Chapter 1

CONSCIOUSNESS RETURNED to Keri in agonizing fragments. Her eyelids fluttered, struggling against the weight of drugged exhaustion. A searing pain throbbed behind her eyes, pulsing in time with her racing heartbeat. She tried to lift a hand to her aching head, but her arm refused to cooperate.

Panic flared as her sluggish mind registered the cold metal biting into her wrists and ankles. She was restrained. Bound. Trapped.

Keri forced her eyes open, blinking rapidly to clear her blurred vision. Darkness pressed in around her, broken only by thin slivers of sickly light from a naked bulb swaying from the ceiling. As her pupils adjusted, the outlines of her prison came into focus — a small, dank cell with walls of rough-hewn stone. She was in a dungeon.

A dungeon?

A wave of nausea rolled through her as she tried to lift her head. The metallic tang of blood coated her tongue, mingling with the bitter aftertaste of whatever drug they'd used to subdue her. Keri swallowed hard, fighting back the urge to retch.

She inhaled deeply, immediately regretting it as the musty, damp air filled her lungs. The cell reeked of mold and decay, with an underlying coppery scent that made her stomach churn. Water dripped somewhere in the darkness, a steady plink-plink-plink that seemed to echo Keri's mounting dread.

Fragments of memory flashed through her mind.

"The latest batch is nearly ready. The concentration is higher than ever before."

"Excellent. And the human test subjects?"

"Responding as expected. The mating drive is almost impossible to resist."

The sudden ambush. Rough hands grabbing her. A sharp prick in her neck. Then... nothing.

"Shit," Keri muttered, her voice a hoarse rasp. How long had she been unconscious? Hours? Days?

She tugged at her restraints, wincing as the metal cuffs dug into her flesh. No give. Whoever had taken her wasn't taking any chances. At least she wasn’t bolted to the wall.

As the fog of unconsciousness receded, Keri tried to fight off shock, but she was shaky. This couldn’t be real, could it?

“Chrissy?” she called out, not recognizing her own voice. Her throat felt like she had been screaming. And maybe she had been.

When was the last time you saw Chrissy alive?

Alive? About a week before her death.

When was the last time you saw Chrissy?

Last night? When Chrissy rapped on the window of Keri’s eighth-floor apartment.

She hadn’t been an angel. Not with those fangs. But she had been her friend, so of course, Keri let her in.

That had been her first mistake.

“You have to help me. I was murdered,” Chrissy had said.

Disbelief warred with confusion. Keri looked down into the street. No ladder. No fire escape.

“They made me a vampire.”

That was impossible. But it hadn’t been.

“It was the Vasile family.”

At that, Keri knew that she had to be still asleep. She'd been investigating the Vasile family for months, certain they were behind a string of bizarre deaths and disappearances plaguing the city.

“This is a real vivid dream,” she had said.

And then Chrissy slapped her, and it had fucking hurt. When she went to hit her back, Chrissy blinked away, turned into mist, and then a bat.

Keri had sat down hard on the bed.

“Okay, tell me about the Vasiles,” she said.

Keri had always prided herself on her instincts and ability to ferret out the truth no matter how deeply it was buried. It was what made her one of the best investigative reporters in the city. But this time, she'd been in over her head from the start.

The signs had been there if only she'd been willing to see them. Victims drained of blood. Eyewitness accounts of shadowy figures with inhuman speed and strength. And always, always, the bodies disappeared from the morgue before any official investigation could begin. Chrissy’s body had been one of them.

Keri had dismissed the whispered rumors of vampires as superstitious nonsense. A cover-up for a more mundane — if no less deadly — criminal enterprise. She'd been so sure, so cocky in her assumptions. But she'd underestimated the Vasiles.

“They’re behind the murders. I can get you proof,” Chrissy had said. “But you have to come with me. Now. Before dawn.”

So Keri went with her friend. Except Chrissy disappeared after leading her into the warehouse. Had Chrissy set her up? Were they going to turn Keri into a vampire, too? Doubt gnawed at her. Did she really even believe all this nonsense? She had to because she sure as hell wasn’t still dreaming. She was in a dungeon. That had to be some kind of proof. Who had a dungeon on their property, if not vampires?

A chill ran down Keri's spine that had nothing to do with the damp cold seeping into her bones. She stood up and pulled on the cell door, but it was locked. Irritably, she kicked it and, when that didn’t do anything, redoubled her efforts to free herself from her manacles, straining against the unyielding metal until her wrists were slick with blood.

A low growl rumbled from the shadowy corner of the cell, froze Keri in place. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes darted to the source of the sound. How had she not realized she wasn't alone?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a gravelly voice rasped. "It’s not wise to tempt a starving vampire with the smell of blood."

A figure stirred in the shadows, and Keri's heart thundered in her chest. Every instinct screamed at her to run, to fight, to do something. But she could only watch, paralyzed, as her cellmate emerged into the meager light.

