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  After I had enrolled as a student, I was following Alexis to her first class far enough behind that I could watch people's reactions to her, which were nearly non-existent. Except for those two friends from the other day and the occasional teacher, nobody even glanced at her. I was probably going to have to get some random boy addicted to venom and then point her out to him. I'd probably have to use mind control too. Was she going out of her way to be invisible?

  "Hey, what are you doing?" asked a familiar voice from behind.

  Turning around, I saw Tanner and smiled. "I didn't think I'd see you until later."

  He was smiling. "I just got suspended for the day."

  I raised an eyebrow. "That's good news?"

  "Yeah. I punched five guys from the team—and they couldn't even take me. Five against one! Can you believe it?"

  "That's awesome. Hey, let's go somewhere and celebrate."

  "Don't you have to go to your classes?" he asked.

  "Nah. Let's go enjoy the day." Spending the day with him would be much better than following Alexis around, not even the humans had any interest in her.

  "Okay! Come on," he said, grabbing my hand. We walked to his car and he got on the freeway.

  "Where are you taking me?"

  "I thought we could take a drive and see where we end up."

  "Oh, an adventure! That sounds like fun." And it actually did. I remembered back to the days when I made fun of my sister for becoming giddy over a human guy. Now I understood, although I hoped that this would end better than it had for her. The days of rounding up rioters to stake vampires were long gone. I looked over at Tanner, his head bouncing in tune to the music, and couldn't picture him ever trying to kill me.

  He looked at me. "What are you smiling about?" he asked, smiling too and still moving to the music.

  "Just enjoying the company," I said, and started moving to the music.

  Tanner belted out the words of the song and I laughed so hard that my stomach ached.

  A little while later, we approached a beach. "Wanna go there?" he asked.

  "Sure!"

  "Wait. Are you hungry? We can grab some food and make a picnic."

  "Only if it's my treat," I said, smiling.

  He pretended to think about it. "I can live with that."

  Soon we were sitting by the water's edge on a blanket, eating greasy chicken. I couldn't recall the last time that I'd had so much fun. When we had finished eating, we reclined on the blanket and pointed out different shapes of clouds. After a while, we settled into a comfortable silence.

  "Do you mind if I ask what you did last night?" Tanner asked.

  I looked at him. He seemed nervous, but interested, not frightened. Maybe this would work out after all. "Sure. Ask away."

  "First of all, it felt more amazing than anything I've ever experienced. Then afterward, I felt a growing strength which is why I was able to take on my teammates. What did you do?"

  I rolled onto my side to see him better. I traced his chest with my fingers, thinking about how to explain it to him.

  He turned and looked deep into my eyes. "Whatever it is, you can trust me. I'm not going to tell anyone. Who would I tell?" he asked with a smile. "Everyone else at school hates me."

  Tracing his broad shoulders, I said, "Soon they'll start treating you better."

  He took my hand and kissed it, placing it back on his chest.

  I traced his chest again. "Do you have an open mind?"

  His body shook with shivers as I moved my fingers to his neck, where I had bitten him. "My mind couldn't be more open. I stayed awake last night trying to figure out what you did. You wouldn't believe the thoughts that came to my mind."

  I ran my fingers along his face, stopping at his lips. I kissed him briefly. "What did you think about?"

  He kissed me back. "I thought that maybe you were a witch, casting a spell on me."

  "I'm no witch," I whispered. "You can't trust them anyway."

  Tanner raised an eyebrow. "You've met a real witch?"

  Running my fingers through his hair, I said, "More than I care to think about. They hate my kind."

  He took a strand of my long hair and twirled it around his finger. "Why is that? I can't see anything to hate."

  "We're more powerful. When we request their services, they have no choice except to oblige. Even the most powerful ones."

  "Tell me more," he whispered.

  I caressed his ear with my breath. "Let me show you instead. You can figure it out." I moved to his neck and licked circles lightly, giving him the chills and preparing his skin. "Pay close attention to what I'm about to do."

