Oh, God. Dorian, Malcolm, Gabriel, Colin� they�d been turned into vampires at the same time. Maybe even Aiden too.

A tiny arrow of sympathy pinged her heart, cracking the hard wall she�d tried so hard to plaster over it.

She drew a breath to ask another question�a million other questions�but Dorian was already shutting down, his shoulders bunching with tension, the air thickening between them.

"As I said, I�ll return as soon as I can," he said. "In the meantime�"

"Wait! My driver!" Charley blurted out, suddenly realizing she�d lost her purse in the mayhem. She hadn�t texted Travis about her plans to stay. "I must�ve dropped my phone in the gardens. If he doesn�t hear from me, he�ll come looking�"

"He already has." Dorian turned and glared at her, a flash of triumph shining in his eyes. "I told him you wouldn�t be requiring his services, as you�re staying the weekend."

Charley folded her arms across her chest again, biting back a smile. She really wanted to be pissed right now, but the idea of Travis slithering his way out of an argument with Dorian made her damn near giddy. "And he accepted that?"

"Not� at first."

Her eyes widened, but Dorian shook his head.

"I compelled him to accept it. And then I compelled him to hand over your belongings and return to the dank hole from which he slithered forth."

At that, a small laugh escaped. "Sometimes, I call him the Snake."

Dorian offered a thin smile in return, but the momentary levity wasn�t enough to erase everything that�d happened.

Charley let out a heavy sigh. Her own guilt and deceptions collided in her mind with Dorian�s, all the secrets and lies exploding into an epic headache. But right now, she couldn�t give in to the pain, couldn�t share any more laughs with Dorian Redthorne.

She needed to hold onto her righteous anger.

Yeah, she was a thief and a con and a total fucking fraud, and she was most likely going to hell.

But he was an immortal monster. And from the looks of things, she was about ten seconds from becoming that monster�s captive.

"You can�t keep me here," she said anyway, as if the words alone would make it true.

"I can, and I will."

"So I�m your prisoner?"

"You�re my responsibility." Dorian sighed, his shoulders sagging under some new weight. "What those vampires did to you tonight was an act of war, and my brother and I responded in kind. By killing members of another greater vampire house on our property, House Redthorne has drawn a line in the sand that cannot be undrawn. You are as much a target as we are now, and there�s no telling how and when House Duchanes will attack again�only that they will. So when I tell you to stay put, Charlotte, trust that I have my reasons."

"But I�"

"And trust that it�s not a request."

"Dorian, wait�"

He left in another one of those annoying blurs, no more than a smudge in her periphery, slamming and bolting the door behind him.

Charley ran to it and yanked on the ornate handle, but it was no use. JrNovels.com