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CHAPTER ONE

"She must die."

Raising an eyebrow, I looked into Vince's dark eyes. "Who?"

"The rumors are true, Samantha," he said, and then bit into his caviar.

I took a sip of wine. "Which rumors, exactly?"

He ran his fingers through his short, spiky hair. "She's alive."

My mind ran through the list of
she's
that he could be referring to. Then I looked at him again. "You don't mean…?"

Eyes aglow, he nodded. "Marguerite Westerfield is alive and well. As it turns out, her watcher never had her killed. I threatened the lives of her daughters, and yet Mattie still risked it all to save Marguerite. She merely hid the child."

I leaned over the table toward him. "She wouldn't be a child anymore. How old is she now?"

"Almost sixteen, if I remember correctly. She was close to three when she was
supposed
to be killed." He sighed.

"So she's already gone through her transformation."

Vince shook his head. "No, not yet. That's what has made it so difficult to track her down. She was hidden amongst the humans, being raised as one. Marguerite probably thinks that she
is
one," he said, and laughed.

I grinned, flipping my long, dark blonde hair behind my shoulder. "What's the plan?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "You're going to pay her a visit."

"What?" I asked, sitting back. "Are you kidding? You're sending
me
?"

"You're perfect for the job. You're a quick thinker, unlike most of the goons I have to deal with, and you look like you could be her age. She'll probably trust you if you play it right."

Wonderful. I was getting sent out on a job instead of sticking around with him. But I couldn't argue. Nobody crossed Vince. No one that lived to tell about it, anyway. I gave him my most seductive smile. "Actually, it could be fun to mess with the humans. I haven't mingled with them in decades."

"I'm glad to hear it, Samantha," he said, smiling. I loved it when he smiled at me, because he was one of the most powerful vampires alive. He could have been with anyone, but I had won him over. "I thought you might put up a fuss."

"Oh Vincey, you know that I love a challenge. That's how I ended up here in this room with you."

He laughed. "That's true. Most everyone is afraid to even look at me, but not you. That's what I love about you." He reached across the table and intertwined his fingers with mine.

"When do you want me to visit her?"

"In the morning. First you have to follow her around and get to know her schedule. Then, when you find an opportune time, talk with her. See if she knows anything. We'll go from there and I'll figure out a plan. We have to be careful, you know. The stakes are high. Very high."

I nodded. "You don't have to tell me."

"Should we go on a hunt first? I'm going to need to fill up on blood before I walk into a town full of people."

He shook his head. "I won't have time to join you. There's much I need to do. Taking over the entire ruling establishment is an exhaustive process. Why don't you leave a little early so that you can feed first?"

"It's more fun with you, but whatever."

"Look, Samantha. I don't need a guilt trip."

I batted my eyelashes. "I'm not giving you a guilt trip, Vince baby. Why would I do that?"

He squeezed my hand. "The sun will be up soon. You should get ready." He stood up and pulled me into his arms, kissing me. He moved to my ear and whispered, "I'll see you soon. Do you need anything before you go?"

"I could use some money," I said, running my fingers along his face. "Oh, and her location would be nice too."

He smiled. "Talk to Adam on your way out."

"Adam?" I asked, pouting. He was sending me to his secondhand man.

Vince kissed me again. "He knows to give you whatever you ask for."

"You'll be here when I get back?"

"Of course. You know I don't go far. It's much easier to scare everyone when I remain hidden. Mystery feeds fear."

"That it does. Hopefully I'll be back before dark, but don't be surprised if I'm not. I have no idea what I'm walking into."

He nodded. "Certainly. Have fun," he said, eyes sparkling. "Should I let Adam know that you're on your way?"

"Not just yet. I'm going to change my clothes first. I'm not going to be able to blend in with high schoolers dressed like this."

Vince stepped back and looked me over, hungrily eying my clingy evening gown which had a high slit and matching stilettos. "No, you won't. You'll have to save that dress for our next date."

I licked my lips. "Will do," I said, holding his eye contact.

He wrapped himself around me and gave me one last kiss. "Don't tempt me, Samantha. We'll have plenty of time together later. We need to get Marguerite out of the way so we can move forward. If you can take care of this quickly—"

"Do you want me to kill her?"

"No. I'm going to do that myself. The last time I left that up to someone else, look what happened. She lived and now we have to deal with killing her. Again."

"If that's the case, why don't you come with me and you can just take her out on the spot?"

"With her being so special to those on the throne, there are certainly many eyes on her. They wouldn't leave her alone, not really. We can't risk killing her where she is. She must be lured away so that I can kill her here."

"That makes sense. We can't just show up or we could have an entire army of vampires come out from hiding and overtake us."

