She barely heard her master's voice, shaking with pain and fury, order Nathaniel, "Get her out of here."

"And where should I take her?" Nathaniel responded, barely glancing at the human who had collapsed at his feet.

Lord Daryl spat another curse, and then disappeared, leaving Turquoise alone with the other vampire. Nathaniel hooked an arm around her waist to help her stand, and wrapped a cloth around her bleeding wrist as he told her, "You have no idea how many people have wanted to do what you just tried. For that alone I'm willing to help you. Can you walk?"

He set her on her feet, and his answer came immediately; her legs buckled, and the world slid into gray oblivion.

Turquoise forced her eyes open, dragging herself out of an unwanted sleep. Despite the agony of the memory, there was a faint smile on her lips as she remembered the feel of the knife slicing open her master 's skin. If only that first, painful attempt had worked.

The smile disappeared as she sat up and became aware of the chain connecting her left wrist to the wall. The back of her head pounded where Jaguar's whip had hit her. She was chained on one side of a large cell; Ravyn was similarly bound a few feet away.

Arguing voices made her headache worse.

"Hunters," Jeshickah spat, pacing angrily, and Turquoise winced at the sharp sound the vampire 's boots made as their heels contacted with the cold stone floor. "How could you be so stupid?"

Jaguar did not rise to the bait. "If memory serves, you used to collect hunters. And incidentally, you were the one who bought them."

Jeshickah tossed her mane of black hair in a dismissive gesture. "There is a difference between keeping a well-caged rattlesnake on the shelf to display and letting it slither between your bedcovers," she pointed out acidly.

"I doubt the hunter ever posed any great threat to you."

"Of course not," Jeshickah answered haughtily, "but it's the principle of the thing. You can't allow your pets to go around attacking the guests."

"They were well behaved with me. What exactly did you do to her? " Jaguar leaned back against the wall. He glanced in Turquoise's direction once, but did not acknowledge if he had noticed she was awake.

"Nothing unexpected." With a frosty look at Ravyn's slumped form, Jeshickah added, "Though I suppose your lapdogs don't expect their masters to hit them, do they? Not when you shower them with praises and treats all day long."

Ravyn moaned as she woke, her hands flying to ma.s.sage her temples, the chain from the wall to her wrist scratching loudly over the stone floor. She raised a brazen, garnet glare toward the two vampires, who returned it with twin expressions of distaste.

"Either deal with that," Jeshickah drawled lazily, "or give it to me and I will."

"I'll deal with her. I don't prefer your methods," Jaguar answered.

Jeshickah replied glibly, "Oh? And what do you think would be appropriate? A hug and a lollipop?"

Jaguar started to respond, but Jeshickah interrupted him.

"Deal with it, Jaguar," she ordered. "If you don't, I will. I know a few people who would pay dearly for them, after I break them."

"I'll take Catherine back." That voice belonged to Lord Daryl. He had been standing in the corner, so silent that Turquoise hadn't noticed him.

"They're mine," Jaguar argued, barely sparing a glance for Lord Daryl. "I'll deal with the two however I like, and that is not going to involve turning them over to either of you."

Jeshickah's black gaze smoldered. "They are yours, little cat, but you are mine. Blood and body, mind and soul, you belong to me and always will." Jaguar took a step back from her. "You've had long enough with them." Jaguar started to argue, but Jeshickah interrupted him. "You aren't the girl's nursemaid. Daryl's incompetent, but at least he isn't a softhearted baby-sitter."

Lord Daryl's insulted protest was ignored.

Turquoise could see Jaguar thinking quickly, trying to come up with a way to keep her from Jeshickah and Daryl. "Give me three weeks with them," he bargained.

"I don't think you could handle the both of them," Jeshickah argued.

"Let him keep the red-haired one," Lord Daryl suggested. "I want Catherine."

"Did I tell you to speak?" Jeshickah snapped, before turning back to Jaguar. "A few hundred years ago, a couple days would have been more than enough for you."

"She's spent too much time with Daryl; she's built defenses," Jaguar swiftly countered. "Give Ravyn to Gabriel; she's his type."

"One week with Daryl's pet," Jeshickah allowed.

"Two."

"Unnecessary," Jeshickah argued.

"Jeshickah-" Lord Daryl again tried to interject his opinion, only to be cut off as Jeshickah tossed him casually against the far wall. Lord Daryl stayed sulking in the corner.

"One week," Jeshickah repeated. "No special privileges or protection, no silken pillows or puppy treats. I want her licking your boots, or I'll take her from you, train her myself, and have her slit your throat. Understand, kitten?"

Jaguar lowered his gaze for a moment, and then returned it to her face. The moment of submission was brief, but visible all the same. "I understand," he answered, voice tight with barely controlled anger.

