"Inspiring, isn't it?" Ash asked, very close to her
ear.
"Well-it's
..."
"Thrilling?" Ash inquired. "Stimulating? Rous
ing?" His arm was creeping around her, and his voice
was sweetly hypnotic.
Poppy didn't say anything.
"You know," Ash murmured, "you can see a lot
better if you get over here. I don't mind crowding." His arm was urging her gently but inevitably closer. His breath ruffled her hair.
Poppy slammed an elbow into his stomach.
"Hey!"
Ash yelped-in genuine pain, Poppy
thought. Good.
He'd dropped his arm and now he was looking at
her with aggrieved brown eyes. "What did you do that for?"
"Because
I felt
like it," Poppy said smartly. She was tingling with new blood and ready for a fight. "Look,
Ash, I don't know what gave you the idea that I'm your date here. But I'm telling you right now that
I'm
not. "
Ash tilted his head and smiled
painfully.
"You just
don't know me well enough," he offered. "When we
get to know each other-"
"No.
Never. I'm not interested in other guys. If I
can't have James ..."
Poppy had to stop and steady
her voice. "There's nobody else I want," she said
finally,
flatly. "Nobody."
"Well, not now, maybe, but-"
"Never.
"
She didn't know how to explain. Then
she had an idea. "You know the soulmate principle?"
Ash opened his mouth and then shut it. Opened
it again. "Oh, no. Not
that
garbage."
"Yes. James is my soulmate. I'm sorry if it sounds
stupid, but it's true."
Ash put a hand to his forehead. Then he started to laugh. "You're serious."
"Yes."
"And that's your final word."
"Yes."
Ash laughed again, sighed, and cast his eyes up
ward. "Okay. Okay. I should have known." He chuckled in what seemed like self-derision.
Poppy was relieved. She'd been afraid he'd be dis
gruntled and huffy-or
mean.
Despite his charm, she
could always feel something cold running below the
surface in Ash, like an icy river.
But now he seemed perfectly good-humored.
"Okay," he said. "So if romance isn't on the menu, let's go to the party."
"I thought you said it was too dangerous."
He waved a hand. "That was a little fib. To get you
alone, you know." He glanced sideways at her.
"Sorry."
Poppy hesitated. She didn't care about a party. But
she didn't want to be alone with Ash, either.
"Maybe you should just take me back to your cousins' place."
"They won't
be
there," Ash said. "I'm sure they've gone to the party by now. Oh, come on, it'll be fun.
Give me a chance to make things up to you."
Thin curls of uneasiness were roiling inside Poppy.
But Ash looked so penitent and persuasive ...
and
what other choice did she have?
"Okay," she said finally. "For just a little while."
Ash gave a dazzling smile. "Just a very little
while," he said.
"So they could be anywhere on the Strip,"
James said.
Thea sighed. "I'm sorry. I should have known Ash
was up to something. But hijacking your girlfriend
..."
She lifted her hands in a what-next gesture. "For
what it's worth, she didn't seem very interested in
him. If he's planning to put the moves on her, he's
going to get a surprise."
Yes, James thought, and so is she. Poppy was only
useful to Ash as long as Ash thought he could play
with her. Once he realized he couldn't
...
He didn't want to think about what would happen
then. A quick visit to the nearest Elder, he supposed.
His heart was pounding, and there was a ringing
in his ears.
"Did Blaise go with them?" he asked.
"No, she went to the Solstice party. She tried to get Ash to go, but he said he wanted to show Poppy
the town." Thea paused, raising a finger. "Wait
you
might check at the party. Ash said he might stop
in later."
James spent a moment forcing himself to breathe.
Then he said,
very
gently, "And just who is giving
this party?"
"Thierry Descouedres. He always has a big one."
"And he's an Elder."
"What?"
"Nothing. Never mind." James backed out of the
shop. "Thanks for the help. I'll be in touch."
"James.
.."
She looked at him helplessly. "Do you
want to come in and sit down? You don't look
very
well...."
"I'm fine," James said, already out the door.
In the car he said, "You can get up now."
Phillip emerged from the floor of the backseat
where he'd been hiding. "What's happening? You
were gone a long time."
"I think I know where Poppy is."
"You just
think?"
"Shut up, Phil." He didn't have energy for ex
changing insults. He was entirely focused on Poppy.
"Okay, so where is she?"
James spoke precisely. "She is either now, or she
willl be later, at a party. A very large party, filled with vampires. And at least one Elder. The perfect place
to expose her."
