#ajg

Chapter 1

“Very bored,” Gabri Arun announced, shutting the book she had been reading with a thump that made seven-year-old Sarah jump. Gabri’s cousin, Michael, followed suit by tossing his book on top of hers.

Dominique, who had been supervising the group, shook her head and waved them off. “You two can go practice your forms. I will be out to work with you in a minute.”

Seeing that the two Arun witches had gotten out of studying and now were allowed to do something more fun, Sarah announced, “I’m bored, too. Can I practice with them?”

“Sarah Tigress Vida,” Dominique replied sharply, “you will sit there and work until you can recite to me the name, age, bloodline, and distinguishing characteristics of each vampire in that book. In other words, you will conduct yourself with the discipline that befits your bloodline.”

She tried, she really tried, but the sound of the others sparring in the next room, coached by Dominique, kept distracting her. A few minutes later, the clouds outside broke and suddenly the decorative glass panels in the kitchen door were casting rainbows across the table.

She began to daydream about the little figures etched in the glass, and was startled when someone walked past outside, blocking the light for a few moments before ringing the doorbell.

“I’ll get it,” she called to the others, happy for an excuse to stretch her legs. She pulled the door open, and when there was no one standing there, she took a step forward and stumbled over what they had left behind.

Sarah Vida ripped herself from sleep, eyes snapping open to face darkness. She couldn’t relive that. She had tried too hard to forget.

Damn these dreams. She had known almost all her life that vampires didn’t create dreams the way mortals did; it was one of the many facts she had learned as a hunter. But no one had warned her that the memories they relived instead were so vivid, as vivid- perhaps more vivid- than the first event had been.

Suddenly she could feel herself stumble, and feel her father’s blood on her hand after she fell on top of his quickly cooling body. Suddenly she was seven years old again, in shock, furious at the world as the one person who had ever shown her parental affection was ripped from her-

NO!

She drew a breath- an unnecessary breath, one she could have held all day if she didn’t need to speak- as she shoved the memories away. She pushed herself up and reached for the light switch.

Soft white light illuminated a cozy little room, with a print of Dali’s “Persistence of Time” on one wall and a vase of silk snapdragons on the bedside table. None of it was Sarah’s- not the room, not the poster, not the flowers, not even the clothes she was wearing.

SingleEarth; that’s where she was. She, who as a witch had shunned this place and these people, despising them for their tolerance of vampires, was now one of the creatures she had hated, a guest at an establishment she had long reviled.

She had crashed here at dawn, because she had needed somewhere to go and knew SingleEarth would take her in. That’s what they did, after all. They were a safe haven for people who had... nothing.

Of course, Sarah had Kristopher, the vampire whose friendship and later love had turned her entire world inside out and destroyed all her safe, simple, easy definitions of good and bad and right and wrong. He had changed her, even before he gave her his blood; he had turned her from Sarah Tigress Vida, youngest daughter of Dominique Vida, vampire hunter, and into... whatever she was. Whoever she was.

Needing to move, to stop running the same endless circles in her brain, she reached toward the door- and then had to dodge back as it was pushed open by a frantic human.

She literally had to brace herself, against the first human she had seen in almost twenty four hours. Against the pounding of the girl’s heartbeat; she was anxious and not hiding it well. Against the scent of-

Sarah shoved the bloodlust down with the practice of eighteen years as a daughter of Vida. Pain meant nothing. This pain wasn’t one she could face yet, and that meant it was a distraction.

“You have to leave,” the girl blurted out, oblivious to Sarah’s momentary weakness.

“What?”

The girl was obviously confused by events, but tried to summarize anyway. “There are two people downstairs. They’re looking for you. Caryn tried to tell them that, if you were here, it wasn’t any of their business unless you wanted to see them, but they said something about... Right of Kin?” She said the last term tentatively. “Caryn was obviously stalling them. She gave me a look.”

A look.

Sarah’s mind was spinning, as she tried to catch up with these events. Dominique wouldn’t have...

Who was she kidding? Dominique would have called on the Rights of Kin laws the instant she deduced that Sarah was a vampire.

At least she didn’t have any belongings to hurriedly gather. All she needed was a destination, which she chose quickly and then brought herself to with a swift thought.

“Nissa!”

Sarah called her friend’s name as she appeared in her living room. Adianna would be able to find Nissa easily, and if Dominique had invoked the Rights of Kin in order to hunt Sarah down, then Nissa was in danger.

Her call did not receive the response she had been expecting. Instead of harmless, brown-haired, sweet-natured Nissa, the person who walked down the stairs in response to her call was very much the opposite: her brother, Nikolas.

