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The she was gone.

Facing her again, Cian kept a firm hold on Amaliya’s hand. “We have time. Don’t stress yourself.”

“Maybe,” Amaliya answered. “But if our luck stays the way it’s been going, we may end up scrambling right up until the big deadline.”

“December 21, 2012.” The words were spoken with distaste. “Wouldn’t it be amusing if at last one of the dire prophecies got the date right?”

Amaliya sneered at the thought. “I just don’t want to be scrambling with our backs up against the wall up until the very end. I’d like for us to have a real life one of these days.”

“A real life would be nice.” Cian kissed her again, making her shiver with love and lust.

“Can we go home now? I really want to get you naked.”

With a chuckle, Cian said, “My thoughts exactly.”

Chapter 3

When Cassandra observed her father and Amaliya slip out of the room into the hallway, guilt gave her conscious a little nip as relief swept over her. Though she was definitely warming to Cian and they were making strides in their father/daughter relationship, she wanted to speak with Aimee alone before he inevitably questioned them about possibly breaking the blood tie between Amaliya and The Summoner.

Warily watching Rachon as the vampire spoke with Samantha, Cassandra gripped Aimee’s hand and drew her girlfriend away from the others. Rachon’s curious looks in Cassandra’s direction had her on edge and there was no way Cassandra wanted Rachon to overhear what she had to say to her girlfriend. Aimee, as she tended to do with incredible ease, appeared to understand what had Cassandra so concerned and gave her a slight nod.

Fingers tenderly brushing over Cassandra’s palm, Aimee gave her a reassuring smile while her eyes darted to the doorway to Jeff’s office. Together they slipped through the threshold, and Cassandra shut the door behind them.

“Ugh!” Cassandra exclaimed, clutching her head in her hands. “Vampires! They give me such a headache.”

“Cass, it’s fine. Don’t be nervous.” Aimee’s touch against her cheek was gentle and soothing.

“Well, vampires tend to make me nervous. You know they kill my kind,” Cassandra groused, but leaned into Aimee’s tender ministrations.

“No one touches my girl.” Aimee gave her a brief peck on the lips. “Plus, Cian won’t let anyone hurt you. You already have him wrapped around your little finger.”

“Yeah, dear old vampire dad.” Cassandra rolled her eyes even though the comment pleased her.

She wanted to have a real relationship with Cian, but whenever she was around him she felt apprehensive, which prompted her to flip her sarcasm switch and keep him at arm’s length. He had already made it clear that he wanted to forge a close relationship with her, but it scared her as much as thrilled her. Every time she looked at him, she could see herself reflected in his face. And sometimes what she saw scared her. Cian was a powerful and sometimes terrifying vampire. What did that say about the vampire side of her nature?

Aimee cocked her head and studied Cassandra with a gaze that always made Cassandra feel like Aimee was peeling away all her carefully constructed layers until the witch could peer into her soul. “You’re not a vampire. You may be like him in some ways, like your mannerisms and looks, but his vampire nature makes him very different from you.”

“Are you reading my mind?”

“No, I just know you very, very well. Cass. There is a darkness in Cian that you don’t have.”

“And yet here we are hanging out with him like he’s one of the good guys.”

Aimee shrugged her delicate shoulders. “Compared to The Summoner, he is a good guy.”

Cassandra perched on the edge of Jeff’s desk, mindful not to spill anything onto the floor. “Aimee, he’s going to want the bond between Amaliya and The Summoner broken. And since he now knows we broke your blood enslavement, he’s going to want us to do the same for her.”

“And you’re freaking out why?”

“It’s my blood that broke the bond between you and that asshole!”

Cassandra hated even to think about Frank, the vampire who had kept Aimee as a slave. Though she had gone to Aimee’s rescue, in the end, they had saved each other from Frank’s clutches. Knowing that Aimee had been at the mercy of Frank for so long still angered Cassandra, but at least her dhamphir blood had been able to break the bond between them. Aimee was strong, fearless, and the more level-headed one in the relationship, but Cassandra held her at night when the witch thrashed about in her sleep, still attempting to escape Frank in her nightmares.

“But I’m a witch,” Aimee said. “It’s different.”

“How?”

“Frank’s blood was poisoning me, binding me to him like that. It was like an infection. An illness. Your blood cured me, and it would cure a human who was under the same type of thrall. But Amaliya was created from The Summoner’s blood. She’s a new creature because of him. She’s infused with his power, his blood, his everything. In some ways, she’s a piece of him. Probably more so than his regular vampire offspring like Rachon and Cian. Maybe your blood could dampen their bond to him if it was an issue, but Amaliya...” Aimee’s brow crinkled even more. “She’s all tangled up in The Summoner.”