  "Oh, I am."

  I smiled, and then I gave a little nip, allowing the venom to start its magic. I pulled away, and then watched him close his eyes as he relaxed. I stared at his beautiful face for a moment, tracing the bruises which had nearly disappeared. My venom from the previous night had helped his body to heal faster. I moved back to his neck and bit down, giving him a stronger dose of the venom this time.

  He let out a soft sigh as the warm blood began to flow into my mouth. My desire for him increased as I drank the blood eagerly. I didn't want to stop when the flow slowed down, but I cared too much for him to risk hurting him, so I stopped. I sealed up the bites, and gave them a kiss. I continued to kiss his neck and trailed kisses up to his face and around his lips, but not touching them. I was teasing him, wanting him to kiss me.

  His eyes opened and the skin around them creased as he smiled. He reached for me, pulling me close and kissed me with a passion and desire that I'd never experienced in over two centuries. We started rolling around until we were off the blanket and I was getting the rocky sand all over my hair.

  I reached for his shirt, to pull it off when suddenly I sensed something watching us. I stopped and looked around, only being able to see the deep blue cloudy sky. I sat up and looked in the direction of the woods.

  "What's wrong?" Tanner asked, sitting up and readjusting his shirt.

  "We're being watched," I said, scanning the trees for anything that didn't belong.

  "Let's give them a show they'll never forget."

  I couldn't help smiling. "I do like the way you think, but it feels like a predator."

  "How can you tell?"

  Because it takes one to know one, but I couldn't—didn't want to—tell him that. "Just trust me." I was still searching the forest line, my skin tingling with the unpleasant feeling of being watched.

  Then I saw them. Two eyes, barely noticeable, staring at us between some branches in the darkest part of the trees.

  "Stay right here," I whispered. I stood up and ran as fast as I could, so fast that Tanner couldn't even see me, and rammed myself into the body that owned the eyes.

  He flew into a tree but gathered his bearings quickly, running up to me and glaring at me. "Samantha."

  I shoved him. "Danny, what are you doing here? Did Vince send you to spy on me?"

  Danny narrowed his eyes. "That he did."

  "Enjoying the show?"

  "Actually I was. You into humans now? I didn't think you rolled that way."

  "Vince sent me to seduce a guy into helping us take out Marguerite. What are you, some kind of peeping Tom? Is that how you get your kicks?"

  He laughed. "You know I'm working for Vince. He doesn't take anyone's word. I'm here to make sure that you're doing your job."

  "Since you know that I don't fall for humans, obviously I am doing my job. You can leave now and give your report." I turned around to return to Tanner.

  "Are you going to give me more of a show?"

  I spun around and got in his face. "I'd say not. The mood's been ruined, Danny."

  He laughed. "Enjoy the human."

  Shaking my head, I walked back to Tanner. His eyes were wide and I could smell his fear long before I reached him. I hoped that Danny didn't take that as an invitation. I'd hate to have to kill him in front of Tanner. That would probably scar him for life.
r />   "What's going on?" Tanner asked.

  I ran my hands through his hair, knocking sand out. I pulled him close and gave him a long, sweet kiss and then I held his hand and led him to the blanket. "Let's sit so we can talk about this."

  As we sat down, I could smell his fear dissipating. "Are you a…vampire?" whispered Tanner.

  Cupping his face in my hands, I nodded.

  "Are…are you going to hurt me?"

  I shook my head. "I just protected you back there."

  "Who, or what, was watching us?"

  "It was another vampire. He won't be bothering us again."

  "Another one? Are there a lot of them, well you guys, around?"

  "You'd be surprised. We blend in pretty easily."

  "How can you walk around in the sunlight?"

  "That's where the witches come in."

  He sat quietly, obviously taking it in. I let him process it while I thought more about the story I would tell him. For the first time in my life, I found myself not wanting to lie. How was it that he, a mortal, was able to bring out parts of me that I hadn't even thought existed?

