I dressed and took Nathan his breakfast while Cyrus got ready—he took the longest showers of anyone I'd ever met—so I could discuss the plan with Nathan alone.

"Mmm, O negative," Nathan murmured appreciatively after a long sip. "To what do I owe this treat?"

I smiled, swallowing the sudden knot in my throat. "Cyrus and I are going to find Clarence."

"By yourselves?" From his tone of voice it was clear Nathan was trying to be nonchalant. He failed miserably.

I let him have his delusion of fooling me. "Is that a problem?"

"Maybe." He straightened when the bells above the door jingled, and gave a wave to the customer who entered.

I waited until the man disappeared behind a bookshelf to clear my throat and recapture Nathan's attention. "So, is it a problem?"

"A bit," he answered, keeping his eye on the shop. "That's a dangerous part of town."

It's not, I shot back mentally. Nathan, stop treating me like a teenage girl who can't be trusted with her boyfriend.

After your dream this morning? He glared at me as he thought it.

"Well, I'm not going alone," I reminded him, trying to keep my voice light for the sake of our charade. The customer's shoes scuffed on the floor. Humans might not be aware of the blood tie, but they were certainly aware of the tension it created. "I'll be going with Cyrus."

"Oh, that's right." And who's going to protect you from him ?

I rolled my eyes. "That's right." I don't need protecting from him. He's my fledgling. And I'm not going to do anything stupid.

That doesn't mean he won't try something stupid. At least take a stake with you. "Have a good time."

I snorted. "Yeah, a good time."

The customer came to the register with a book on summoning spirits, and I quickly made my exit while Nathan was too busy to argue.

When I got upstairs, Cyrus was in his room, probably still getting ready. I considered what Nathan had said, that I should arm myself when alone with Cyrus. Though I doubted my fledgling—wow, that was still weird—would try anything, I admitted to myself it would be stupid to blindly trust him. I slid open the door to the closet that contained Nathan's weapons and pulled a crudely carved stake from the duffel bag on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Cyrus sounded curious and amused, but his face fell when his gaze dropped to the stake in my hand. "Oh."

"It's nothing p-personal," I stammered. Sighing, I dropped the stake back into the bag. "It is. I'm sorry. Nathan just thought… "

With a rueful chuckle, Cyrus nodded. "Of course." I shifted my weight from foot to foot. The moment was painfully, stiflingly awkward. "It's just, when you were a vampire before—"

"Stop!" Through the blood tie, his shame and anger washed over me. "It will never be enough for you, will it?"