"Is John back yet?" I asked as I entered his house. I'd been checking my phone obsessively throughout the day, but there were no missed calls or texts from either him or Andrew.

"No," Ian replied. He did a double-take when he saw me. "What's happened to you, lass? You look as though you've had a scare."

"Nothing," I lied.

I dropped my bag on the floor and slumped next to Ian on the couch, attempting to keep the enormity of my secret from showing on my face. On the way over, I had tried convincing myself that the bodily reaction I'd experienced due to Josiah's kiss was nothing more than an adrenaline rush. It didn't matter that he was my vampire sire; I didn't like him. Considering it was a match of convenience as opposed to love, I doubted he cared about me one way or the other.

"How was school?" Ian asked.

I gave him a look. "Do you honestly want to know?"

He laughed. "Humor me."

"Boring and tedious, just like high school is supposed to be."

We sat in silence after that, though I was vaguely aware of muted voices coming from upstairs—Thomas's and Olivia's. I wondered what would become of them, as well as June.

How must June be feeling? She could have spent forever with Thomas, but instead she had chosen to remain human. I snorted with suppressed amusement, wondering if she was regretting that decision now.

"What's so funny?" Ian said beside me.

I shook my head. "Nothing. So . . . what can you tell me about Hannah?"

The corner of Ian's mouth lifted. "Fishing for information?"

"Humor me," I said, throwing his words back at him.

Ian linked his fingers behind his head and put his feet on the coffee table. "What would you like to know?"

What would I like to know? That was a loaded question.

Ian had alluded to the fact that Hannah and John had been involved once upon a time, but did I really want to know the details of their relationship? "I just want to know what to expect," I said at last.

"Hmm . . . For one thing, Hannah is insanely gorgeous."

My stomach fell. "Really?"

"I wouldn't know," he said with a shrug. "I've never actually met her."

I hit him against the chest with the back of my hand. "Idiot."

"John spoke of her only once."

"And?"

He looked at me. "Ye want to know if they were in love."

"No," I said, lying again. And then, with a relenting sigh: "Fine. That's exactly what I want to know."

Ian's gaze softened, and I knew what the words would be before they came out of his mouth. "There was something between them. Ye heard what John said, though. Whatever it was is in the past now."

I took a deep breath, trying to untangle the jealousy that had my insides in knots. "How old are you, by the way?" I said, changing the subject. "I've always wondered."

"I was born in nineteen hundred and twenty-two," he said.

"You look pretty good for your age, old man."

"I am still quite young, relatively speaking."

"Who is the oldest vampire, do you know?"

He shrugged. "There's no telling."

"So how does it work, exactly?" I asked, once more changing the subject. "There's a president of the United States, and there's a queen of the vampire world, but how do the two worlds fit together?"

"Not many vampires have met the Queen," Thomas answered for Ian as he made his way down the stairs, Olivia trailing behind and looking distinctly subdued. I scooted over, making room for her on the couch.

"Some say that is her weakness," Thomas continued. "That she invites rebellion by not taking a more active role in her subjects' lives. She is . . ." There was a faraway look in his eyes. "Beautiful and terrifying."

"You've met her?" I surmised.

"I have," he answered, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Olivia.

"I'm sorry about your dad," I said. "That he's involved in this, I mean."

Thomas cleared his throat but dismissed my apology. "I'm sorry for not believing you sooner."

"It's okay," I said. "We don't want to believe the worst about the people we love."

Olivia was cradling a mug of blood in her hands. Aside from some lingering darkness under her eyes and a small scar from where Margaret had attacked her, she looked very much like her normal self. I leaned against her, putting my head on her shoulder.

"How are you?"

"Okay, I guess," she said. "When can I go home?"

"You can't go home," Thomas answered. "At least not until we know you're stable and can handle being around your family."

"It's for their protection," I said when Olivia started to protest. "John compelled your parents to think you're staying with me. He also grabbed some of your things. They're in a duffel bag upstairs."

"What about school?" she said.

"John compelled everyone to believe you have mono," I said. "Convenient, right?"

Olivia leaned her head against mine. "Do I just stay here and watch TV all day long?"

"Welcome to the glamorous world of being a vampire," I said.

"We're waiting for the others to return, hopefully with Hannah," Thomas said. "Then the real work begins. We should round up other vampires who might be persuaded to side with us."

Olivia held up her hand. "Can someone please finally clue me in about what's going on? I'm new to this, remember?"

While Thomas and Ian regaled her with the details of impending doom and the generalities of being a vampire, I retreated to the kitchen. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I texted John.

Miss You.

I stared at the screen as I waited for his reply, but no reply came.

Thomas showed up a little while later as I was staring out the window at the drifting snow swirling on the ground. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

Thomas stood beside me, shoulder to shoulder. "You look worried about something."

