I spun and threw the rolling pin, surprised I could do what he said so easily. The heavy wooden pin flew end over end several times before cras.h.i.+ng into the back of the fleeing Johnny's skull. He fell forward, facedown on the pavement.

I stepped toward the still-conscious thief and pushed the gun out of his reach with my toes like I'd seen on every cop show I'd ever watched. I leaned over him and grabbed the phone off my office desk, dialing 911.

"I'd like to report an attempted robbery by three complete idiots."

Ernie snickered and I gave him a thumbs-up.

Minutes later, the police pulled into the back parking lot. It didn't take them long to cuff the three thieves. The police took a statement from me but ignored Ernie.

"He saw what happened too, he can back me up. That will make a stronger case, won't it?" I lifted my eyebrows at the young officer.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Officer Jensen said. "We don't take statements from supernaturals. They don't exist in the human court system." His dark eyes darted away from mine and then back again. "I'm sorry. For what it's worth, I would take his statement. But it would get the entire case thrown out when the judge realized he was a Supe."

"That's discrimination." I frowned up at Ernie, who shrugged. What would they say, then, if I told them I was a Super Duper too? Would they have even come to help? I had a feeling that they wouldn't. Or worse, they would have sided with the robbers because they were human . . . and I wasn't.

"Yes, it is discrimination." The officer nodded, lifted his hat, and scratched the top of his head before putting his hat back in place. "Nothing to be done about it. If you need anything or remember anything else, please don't hesitate to call." He handed me a card that had his name and a cell phone number on the back of it.

I tucked it in the palm of my hand. "Thank you."

He smiled and backed out as his walkie-talkie squawked to life. He pressed the b.u.t.ton and spoke softly into it. Maybe he thought I couldn't hear.

"Yeah, boss, she's here."

My blood ran cold and I swallowed hard. I could only guess who he spoke to. I wasn't fool enough to believe it was his chief of police. Achilles most likely, even though the image of the Greek hero on a cell phone was a hard one to believe possible.

I forced myself to walk forward and shut the door behind Officer Jensen. "Ernie, I think your time at my bakery is going to be cut short."

"What? Why? I haven't had a good piece of home-baked goodies in years. I've been living off that cellophane-wrapped c.r.a.p in the store." He whined at me and I smiled, though my lips trembled.

"Officer Jensen just said, 'Yeah, boss, she's here.' So I think we can't stay. Or at least, I can't stay." I gathered up my keys for the bakery along with Barbie's keys and walked to the door. "Maybe you should go your own way."

"Nah, you're interesting. I've been bored out of my head for the last thousand years. A monster shows up, and things finally start to happen again."

I paused at the door. The officers had taken my wooden rolling pin for evidence, but I had another one. A metal one I used for making fondant. I reached for it, the cool stainless steel in my hand a nice weight. I glanced at Ernie floating at my left shoulder.

"Just in case."

He grinned at me. "Not going to be a matter of if you need it, Alena, but a matter of when, I think."

I pushed the back door open a crack. The moon was only partially up, giving the back parking lot a gloomy look of dodgy shadows among the dark purple of the night. Officer Jensen sat in his police cruiser, his head bent over something. Maybe more paperwork. "Do you think he's watching the bakery?"

Ernie floated up to peer out over my head. "Pretty good bet. If he's ratting you out to someone, then they'll want him to keep an eye on you for sure."

I closed the door and backed away. Hurrying, I wove through the bakery, around the counter, and to the front door. I peered out into the growing darkness. Across the street from the bakery sat a police cruiser identical to Officer Jensen's.

A loop of claustrophobia tightened around my neck. Trapped.

"How am I going to get out of here?"

Ernie floated around so he was directly in front of me. "Walk out, see if they follow or try to stop you. They might be here to make sure no more break-ins happen."

A frown settled on my face. "Really? Do you believe that?"

"No. But I don't want you flipping out and s.h.i.+fting in here. You might bend my wings. Worse, you could wreck your bakery, and that would mean no pastries for me. Which would totally suck rotten eggs."

I put both hands on the door and stared hard at the officer. "Ernie, why would I s.h.i.+ft? I don't want to be a giant snake. I'm never going to s.h.i.+ft into one."

The very thought made my skin crawl, and that only made me shudder more. Who in their right mind would want to be a snake so big it could swallow a horse whole? No. That wasn't- "You won't have a choice. If you're threatened or scared bad enough, you'll s.h.i.+ft."

"I don't want to!"

"Sorry, but you will. It's not a matter of if, but when." He fluttered his wings and did a slow circle.

"You like saying that, don't you?"

He shrugged. "It's a good saying. Not if. When. That's life. Not if you die. When. Not if you fall in love. When. Not if you get your heart broken. When."

"Not if you turn into a giant venomous snake the size of a two-story house," I whispered.

