“I object to being accused of something so cliché. I think my reasoning is quite sound. I might add that you are treading perilously close to interfering, St. Jerome.”

“I’m merely having a talk with the new Titania.” Spreading his hands in a placating gesture, he smiled. “Though I should add that it is a rather despicable specimen who would knowingly keep a lady from her soul mate.”

“I need her,” Zach growled. A shiver ran down my spine, and I grabbed Mac’s hand.

“For what?” I asked. “You already put the necro-whammy on me. You said I could leave, and now none of your guests are here to witness whatever happens. Just let us go.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let a council member’s murderer waltz away from the scene of the crime,” Zach argued.

“Well, then you’ll just have to stop me,” Lex countered, and then lunged at him.

The two men moved with inhuman speed, a blur in the center of the room. With no weapon, Harrison fought with teeth and claws, and for the first time I was able to see him as a true monster. Lex caught him high across the chest, tearing a slash through Zach’s suit, and a line of pain seared me in the same place. Gasping, I fell to my knees, still clinging to Mac’s hand.

“Cat!” Mac exclaimed. “What’s wrong?”

I placed my hand above the plunging neckline of my dress, and slick, warm blood coated my fingers. Kneeling next to me, Simon drew my hand away and examined the wound.

“Of all the foolish, irresponsible-” he sputtered. “Idiot boy.” Rising to his feet, he turned to Michael. “Duquesne needs to be stopped, or he’ll kill her along with Harrison.”

Those were words I certainly didn’t want to hear-Lex was mad enough to send Harrison straight to hell, and I didn’t want to get dragged down with him. I watched as the two men continued to fight, two black-clad blurs that darted back and forth across the floor. I wasn’t sure if it was Harrison ’s blood in my veins or whatever attunement he said we shared, but I felt every scratch, every bruise, every wound that the vampire endured.

Lex’s blade cut a deep slash across Zach’s torso, and I doubled over in agony. A blast of arctic air crashed into Harrison, and the vampire tumbled backward. Clutching his stomach as he lay in a crumpled ball, Harrison seemed defeated, and Lex advanced to deliver a killing blow. Seeing an opening, I stumbled between them and threw my arms out wide.

“Stop it!” I shouted. “That’s enough!”

Lex tried to move around me, but I grabbed him. “Lord and Lady, will you stand still. You’re hitting me too, jackass.”

He frowned, noticing my bloodstained dress. “Cat…what happened?”

“You can’t kill him, apparently it’ll kill me too. He did some weird vampire wooj to me and now we’re stuck with each other.”

Lex shot a wary look at the fallen vampire, and then sheathed his weapons. I threw my arms around him and he held me close. I felt instantly better, as though Lex’s very presence chased away my aches and pains.

“It’s a spirit link, in fact,” Simon spoke up. “It’s really quite rare. I’ve never heard of it being cast on one who wasn’t a necromancer.”

“And I’m seriously not a necromancer.”

Harrison stirred, groaning as he slowly got to his feet. “You could be. You’d be powerful. It’s in your blood.”

“No. It’s not,” I said, shaking my head. “Okay, we’re going to leave now.”

“I can’t allow that,” Zach repeated.

“I’m takin’ her home,” Lex replied. “Just ’cause I can’t kill you doesn’t mean I won’t handcuff you to a sculpture so we can leave.”

“Try it,” Zach suggested. He grinned, flashing bright white fangs, and I shuddered. We were at a standoff-Lex couldn’t attack him, and he wouldn’t let us go.

There was a distinct sigh from the direction of our undead audience, and then a streak of motion darted from the shadows behind Harrison. He turned toward it, and a dull pain exploded in my head as Zach fell to the floor, unconscious. Lex held me tight, reacting to the sudden buckling of my knees. When I recovered I saw Mrs. Emily Black standing above Zach’s prone form. Emily wiped off the side of a leather handbag, appearing unaffected by her surroundings.

I blinked. “Did you just hit him in the head with your purse?”

“I thought it best. We’d better hurry before he wakes up.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. C’mon, sugar, let’s get out of here,” Lex said.

I hugged him, feeling a little steadier, and he brushed a kiss against my hair.

“Damn, broke another one,” Emily muttered. She upended the bag, and several broken pieces of brick tumbled out and fell to the floor. I peered incredulously at Emily-the woman was short and petite and certainly didn’t look like the sort to have a weapon in her evening bag, and definitely not a chunk of masonry. I turned toward Michael and Simon.

“Cracking your host in the head with a brick seems kinda like interfering in vamp politics to me. Isn’t that against your Order’s rules?”

“It is, but while Michael is in the Order, Emily isn’t. That is why she can aid in rescuing you while we are merely observing,” Simon explained. Dusting himself off, he attempted to put his black suit back into order. “We’ll have to use the stairs. The elevators are monitored and can be overridden by security.”

We ducked into an emergency stairwell and began making our way down to the parking structure. Thankfully the art gallery wasn’t as high up in the building as my suite was, and we didn’t have a ridiculously far distance to travel. Lex held my hand tightly as we walked, as though he worried I’d try to bolt and run back to Harrison. Or maybe he was just happy to see me. Either way, I knew we’d have an interesting conversation once we were rid of our vampire audience.

“So, if you’re not in the Order, aren’t you still going to get into trouble for assaulting Zach?” I asked Emily as we trudged down the stairs.

“Zach?” she said, an inquisitive note in her voice. “Hmm, just how familiar are you with young Mr. Harrison?”

“I tried to get familiar with him, but apparently I’m not his type,” Mac joked. My cheeks flushed and I whacked Mac in the ribs with my free hand. Lex made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a low growl, and I hoped he was just clearing his throat.

“You’re avoiding the question,” I said to Emily.

“So are you,” she replied, amused.

“You’ll have to forgive Emily, she’s an insufferable gossip.” Michael chuckled behind us. “The answer to your question is no, she won’t. Emily’s position is unique.”

“Unique?”

“Quite,” Simon chimed in. “I took Michael on as my student and inducted him into the Order. Since he and Emily are soul mates, we couldn’t separate them-it would be extremely cruel, so he turned her. She isn’t part of the Order, but she wasn’t a necromancer and therefore holds no allegiance to their society.”

“That’s why I volunteered when Alexander asked Simon for help sneaking him into the building,” Emily informed me. “I don’t often get to aid in the rescue of a damsel in distress.”

“My wife, the mighty heroine.” Michael affectionately mussed Emily’s hair.

Emily pushed open the door to their parking level, and we emerged from the stairwell. It wasn’t as pristine as the spot I’d arrived at in the limo, but I could still catch a faint smell of fresh, damp air through the exhaust and spilled oil-it was raining outside. The sound of shuffling feet and muffled conversation echoed through the concrete structure. We rounded a corner just in time to see a handful of security agents spill out of an elevator, and they didn’t look happy.

“Ah hell,” I sighed. “So much for avoiding the elevators.”

The men spotted us and ran in our direction, a few of them drawing guns. We dove behind the nearest cars for cover as shots exploded in a series of sharp pops.

“There’s only a few, we can take care of them,” Lex assured us, and I shook my head.