Lizzie nodded, looking impressed. "Yes, that could work. If you did it right."

Wilhelmina grinned. Oh, she'd do it right. This time her plan would definitely work.

Sebastian strode through the nightclub, nodding to several of the club's employees as he passed. They were busy with their sidework, getting ready for another hectic night. He scanned the large room for dark hair and black-rimmed glasses, but didn't see either. The new waitress wasn't in yet, or maybe it was her night off. Or better yet, maybe she'd quit.

"Where's the new girl?" he asked Nadine, keeping his voice casual as he slid onto a bar stool.

Nadine glanced at him, then picked up a bundle of napkins. "She'll be in any minute."

"So what's the deal with her?"

Nadine didn't look up from where she crouched behind the bar, restocking the shelves. "What do you mean?"

"She's-odd."

Nadine rose, crumpled up the empty wrapper from the napkins and tossed it down the bar into a gray plastic trash can.

"She is," Nadine agreed. "But she's harmless."

"When she's not starting fires in the backroom, that is."

"That was an accident."

Sebastian nodded, but knew he didn't look convinced. There had been something about the new waitress's behavior that still didn't seem right to him. It was almost as if she'd been disappointed when he'd assured her the rest of the nightclub was fine. And then in his apartment, she'd been downright afraid of him.

He supposed he could chalk up her fear to the fact that she'd fully expected to be fired, which many other business owners would have done. He wondered why he hadn't.

"You said that she needs this position," Sebastian said. "Why? What's her story?"

Nadine ladled maraschino cherries from a large jar into a metal serving tray. "I don't know much about her. She's pretty quiet."

"Then how do you know-" Sebastian started, but his head bartender silenced him with a sharp flash of her dark eyes.

"I just get the vibe that she needs this job," she stated. "There's something... desperate about her."

Sebastian couldn't disagree with that. At the very least, there was something desperately strange about her. He started to say so when Nadine's next comment stopped him.

"She seems lost."

Sebastian paused. Hadn't that been what he'd sensed about her, too? He just hadn't been able to label it as Nadine had. But there was something anxious and almost lost about her. She was unlike any vampire he'd encountered, and running this club, he'd met many. He had to admit that she made him curious.

And other than being a little accident-prone, she was obviously not dangerous. In fact, aside from her strangeness, she was rather unexceptionable. Another peculiar trait for a vampiress. Vampires were nothing if not noticeable. She wasn't.

Except when wet, he amended. She'd definitely been noticeable then. The image of her sitting in that puddle, dress hiked up to the tops of her pale thighs, appeared in his mind again.

He gritted his teeth, annoyed with himself. He wasn't irritated with himself for noticing. After all, that's what he did. Healways noticed women. It was the fact that the image was still so clear in his mind, and kept replaying. He'd seen far more provocative displays of skin from far more beautiful women, yet something about-what was her name?

Wilhelmina.

He grimaced. But something about Wilhelmina had captured his attention. Again and again over the course of last evening, and again tonight.

He'd obviously been depriving himself. Time with his holier-than-thou brothers really did cramp his style. And last night, the sprinkler incident had put a damper (no pun intended) on his plans. By the time he was finished cleaning up the backroom, he'd decided just to head up to his apartment to relax. Alone. He'd been too preoccupied: with who could have called the cops about serving minors, and then as much as he hated to admit it, Wilhelmina. He'd thought about her more than the damned cops.

He sighed, turning his thoughts to the threesome of women he'd turned away. That had been stupid. He wouldn't still feel so uneasy if he'd spent last night feeding his hunger and burned off his extra tension with them. Maybe they'd be back tonight and he could make up for his bad behavior. They would forgive him. Women always did.

Again, the new waitress popped into his head. Except for her, maybe. She definitely didn't respond to him like most women, whether vampiress or female human. Even Nadine was more receptive to his charm-and Nadine was one tough she-wolf.

Nadine's a wolf,understanding dawning on him. That had to be why Nadine was championing the weird waitress. Wolves were protective by nature.

"Nadine, I appreciate your decision, but I'm not sure she's cut out for a job here. I mean look at Greta." He gestured to the leggy blonde, leaning on the end of the bar chatting with Crystal, a curvy brunette. "And Crystal. Our cocktail waitresses are part of the allure of the place. They are supposed to be a draw for the patrons."

"Give her a chance. This is where she needs to be," Nadine said, certainty in her husky voice.