He was beautiful. Handsome could not even begin to describe Nikolas; it was too bland and cliché. His hair was pure, moonless black; as usual, he wore it back, which only served to accent eyes the same impossible jet. The black was set against his fair skin, so pale it seemed almost white by contrast.

Like a black and white photograph, Nikolas had a beauty and- as she had only recently learned- an innocence that made him seem as if he might be an angel. He knew no deceit, and as he had told her many times, he never lied. His world was as clearly defined as black and white.

She was romanticizing. If Nikolas was an angel, he had fallen long ago. Within that sense of black and white was a clear line between friend and foe, and she remembered what it had been like on the wrong side of that line.

Right now, though, she believed she was on the “friend” side.

Nikolas raised a questioning brow, and she realized suddenly that she was still wearing a borrowed nightgown, hadn’t even brushed her hair, and in general probably looked exactly the opposite of the composed, emotionless Sarah Vida that Nikolas had come to know. She was struggling to pull that Vida control around herself now.

“I need to warn Nissa, and Christopher- and you,” she said, her voice sounding strangely brittle to her own ears. “My family will check here soon, looking for me...”

“That’s why I was here,” Nikolas answered. “Kristopher asked me to pick up a couple of his things, since he and Nissa need to leave.”

“You know?”

“I know how witches react when their kin is slain,” he said, softly.

Of course he knew. He had done it before. One hundred and fifty years ago, he and Kristopher had killed Elisabeth Vida. She had caught them feeding, and had nearly killed Kristopher before the twins had retaliated.

“Well then... that’s good, that you know.” Now what? Her mind didn’t seem to be working right. It was stalling out, refusing to form any kind of plan.

“Do you have anywhere to go?” Nikolas asked.

The gentle words were the last straw.

In the last twenty-four hours, she had faced too much. She had been disowned. She had been killed. She had woken up as the exact creature she had once hunted. She had been forced to leave the one haven she had felt certain of. She had needed to admit that her own family would rather she were dead than what she was.

She was tired, and she was scared, and she was feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Her mind had gone absolutely blank.

“I don’t know,” she said.

She leaned against him as Nikolas took her into his arms. Sarah Vida, who had never let herself be weak around anyone, suddenly found herself comforted by someone who a few days ago had been trying to kill her.

“Then you’ll come stay with Kristopher and me,” Nikolas said. “I know you left because you wanted to prove you can find your own way, and I respect that. But you’ve had everything you knew to be true ravaged in the last few weeks. You’ve given up everything, and stepped into an entirely different life. You’ve been one of us for a day, and already you have some of the fiercest hunters out there looking for you- hunters you know as family.”

She shook her head. She didn’t want to be dependent; she didn’t want to be weak.

“When Nissa was changed, she had Kaleo to guide her, and she had us to support her. When I was changed, it was Kendra that taught me how to survive, and Kristopher who gave me a reason to. We aren’t reborn into this world knowing all the answers and capable of facing everything, and though some would tell you otherwise, we aren’t solitary creatures; not really.

“You were taught as a Vida that it was weakness to care for anyone, and a weakness to let anyone care for you. I’m telling you right now that that’s a lie. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met- but you still need friends. Please, let us be there for you.”

There were tears in her eyes. She wasn’t certain when they had shown up. Nikolas was right. She couldn’t do this alone. She still didn’t like needing anyone.

For a moment, the fact that it was Nikolas saying these things surfaced in her mind as completely impossible. Nikolas, who had hunted her down for harming his family, carved his marks into her skin, threatened her, and nearly killed her by trying to bloodbond her. Nikolas, who had shown her that some things weren’t black and white, and who had finally taught her how to forgive.

Nikolas, she realized, to whom she was presently clinging as if he was the last line to shore.

She pulled away, feeling suddenly awkward. This wasn’t just Nikolas, who had gone from terrorizing her to protecting her in the blink of an eye, the change so sharp that her mind was still reeling from it. This was Kristopher’s brother.

Kristopher and Nikolas were twins, similar like moonlight and starshine. Both brothers were fiercely loyal to their friends and kin, and powerful enough to be effective protectors even in the world of the night. However, where Nikolas saw the world in black and white, Kristopher could see a thousands shades of gray. Where Nikolas could give a straight answer of yes or no, Kristopher could give a thousand reasons for either. Nikolas could be either angel or demon, while Kristopher... Kristopher was simply human.

And Kristopher loved her. He would take her in gratefully, without questions, and let her stay as long as she wanted to. Nikolas would do the same, because he would do anything for his brother.

Nikolas let her pull away, waiting for her response.

“I’m not good at asking for help,” she whispered finally. He had offered, again and again, and yet she couldn’t stand to say the words, “Yes, I want to go with you.”

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