lifted her carefully. Blond hair fell around her shoulders, revealing her face.
He nearly froze.
He’d already seen her tonight.
He’d never seen her in the flesh before, but…
She had been the woman in his daydream, the bride at his blood wedding… .
“Alive?” Brodie asked him anxiously.
Her eyes opened, and she stared at Mark. They were sea-green and beautiful, and she looked disoriented.
Then she screamed and began to fight him, and she was damned good at it, belting him in the jaw and raking her nails across his face in fury. She stood on her own now; she seemed to have the strength of a thousand demons.
“Hey!”
Brodie came to his aid, catching her arms. “We’re the cops! We’re here to save you.”
As Brodie spoke, they heard sirens in the night; his call for the bus, to haul those they had caught to lockup, was being answered.
The young woman blinked. She inhaled, staring at Mark. He realized suddenly that she wasn’t human; she was Other. She was Elven.
Brodie whispered, “My God—Elven,” just as Mark thought it. But then, to Mark’s amazement, Brodie added a name. “Alessande Salisbrooke!”
Maybe it was natural that Brodie knew her; he was Elven, too.
She spun and looked at Brodie, and let out a sigh of relief. “Brodie. I didn’t realize—”
She stopped midsentence and stared at Mark, heat and anger emanating from her. “Vampire,” she said. “And you’re a cop?”
“Yeah, I’m a cop,” he said. She studied him as if he’d done something wrong, or as if his being a vampire was anathema to her. He felt his temper rising. “Yes, I am a vampire,” he said angrily. “I’m the vampire who just saved your ass.” He was shaken. He didn’t usually strike out because a panicked victim fought him.
But…
He’d seen her in his vision. Seen her with a ribbon of blood coming from her throat…
At a wedding.
Their wedding.
That was certainly never going to happen.
“Saved me?” she exclaimed. “Vampire idiot. You ruined everything.”
Chapter 1
“Seriously,” Sailor Gryffald said, “what were you thinking, Alessande?” Sailor continued to pace while Alessande sat.
After a stop at the police station, Brodie and Mark had dropped Alessande off with Sailor and had gone straight to Pandora’s Box, since Brodie had been anxious to see Rhiannon, the canyon’s vampire Keeper—and his fiancée. Alessande was glad to be alone with Sailor and free to talk.
Sailor continued, “Those monsters were about to sacrifice you. Believe me, you helped save my life, so I know how competent you are, but no one knows what kind of evil you were really up against, if I understand what you’re saying correctly.”
Alessande winced. She really shouldn’t have been so angry with that vampire cop—after all, he had been trying to save her. But, in her own opinion, she had been prepared. Ready. And she was suspicious of vampires and…
No, she shouldn’t have snapped at him.
“I had to be taken captive,” Alessande explained wearily. “It was the only way for me to get in there and find out what’s going on, who’s behind the cult and the deaths.” There was more to her logic—and her desperation to get at the truth—but at this moment she wasn’t ready to completely explain herself, not even to Sailor Ann Gryffald.
“But…you’re Elven,” Sailor said sternly. In the world of the Others, Sailor was the Keeper of the Elven community in the L.A. Valley. “You’re an ancient!”
No one liked to be reminded of her age, Alessande thought, arching a brow at Sailor.
“Sorry,” Sailor said. She and her two Gryffald cousins—Rhiannon and Barrie—were new to the Keeper job, but all three had already been tested under fire. Alessande knew that because she’d been involved with helping Sailor find her way.
They’d met when Alessande had carried Sailor into her home after Sailor had been attacked during the recent so-called Celebrity Virus plague.
“Seriously,” Sailor went on. I can’t tell you how proud I am of so many in the Elven community, but we’re not considered the…the toughest of the Others. Alessande, you create potions, you’re a healer. You live alone… . You’re practically a hermit.”
“Gee, thanks,” Alessande said.
“I’m not trying to offend you, and you know it. You brew the best tea in the country—maybe in the world. You’re like a beacon of caring and wisdom. But you’re gentle. And you could have been up against were-creatures, vampires and God knows what else—not to mention very vicious human beings. How did you intend to save yourself in that situation?” Sailor demanded.
“I was going to teleport,” Alessande said, indignantly.
“You can’t teleport when you’re unconscious,” Sailor argued.
Alessande shook her head, desperately wanting to deny the seriousness of the situation, but the truth was she knew she might have gotten herself into trouble—serious trouble—and she should be grateful to the cops who had come to her rescue. She had just gotten it into her head lately that she had to be more proactive in protecting all Others—along with the human race. And that, of course, was because of Regina, because she’d been forced to see firsthand once again what could happen to the young and innocent—especially the young and innocent among the Elven.
Like the rest of the world, L.A. was filled with all manner of creatures most of humanity knew about only because of legend—and movies. Creatures that most humans didn’t even believe in. Keepers—like the Gryffald cousins—were human beings, but…more. They had special powers aligned with those of the particular paranormal race they were tasked with protecting, and were generally born into longtime Keeper families. They bore special identifying birthmarks. It was as if their role had been predetermined by a divine power.
There were areas in the world where the Other races seldom desired to live…too hard to blend in, not enough for them to do.
L.A., however, was a haven for Others. Because it was a movie town, monsters and strange creatures abounded on-screen and, frankly, offscreen, given how many…unique individuals tended to migrate there. As a place to “hide in plain sight,” nothing filled the bill like Hollywood. That meant that the area was densely populated by Others, so there had to be a commensurately large number of Keepers.
Elven, like Alessande, were fairly recent arrivals in the New World; they were creatures of the earth. Ocean voyages—that much time away from trees,
