It all came back to being a hunter for him. I hid my discomfort by peeling paint from the rail with my fingernail.

Nikolai continued. "When it was clear I had magical potential, my father insisted we find a mentor for me, someone to make introductions. My mother knew of True Witches, of course. Her Romany blood helped open doors."

"What about your dad? Is he a witch too? I thought only magic could trap and kill a vampire."

"Like I said, there are all sorts of magic and magicians. Vampire hunters have very specific spells, but it was seen as an advantage to have the magic of a True Witch as well."

"And now you're one," I said.

"Yeah," he said looking out over the lake. "I know this probably sounds like a cop-out, but I have been trained to kill vampires my whole life. When I see one, instinct takes over. There's no thinking involved, only action."

"And if you saw my fangs, would you just act?"

He didn't answer right away, but then, quietly, he said, "I hope to h.e.l.l not."

"Me too," I said.

I shifted slightly under his arm, but he didn't let go easily. Instead, he gave my shoulders a hug before releasing me. "I don't want to lie to you," he said. "I know this isn't going to be easy for us, for me. I know you wish I could just abandon everything I am, but even if I could, I'm not sure I want to. I still believe in my cause. Vampires are much darker than I think you know. I can't walk away from my duty to my family, my coven, and, frankly, humanity."

Humanity's end, that's what Elias had called his people. But he was talking about a part of me. "What if I became one of them? Would you be duty-bound to stop me?"

He didn't break our gaze. "Maybe."

Well, it was honest. "You believe that strongly that vampires are evil?"

"I do," he said, though his conviction sounded heavy on him. It seemed to me that he carried quite a burden. I found it n.o.ble, and not unlike Elias's knightly duties. In their own ways, they were soldiers on opposite sides of an ancient war.

I kissed him. It was tentative. After all, I was still so very confused about how I felt about him. He scared me. He excited me. His violence disturbed me, but his compa.s.sion touched me. I could sympathize about the family pressure and the weight of his duty.

He wasn't an easy choice; that was for sure.

We kissed for a while, just a cautious exploration. It was nice, until the mosquitoes found us and started biting. With a laugh, we dashed back to the car, arms wrapped around each other's waist.

I didn't want to go home, but it seemed the thing to do. Nikolai sensed my reluctance, and we meandered along the side streets when the highway would have had me home in minutes.

"Maybe we could do this again sometime," Nikolai suggested when we finally parked in front of my house. We'd driven past it three times, thanks to the wards. "You know, my band is having a release party. I could get you in, if you want to come."

According to Taylor, it was only the hottest ticket in town. I thought about acting cool, but it really wasn't my style. "Are you kidding? That would be awesome!"

And the first ever band party of my life!

"When is it? " I asked, trying not to bounce like a giddy schoolgirl.

"Tomorrow night."

"Count me in!"

"Good. I can finally tell the guys I'm bringing a girlfriend. They've been teasing me that I'm gay. I just told them the right one hadn't come along. Until now, that is."

Was he trying to melt my heart? This time his kiss was sweet and lingering. It was hard to say good-bye.

I EXPECTED MOM TO BE waiting up for me, but Dad?

"Where have you been?" his voice boomed out of the mulberry thicket at the side of the porch.

I totally felt busted, so I responded sheepishly. "Uh, out?"

"Do you know what time it is?"

Wait a minute, I thought. This was ridiculous. This guy might be biologically my dad, but he wasn't a parent. Moreover, he was crouched barefoot under the window between the mulberry trees and the juniper bush like some crazed Peeping Tom. "What's it to you?"

He stepped out of the bushes. I'm sure it was meant to be dramatic and regal, but the juniper grew thickly and he had to wiggle his way out awkwardly. Needles rained on his toes. "Anastasija, we had hoped for your debut."

Oh, yeah, right. I'd forgotten about that. "Elias is supposed to escort me."

My father nodded approvingly. "Excellent. We shall meet him at the gate."

APPARENTLY DAD KNEW THE COOL way into the underground. No going down a sewer drain for the prince of vampires. I was only a little unnerved to discover how close the entrance was to my house.

We walked a few blocks to the point where the slope of Crocus Hill began to descend. The evening breeze caught a few rusty brown oak leaves and they drifted to the ground. Crickets chirped slower, as if forlorn, in the colder air.

"Here," he said as we approached a park, empty and abandoned in the faded light. The brick recreation-center building made a stark silhouette against the starry sky. A sidewalk ran parallel to a short strip of gra.s.s. Beyond stood a row of trees and a wild tangle of weeds, and, I knew from experience, a steep cliff.

Dad, of course, headed straight to the edge.