  "So if you're a vampire," he said, seeming to have trouble saying the word, "how were you turned?"

  I had figured that he would ask something along those lines, but the question still unnerved me, being that I was born into this life. All of the vampires that I surrounded myself with had been turned, so at least I was familiar with the lifestyle. It would be easy enough to pull off acting like one of them.

  He squeezed my hand. "If it's too hard to talk about, don't feel like you have to."

  "So you believe me? That I'm a vampire, I mean."

  "You drank my blood and somehow gave me superhuman strength to fight five guys at once. It's the only thing that makes any sense, to be honest."

  I took a deep breath, hating myself for lying to him. But I couldn't tell him the truth. He was a kind person and would be turned off to know that I was trying to lure Alexis to Vince so that he could kill her. He would certainly hate knowing that I had been bedmates with that same vampire for many decades. We had met when poodle skirts were popular.

  "You don't have to tell me," he said. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I'm sure that telling me you're a…what you are…was hard enough."

  He was so sweet. I just wanted to kiss him. I wanted to throw myself on top of him and….

  Smiling, he reached for my hair and began pulling sand out. The thing with the sand around there was that it was big chunks rocks instead of the fine, soft sand found in most other places. "You don't have to tell me anything."

  "Why don't you ask me questions and I'll answer them, rather than me telling you some long, boring story."

  He brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. "I guarantee you the story wouldn't be boring to me. When were you turned?"

  "About twenty years ago," I said, hating myself for the lie.

  "How were you turned?" he asked, looking at me with care and concern.

  "My family was traveling down south and I got separated from them. Then a gross redneck offered to help me find them, but he turned out to be a vampire. He said that he thought I was beautiful and he wanted to take me as his life partner. It was either that or he said he would kill me."

  Tanner's eyes widened and he pulled me close, stroking my back. "You poor, poor thing. How long were you with him?"

  I sighed, not wanting to tell him any more lies. "I just got away from him not too long ago. He was busy fixing the furnace with duct tape when I made the decision to run, even if it meant that he was going to hunt me down and kill me. I didn't want to be his toy any longer."

  He looked at me with tears in his eyes. "I can't believe all that you've been through. Is that why you moved to Delphic Cove? To hide from him?"

  I nodded. "I didn't think he would look for me there."

  "What about that vampire who was just in the woods?"

  "That was just some random vampire."

  "You don't think he was sent to spy on you, do you?"

  I froze. Tanner had no clue how close to the truth he actually was.

  His eyes widened. "You do," he whispered, shaking his head. "Well at least that vampire found you here and not in Delphic Cove. It'll make it harder for your ex to find you."

  I nodded, hating the lies.

  He wrapped an arm around me and we sat in silence for a while, just watching the waves and the seagulls.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The following months went by in a happy blur as I enjoyed my time uninterrupted with Tanner. Vince had to have been so busy with his plans to overtake the throne that he didn't have time to worry about what I was doing.

  Tanner and I laughed and played, and I enjoyed myself in a whole new way. I even found that by feeding on him a little each day, my appetite was curbed and I had no desire to run out and drain anyone. I spent my days trying to find someone who would be a good match for Alexis. Of course there was no one, as no guy ever even looked her way.

  Even if a guy had glanced at her, I would have pretended not to see because I wanted to stay in Delphic Cove with Tanner as long as possible. I enjoyed my time with him and I also loved watching him become more confident. When I watched his games and practices, it was different than before. The other players gave him respect and space. Gone were the days of them picking on him and pushing him around.

  It was much the same in school, when he walked down the hall, people moved out of his way. Nobody bothered him and I could see the relief in his eyes. He was so grateful to me for helping him out. I was just glad to be able to spend time with him.

  I wasn't sure how long that would last. I knew that it was only a matter of time before Vince wanted me to come back and give him a report. I was purposefully taking too long to accomplish my mission and he wasn't stupid. He would figure that out, though I hoped that he wouldn't figure out that I had fallen completely in love with Tanner. I was head over heels and would have done anything for him.