He moved with an unnatural fluidity, each motion precise and predatory despite an obvious weakness. Broad shoulders sagged with exhaustion. Muscular arms hung limply at his sides. But it was his face that sent ice through Keri's veins.

Pale skin, almost translucent in the gloom. Sharp, aristocratic features gaunt with hunger. And his eyes... dear God, his eyes. They glowed with an unholy blue light, boring into Keri with an intensity that stole her breath.

But it was his smile that truly terrified her. Recognition slammed into Keri like a freight train. She knew that face — she had seen it in grainy surveillance photos and hastily sketched wanted posters. Joshua Nicolau. The most feared assassin in the underworld. And now, apparently, her cellmate and ... a vampire?

"Welcome to our humble abode," Joshua said, his voice dripping with dark humor. "I'd offer you the grand tour, but as you can see, accommodations are somewhat limited."

Keri's mind raced, searching desperately for some rational explanation other than vampires were real. Chrissy was playing an elaborate prank. Someone must have slipped Keri hallucinogenic drugs. Anything but the impossible truth that she was locked in with a hungry vampire assassin who looked at her as if she was something delicious.

Joshua took a faltering step closer, nostrils flaring at her scent. "Mmmm. Fear smells delicious on you, little mouse. It's been so long since I’ve had fresh prey."

His gaze raked over her body, lingering on the pulse pounding in her throat. Keri suppressed a shudder, painfully aware of how vulnerable she was. Shackled. Helpless. At the mercy of a predator who saw her as nothing more than a potential meal.

But she’d be damned if she'd give this monster the satisfaction of seeing her cower. “Where’s Chrissy?”

“Who?” He quirked an eyebrow.

“Are you a Vasile stooge?”

He snorted. “Hardly.”

Then, softer, she said, “Are you really a vampire?”

He bared his fangs at her in a mockery of a smile.

“Shit.”

“Indeed, but if I wanted you dead, you'd be drained dry already. You were dumped in here with me a few hours ago. I watched you sleep. You looked like an angel."

“Like that’s not creepy as hell.” If he wasn't going to kill her, then what?

Joshua's eyes glittered with a mixture of amusement and something darker. “What did you do to piss off the Vasiles?” he mused.

“I’m a reporter.”

“That would do it. But I wonder, what secrets that pretty little head of yours holds? What did you learn about the Vasiles that warranted being thrown in here with me?"

Keri remained silent, mind whirling. She couldn't afford to reveal how little she actually knew. Information was power, and right now, it might be the only advantage she had. But then she remembered that snippet of conversation she had overheard in the warehouse before she was ambushed. Maybe it would make sense to another vampire.

"Not feeling talkative?" Joshua tsked. "We have all the time in the world down here. And I can be very persuasive."

The threat in his words was unmistakable. And yet, there was something off about it. A hollowness behind the bravado. Keri's keen investigator instincts kicked in, studying Joshua more closely.

Dark circles shadowed his eyes, giving him a haunted look. And there was a tremor in his hands that spoke of more than just hunger. He was injured. Weakened.

"Why are you being punished? Did you not kill your target?"

A flicker of surprise crossed Joshua's face before he schooled his features back into a mask of sardonic amusement. "So you recognize me," he murmured. "Perhaps there's more to you than meets the eye." He leaned back against the wall, regarding her with newfound interest. "Let's just say the Vasiles and my clan had a disagreement. And now, well..." He gestured to their dismal surroundings. "...here we are."

“Clan? There are vampire clans?” Despite her situation, Keri was intrigued and excited by that. “We should work together. Get out of here. Then you can have your revenge.” And I could have my story.

Joshua's lips curled into a predatory grin. "What could you possibly offer me, except blood?"

Yeah, that was a good point. She needed him to stop thinking of her like she was a snack. “You don’t want to drink my blood.”

“I assure you that I do.”

“I don’t think you should.”

“That’s understandable.” It was galling that he could sound sensible and condescending at the same time.

“No, listen. I overheard something before I was knocked out. Chrissy led me to a warehouse where the Vasiles were working on packing something up. I didn’t hear much before they got me. But they did say something about a batch being ready with a high concentration of something given to humans.”

“Hmmm,” Jonathan said. “And you think you have been given this batch?”

“I don’t know. But why would they give you blood?” she said, quickly thinking about all the vampire legends she’d ever heard of. “Wouldn’t you be weakened if I had a drug in my system and you bit me?”

He tilted his head. “Possibly.”

"I have to be a trap. You can’t afford to bite me.” She was actually proud of how she came up with that on the fly. Hopefully, he bought it.

“Devious,” he conceded. “Just like the Vasiles. They can’t kill me — not without causing a war. But if I died by drinking tainted blood, then their hands are clean. Bravo. You’ve stopped me from exsanguinating you.”

“Well, thank heavens for small favors.”

A surprised laugh huffed out of him.

“How do we use that information?”

“We let them think their plan has worked.”

Keri didn’t quite like the look in his eye when he said it. And when he rushed her, she couldn’t help but let out a terrified scream.