"Exactly. Right now, I just need you to find out what she knows and build some rapport with her. Keep an eye out for any vampires following her, either from far away or close up. Then report back to me and we'll plan out the next steps. We can't have any errors this time. If anyone else kills her, I will return the favor and kill them. Unfortunately, that includes you, my pet. I don't want to do that, so please just follow the plan."

There were certainly disadvantages to being with Vince, but I wasn't going to complain. I'd worked hard to win him over, and someday we'd be leading together. My family had been removed from the throne. I was determined to find a way back on, and Vince was my best chance. We both wanted the same thing—that's what made us such a good team.

CHAPTER TWO

I faked a smile for Adam. "Vince says you have some information for me."

He sat down at his desk and flipped through some papers. "Yeah. Here it is," he said, focusing on one paper. "Marguerite is believed to be living in Delphic Cove, Washington. She's apparently unaware that vampires even exist."

We both laughed.

"Humans today," I said, rolling my eyes.

Adam reached under his desk and handed me an ugly shaped lavender bag. "You'll need this."

I looked at it suspiciously. "What is it?"

"It's called a backpack. Humans use them to carry school books."

I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Vince expects me to carry that around?"

Adam smirked. "I only wish I could see it myself."

Glaring at him, I snatched the bag from his hand. "Do you have an address or any other useful information?"

"You're lucky that we know what town she's in—and it's a pretty small town from what I understand. Not too long ago we thought she was dead. Soon she really will be."

"If you need anything while you're out, you're to report to me. Vince has said that he isn't to be disturbed today."

"Yeah, I
know
," I lied. I hated how Adam thought he was above me. He always expected me to treat him as a superior, when he should have treated me as the superior. I was the one working directly with Vince. Adam was a mere sidekick. "See you around."

"Oh, before you go, put this into your backpack." He handed me a stuffed manila envelope.

"What's in here?"

"Fake IDs and other paperwork you might need if you end up enrolling in the school—or getting a job," he said, and then snickered.

"I'm not getting a job," I said as I slipped the envelope into the bag.

When I got outside, I pulled my phone out of my purse. It was close to six, so I would have time to for a quick bite before pretending to be a teenage human. I clicked on the GPS app to figure out where Delphic Cove was. Three hundred miles south. I could run there in no time.

I grumbled curses at Adam as I put the backpack on and then I began running, keeping my eyes out for an easy target. I couldn't afford to risk getting thirsty. It had been too long since I was surrounded by humans, and I didn't want to take any chances. I had a job to do.

About twenty minutes later, I was running along an empty back country road when I saw a jogger. They made it so easy with those earbuds blasting music. It was easy enough when they were alone, but throw in that distraction and it removed the challenge completely.

Crouching down, I watched her, waiting to make my move. She slowed down and pulled her iPod from her pocket. I jumped up and ran at her. She looked in my direction just before I knocked her down, her pupils dilating in fear. I breathed in the scent of her fear, knowing that this was going to be a tasty treat. I didn't usually bother to play with my food and give them the chance to be afraid, like so many others did.

She opened her mouth to scream and I bit into the soft part of her neck before a sound could escape. I savored the warm, sweet blood that filled my mouth. I'd forgotten how much better fear-laced blood tasted. I drank until I had my fill, which nearly drained her. Seeing some shrubs nearby, I tossed her into them.

I wiped my mouth and pulled out my phone again. I was right on track, both for time and direction, in getting to Delphic Cove before school started. If I was lucky, I could find Marguerite and learn what she knew before her first class. Then I could get back to Vince's mansion before lunch.

When I arrived in town, I could tell right away that it was a small town. That would make it easier to find the school, but it would also make it more difficult to blend in. The nice thing about big cities is the ability to blend in anywhere.

Using the GPS again, I saw that there were two high schools in the town. If that was the case, it wasn't that small of a town, and I might stand a chance at blending in. I decided to go for the nearest high school and see if I could find her there. When I got there, I could see the students piling in through the doors.

Thinking back to when I'd seen her as a toddler, I tried to imagine what she might look like now. I headed for the swarm of people, looking at as many faces as I could. If she had been a full vampire, it would have been a lot easier to find her. From what it sounded like, she was barely in the beginning stages of her transformation, which would essentially make her appear human.

How one born as a vampire could look and act just like a human was a mystery to me, since we vampires weren't human. Sure, we still looked just like the humans, even after transforming. But clearly we were not, considering our hearts and other organs had ceased to work while other systems went on overdrive after the full transformation. That wasn't even considering the need to drink human blood.

Turning my attention back to everyone around me, I listened to all of the discussions and thoughts. Several people were checking me out, but no one was thinking about Marguerite. What if she was going by a different name? She probably was, since they had gone to such lengths to hide her by having her be raised by humans as if she were one herself. I would definitely have to rely on her looks to find her.

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