  Then the day came. Tanner and I were playing hooky, eating pizza and drinking shakes at the mall when my phone buzzed with a text. I sent Tanner for napkins and I looked at the text, seeing that Vince expected me to join him for dinner that night.

  "You okay, Sammie?" Tanner asked, sitting down, his eyes full of concern.

  "I think that the jerk redneck might be on my tail," I lied. "I can sense his presence and I—"

  "How?"

  "It's something I can feel. Remember how I felt that one vampire when we were at the beach?"

  He nodded, looking upset.

  "I need to leave town for a few days. I'll be back. I couldn't leave you for long. But I need to get myself, and my scent, out of here. I can't risk him sensing me."

  His eyes widened. "Will you be safe?"

  I put my hand on top of his. "Don't worry about me."

  "How can I not? You're living in hiding from that creep!"

  "Please don't worry about me. I promise that I'll return in a few days," I said, interlacing my fingers through his.

  Tanner sighed and then nodded. "Okay. Maybe you can text me at least?"

  I looked into his eyes and then kissed him. "You have my word. But now I should get going. I need to cover my trail. I don't want him figuring out that I was here and I really don't want him finding you with my scent."

  He frowned. "I wish that you didn't have to go."

  A lump formed in my throat and I felt a strange wet sensation in my eyes. I hadn't cried since I was a child, I wasn't even aware that I still could. A tear escaped and ran down my face, tickling my skin. I moved to wipe it away, but Tanner was faster, kissing the trail from my eye to the side of my mouth.

  "I'll miss you too," he whispered.

  I nodded, afraid to hear my voice if I spoke.

  He stood up and we walked to his car in silence with his arm wrapped around me. He went to open the passenger door and I shook my head. "I need to leave now," I finally said. "You should shower and try to wash my scent
off."

  "You want to help?" he teased, grinning through tears of his own.

  "That would defeat the purpose," I said, giving him a playful shove. I gave him a quick kiss and then I ran off, giving him the impression of me disappearing before his eyes. I stopped behind a building and peeked around the corner, too far for his human eyes to see me, and I watched as he got into his car looking like a defeated puppy. Then he drove off and was out of sight.

  Sighing, I began running. After a while, I got into a rural area and decided that I had better fill myself with some fearful human blood to cover the scent of Tanner's love-soaked blood running through me. Vince would smell that from miles away.

  I saw some guy walking a dog. I could see the dog's hair stand up as it sensed my presence. It started growling and the guy looked around and picked up his speed. I followed, with my eyes on the dog, knowing that it would sense me watching it. His fur stood up even further and it let out a lower growl and started barking. I could smell the fear of his owner.

  The dog was helping me out by getting the human fearful before he even saw me. I approached slowly as the dog started barking even louder. The man turned around and saw me. His shoulders lowered and he smiled, telling the dog to shut up.

  "Sorry about my dog. Apparently he doesn't get around people enough."

  I looked at the dog, who was growling and snapping now.

  The guy pulled on the leash and yelled at the dog. He apologized to me again.

  "He's just trying to protect his owner," I said, narrowing my eyes.

  His eyes widened and the scent of fear rose up again. I showed him my now-sharp teeth and he dropped the leash, his heart pounding. The dog ran at me and I picked it up, biting into its back. I spit out the foul tasting blood and threw the dog to the side. It yelped and licked a leg that was clearly broken.

  "What are you?"

  "The thing that nightmares are made of," I said as I watched the vein in his neck pulse up and down. I looked deep into his eyes and watched as the reality of the situation washed over his face.

  "No…please," he begged. "I have a family—people that love me. I'll do anything, please."

  I stopped. Tanner's face flashed in my mind when he said that people loved him. If anyone loved this guy even close to the way that I felt about Tanner, I couldn't do it. I felt my fangs retract. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him close, staring into his eyes until they shrank. "You never saw me. Your dog was hit by a car. Capisce?"