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  Luckily for me, I still had a scrap of common sense left, and I didn’t want to die. Not when my life was worth living again.

  “I hope you and Piper have a nice life together.” I sneered at him, then turned my back and marched briskly away.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I wasn’t surprised when I found Aleric waiting for me just around the corner from Luke’s house. The old me would have been embarrassed and worried about just how much of that conversation he’d overheard. The new me was too furious to care.

  “Don’t say a word,” I growled at Aleric.

  “I wasn’t going to.”

  I braced myself for him to make some obnoxious, gloating comment anyway, but he merely fell into step beside me in silence. My face glowed with fury-fueled heat, my fists and jaw clenched so hard they ached. I seriously considered throwing a punch at Aleric just to vent some of my rage.

  Luke had shot at me! After everything I’d done for him, everything I’d sacrificed to try to protect him and his family. What an asshole. I was well rid of him, and he was damn lucky I wasn’t as vindictive as your average Nightstruck.

  I was too angry to stay still, and I marched down the sidewalk with no destination in mind, moving just for the sake of moving. I kept expecting Aleric to say something snarky and cutting, but he walked by my side in silence. I suspected he was enjoying the spectacle of me losing my temper, but at least he wasn’t rubbing it in.

  After a couple of blocks, the anger lost some of its intensity, and I slowed down to a more normal pace. I kept walking, though, in no mood to stop in case Aleric would take that as an invitation to start a conversation.

  My seemingly aimless wandering eventually took us to the Art Museum and the giant Fairmount Park, where there are a lot of wooded areas and scenic lookouts. There’s a gorgeous row of boathouses that look out over the Schuylkill River, and it wasn’t until I reached the sidewalk that wended past them that I realized that, of course, they too had changed with the night. Instead of being festooned with colorful lights that reflected on the river’s surface, they were choked by some kind of vine, with terrifyingly sharp thorns. When we got close enough to make out details in the darkness, I saw that those vines were made out of plastic and metal—and they were wiggling and squirming.

  “Getting too close would be a bad idea,” Aleric said with a hint of humor in his voice.

  I couldn’t help shuddering. Maybe someday I’d get used to the constructs of the night and they wouldn’t freak me out anymore, but I wasn’t there yet. I almost asked Aleric why I seemed to be the only Nightstruck who was bothered by them, but instinct told me he wouldn’t answer. I didn’t know what he had against answering innocuous questions, but only an idiot wouldn’t have picked up on it by now. I’d had enough frustration already, and though walking had taken the edge off my anger, I was well aware it wouldn’t take much to bring it right back up to the surface again.

  “It was a lot prettier out here with the lights on the boathouses,” I commented instead as we continued strolling along the side of the river.

  Aleric took my hand and gave it a squeeze, closing some of the distance between us. “And is it the scenery we came here for?” he asked.

  We passed the last of the grotesque boathouses and came upon a patch of … Well, I’d call them woods, except I’m not sure something counted as a wood when you could see both ends of it without having to turn your head. It was more a patch of trees surrounding a moss-covered outcropping of rock. Aleric had been following my lead up until now, but he gave my hand a little tug and led me toward the darkness at the base of the rock. It probably would have been pitch black in there if it weren’t for the full moon hanging high and bright in the sky.

  “Let’s have a rest,” Aleric suggested.

  I considered protesting, but my legs were pretty tired, and so far Aleric had been surprisingly quiet and sensitive. Besides, he was the closest thing I had to a friend these days, and I needed a friend right now.

  The temperature had risen above freezing for the first time in a while, and the ground for once wasn’t frozen solid as the two of us took advantage of a cozy alcove in the rock to sit down. The alcove was small enough that we had to put our arms around each other to fit. I let out a soft little groan, not having realized how much my feet hurt until I finally got off them. We had walked for miles tonight, and the energy I’d drawn from my earlier anger was long gone.