Sebastian studied his right-hand woman and friend. Finally, he nodded. Nadine was a good judge of character, another trait of werewolves. Animal instincts and all that. And he'd trusted her for years with all his hiring. It didn't make much sense to question her now.

Still, while there was something that intrigued him about the vampiress, there was something that made him uncomfortable as well. His gut told him he should bypass Nadine's opinion and give the little waitress her walking papers.

"Hi, Wilhelmina," he heard Greta greet the waitress in question.

Sebastian glanced down the bar to see her rush into the club. Her hair was again knotted in that peculiar, messy, hornlike hairstyle and her black plastic-framed glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose. She scurried in a graceless way, the large knapsack on her back causing her to stoop forward, making her

look like a hunchback. "Hi," she murmured to the blonde as she hurried past. As she approached, she hesitated slightly when her eyes met his. Then as she started forward again, the toe of her left foot caught on one of the nearly nonexistent grooves in the marble flooring. She tripped forward but managed to catch herself on the back of a bar stool before she fell. Sebastian started to stand to make sure she was okay, but before he could rise, she scampered past him toward the employee lounge.

"Wilhelmina," he called, turning his bar stool in her direction.

He'd expected her to be reluctant to speak to him, but instead she spun to face him.

"Y-yes," she said, her gaze darting from him to Nadine and then back to him again.

"Are you okay?" he asked. As in his apartment, he got the vibration that she was scared.

"Yes," she said quickly. "I-I just need to call my roommate before my shift starts. I-I forgot to tell

her-something."

Just then her knapsack shifted, and she reached a hand to one of the straps to secure it. She backed away from them. "I, um, I need to make that call." She continued to back away a few more steps, then turned and literally fled into the small lounge. Sebastian glanced at Nadine. "I hope you are right about her." Nadine gave him a bemused look that stated she currently had her doubts as well. "Me too." Chapter 4 Wilhelmina rushed into the employee lounge, a relieved sigh escaping her as she saw the room was empty. Thank God. She started to sag back against the wall, her heart pounding and her knees weak. But at the last moment, just as her back would have connected, squeezing the backpack between herself and the wallboard, she caught herself.

Pushing straight, she reached for the straps of the pack and eased it off her shoulders. She placed the large sack on the floor, watching as the nylon rippled and undulated like a living thing. Of course, the creatures inside were alive. And judging from the squeaks and clawing, they were also more than a little upset. The woman at the pet store had looked a little upset, too, when Wilhelmina had asked to buy all of their rats, and then had stuck them in her knapsack. Oh well. This had to be done.

"Sorry guys," she murmured to the bag, "but you can't be any more distressed than I am."

The last person she'd expected to be in the bar was Sebastian. She'd just assumed that thegreat Sebastian Young didn't make an appearance until the place was bustling with his next round of human victims. After all, that was the importance of the nightclub for him, wasn't it?

Wilhelmina hadn't expected him to be sitting right there at the bar, watching her with those intense, golden eyes.

She'd been prepared for the rest of the waitstaff, and how quickly she was going to have to race through the bar, so they didn't sense the animals in her backpack. She'd almost blown it when she'd seen Sebastian and their eyes met. It was a sheer miracle that she managed to keep her footing when she'd tripped. And then he'd called her, and she'd been certain that he'd sensed the rats. But he hadn't. Her hope that the waterproofed knapsack would buy her a little time had worked. The scent of the rodents hadn't easily filtered through the rubberized material.

But she knew she didn't have much more time. The werewolves' sense of smell was very keen. She needed to get this done, fast.

Creeping back to the doorway, she looked both ways to make sure no one, especially Sebastian, was around. The coast was clear. She ducked back into the lounge and hurried over to the backpack.

As she unzipped the nylon, a fountain of rats sprang from the growing gap. They scrambled over each other and over her hands, their little claws scratching her skin in their desperation to escape.

"Sorry guys," she whispered again. "But you're free now. Scurry wherever you like."

The dozen or so rats seemed to take her at her word and scuttled away, heading to the corners of the room rather than exposing themselves to the middle. She watched them for a second, feeling a strange connection to them. She'd lived much the same way for most of her life. Clinging to the edges, trying to remain unnoticed. Never exposing herself to the world. That was how she'd survived.

But she was putting herself out there now. She rose suddenly feeling less nervous and more positive that this was the right thing to do. The brave and strong and honorable thing to do.

She unzipped the side pocket of her bag and pulled out her cell phone. The number for the New York health department, which she'd gotten before she left her apartment, appeared in her call list. Arrowing down to it, she hitSend and the phone began to ring.

