“It was a beautiful night, warm and filled with stars and the songs of crickets and frogs. White flowers glowed in the grass. It was a night made for poetry. We should have been kissing. A lot.Instead we were sneaking out of the caves to a blood-soaked clearing where we’d been ambushed not twenty-four hours earlier. Not exactly an ordinary date.”

“I’m here to take you on a date.”I blinked. “A date?” I repeated as if it was a foreign word I’d never heard before.“You know, where we go out, hold hands, cast longing glances at each other? It’s tradition. You might have heard of it.”“But I have class.”“Class?” Now he was looking at me as if I was speaking a different language. “But it’s ten o’clock at night.”“We have classes until midnight.” I smiled pointedly. “The thing about vampires is that they kind of like the night. It’s tradition. You might have heard of it?”“Oh, smart mouth.” He grinned back. “Sexy.”

“Isn't he utterly divine? Beautiful?""Somehow,I think he'd disagree with that last one." And not enough with the first."All right," she waved her dismissively. "Handsome then. Do you think he noticed me?""We were sprawled in a heap of twitching limbs and lace at his feet. He would have had to have been unconscious not to notice us."She wrinkled her nose. "I meant,do you think he noticed I'm nearly on the Marriage Mart now?"I didn't know how to reply. I didn't want to hurt her feelings,but I wasn't sure Frederic noticed anything other than cards and port.He was twenty years old,after all,and quite wealthy. He was acting exactly as he was expected to.Her cheeks were red. "We should return before Mother wonders where we've gone off to.Heaven forbid we might be somewhere enjoying ourselves!”

“The sound of carriage wheels and horses was faint,seeming more distant than they actually were. Drops of water clung to the wool of my dress and my cloak, the men dragging in the grass. We were in a soft cocoon.It might have been romantic.If it wasn't for all the dead bodies.And the faint scratch of a footstep.”

“A shaft of sunlight fell on me, making my dress look like fire and my skin glow like pearls. The shadows around me darkened, as if my glowing skin were leeching the light from everything around me. I was a lantern on the longest, darkest moonless night.”

“Logan, don’t be an ass.”“I have been sleeping in mud. I’m covered in dirt and blood and these were my favorite pants before I landed in raccoon shit.”

“Your eyes.”“What? What?” I scrubbed at them violently, horrified at the thought they might have those gross goopy things at the edges. Or were they even more bloodshot? I’d heard of that happening, where the whites ran with blood.“I think . . . the color’s changing.” He paused. “Is that even possible?”“Is that all? Now you’re the one scaring the crap out of me.”