"Good." She disappeared, at which point Jaguar swung around and slammed the heel of his palm into the wall. Turquoise winced at the sound of flesh meeting stone, not sure whether the sharp crack came from the stones breaking, or Jaguar's hand.

Turquoise had not stood. Instead, she had discreetly worked the safety pin and pen cap out of where she had taped them to the inside of her pants cuff. Her body shielded from view her right wrist as she worked on the lock.

Trying to ignore Lord Daryl, who was glaring at Jaguar but had not yet spoken, Turquoise raised her gaze to Jaguar's.

"What now?" Her voice was calm, and betrayed none of her thoughts. The lock was a tricky one, and doing it one -handed behind her back did not make the job any easier. Once it was open, she had no idea what she would do, but she didn't have many other options.

"Get out, Daryl," Jaguar ordered.

"I think I would like to hear the answer to Catherine's question first," Lord Daryl replied.

Jaguar glared at the other vampire, whose expression instantly shifted to surprise. Turquoise could tell there was some silent communication going on between the two, and she would have given good money to know what it was-especially when Lord Daryl smiled.

"That settled?" Jaguar asked coolly.

Lord Daryl nodded slightly. "Fine."

Focused on their exchange, Turquoise's concentration broke. The safety pin slipped, and she heard the lock click back into place.

"Would you like me to unlock that?" Jaguar asked, hearing the sound. "That would make things easier," Ravyn drawled. "While you're at it, would you mind opening the doors and then going out to lunch?"

Lord Daryl's lips twitched again in amus.e.m.e.nt; Turquoise was beginning to get nervous.

Jaguar smiled wryly. "You," he told Ravyn, "are not my problem anymore." He tossed the keys to Ravyn, who had her lock undone in an instant. She stood, eyeing Jaguar and Lord Daryl warily.

"You're not going to let her out," Lord Daryl argued.

Jaguar ignored him, and continued to speak to Ravyn. "You'll be in the west wing as soon as you go through that door. Gabriel is staying in the second room. I hear you two have a . . . business relationship?"

Ravyn nodded, handing the keys back to Jaguar. "We're very close," she purred. She started to leave, the grace of her exit marred only by a slight stiffness in her walk.

Lord Daryl grabbed Ravyn's arm, and the hunter froze, her gaze flashing to Jaguar. She was obviously sizing up the situation, debating whether to fight Lord Daryl off.

"She isn't yours." Jaguar's voice was cool, the very absence of expression in it a warning.

"She isn't yours, either," Lord Daryl countered.

Jaguar stepped forward, and put a hand on Lord Daryl's wrist above where the vampire was clutching Ravyn's arm. Lord Daryl's grip on Ravyn tightened, and Jaguar's grip on Lord Daryl did the same. Turquoise saw Ravyn's eyes flicking from the faces of the two vampires to the doorway.

"Gabriel will not be pleased if you mark her." Lord Daryl winced as if Jaguar's grip was getting painful.

"She can't just wander around." There was a moment of pause, and then Lord Daryl added, "Let me go."

Turquoise leaned back against the wall, content to watch the vampires engage in their game of male dominance.

She flinched at the sound of bones crunching.

Lord Daryl shouted a curse, flinging Ravyn away, and swung a punch at Jaguar. Ravyn instantly took advantage of her freedom to disappear out the door.

Jaguar grabbed Lord Daryl's wrist before the blow hit and twisted it behind the fair -skinned vampire's back; Turquoise heard the wet snap as tendons in the elbow joint tore. Lord Daryl whimpered, and Jaguar wrapped a hand around his throat.

"Midnight is my property," Jaguar stated, "and so long as you are here, you will obey me. Understand?"

Lord Daryl started to struggle, and Jaguar's grip tightened until Turquoise looked away from the sickening sound of her former master's windpipe collapsing.

"Understand, Daryl?" Jaguar repeated.

Jaguar dropped his captive, and Lord Daryl fell to the ground, his hands at his throat. Turquoise watched, her emotions a mix of distaste and surprise. Here was the creature who had tormented her, terrified her, emitting soft sounds of pain from his crushed throat as it quickly healed. For the first time since the day she had first learned his t.i.tle, this black-haired creature ceased to be Lord Daryl. He was still stronger than she was, physically, but he was no one's master.

Daryl slid away from Jaguar. He pushed himself up, and coughed a couple times before answering, "Fine." He leaned back against the wall, and rubbed his throat. "Out, Daryl," Jaguar ordered again. This time Daryl obeyed without hesitation.

CHAPTER 15

"AS FOR YOU . . ." He tossed the keys to Turquoise and then sat cross-legged in front of her. "I could not let you kill Jeshickah. The woman has very powerful friends who would have killed you shortly after. I didn't expect that to be a problem when I hired Jillian Red to find me some hunters, but unfortunately I seem to have become quite fond of you, and it would distress me to see you tortured to death." He spoke with a calmness that belied the violence of his fight with Daryl.