"I'm glad you're a sensible girl," he said, reaching out to take my hand to steady me as he led me over a short, orange fence meant to keep people like us from tumbling over the cliff unaware. "Jeans and tennis shoes are good for this kind of hike. Not like the frivolities of the court. Though I'd have had you wear a warmer jacket on such a chilly night."

I snorted, and resisted the urge to sigh "Dad" at him. As we picked our way through the burrs that kept snagging at the calves of my pants, I asked, "Can you see? I mean, better than I can, which, by the way, is almost not at all?"

It was true. Once we were away from the soft glow of the streetlamps, the darkness grew almost as thick as the tall gra.s.ses. Mosquitoes buzzed my ears, and every step disturbed hordes of leaping gra.s.shoppers. I was starting to feel very creepy-crawly.

"Watch your footing," he cautioned, as he started down.

As if on cue, I slid on the crumbly, hard-packed dirt, and landed on my b.u.t.t. "How can you see anything?"

"Relax. Breathe," he said, sounding like a yoga coach. "You can see if you allow yourself to."

Still sitting on the hard-packed dirt, I stared up at him. Then I sighed. I might as well try, even though it sounded very Jedi woo-woo to me. I closed my eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath and used the relaxation techniques I learned from my witch Elders. I let my shoulders drop, and focused on just taking in air and releasing it. I opened my eyes again.

It was still dark, but everything had a silvery sheen to it. I could clearly see the outlines of the hillside, the trees, and even the soccer field below. I blinked rapidly, disbelieving. "How did that work?"

My dad, looking all funky with a silvery halo around his body, smiled. "You're my daughter. Darkness cannot be your enemy." Then he pointed just beyond a cl.u.s.ter of maple trees. "We're almost to the cave. Let's go."

The steepness of the hill made it awkward for me to stand, but I managed to do it without sliding farther down. I did have to grab on to tufts of gra.s.s to haul myself up to where my dad waited, all graceful. "When am I going to get the rest of the woodland-elf powers?"

"When you allow yourself to," he said as if that explained everything. Threading his way easily through the maples, he pointed to an indentation in the side of the hill. It looked more like a deer's hollow than a cave's entrance. He waited for me to catch up to him.

The fecund scent of moist earth grew stronger as we approached the entrance. Absently, I wiped my palms against the material of my jeans. I wasn't looking forward to another blind grope through a dirt tunnel, especially after today's rain. The place would be all mud. And worms. Uck. Just as I considered a good excuse to skip my debut, Elias emerged from the mouth of the cave, like a sultan stepping out from a silken tent.

"My prince." He looked a little surprised to find us there as he bowed deeply. "Princess."

Dad chuckled. "My dear captain, I hear you are to be my daughter's companion for the evening."

Elias kept his eyes lowered, and his head tilted downward slightly. "Only if you allow it, Highness."

For some reason this made Dad laugh louder. "I suspect if I forbade anything, my daughter would want it even more."

I was kind of offended by the implication, especially since Dad hardly knew me, but since it was mostly true, all I could think to say was, "Dad!"

Elias just stood there not knowing what to do either. It was strange to see him so baffled and embarra.s.sed. He seemed like the sort of guy who always knew what to do in any situation. Watching him now, the way he seemed to bounce ever so slightly on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet, I could tell he was less of a courtier and more of a man of action, a soldier.

Dad's grin grew wider with each pa.s.sing moment. "Come, come," he said finally. "Offer your arm already, man. We have a party to attend."

TO MY SURPRISE AND GREAT relief, we didn't enter the cave. Instead, my father continued to lead us through the woods. More than once I was grateful that my arm was slipped into the crook of Elias's arm, when the weeds tripped me or an uneven patch of ground threatened to knock me on my a.s.s again. We must have made a very strange procession, strolling like lords and ladies through the undergrowth.

"How are you this evening? " Elias asked politely. "I see you've misplaced--erm, abandoned?--your previous escort."

I snorted. "You mean Nikolai? I didn't abandon him. I'm going to see him tomorrow, in fact."

"Oh really? " With my weird silvery vision, I could see the quirk of Elias's eyebrow. "I wonder what he will make of you after tonight."

I stopped walking to stare at him. "What does that mean?"

"If successful, this evening should be quite transformative," Elias said cryptically. He shared a concerned glance with Dad.

I had to carefully pa.r.s.e Elias's sentence. Transformative? I was going to change in some way? It was my turn to look to Dad. "Is this true? What kind of ceremony is this, exactly?"

He nodded. "I thought you knew. I thought perhaps Elias explained this already." Beside me, Elias dropped his head as if in admission of negligence. Dad sighed lightly, then continued. "This ceremony is on par with the Wiccaning. In fact, it's the reason I didn't want you to go through with the other ceremony. You can be witch or demon. Tonight you will become one of us."

