"He's from Romania not Transylvania." I told Cammy over the roaring music inside Cocktail. "Is Transylvania even a real place?"

Lights flashed as they usually did inside the trendy nightclub, making me disoriented but at least it was better than a swarm of ghosts.

The club was especially packed tonight, with a bachelorette party going on in one half of the room and our small birthday bash on the other.

I'd contemplated calling Sofia and telling her I was sick and couldn't make it but that felt wrong so I'd sucked it up. Especially since there were no tequila shots at my place.

"Isn't that where vampires are from?" She said, giggling over the rim of her dirty martini.

Across from her and leaning against the bar, Damian rolled his eyes.

He swept his superman curl from his forehead, his overly muscular arm flexing as he took a sip of his beer.

"We get it, Cam, the guy is freaking hot. Can we talk about something else already before my balls shrivel up and fall off?"

"Do you think he'd bite me if I asked?" Cammy said, teasing Damian further.

"Depends," a silky voice cut in. "Do you taste as good as you look?"

Both Camilla and I spun around to face Christian standing behind us with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"I taste amazing, baby." Cammy giggled then took a gulp of her drink, turning to waggle her eyebrows at me.

"Go get it," She mouthed. "Or I will."

"Hey, man. I'm Christian," Christian said, turning to Damian.

Normally, Damian was a friendly guy, but, tonight, he lifted one eyebrow at Christian's extended hand, unimpressed.

I hadn't told him anything about what had happened between us so this animosity definitely wasn't best-friend related.

Maybe he was already drunk. He tended to get weird when he was drunk.

"Sup," He said.

"Shot, shot, shot!" Sofia cheered as she barged into our little circle, a tray of shot glasses balanced on her palm.

She distributed them out to us one by one, a big smile on her face.

"Oh, who's this?"

"Aimee's step-brother, Christian." Cammy said. "But they're not related."

"Oh, cool. You better be able to hold down your liquor, Christian. 'Cause drinks are on the house tonight!" Cammy and Sofia cheered and Greg, behind the bar, rolled his eyes.

She wasn't lying though.

Sofia's dad had chipped in with an all-night open bar as his gift for her 21st birthday.

Downing my drink, I moved closer to the counter, finding a bar stool, more than happy to take advantage of the unlimited booze.

The girls giggled and shouted again, clearly drunk.

"So, is there anything else to do for fund here besides this club?" Christian said as he scooted closer to me. The crooked smile was back. I wanted to slap him. Or kiss him. Or both.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I'm new in town." He downed his shot and shrugged. "I'm trying to make some friends. Why are you so against me being here?"

Maybe because you've had your hand inside me and I don't know how to react to that?

"I don't make friends easy." I told him. "Ask Cam and Sofia. I was a bitch to them for a long time before we became friends."

"Maybe if you didn't put up walls to protect yourself. But I get it. We all have baggage we carry from our past. Shouldn't let yours drag you down."

"Thanks for the Ted talk." I muttered.

"You're missing out though." He went on, unaffected. "I'm a great friend. I'm an exceptional listener. I'll hold your hair back when you're puking and I've been known to give some pretty fantastic orgasms."

"You're so full of yourself," I said, cheeks reddening.

Snatching two more drinks from Sofia's flying tray, he offered me one and I took it.

"Are you trying to get me drunk this time?"

"Well, you are a bit nicer when you're drunk. So receptive. So thankful. But no."

"I'm not drunk enough to make out with you again."

"Good. Because the next time we make out, I want you to be sober."

My stomach dropped at his words but I ignored it, running my finger down the condensation drops on my glass. "There won't be a next time."

"Never say never. Cheers, sweetheart."

I downed my drink, despite the burn and sighed, already feeling more relaxed.

Maybe Christian wasn't so bad. Maybe...

"I didn't know Richard was from Romania." I said.

"He isn't. My mother is." He explained. He ran a distracting hand through his black hair.

"What's it like there?"

"Cold," He replied with a smile. "Similar to here."

"Another shot for our new sexy friend!" Cammy shouted. I felt her arms wrap around my shoulders. She leaned in, smelling of alcohol, clearly far more wasted than I was.

"You know the way to a lasting friendship, Cammy," Christian said, graciously accepting the drink she offered.

"You are just cute as a button. Maybe you can finger bang me next!"

