She looked down to the doorman again, and he was busy dealing with a pair of young, rowdy werewolves, so she decided to go down and see who needed help in the alley. As she started to walk down the dark alley, all she could hear was the clatter of her heels on the cobbled stones and moaning ahead. Fear gripped her. “What in God’s name am I doing?”

Katie was about to turn back when the moaning got louder. Someone needed her help. She flicked the torch on her phone and started to walk again. All of a sudden, she saw a woman around her own age slumped against the wall of the building. Katie hurried over to her. She had a short blond pixie cut and a slim build.

“Hello, it’s okay. I’ll get you help.”

“Help me, please,” the woman mumbled.

Katie started to check her over and found a vampire bite on her and blood on her lips.

“I’m hungry, so hungry.”

“Shit,” Katie said. “She’s been attacked and turned.”

Katie had lived long enough with vampires to know the signs. This woman had been turned but hadn’t completed the final step, feeding on a human. That’s why she was in so much pain, and hungry. She had to make the choice to take the final step or die.

Katie needed to get her back to the house, so that she could be helped safely through the final stage.

“What’s your name?” Katie asked.

“Josie,” the woman wheezed.

“Okay, Josie. You’re going to be okay. I’ll get you help. Just stay calm.”

Katie reached out and squeezed Josie’s shoulder. Then everything happened so fast. Josie’s eyes turned red, and she attacked Katie’s wrist.

* * *

Alexis lay back on her bed staring at the ceiling. She had been in the same position since leaving Bhal and their chess game. All she could think about was Katie and worrying about her out on her own. Katie was so stubborn. Why couldn’t she see that she was just trying to keep her safe?

Alexis had been shocked when Bhal called her out on her feelings. She didn’t think anyone would have noticed, but then Bhal was an old, wise soul. Bhal was right about how much she cared for Katie. She consumed all of Alexis’s thoughts. But it wasn’t right—Katie was a young vibrant woman, while Alexis was a century-and-a-half-old vampire who’d had her heart broken in pieces before.

She sat up quickly and walked over to her chest of drawers. Underneath her clothes in the top drawer were a small painting of Anna and a lock of her hair. Alexis felt guilty about having feelings for Katie, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake them.

Alexis closed her eyes, and the movie of finding Anna dead, downstairs, at the hand of the Dreds, played in her mind as it always did, but then something different happened. Katie’s smiling face came into her mind—her bright smile, her goodness, and the fire in her eyes when she and Alexis argued.