Phil gulped. "And you think that's what Ash is going to do?"
"I know that's what Ash is going to do."
"Then we've got to stop him."
"We may be too late."
The party was strange. Poppy was amazed at how
young most of the people were. There were a few
scattered adults, but far more teenagers.
"Made vampires," Ash explained obligingly. Poppy
remembered what James had said-made vampires
remained forever the age of their death, but lamia
could stop aging anytime. She supposed that meant
that James could get as old as he wanted, while she
would be stuck at sixteen eternally. Not that it mattered. If she and James were going to be together,
they could both stay young-but apart, maybe he'd
want to age.
But it
was
odd to see a guy who looked about nineteen talking earnestly with a little kid who
looked about four. The kid was cute, with shiny black
hair and tilted eyes, but there was something at once
innocent and cruel in his expression.
"Let's see, now that's Circe. A witch of renown.
And that's Sekhmet, a shapeshifter. You don't want to get
her
mad," Ash said genially.
He and Poppy
were standing in a little anteroom, looking down a level into the main room of the house. Of the man
sion, rather. It was the most opulent private resi
dence Poppy had ever seen--and she'd seen Bel Air
and Beverly
Hills.
"Okay," Poppy said, looking in the general
•d
irec
tion he was pointing. She saw two tall and lovely
girls, but she had no idea which was which.
"And that's Thierry, our host. He's an Elder."
An Elder? The guy Ash was indicating didn't seem
older than nineteen. He was beautiful, like all the
vampires, tall and blond and pensive. Almost sadlooking.
"How old
is
he?"
"Oh, I forget. He got bitten by an ancestress of
mine a long time ago. Back when people lived in
caves."
Poppy thought he was joking. But maybe not.
"What do the Elders do, exactly?"
"They just make rules. And see that people keep
them." An odd smile was playing around Ash's lips.
He turned to look directly at Poppy.
With the black eyes of a snake.
That was when Poppy knew.
She backed away rapidly. But Ash came after her,
just as rapidly. She saw a door on the other side of
the anteroom and headed for it. Got through it. Only
to find herself on a balcony.
With her eyes, she measured the distance to the ground. But before she could make another move, Ash had her arm.
Don't fight yet, her mind counseled desperately.
He's strong. Wait for an opportunity.
She made herself relax a fraction and met Ash's
dark gaze. "You brought me here."
"Yes."
"To hand me over."
He smiled.
"But
why?"
Ash threw back his head and laughed. It was
lovely, melodious laughter, and it made Poppy sick. "You're a
human,"
he said. "Or you should be.
James should never have done what he did."
Poppy's heart was racing, but her mind was oddly
clear. Maybe she'd known all along that this was what he was going to do. Maybe it was even the
right
thing to do. If she couldn't be with James and she
couldn't be with her family, did the rest really mat
ter? Did she
want
to live in the Night World if it was
full of people like Blaise and Ash?
"So you don't care about James, either," she said.
"You're willing to put him in danger to get rid of me."
Ash considered, then grinned. "James can take
care of himself," he said.
Which was obviously Ash's entire philosophy. Everybody took care of themselves, and nobody helped
anybody else.
"And Blaise knew, too," Poppy said. "She knew what you were going to do and she didn't care."
"Not much gets past Blaise," Ash said. He started
to say something else-and Poppy saw her chance.
She kicked-hard. And twisted at the same time.
Trying to get over the balcony rail.
"Stay here," James said to Phil before the car had even
stopped. They were in front of a huge white mansion
fringed with palm trees. James threw the door open,
but took the time to say again, "Stay
here.
No matter what happens, don't go in that house. And if somebody
besides me comes up to the car, drive away."
"But-"
"Just do it, Phil! Unless you want to find out about
death firsthand-tonight."
James set out at a dead run for the mansion. He
was too intent to really notice the sound of a car
door opening behind him.
"And you looked like such a nice girl," Ash gasped.
He had both of Poppy's arms behind her back and
was trying to get out of the range of her feet.
"No-
no, quit that, now."
He was too strong. There was nothing Poppy could
do. Inch by inch he was dragging her back into the
anteroom.
You might as well give up, Poppy's mind told her.
It's useless. You're done.
She could picture the whole thing: herself being dragged out in front of all of those sleek and hand
some Night People and revealed. She could picture
their pitiless eyes. That pensive-looking guy would
walk up to her and his face would change and he
wouldn't look pensive anymore. He'd look savage.
His teeth would grow. His eyes would go silvery.
Then he'd snarl--and strike.