Christian nearly spit out his drink while my face turned the shade of a tomato.

"Cammy!" I hissed.

"What? We're friends. We tell each other everything."

"You told your friend." He said once Cammy had darted off to offer Damian and Sofia more shots.

"It wasn't like that. Sorry to break it to you, but you weren't that memorable."

"Whatever you say, Aimee" he teased.

My name on his tongue sounded like something sensual and I suspected he wanted it to sound that way.

The professional flirt this guy was, I thought, as I downed my third shot.

The lights overhead danced across his white button up, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I could see veins mapping his arms, one of which flexed when he took his shot.

Christian set his shot glass down and scanned my face.

As if a thought occurred to him, he reached for my face and ran his thumb along my bottom lip. His touch sent an electric jolt through my body and his steady gaze on my mouth made my heart race.

I held still, not even daring to breathe.

His eyes flickered back up to mine and he smiled.

"Lipstick." He explained.

As his thumb lingered on my skin, and I pushed past the buzz, I saw his aura light up.

I pulled away abruptly, as if electrocuted, my bar-stool scraping the floor.

Because in that brief second, his aura had flashed black.

A dark, almost smoky outline surrounding him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, eyes wide.

"Uh, yeah." I swallowed. "Yeah, I just---" I'd never seen an aura like his before but then again, there were a lot of firsts lately when it came to the paranormal.

"Too many shots?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"Here, sit down." Gripping my elbows, he guided me back onto the stool. "I'll get you some water."

That was when a familiar sharp pain gripped my stomach.

Oh, no.

Not here.

Please, not here.

Icy fingers scraped down my spine.

My heart sped up as if I'd just run a marathon.

I lost my grip on my shot glass and it shattered on the concrete floor.

I barely even had a second to breathe before it happened.

Before Ally, my dead best friend, was inside me.

Suddenly, I wasn't at Cocktail anymore, instead transported back home in the middle of the living room.

There was a loud crash and the sound of glass breaking.

Someone screamed and it took me a second to realize who it was.

Taylor.

Panicked, I took off running up the stairs.

I saw Ally's ghosts reflected in a mirror as she ran past.

Things like this, like Alli slipping into my body and being able to see through her eyes was normal.

Talking to my dead father was normal.

Sensing people's auras and sometimes even sensing death before it came and took a person?

That was normal too.

What was not normal was what was happening behind that closed door.

As soon as I entered the room, I knew it was real and I knew it was happening as well as I knew that there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Mom lay spread out on the floor beside her bed, her hair covering her face, a trace of blood on her lip.

A tall man, with his back to me, towered over her.

"We're here for the Changeling."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Marcy cried. "Please let my daughter go, she's just a child!"

In the next room, Richard wrestled to close the bathroom door on the second intruder while Taylor sat in the bathtub, crying, her hands clamped over her ears.

The strangers wore black hooded jackets made of military grade fabric, black nondescript pants and leather boots; their faces shrouded under hoods.

There was nothing about them I could use to identify and I suspected that was the point.

The first man abandoned Marcy to push the younger one out of the way. In one swift movement, he kicked the bathroom door open, sending Richard flying through the air and slamming into the bathroom wall, rendering him unconscious.

The man crept toward Taylor with slow easy steps. His body cast a shadow over her six-year-old body.

A gleaming silver knife could be seen poking out from beneath his jacket, strapped to his hip and though I couldn't see it, something told me his face was pulled into a cruel grin.

"You will have to do for now."

I gasped as I snapped back into my own body.

My hands waved in the air as I struggled to breathe.

"Aimee! What's the matter? Are you okay?" Sofia exclaimed.

I could smell Cammy's perfume, could feel her palm slapping me between the shoulder blades.

"I think she's choking!" Damian shouted. "Clear the way, make some room!"

"Hey, you okay?" Christian knelt down in front of me, his blue eyes wide with worry.

"Christian," I choked out, reaching blindly.

"Tell me," he said as he took my hand and squeezed.

"We've got to get home." I said, grabbing my purse and standing. "Now."

I grabbed his arm, ignoring my friends' calls and protests behind me, and ushered him toward the exit.

"What's going on, Aimee?" he demanded. "What's wrong?"

I looked at him then, voice filled with a desperation that wouldn't allow me to speak above a whisper.

"Everything."