  I still didn’t fully trust Aleric, but I had to admit it felt nice sitting next to him like that, absorbing the warmth of his body. I rested my head against his shoulder with a little sigh. Unlike Luke, he would never judge me, never look down his nose at me. He would never reject me.

  “I can give you so much more than Luke ever could,” Aleric said softly. I wondered if he’d been reading my mind. “I will make you queen of this city, and I’ll expect nothing from you in return. There is nothing from your old life you need, not anymore.”

  He cupped my cheek in his hand, turning my face toward his. I fell into his green gaze, my heart pattering against my breastbone. He leaned in for a kiss, and I saw no reason not to give it to him. His lips were deliciously warm and soft, and when his tongue slipped into my mouth I thought I would melt on the spot.

  My whole body flushed with heat, and I clung to Aleric’s shoulders, feeling like the world was bucking beneath me. I couldn’t get enough of his kiss. My hands twined in his hair, and I made embarrassing little mewling sounds of need. Before I had any idea what was happening, I found myself lying on my back on the cold ground, my mink coat having somehow come open. But I wasn’t cold. I was on fire.

  Aleric was on top of me, his hips resting between my legs, both holding me down and warming me. His tongue thrust aggressively into my mouth, and my back arched with pleasure. I was so drunk on the heat and the pleasure that I couldn’t be bothered to notice mundane details. I had no idea how the cashmere sweater I was wearing beneath the coat ended up gaping open, nor did I know how Aleric’s hand had found its way under my bra. I only knew that his touch felt amazing, that my whole body burned for him.

  I’d never felt anything remotely like the wild abandon that came over me. My little make-out sessions with Luke had been great, but I’d been far too self-conscious and inexperienced to enjoy them fully. Not to mention that they’d never gone beyond some really nice kissing. Nothing like what I was experiencing now.

  The need was utterly overpowering, and there was no room in my head for anything like higher reasoning. No room for caution, no room for questioning Aleric’s motives, no room for restraint. When he started tugging on the zipper of my jeans, it never even occurred to me to protest or ask him to slow down. I was caught in a vicious undertow that inexorably dragged me under. And I went willingly, heedlessly chasing the pleasure that Aleric’s touch promised.

  There was very little pain, and it was quickly obliterated by the warmth and magic of Aleric’s body. I stared into his electric eyes and gasped for breath as I clung to him. He made my blood sing and my heart dance. I forgot I’d ever been angry with him, forgot my feelings for Luke, forgot … everything.

  * * *

  After sleeping with Aleric, I expected to feel fundamentally different. Giving up her virginity is supposed to be this huge deal in a girl’s life, a rite of passage that instantly changes her from a girl to a woman. I didn’t expect the earth to shake or for a choir of angels to start singing or anything like that, but I didn’t expect nothing, either.

  Don’t get me wrong: the sex was great, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. As I cuddled in Aleric’s arms in the breathless aftermath, I was thankful I was no longer burdened with the ridiculous self-denial that would have kept me from enjoying his body before I became Nightstruck. But I was strangely disappointed to realize that losing my virginity just wasn’t that big a deal.

  “Have fun?” Aleric asked with one of his patented smug grins.

  I laughed and rolled my eyes as I wriggled my way back into my clothing—it
was too chilly out to sit around half naked. Something was stuck to the side of my leg, and I brushed it away before pulling my pants up. I frowned when I looked down and saw the foil packet that had been plastered against me.

  “You used protection?” I said incredulously. Aleric wasn’t human, so I seriously doubted he could make me pregnant or give me a disease. Even if he could, he was hardly a paragon of responsibility, and I wouldn’t have expected him to care.

  He flashed me another of his careless grins. “I was being a gentleman.”

  I snorted.

  “All right, I was being proactive. I thought you might start to worry and ruin the mood. Turns out, I needn’t have bothered.”

