‘What the fuck was that all about?’

His eyes skimmed over my body, the look impersonal. ‘You have a penchant for using the bodies of others, Genevieve. I needed to ensure that you were yourself and yourself alone under this new exterior.’

‘Ri-ight. You’re telling me that little tantrum was my fault? Well, you can think again,’ I said flatly, as I tried to calm the rapid beat of my heart. ‘I know you can tell who I am just by scent, so using my Glamour as an excuse to have a quick bite has nothing to do with it.’

‘Your own scent is strong enough to conceal the scent of another beneath it, so I am unable to distinguish any other within it.’ He lifted one shoulder in a graceful shrug. ‘But yes, you are right, I am angry. You should not have left.’

I shouldn’t have left!Crap, we hadn’t even started negotiating and already he was acting like he thought I was going to behave like some fang-hazed blood-pet. And no way was that happening, no matter how pretty he was. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to ignore the fear—and anger-laced adrenalin hyping my emotions.

‘I am not your property, Malik,’ I said firmly, wanting to get that straight for both of us. ‘So don’t get any ideas about me hanging around waiting for you to wake up every night, ’cause it’s not going to happen.’

For a moment a bleak expression touched his eyes and a chill skittered down my spine, then I decided I’d imagined it as he said, ‘We have the matter of your alibi with the police to take care of.’ He gave my Glamour a disparaging look. ‘You will need time to make yourself presentable.’

I stared at him suspiciously. Had he really searched me out just to provide me with an alibi? Well, it wasn’t like I was going to say no, but—

‘Thanks, I appreciate it.’ I waved an arm at the mind-locked gathering in the hallway. ‘But I’m not going anywhere until I know everyone’s okay.’

‘This is a hospital, Genevieve. The staff are trained, and well-equipped to deal with emergencies such as these.’ He smiled, and I nodded at him, agreeing that it sounded reasonable. ‘There is nothing to be done here by you, so it is better that we do not impede their efforts.’

As if someone I couldn’t hear had shouted ‘action’, Grace got up. Her determined gaze passed blindly over me and she rushed to where Moth-girl was buried beneath the two guards. The guards leapt out of her way and at her order one of them raced back down the corridor. Grace knelt, started checking Moth-girl’s vitals—

‘Genevieve.’ Malik’s calm voice commanded my attention. He was still standing, waiting, his hand now held out to me.

I looked at his proffered hand and thought how good it would be to wrap my fingers round his, to let him lead me away from this place to somewhere safe. Only, that wasn’t right, was it? Nowhere was safe, not with him, not with anyone. Damn.The annoying vampire was trying to mould my thoughts. Bad enough he kept using his mesmaon me and playing with my senses without adding that.

‘Nice try, Malik.’ I gave him an irritated look. ‘But the vamphypno stuff isn’t working so well, so just forget it, okay?’

‘My words are true, Genevieve.’ He moved to survey the scene behind me. ‘There is no one that can be helped here, but if you insist on staying, I must acknowledge our friends.’

I looked over at Grace; she was untying a white ribbon from around Moth-girl’s neck. Another doctor—Craig, I thought, judging by his bald patch—was prepping to place a shunt in Moth-girl’s throat. Where had he come from? I frowned, uneasy. Had Malik distracted me enough that I’d lost some time? But it wasn’t just the lost time that bothered me ... I turned back to him.

‘... apologise for disturbing you, troll,’ he was saying to Hari, making a gesture that encompassed the hallway, then he inclined his head at the goblin. ‘I offer you both my word that I intend no harm to those under your care.’

‘Fair enough, guv.’ Thaddeus jerked his thumb back at Neil Banner. ‘But what about my charge? My contract states I have to oppose any vampire mind-locks with extreme measures.’ He tapped his bat, his mouth widening in a ruby-glinting grin. ‘So, you gonna let him loose or not?’

‘My hold is a precaution only,’ Malik said calmly. ‘But if you will vouch for your charge, I will have no hesitation in releasing him.’

Thaddeus nodded, his red and grey horse-tail hair fanning over his wide shoulders. ‘I’ve no problem vouching for him, guv.’

Malik inclined his head and Neil Banner blinked, his blank expression changing to anxious concern. Before he could speak, Thaddeus grasped his arm and steered him to the seat furthest away and pushed him down into it. He started talking earnestly, but his voice was too low for me to hear what he was saying.

I turned back to Malik and asked the question that was bothering me. ‘What did you mean, there’s nothing to be done?’

He stared down at Moth-girl. Her skin was glowing radioactive-red with blood-flush. ‘The girl’s heart is overstimulated by the venom, and despite her increased level of red blood cells and thus the increased levels of oxygen, the blood is moving too fast for her lungs to cope. They are collapsing, her heart is labouring, and her blood has thickened to the point that the supply to her brain is diminishing.’

A classic case of venom-induced adrenalin-based hypertension, and if unrelieved, it was usually followed by a stroke, then probable cardiac arrest. I knew the symptoms—I’d experienced them myself, but I was sidhe fae. Moth-girl was human. I frowned. Other than the flushed skin she looked quite peaceful, the hint of a smile wreathing her lips.

‘Then why isn’t she having convulsions,’ I said, ‘if she’s reached that stage?’

‘I am limiting her distress.’

‘But they’re taking blood from her; the shunt will relieve the pressure.’

‘Taking blood from the jugular will not suffice,’ he said. ‘Piercing the carotid artery would improve her chances, but as a medical procedure it is too dangerous. The flow from the heart needs to be controlled.’

I didn’t need to ask how. ‘Necking’—feeding from the carotid—is a popular, if illegal, entertainment in the less salubrious blood-houses in Sucker Town. Unsurprisingly, the same ones that are usually home to the Moths. One or more vamps stoke a junkie up on venom, then just as the junkie hits the edge, the vamp bites into the carotid, gulping down the blood as if the junkie’s a spurting soda fountain. But even in the most unscrupulous houses there’s always a failsafe: another vamp able to control the junkie’s heart, to stop them bleeding to death and help heal the wound as the vamp ‘necking’ usually succumbs to overindulgence and falls into a blood-dream. Of course, if the vamp was hungry enough, a blood-dream shouldn’t be a problem. I touched my tongue to the small bruise on my lip as an idea formed in my head. ‘If you fed on her, could you save her?’

He gave me an impassive look. ‘Genevieve, it is not possible for me to feed on her.’

‘Why not? Surely you’re hungry enough.’

‘You are correct. I am hungry, but she is human. If I were to feed in the manner my blood insists, she would not survive,’ he said, his voice empty of any emotion. ‘I am not able to stop myself from feeding any other way.’

I had a sudden terrifying thought; maybe he’d bitten my lip because he couldn’t trust himself not to rip my throat out. Then the recent ‘memory’ I’d had of Rosa tracing her tongue over her own fangs as she lowered her head to feed came back to me. I knew how I could save Moth-girl.

I shrugged out of my leather jacket and hopped on one foot while I pulled off a trainer.

Malik regarded me with detached interest. ‘What are you doing, Genevieve?’

I jerked my head at Moth-girl. ‘She needs a vamp to feed on her if she’s going to stand any chance of surviving. You won’t do it—’