"Hey, there."

She nearly dropped the phone as she quickly flipped the cover shut, just as a faint hello sounded on the other end. Trying to appear calm, she turned to look at the speaker, knowing exactly who owned that deliciously velvety voice. Sebastian leaned in the doorway, watching her with a troubled frown.

"Hi," he said, his voice oddly soothing. "Are you sure you're all right?"

She blinked at him, again stunned that anyone, preternatural or not, could look that dazzling. And combined with that voice... She blinked again.

Sebastian's frown deepened, and he stepped into the room. She shifted, realizing she'd been staring. For how long, she didn't know. Long enough for him to sense the rats? Had they had time to scurry away?

She glanced down at the bag, which was unzipped and wide open in the middle of the floor. She didn't want him questioning her about the now empty pack. Returning her eyes to his, she hoped he didn't follow her glance. His intense eyes were locked on her face, watching her.

Taking what she hoped was a subtle sidestep, she positioned herself in front of the knapsack. With her heel, she nudged it under a chair. The zipper clanged on the metal of the chair leg, and for a moment, she feared it was one of the rats squeaking. Before the cause of the sound registered, she raised a hand to her mouth and coughed loudly, dramatically.

Sebastian stepped even closer, reaching out a hand to pound her on the back, but she jerked away, falling rather unceremoniously onto the chair under which she'd just hidden the bag.

"I'm fine," she assured him quickly, wanting him to leave. She was afraid the rats weren't dispersed enough and could still be detected. Not to mention, she was too aware of how close his body was to hers. His leg practically brushed her bare knee. She gave their near touch a sidelong glance, then forced herself to meet those intense eyes of his.

"I'm fine," she said again, pressing a hand to her chest. "Um, allergies." Then she offered him a forced smile. "I-I really must make that call." She held up the cell phone, still clasped in her other hand.

He studied her, but this time there was an emotion she didn't quite understand in his eyes. And for a split second, she could have sworn his gaze had dropped to her lips. Of course, he was probably noting that her smile was labored. She was quickly discovering she could never make a living as an actress.

Then his golden eyes narrowed and before she could think to react, he reached forward and caught her hand.

"What happened?"

She glanced down at his finger stroking over her skin, and it took her a moment to realize he was tracing the faint marks from the rat's claws on her pale skin.

"Oh that," she said, searching for some excuse, but her mind couldn't focus on anything but the slightly roughened pads of his fingertips like suede on her skin.

"They look like cat scratches," he said, looking back up to her eyes.

"They are," she said, immediately grasping his excuse. "I-I have a cat."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow to that. "Cats and vampires don't mix. We freak them out." His fingers caressed the small welts again. "But I guess you've learned that."

"Yes," she said again, forcing another smile. Or at least she thought it was a smile. She couldn't be sure, since she couldn't seem to focus on anything but him. And his fingers.

Finally, she managed to gather her thoughts enough to ease her hand away from his. He allowed the withdrawal, although his eyes still held hers.

"Are you sure you are okay?"

She nodded. "I just need to make that call. It-it's a really important call."

He regarded her closely, and she had the feeling that he didn't believe her.

"And private, too," she added, hoping that would get him to leave.

He didn't move for a second, but then nodded. "Okay."

He crossed the room, stopping in the doorway to look at her again. His mouth parted, as if he planned to say something else, but then he just nodded and left the room.

Wilhelmina blew out the breath that she didn't even realize she'd been holding. She sagged back against the chair, the tingling in her body nearly overwhelming. She remained that way, boneless, her mind numbed, unable to do anything for a moment. Then she lifted the cell phone and flipped the cover up. Her fingers shook as she arrowed down to the right number.

"Hello," she responded to the voice on the other end. Her voice was breathy, but determined. "I need to report a health code violation, and I think someone needs to be sent right away. Carfax Abbey is overrun with rats. Yes. Yes."

She gave the woman on the other end the address.

"Thank you."

She hit theEnd button, her hands still trembling. She'd done it, the right thing.

And in the nick of time, too. Sebastian Young had just proved how dangerous he was-and not just to mortals, but to her as well.

"Have you ever heard of a vampire having allergies?" Sebastian asked his sister-in law, Jane. She looked up from her computer, where she was working on the payroll.

"Is this a joke?"

Sebastian had the strange feeling that it had to be-one he wasn't in on.

"Have you ever heard of that?" he asked again.

She shook her head. "No, but I'm pretty new at this vampire thing."

He was relatively old, and he'd never heard of such a thing.