  If I hadn’t just had my bell rung in the most pleasant of ways, I might have pressed a little harder, because neither of his answers quite made sense to me. How could he possibly think I would worry about such petty details when I was Nightstruck? But asking him more questions just seemed like too much work. I felt all mellow and melty and wonderful, and I didn’t want to risk getting into a fight over nothing.

  Fully clothed, I settled back into Aleric’s arms and sighed contentedly. My life had never been better, and I was determined that from now on, I was going to leave the past—and my doubts—behind and enjoy every moment of being free.

  * * *

  I ended up falling asleep in Aleric’s arms. Which was nice and all, except I slept all the way up to Transition and didn’t come to myself again until the next night. Aleric and I were in Rittenhouse Square, and I blinked and shivered as I realized I had another of those day-long blank spots in my memory.

  “I’m never going to get used to that,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Say what?” Aleric asked with an inquiring raise of his brow.

  “The last I thing I remember was falling asleep in Fairmount Park. And now here I am sitting in the square, wide awake as if no time has passed at all. It’s freaky.”

  He shrugged. Empathy and compassion were hardly among his strong suits. “You’ll get used to it. And all you’re missing is a few hours you’d spend sleeping anyway. What’s the big deal?”

  Maybe he was right and it wasn’t a big deal. But I still didn’t like it. “I thought being Nightstruck was about being able to do whatever I want. Well what if I want to stay up all night … day … whatever? I can’t do that now because for me, day doesn’t even exist anymore.” I stuck out my lower lip in what I’m afraid was probably a childishly pouty expression.

  The corner of Aleric’s mouth twitched upward, as if he were about to smile, but he schooled his expression so fast I’d never have noticed if I weren’t peering at his face so closely. I didn’t think I’d said anything remotely funny, so the almost-smile puzzled me.

  “It doesn’t have to be this way,” he said, taking both my hands in his and regarding me gravely.

  His hands felt warm and strong around mine, and looking up into his jewel-green eyes gave me a pleasant shiver. My heart rate kicked up a notch, and I thought he was going to chase my cares away by seducing me. It would be only a temporary solution—I was way too stubborn to drop the subject no matter how long the interruption lasted—but I was sure to enjoy the attempt.

  “You can only be in Philadelphia during the night,” he continued.

  An arrow of disappointment shot through me as I realized this wasn’t the start of a seduction after all. “No kidding? Really? I hadn’t figured that out yet.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me, and his hands tightened their grip to an almost painful level before he caught himself and let up. I doubted he was surprised that I talked back to him in ways that none of the other Nightstruck dared, but it wasn’t his favorite thing about me. Which was tough, because I’d spent most of my life biting back sarcastic comments and one of the best things about being Nightstruck was being able to give voice to my true feelings.

  “Do you want to hear what I have to say or don’t you?” he asked in a tight voice that said he was still irritated.

  I cocked my head to the side. “I don’t know. Do I?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right, then talk.” I smiled sweetly at him. He returned the smile, but it looked a little forced. I was not following whatever script he’d put together in his mind. I took an admittedly perverse pleasure in annoying him.

  “What if I told you we could stop the Transition from happening for part of the city? Like, say, this part.” He swept his arm in a circle to indicate the square.

  I gave him a puzzled frown. “What do you mean? That it would, like, stay night here all day long?”

  His lips curled with satisfaction. “That’s exactly what I mean.”

  “How would we do that?”

  “We would create a gateway, and I could bring a Night Maker through it.”

  Aleric had mentioned Night Makers before, but I had no clue what a Night Maker was. I made a keep-talking gesture with my hand instead of asking the obvious question.

  “The Night Makers are the authors of the magic that comes into the city at night. If I bring one into the square, it will bring its own little pocket of night with it. If you don’t want to go away during the day, then all you’ll have to do is make sure you’re in the square by Transition time. Simple.”

  Like anything was really simple where Aleric was concerned. “Uh-huh. And what exactly happens to the square?”

