Mia squared her shoulders. "I want her to live," she said. "I hope that she has a long, long life."

There was no trace of malice in her voice-just a barely checked despair. The magnate nodded, although I couldn't tell if it was a gesture of approval, or merely assent. She turned back to Sabine.

"Your sentence is wrought. Sabine, my daughter." My eyes widened. She'd sired Sabine?

"You are now apostate to the Nine Houses. I no longer call you family, and as one of my final acts as magnate, I banish you from this eyre. If you return to the city, your punishment will be far worse than death."

I thought I saw Sabine choke. Then she lowered her head, and her voice was even. "I understand. My lady is gracious."

"The child is the one you owe thanks to," she replied. "Her mercy has spared your life, even if I account it no worth at all."

Without waiting for a reply, the magnate turned and walked toward the door.

"Ma'am?"

Mia's voice was timid-in that moment, she truly sounded like a frightened teenage girl, a stick of a thing who'd seen far too much.

The magnate turned to regard her, and she flushed.

"I mean-my lady. Or-your eminence? I'm not sure what I'm supposed to call you, so I'm sorry if I seem- um-disrespectful."

The magnate smiled. It wasn't an overly warm smile, but it wasn't the gesture of most vampires either.

"My name is Caitlin," she said. "Why don't you call me that?"

Lucian's eyes widened at this, but he said nothing.

"Okay-Caitlin." Mia swallowed. "Do you know-I mean"-I could see pain glowing in her eyes-"my parents- do you know where it was-where he killed them?" She looked over at Marcus. "He said it was in the woods somewhere. I'd like to go there, if I could. To the place where it happened."

Caitlin glanced at Sabine, and I saw a mixture of anger and utter exhaustion in her look, as if she was finally casting out an impossible child. She placed a hand on Mia's shoulder and sighed.

"I'm sorry, sweetling. That secret, I think, died with the human called Marcus, and I sense that Sabine knows nothing more of what happened that night. I doubt you will ever find the place where your sire and dam died."

Mia nodded. "I understand."

"No." Caitlin smiled. "You do not-you could not. But someday, perhaps. And if you look hard enough, you will find other things." Her eyes darkened, almost imperceptibly. "Many things. That I promise you."

Then she walked out of the room, and her presence went with her.

We were all silent for a while, even Sabine. Derrick grabbed my hand. Slowly, cautiously, I felt slick, bloody fingers curl around my other hand. Mia. She looked at me, and her expression said: Let's go home. Even if none of us knew where that was.

Lucian stared at us. I didn't ask him if he was all right. He sensed my fear-he knew that I couldn't erase what I'd seen, the enormity and the violence of his power. But he didn't look away either.

"What happens now?" Mia asked.

It was possibly the most complicated question I'd ever heard. But I knew what the answer was. That riddle, at least, I could solve.

"Now," I said, "you come home. With Derrick and me."

She blinked. "To live with you?"

"We'll figure that out in good time."

Mia looked at Derrick. He smiled.

"Good," she said. "That's good."

The next day, two other things happened that would forever change our lives. Caitlin, the vampire magnate, vanished. And only a few blocks away from where I'd almost died, a teenage boy in a hospital bed suddenly opened his eyes. He stared at his room in complete confusion-at the EKG and other monitors, at all of the tubes and wires hooked up to his body, and finally, at his own hands. At the mark.

Then his screaming began.

About the Author.

JesBattis was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and currently lives in New York City. He is a writer and academic whose research focuses on popular culture, gay and lesbian youth studies, and disability. His previous publications include Blood Relations and Investigating Farscape. He has taught English and film studies at SimonFraserUniversity and HunterCollege, and his most recent academic project focuses on the history of gay and lesbian teen writing. Look for his forthcoming book of essays, A Dragon Wrecked My Prom: Teen Wizards, Mutants, and Heroes, with Rowman & Littlefield, to be released in 2010.

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