"Oh."

Before I could say anything else, Elias put a warm hand over mine where it curled, unfeeling, in the hollow of his arm. "Is this not what you wish, Highness?"

My dad was shaking his head. "She's already tasted first blood. It hardly matters what she wants."

A motorcycle's engine whined down a nearby street. It seemed unreal and distant in the stand of woods.

Elia.s.shifted, as if stiffening uncomfortably. "Respectfully,Highness, I disagree. The applicant must be a willing partic.i.p.ant."

"We cannot afford to wait," Dad said, his tone clipped. "The witches will make their next move soon, no doubt to bring her in closer. She's still under their protection."

"And their hunter's son courts her," Elias mumbled.

I nearly kicked him in the shins, but instead I pulled my hand from his arm forcefully. "It's not like that," I said to the angry flash in Dad's eyes. "Nik's had a crush on me for a while, like, for two years or something. He said he's not using me for any of this political stuff. I believe him."

"Naive girl," Dad snarled, fangs flashing in the moonlight.

Elias raised his hands for peace. "This isn't what's important right now. The boy's intentions can be argued at another time, my prince. We should hasten to the debut. The court will be waiting."

Dad calmed visibly as Elias spoke. Then he released the last of his tension with a shrug. "As usual you speak sensibly, Constantine."

Elias put his hand to his heart and bowed his head in acknowledgment. To me, he offered his arm. I hesitated. Was this what I wanted, to be a full vampire? To turn my back on my witch heritage . . . my humanity?

"Perhaps I can a.s.suage some of my lady's fears if I explain the debut more fully as we walk?"

Okay, I could agree to that. Hesitantly, I tucked my hand back under his arm. "All right."

"First, your father will take up a position of honor. Then I will announce your name and t.i.tle to the court. You will curtsy to your father as a sign of respect."

I nodded. This all sounded pretty normal so far. We'd been walking so long that I was beginning to wonder where we were. I could still hear city sounds--the occasional hiss of a pa.s.sing car or an airplane overhead--but I'd completely lost my sense of direction. The hill had mostly evened out, and I thought I could smell the river. I felt for sure we should have hit a row of houses or come into downtown by now.

Instead, we came to a clearing, an open park, really. I could see that people had gathered on the basketball court. They held candles, and seemed to be dressed for prom, or a c.o.c.ktail party. Sequins glittered in the candlelight. The men wore everything from tuxes to kilts to Middle Eastern-looking robes.

I should have worn my sundress, d.a.m.n it!

Someone had a fiddle, and was playing a light air. I was about to tell Elias how beautiful it all looked when he continued: "And then a sacred hunt will begin."

"Wait," I said, thinking I didn't much like the sound of "hunt." It could be very, um, b.l.o.o.d.y. "Uh, what?"

"You'll do fine," my dad said with a light little pat on my back, like we were talking about midterms or something completely benign. Then, he bounded down the hill to join the gathering.

"Hunt? " I looked at Elias, my hands on my hips. "I'm not going down there until you explain exactly what that is."

"It's nothing to worry about," he said, but I noticed he didn't meet my eyes when he said it. Instead, he stared darkly down at where my father moved through the throng, shaking hands like a politician.

"I thought I already satisfied the requirements of the hunt when that whole thing with Thompson happened," I said.

Elias glanced sidelong at me for a moment, his mouth a grim line. "First blood, technically--the first of the hunts. Think of it as baptism. This one will be confirmation."

"Baptism ? Confirmation, are you serious ? " I shook my head at him. "And you wonder why people think you're demons?"

He sniffed as if to say he didn't want to talk about it, his attention still on my dad's meanderings through the crowd.

I sat down in the gra.s.s and started picking sticky burrs from where they were stuck on the hems of my jeans in huge brown clumps.

Elias gave me an irritated glance. "We should go. The ceremony will start soon."

"I told you I'm not going anywhere until you explain this thing to me," I said. Then catching his glance, I added emphatically, "Fully."

It was obvious from his posture, all crossed arms and frowns, that he didn't want to tell me. "It's called"--he let out a sigh--"the kill hunt."

"What?!" I jumped to my feet, burrs still clinging to my fingertips. "It's called the what??"

"Calm down," he said, since I was already backing away, ready to bolt for home. He rubbed his face, like he'd suspected I'd react like this but that it still gave him a headache. "It's representational magic. Mostly."

" 'Mostly' isn't convincing me much," I all but shouted.

He put his hands up. "Okay, okay. I know you can understand this; you've had training in magic. We're going to--all of us--go into an altered state."