  “Nothing, really. It just stays in its nighttime form. Which of course means it’s advisable for day folk to stay out.”

  That didn’t sound so bad. Even being Nightstruck, I knew that the night magic was not a good thing and that letting more of it into the city was something the old me would never have considered doing. But I really hated the fact that I seemed to cease to exist during the day, and letting one square block of the city—a pretty, but otherwise useless square block at that—be swallowed by the night seemed like a small price to pay. But even Nightstruck me knew better than to take Aleric entirely at his word.

  “So these Night Makers … They don’t move around?”

  He shook his head. “They wouldn’t in this world. They’d be tethered to the gateway they entered through.” He held up both his hands in a gesture of innocence. “I’m not trying to trick you here, Becks. I’m just trying to give you what you want.”

  The two were not mutually exclusive, but I refrained from pointing that out. There was no denying I wanted what he was selling, and I found myself reluctant to look too closely into the gift horse’s mouth.

  “So I noticed you said we would create a gateway,” I said instead. “What would I have to do?”

  I thought I saw a flare of satisfaction in his eyes—one that almost, but not quite, gave me second thoughts.

  “The same thing you did to bring the magic into the city in the first place.”

  Even Nightstruck, I still looked back on the time I’d started all this mess with a shiver of dread. I remembered picking up the boneless heap of faux-baby that had felt so utterly wrong, and I remembered the hidden pin pricking my finger and drawing my blood. I didn’t think it was the picking-up-a-baby part Aleric was referring to.

  “You mean I have to stick myself,” I said, curling my fingers in protectively. I had a strong preference for keeping my blood inside me, where it belonged.

  Aleric made what I guessed was supposed to be an apologetic face. He wasn’t very good at it. “I’m afraid we’d need more than a single drop to make a gate big enough for a Night Maker.”

  No, he hadn’t been trying to trick me. He’d just been trying to get my hopes up before revealing the major catch. I crossed my arms over my chest and resisted the urge to take a step back from him. It was a disconcerting thing to discover my boyfriend—or whatever the hell Aleric was—wanted my blood. I realized with another chill that it would also be ridiculously easy for him to take it from me.

  “Relax,” Aleric said. “If it were as easy as grabbing you and bleeding you by force, the whole city would be covered with Night Mak
ers by now.”

  I scowled at him. “That’s supposed to make me feel better? Nice to know you’d happily bleed me dry if you could. So romantic.”

  “You know what I mean,” he said, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

  What it meant was that the only reason he was hanging around with me was because he wanted my blood. I had never flattered myself that he was somehow wildly in love with me—at least I think I hadn’t—but I’d thought he had at least a little fondness for me. Old me would have been heartbroken, or at least badly hurt. New me was just pissed off.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean, and if you think that makes it better you’re delusional.”

  It looked like Aleric was holding on to his patience by a thread. A thin one at that. “I meant that I’m not going to force you to do anything. I can use your blood—freely given—to make a gate and let a Night Maker through. If you’d rather things keep on the way they have been, then that’s your decision.”

  I gave myself a mental kick in the butt. Aleric’s motives didn’t much matter in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t like I was looking for a soul mate or anything. What he was offering was a pretty straightforward deal. Give a little blood, and I could go back to having twenty-four hours in my day. I can’t say I liked it. But I wanted what he was offering too badly to refuse.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Aleric cleared the Nightstruck and the constructs from the square so we could have it all to ourselves. Then he led me to the very center and pulled a wicked-looking switchblade from the pocket of his leather jacket. I gave him a sidelong look.

  “You carry a switchblade around with you?” It wasn’t like he was in need of it for self-defense. The constructs and the Nightstruck worshipped the ground he walked on, and since he hadn’t died when I’d shot him point blank, that seemed to suggest he was invulnerable.

  “You never know when one might come in handy,” he said, extending the blade with a wicked snick and holding it out to me.