He nodded. "You got it now. So what's it going to be, beautiful? Door number one? Or door number two?"

Paralyzed by indecision, I stood there in my bakery and bowed my head. "Achilles is going to keep coming after me, isn't he?"

Ernie didn't answer right away. He floated over to the cash register and lowered himself to it. "He's only been woken up to kill you. I think."

I put a hand to my eyes to cover the p.r.i.c.kle of tears. The stainless steel rolling pin in my hand seemed a silly thing now, useless against a hero who had a sword and knew how to use it. I dropped it to the floor with a clatter. "Maybe I can sneak by the officer in the front."

I flicked the lock and stepped out of my bakery, leaving behind the comforting smells of dough, yeast, and flour. Moving quickly, I strode down the street, putting the bakery and the officer behind me. "Ernie, can you see if he's following us?"

"Yup, he's doing a U-turn."

"Donkey b.a.l.l.s," I bit out, and hurried my stride.

"I don't think speed-walking is going to get you out of this. Go. I'll catch up with you later if I can," Ernie said as he flew above my head and off to the side.

I broke into a run. The buildings whipped by in a steady blur, and behind me the police car's siren rent the air, shattering the false silence. I took a hard right down an alley and kept moving as fast as I could. I leapt dumpsters and sleeping homeless people, climbed two fences, and took three more turns before I let myself slow down. The siren had been turned off, or I had outrun it. I wasn't sure which, and really it didn't matter except that I'd bought myself some time.

My hand brushed against the old brick building and I leaned into it. Just what was I going to do now? I had a hero who wanted to kill me. How was I going to stop that from happening?

I didn't realize I'd spoken out loud until someone answered me.

"I can help you, Alena."

I spun around with a gasp. Behind me stood Remo, the vampire mob boss. He leaned against the building, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. The tip burned bright as he drew a breath, the color flickering over the metal fangs in his chin. Violet eyes stared hard at me, as though trying to see through me. I glared at him, hating the way I felt around him. Equal parts intrigued and scared, irritated and amused. Even I knew that was a dangerous combination for a recipe.

"I don't want your help. And you shouldn't sneak up on people, it might be bad for your health."

He smiled around the edge of his cigarette. "Threatening me right off the bat? That's amusing."

I didn't like that he used the word I'd been thinking about him. "Go away. I'm not on your turf."

"It's all my turf, Alena. Now, are you sure you don't want my help? I think you're going to need it. Rumor is you p.i.s.sed off some mighty powerful people. I would think you would like an equally powerful . . . friend." He pushed off the building and walked toward me. Each step he took reminded me of something, the same as when I'd first met him. Like a tiger sliding through the jungle, seen and then not as its stripes blended into the foliage. That same slinking, muscled walk in a man his size was, to say the least, unnerving.

"You move like a cat," I said, the words escaping my filter before I could stop them.

His eyebrows shot up along with one side of his mouth. "Pardon?"

I couldn't help the blush that heated up my face, unable to take my eyes from his lips. "Never mind. I don't want to be your friend. Besides, we aren't allowed to interact. You being a vampire and me being . . . not a vampire."

He smiled and flicked the cigarette behind him. "I want to be your friend, Alena. You're a powerful Supe. Beautiful. Deadly. Confident. Everything I want in a friend."

I blinked and he was standing right in front of me, our eyes locked as though our gazes had tangled. My earlier a.s.sumption was right; he was a good five inches taller than me, which left me craning my head to look up at him. I took in a deep breath, and his scent coursed over my tongue.

Cinnamon and a hint of honey, as if he'd dipped his tongue in a jar of it. My fangs slowly dropped, and I slapped my hands over my mouth. "Sorry."

He grinned, a slow lifting of his lips. "Did your fangs lower on their own?"

I nodded.

"I must smell good to you, then." He stepped closer and in a blink had me pressed against the wall with his body. Every hard line of him ran against me: chest, hips, and thighs lining up perfectly with mine. I placed my palms flat against the wall behind me.

"Get off me." The words I meant to come out in a shout slipped by my lips in a whisper.

"I think you like me on you. In fact, I'd lay money on it."

"All the same," I breathed out. My fangs retracted and I moved to shove him away from me. All I could think about was how much my mother would have hated him. How she would have demanded I break off whatever I had with him and find myself a good boy. One who went to church. A doctor. Someone with an education and no tattoos or piercings.

I blinked up at Remo, grabbed the sides of his head, and kissed him. He let out a surprised grunt, then leaned into the kiss, his tongue flicking in and out of my mouth in a way I'd never felt. He slid an arm around behind me and grabbed my b.u.m, tugging me tighter against his very obvious attraction to me. A groan slipped from me, the sound full of want and need I'd never known. Desire pulsed between us so thick and heavy I would drown in it if I didn't do something.

