“Really?” He stood, far too close to me.

“Did you or did you not tell them to kill Cami?” His intimidation wasn’t going to work. At least, I hoped it wouldn’t.

“You’re really no fun, do you know that?” he said. “No, I didn’t arrange that little spectacle. I rather discourage the notion of feeding outside. As large as the grounds are, her screams probably carried to the neighbors. I find police investigations tedious at best, though I do harbor a fondness for handcuffs.”

I rolled my eyes. “There’s a cliché if I ever heard one.”

“I couldn’t resist.” Cyrus circled me slowly, tapping his lips with his forefinger. “Something is off about you. I can feel it.”

“I am a bit hungry,” I admitted. “But I’m not interested in human sacrifice. Can you get any of your pets to donate blood?”

He stopped behind me and rested his hands on my shoulders. Before I could stop him, he tugged my robe backward. The tie came loose and I stood before him in only the dark blue T-shirt I’d worn to bed, the one Nathan had loaned me.

Leaning close to my neck, Cyrus sniffed at the collar. “That’s what the problem is.”

He spun me, grasping my upper arms so hard I knew I’d have bruises that would heal in a moment. “Go take this thing off and deliver it to Clarence to be destroyed, along with any other reminder of him you might have thought to bring along.”

Though I didn’t mean to, I flinched from the pain in my arms. “What happened to not pressing your will?”

With a snarl of anger, he pushed me. I landed hard on one of the delicately embroidered chairs, the impact of my fall skidding it backward.

Cyrus loomed over me, bracing himself on the polished wooden arms of the chair. “Do not abuse my patience and I won’t need to display the force of my will.”

For the first time, I felt utterly weak and vulnerable beside him. I knew he wouldn’t kill me. He was too fond of his trophy. But that served little comfort when I knew exactly how much torture a vampire could live through.

I almost apologized, but as I stared into his cold, mismatched eyes, I saw nothing to compel my forgiveness.

With a firm shove to the chair, he stomped over to the secret door, his open robe trailing behind him.

“What about my breakfast?” I called after him, a little emboldened after my staring-contest victory.

“I’ll have Clarence bring it,” he growled. “But after this, you’d better learn to drink from a human, like a real vampire. Your behavior is a reflection on me, and I won’t have anyone saying my blood is weak.”

After he’d gone, I went to the bedroom to change. As angry as he was, I didn’t think I’d see Cyrus again that night, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. I dressed in clothes I found in the armoire instead of the ones Nathan had bought me. A black turtleneck and loose-fitting slacks were the closest items I could find to my preferred uniform of T-shirt and jeans.