as he leaned down and kissed my cheek, leaving me reeling. Falling back onto the sofa, I desperately tried to control the flood of hunger racing through my body. How could he do that? How could a simple sentence make me want to spread my legs for him? Terrified, realizing how far I'd sold myself into their servitude, I began to shake.

Leo, sitting next to me, placed one hand on my leg and whatever he was doing--whatever energy he was running--began to draw the fear out of me. After a moment, I began to breathe normally again.

Regina handed the contracts to Geoffrey. "Here, we will need a copy for the Court, and one for Cicely. Please have your staff take care of the matter."

He nodded. "By your will, Emissary."

"And now," Regina said, "let's go have ourselves a party."

Lannan wrapped his arm around his sister's waist. As they led us out of the room, I glanced at Geoffrey. He gave me a long, silent look, and then--in the barest of movements--smiled, but the curve of his lips was sad.

An alarm went off inside, and suddenly, I realized what I'd overlooked in the contract. Oh shit! But it was too late to ask for a change.

There'd been no stipulated end date. I was bound to them for as long as they wanted. I'd just indentured myself to the vampires for the rest of my life, if they wanted it that way.

Regina and Lannan led us through the main room, to another set of double doors. She glanced back at us. "Are you sure you're game?"

I swallowed. Now, more than ever, I had to show them I could handle myself. "Yeah, as long as your promise stands."

"It stands," she said, her eyes glimmering. I noticed her fangs were down. She opened the doors and led us into another hallway. We followed the three of them down the corridor until we reached a third set of double doors to the right. They stopped.

Lannan looked us over. "Before we enter, know that you will be safe if you follow some simple rules. No sudden movements. Stick together, unless you prefer to join the fun. You are not to attempt to stop anything you see here--everyone here has agreed to the rules of the game."

That left a lot of room, I thought, considering the vampires' abilities to charm and seduce. Chances were, there were quite a few people around New Forest--or any town, for that matter--who found themselves at vamp parties without really meaning to show up there. Of course, there were the bloodwhores and the fang-girls and the wannabes, but they came with the territory, and from what I'd seen, the vamps enjoyed toying with those who had reservations more than the willing.

I swallowed, wondering just what was going on behind those massive closed doors. "We understand."

"Then enter our world, Cicely, along with your friends, and perhaps you'll wish to do more than just observe," he said, his voice lingering over my name. I shivered and he let out a soft laugh as he cast open the doors.

As the doors opened, we found ourselves facing two guards. One was tall, the other shorter, but both were stocky. The shorter man had dark hair that curled to his shoulders and he looked vaguely Mediterranean. The taller was blonde, with a beard, and he had a Thor's Hammer tattooed in the middle of his forehead. I couldn't take my eyes away from the tattoo as he caught my gaze.

They eyed us up and down, but said nothing as we peeked inside. The room was huge--easily the entire size of our downstairs at home. At first glance, I thought of a snake pit, softly lit in shades of red. The walls, the upholstery, the tiles on the floor were all in shades of coiled red and bronze, gold and black. No windows shed light into the room, and at first all I could see was a sea of bodies writhing, twisting together in one massive mating ball.

Beside me, Rhiannon gasped, but said nothing. Leo seemed unaffected, but he was used to dealing with vampires and had probably witnessed their raves before. I sucked in a long breath, then exhaled slowly, buying time to adjust to what I was seeing. And then, as Lannan gestured for us to enter, I stepped over the threshold, into a world of sex and blood and passion.

The music shifted from the hard-hitting technowave of the outer party. Here it was sinuous, enticing us to join the dance. A long, single note rose and fell, leading into a drumbeat, a cadence, the heartbeats of the humans filling the room. And everywhere, under the music, the wind carried cries of passion and pain to my ears.

Trying to make sense of the living kaleidoscope, I focused on one area at a time. Over there--a long divan. Three women sprawled languorously across it, their gowns filmy and translucent. Two men--vampires--were taking turns with them; one licking at their necks, the other between their legs.

My stomach knotted as I realized the vamps were drinking blood from both areas and I jerked my eyes away, praying they were drinking from the artery in the thigh rather than anything more painful. But the women were sighing, and one let out a moan that set off a responsive chord within me. I sucked in another breath, reaching to steady myself before I realized I'd taken hold of Geoffrey's arm instead of my cousin's. He gave me a sly smile, but just patted my hand before removing it from his sleeve.

Another pile of bodies on the floor--again, a mixture of vampires and humans, an orgy of movement, limbs entwining, fangs flashing, necks trickling blood, heads thrown back in ecstasy. A moan here, a soft sigh there, and one woman looked up at me suddenly, her chin stained red, fangs down, with eyes so black I felt myself falling into the abyss.

She smiled, winked, motioned. Dazed, I took a step forward, but Leo stopped me. I jerked my gaze away. I heard her hiss but she returned to her bloodwhore--a man in his twenties with taut abs and the face of a Grecian god. Another woman--human this time--slowly licked his rising erection.

Shakily, I turned to Rhiannon, whose gaze was glued to the scene. She was biting her lip and I suddenly realized that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have someone who'd repressed her fire for so many years--which intermingled with sexuality--around a vampire sex club right now. But there was no walking away. Not with Regina, Lannan, and Geoffrey flanking our sides.

Speaking of Lannan, I realized he was leaning over my shoulder, his lips precariously near my ear. "See anything you like?"

I forced myself to get a grip. "It's all very interesting. So this is where you perform your . . ."

"This is our equivalent of a costume dinner party," he said, laughing low. "You might come across a reference to feeding frenzies . . . as you can see, we aren't sharks, ripping our victims to pieces. We prefer to give pleasure where we take it."