I couldn't help but compare him to Roger, to the sense of duty I'd felt with Roger. The feeling that I had to have s.e.x with him, not because I wanted to, but because he wanted to.

And in that moment all I could think about was how badly I wanted to see where the rest of Remo's tattoo went, where it began or where it ended. Maybe trace it with my fingers.

I sucked in a gasp and pulled my mouth from his.

"Enough."

"I think we're just getting started." His dark-violet eyes sparkled, little lights dancing in them that sought to draw me down into their depths.

Batting my eyelashes, I pushed his chest and he stumbled back a good ten feet. "I said, enough." Power coursed through me, and I pulled myself up to my full height. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. You should go. Achilles will be here soon, and the last thing I want is more people getting hurt because of me."

"That idiot couldn't find his sword when it's in its sheath." He snorted. "I sent him on a wild goose chase out to the edge of the Rockies. He'll be there for at least a few days searching for you."

"No, I heard Officer Jensen. He said . . . oh. You're the boss he was talking to?"

Remo grinned, and my knees wobbled at the impish grin on the big vampire's face. "Yes, I'm his boss. I asked him to watch out for you."

"Why?"

"You intrigue me in a way no woman has in a thousand years, Alena. All the power, all that strength. And yet"-he drew closer again and ran a hand through my hair, catching the ends and drawing them to his nose-"there is an innocence about you. As if you have been kept from the realities of the world and believe you cannot be corrupted. I find it intensely attractive."

I tugged my hair away. "Let me guess, you want to be the one to corrupt me?"

"On the contrary. I like you just the way you are. This mix of beauty and power. Of innocence and strength. I want you to be my First, Alena. Come with me, I will keep Achilles at bay." His hands pressed against the wall on either side of me, trapping me once more with his body.

His First?

"I don't know what that is, your First, but I-"

"As in the First one in my bed. You would be my favored woman, the one I hold closest to me in the deep of the night, our skin flushed with the heat of pa.s.sion and blood, or slick with our lovemaking."

A flush of desire roared through me, his words painting a rather vivid image. But the desire was followed close by a cold flurry of horror. One of many women he would parade through his life.

"You want me to be your wh.o.r.e? You think I would share a man with other women?"

"Call it what you will. Many would beg to be offered to be my First."

I shook my head as my fangs lifted away from the roof of my mouth. I pushed them back up with my tongue. "You can take your help and shove it where the sun s.h.i.+nes brightly, Remo. I will never be your wh.o.r.e, and for the record, you would only need one woman if you had me."

His lips twitched and he dropped the tip of his tongue to touch one of his piercings, and I couldn't help but track the move with my eyes. "So tough. Fine. You know where I am, Alena. When you realize you aren't strong enough on your own, you can come to me. I will take you. But the price will be steeper then. Interest, you know. Everything goes up in value if you don't have a buy-it-now policy." He winked, turned, and walked away from me down the alley. There it was again, that image of a tiger in the jungle, his body visible and then fading into the world as if he weren't there from one step to the next.

"Yeah, well, you suck." It was the worst thing I could come up with, and all it did was make Remo laugh. His shoulders shook and his laughter floated back to me.

"Alena, you are something else entirely, I can't wait till you come to me on your knees. Begging."

Again his words gave an image I could all too easily see in my head. I was a wanton woman if my mind went to the gutter so easily. I shook my head.

Dang, I was no good at the insults. Maybe I needed lessons.

Remo disappeared around the corner and I stood there, thinking. Where to now? Vanilla and Honey was as good a place as any. I'd slept there more than once when I had big orders coming in. A tiny cot I had tucked in the closet would do nicely. I started back to the bakery, my thoughts swirling.

Mostly they centered on the handsome vampire whose mouth I couldn't stop feeling on my own. Or the way his body pressed against mine and made me think things I was pretty sure would send me straight to h.e.l.l. That being if I wasn't already going there. Who was I kidding? I was a monster. I was going to h.e.l.l according to my mother.

"If I'm going to h-e-double-hockey-sticks, maybe I should do whatever I want," I whispered to myself. The thought was both electrifying and terrifying. To live without a myriad of rules, answerable only to my own sense of right and wrong. What if I turned into a bad person? Other than being a monster, I really wasn't any different. I hadn't done anything wrong. Had I?

But did it matter? By virtue of what I'd become, I was d.a.m.ned.

My thoughts consumed me, keeping me from noticing anything around me, including Ernie as he flew in from around the next alley. His wings fluttered frantically and he was breathing hard. "This is why I let Hermes be the d.a.m.n messenger." He all but collapsed above me. I caught him in my arms, cradling him so I wouldn't bend his wings.

"Are you all right?"

"Just winded. You're d.a.m.n hard to keep up with when you're running. And I got news you're going to want."

"What news?"

"Those thugs you embarra.s.sed at your place?"

"You mean the Bull Boys?"