“Lex?” I gasped in disbelief. Stepping forward, I tried to move toward him, but was grabbed by Harrison and shoved behind him.

“I know you were not invited, Duquesne,” Zach warned.

The guardian glanced around the room and shook his head in disappointment. “It’s not my kind of party. I don’t mean to stay long.”

“You aren’t welcome here.”

Again I tried to step forward, but Harrison tightened his grip on my forearm, almost painfully so. I opened my mouth and prepared to tell him off, but I paused as I caught a hint of his true emotion. Despite the fact he looked outwardly calm and more than a little annoyed, Zach was worried. Afraid even, just as he’d been after Laura attacked me. I blinked as I digested this information, and in a surprising show of tact I kept my big mouth shut.

“I’m just here to collect my Titania, and then I’ll leave you to your soiree.”

“We’ve already proven that you have no grounds to remove her, since she willingly agreed to stay here as our guest,” Lovely Laura chimed in. With slow, echoing steps she crossed to stand near us. Yeah, Laura wanted me dead, but protecting the vampire turf was more important to her at the moment. We were in the middle of a room full of vamps Zach needed to impress-it would be an enormous sign of weakness on his part if he let me leave with Lex now.

“I’m takin’ her home.”

I felt Zach’s mood shift again. He was still afraid, but now he was angry as well. “Perhaps she doesn’t wish to leave with you.”

All eyes turned to me, and I wanted to sink right through the floor. “Umm, could we possibly discuss this in private?”

“There is nothing to discuss,” Zach countered, and then turned back to Lex. “I’ve kept my word. I haven’t forced her, nor harmed her. Catherine chose to be here. Now, you are trespassing, and I see no reason not to remove you from our territory.” He motioned to the crowd, and a sea of vamps surged forward to attack Lex.

“No!” I shouted, and was completely ignored. Turning on his heel, Harrison strode away from the fight, dragging me along behind him. “Damn it, Zach, don’t do this. Let me go,” I implored as I stumbled along. Determined, he continued through the now-empty gallery, headed toward the private entrance we’d arrived at. “Please, tell them to stop.”

“I can’t,” he replied. I tried to give him a magical shove, and it didn’t even muss his hair. I dug my heels in to slow him down, and one of the stilettos snapped beneath me, causing me to tumble to the ground. Zach stopped, an apologetic expression on his face as he looked down at me. “I’m sorry, Catherine, I truly am,” he said as he knelt beside me. “I can’t let you go with him.”

“Why not?” I asked, my voice tight with too much emotion. “You had to know I’d see him again when I left.” I fiddled with the strap of my broken shoe, my manicured nails making the process difficult.

“This is different. Let me do that.” Taking my foot in his hand, he started to undo the tiny buckles.

“How is it different?”

“It is,” he explained, his voice low enough to be a growl. “He picked this fight, now he’ll deal with the consequences.” Removing the broken shoe, Harrison paused and looked up at me. “Would you go with him and leave me standing here alone?”

“Yes. I have to help him.” Lex was facing a roomful of vampires, without his guardian magic to protect him. I had to get back there before they tore him apart.

Without another word Zach removed my other shoe, and then hauled me to my feet. Once again he tried to drag me along with him, but I put up a stronger fight now that I had more traction.

“Catherine, even if I could help him, I still would not let you leave with him, now walk.”

Unwilling to leave Lex to his fate, I switched tactics, snatching up the nearest piece of sculpture and hitting Zach with it as hard as I could. He staggered and dropped my arm, and the sculpture cracked and broke into several large pieces. Really, for a few grand you think it’d be more durable. An echo of pain shot through my skull as fragments of the piece fell from my hands. Cursing, I whirled and ran back toward the fray.

A circle of wary spectators had formed around Lex and Laura, and as I shoved my way through the onlookers it looked like she wasn’t doing very well. Wielding his two short swords, Lex kept her at bay. The blades were covered in a spiky sheen of ice, just as my rapier had been during the battle in the courtyard of Silverleaf castle. The two combatants were each cut up, but no major wounds. Damn impressive on Lex’s part.

Laura’s back was to me as she concentrated on Lex, and I paused, glancing around for a makeshift weapon. Snatching up a half-empty bottle of water, I whispered a quick spell as I formed a ball of ice in my hand. Winding up like a major league pitcher, I hurled it at her, hitting Lovely Laura in the back of her blonde head. The vampire stumbled, surprised, and turned to face me. She stepped toward me, hatred blazing in her pale eyes, and then those eyes widened in shock as the tip of one of Lex’s swords erupted from her chest. Laura let out a squeaky wail of disbelief.

“Give my regards to Dorian,” I said as I watched Lovely Laura Barrenheart crumple. The fiery hatred in her eyes faded as she collapsed, and I managed to get in one spiteful kick before I was shoved out of the way. I stumbled and fell, sprawled awkwardly on the floor.

“No!” Harrison’s anguished cry echoed through the gallery. With the councilwoman fallen, the surrounding minions scattered from the room like rats escaping a sinking ship. Someone tugged me to my feet, and I looked up to see Mac standing behind me. He dragged me off to the side, ducking behind the dubious protection of Simon St. Jerome and his vampire friend Michael Black, who stood watching the drama unfold like two critics observing a play. Aside from Zach and Lex, we were the only people left in the room.

Harrison stood over Laura’s body, torn between mourning her loss and keeping a wary eye on her killer. Lex circled him, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” Zach said quietly.

“True, I’m sure you know her crimes better than I do,” Lex agreed.

“What do you hope to accomplish here? Prove your devotion to your lady fair? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to ride to her rescue a bit sooner than the night before she was free to go?”

“I heard you were goin’ to show off Cat like the newest piece in your collection, so I wanted to make sure your vamp buddies didn’t get the wrong idea.”

“And you showed up to prove your ownership instead? How Cro-Magnon of you. Will you be dragging her back to your cave next?”

I hated to admit it, but the vampire had a point. “Will you both cut it out? The wicked witch is dead, she had it comin’, I say we call it a night.”

“No!” both men replied.

“Oh, for the love of-” I started, but was interrupted by the undead peanut gallery.

“Hmm. Harrison knows, and yet he’s still fighting it,” Simon commented to his companion. “I think that’s very interesting, don’t you?”

“Yes, quite,” Michael agreed.

“Knows what?” I asked.

“That you and Duquesne are soul mates, of course,” Simon answered.

“Well duh, apparently everyone knows that,” I muttered, grimacing in annoyance.

“Lord Wroth, Mr. Black. I take it you are enjoying your view,” Zach said dryly as he glanced at them.

“Indeed, though this is not terribly original of you, I have witnessed this sort of drama before,” Simon replied.

“You have?” I’d hate to think my adventure was just another day at the vampire office.

“My apologies, Miss Morrow. The drama in question is not an unfamiliar story: A newly made vampire so terrified at the thought of eternity alone that he is desperate to keep his stolen damsel with him, even as her knight is pounding down the doors to his lair.”