Turquoise unlocked her cuff. "You hired her?"

Jaguar nodded. "She's a witch, very powerful and very well informed. I believe she worked with Nathaniel to destroy the original Midnight, so I didn't think she would have any hesitation to help this time."

"I'm confused," she protested. "You worked in the old Midnight, but aren't upset it was destroyed. You founded this Midnight, and are actually trying to ruin it."

"I'm very happy with Midnight as it was two weeks ago. Jeshickah wasn't. Her authority always has been and always will be higher than mine. Either I can let her turn my haven into her own empire again-and she has the power to do it-or I can get rid of her."

Turquoise nodded, contemplating. "How long have you known who Ravyn and I were?"

"I was suspicious the moment I saw you," Jaguar answered. "Nathaniel rarely trades in flesh, and his selling me two strong women, both unbroken, just a few days after I hired Ms. Red . . ." He shrugged. "I wasn't sure until I saw you go for the knife, though. Jillian picked you well. I knew you used to belong to Daryl, and Ravyn's description rang a few bells when I asked around.

The more I learned, the more likely it seemed that you two were both exactly what you were pretending to be-two humans who got tangled up in the trade, and were lucky enough not to be broken yet."

"It's the truth," Turquoise answered, with a bit of a smile. "You just neglected to account for the two years after I got out."

"It also didn't occur to me that anyone who had escaped the trade would ever be mad enough to put herself back in," Jaguar pointed out.

Turquoise shrugged. "You're the second person who's called me mad in relation to this job," she commented. "How will you get rid of Jeshickah now? And what do you plan to do with me for the next week?" Unless Jaguar could get rid of Jeshickah before those seven days were up, either Jaguar was dead or Turquoise would once again be a slave ready for breaking. Turquoise would trust no one to put his life above her freedom.

"I have a few ideas for Jeshickah, but none of them are quick," he answered. "As for you . . . I don't know."

Turquoise didn't intend to give Jaguar time to make a decision. She would get out of Midnight today, if he left her alone for more than five seconds. This job had gone bad. If Jaguar had been honest in his warning that killing Jeshickah would bring about deadly retaliation, then Turquoise needed to backtrack and plan again. Confronting Jillian Red and Nathaniel about whether she and Ravyn had been sent on a suicide mission sounded like a good idea.

Getting out shouldn't be too difficult. It would be the easiest thing in the world to scale the courtyard wall and go over the back of the building. The iron fence was high, but she could manage it. Turquoise wasn't worried about Ravyn; the hunter could look out for herself. Whatever Ravyn's relationship was with the vampire to whom she had been sold, Turquoise was more than happy to turn her back on the pair.

She was silent for too long, debating. Jaguar asked casually, "What's Catherine's story? How did she end up in Daryl's care?"

"Doesn't he acquire most people the same way?" Turquoise retorted defensively as she tried to avoid answering.

Jaguar nodded. "He buys most of his slaves from other trainers." He added, "And he doesn't buy anyone who isn't broken. That means he picked you up somewhere else."

"Guess so." She did not feel like sharing her life history today.

"How many people did he kill to get you?"

The words were blunt, and Turquoise knew her shock showed on her face. Most of the scars on Turquoise's arms were from when Daryl had thrown her father through the second-story bay window, and she had almost followed through the broken gla.s.s.

Before she meant to, she answered, "My mother. My father. My brother." Tommy. The thought of her little brother made something in her gut wrench. He would have been fourteen now. "How the h.e.l.l did you know?"

"I don't know your exact history with Daryl, but I know his methods. He wouldn 't have taken a freeblood human without making sure she didn't have a home to return to."

She shrugged. "I wouldn't have had anything, even if they had been alive. How would they ever have understood?"

Jaguar didn't argue with her. "You miss them?"

Turquoise shrugged. "I miss Catherine's old life, sometimes. Her friends, her family. Mostly, the sense of safety she lived with.

But I can't go back, no matter how much I would like to. " Recklessly, she asked a question that she knew would end the conversation. "What about you? When Jeshickah changed you, did you miss your past?"

Jaguar recoiled as if she had struck him, but he matched her honesty as he told his own brief story. "My mother was a shape- shifter. Midnight's laws didn't allow for shape-shifters to be traded, unless they were first sold into it by their own kind. My father was happy to oblige." He gathered himself quickly, but his voice was still sharp when he answered, "He sold me to Jeshickah for less than the cost of a bottle of whiskey. I could have fought him on it-I was twenty years old, and held almost as much power in the estate as he did-but I was glad to leave." He stood, turning away from Turquoise, each movement slick and angry like a restless, caged beast.

"Why did Jeshickah want you?" Though anxious to leave this fouled job behind, she was genuinely curious about his background.

Jaguar rounded on her, asking, "Why did Daryl want you?"