I snorted. "Try a lot of somethings."

"Something in particular, I mean."

I gathered my resolve and turned to face him. "What happens if vampires exchange blood?"

Thomas's eyes narrowed. "Have you and John—"

"No!" And then I added, "Would it be bad if we had?"

"Not at all, but it's not something that's done lightly. Blood-bonding between two vampires can be a very beautiful and sacred thing. Or not."

"That sounds ominous," I said.

"For some vampires, sharing blood is an issue of control, as opposed to love." He narrowed his eyes even further. "Why are you asking me this, Blake?"

"No reason. I was just wondering."

"In any case, no blood-bonding until you are emotionally ready." He patted me on the shoulder like an older brother might and resumed looking out the window beside me.

I, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about what had happened earlier that afternoon. I'd tasted only a little of Josiah's blood, but was that enough to further strengthen the bond we already shared? Perhaps what I had felt was just a normal bodily reaction to being kissed by a man who wasn't completely awful to look at. Or maybe it was the effect of something darker and more sinister.

"Blake," Thomas said. "I can practically hear your thoughts. What's troubling you?"

I leaned forward and pressed my forehead against the windowpane. I needed to tell someone, if not John.

"Josiah cornered me after school today. He . . . kissed me," I said.

"He kissed you?"

"Twice. I bit his lip to make him stop. Do you think that's enough to create a blood bond?"

"I don't know. Did you feel anything after?"

"No," I lied. "It was just a few drops of blood."

"Be wary of Josiah," Thomas advised. "He's already got a hold on you, being your maker. Perhaps you should keep one of us with you at all times."

"No, thank you. I can take care of myself. Besides, Andrew said not to deviate from my normal schedule. I can't take Ian to school with me, and you have Olivia and June to worry about. How's that going, by the way?"

"June is upset, as you might imagine. She understands the connection between a vampire and his progeny."

"She could have chosen that path for herself," I pointed out.

"She valued her human life." Thomas hung his head and slowly shook it back and forth. "More than the idea of spending forever with me, it would seem."

I squeezed his arm. "I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision."

"It is the truth, though, otherwise she would have let me turn her one of the dozens of times I asked. Begged even! I love June with all my heart and now . . ." He sighed. "Now it's so very complicated."

"Olivia is a nice girl," I said. "She won't make you unhappy."

"I know," he replied. "But she's not June. And every time my beloved looks at Olivia, all she sees is a beautiful young girl who has taken her place."

"Olivia hasn't taken June's place," I assured him. And then I added, "What will you do about them?"

His shoulders rose and fell. "There is nothing I can do but love June until time forces me to move on."

He reached out suddenly and grabbed my hand, twining his long, slender fingers through mine. "You and John are lucky to have each other. I believe you were right about my father's motivation for having Josiah change you. He needs that connection. If John had turned you, as you said, there would have been nothing to stop you from running off together and escaping the family. Because Josiah has a claim on you, he has a claim on John, on Ian, on Andrew, on me . . . on all of us. My father knows we won't turn on each other, and that he only needed one of us to have us all."

I laughed, but without humor. "I should have let myself die and saved everyone the trouble."

"Don't say that, Blake. My father would have found someone else if not you."

The door swung open just then, and Ian and Olivia entered. "Telling secrets are we?" Ian said.

"Not telling secrets," Thomas replied, smiling to hide the gravity of our conversation. "We were speaking about matters of the heart."

Olivia's face fell and she collapsed into a vacant chair. "Matters of the heart? Oh no!" She crossed her arms on the table and buried her face in the crease of her elbow. "I forgot about Marcus!"

I met Thomas's eyes. Given time, Marcus would fade from the picture, just like June. I didn't think it had yet occurred to Olivia that her best chance at life-long love was with her sire. Still, I couldn't let myself believe that Olivia wasn't free to choose whom she wanted, because if I believed that, I would have to believe that I wasn't free to choose John. And there was no way in hell I would ever choose Josiah.

"What am I going to do?" Olivia said to no one in particular, her voice muffled in her arm.

"You're going to enjoy what time you have with him," Thomas said.

Olivia looked up, tears clouding her eyes. "What if I enjoy it, you know, a little too much? What if I accidentally kill him?"

I averted my gaze, unable to look at my best friend out of the guilt I felt. At least I'd had some time to get used to what my life might be like as a vampire, but Olivia had been thrust into this existence. Maybe it was selfish of me to have chosen this path for her, but I couldn't just sit back and watch her die.

"You have us," Thomas said. "We are your family now."

"Really?"

"Aye," Ian replied. "For always."

I met her gaze at last. "And family sticks together."

*****

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