- •Contents
- •Preface
- •Chapter 1
- •I scrambled from my bed and pulled on my breeches and shirt. “Come in!” I called.
- •Chapter 2
- •I nodded, barely listening. I took the paper, the grimy newsprint smearing on my hands as I hastily scanned the article.
- •It was the work of a vampire.
- •Chapter 3
- •Chapter 4
- •I turned over my shoulder and saw Alfred storm out from around the bar toward our table. Before I could react, he’d grabbed Violet’s long hair and yanked it, causing her to yelp.
- •Chapter 5
- •I felt my thoughts reach her mind, and I sensed the moment when her brain seemed to yield. I nodded to try to speed the process.
- •I squared my shoulders and looked into his beady, gray eyes. I concentrated on the pupils, allowing my gaze to center in until the blackness was all I could see. “We need a room.”
- •Violet shook her head. “The police said they can’t do anything until they find a body. They said she’s a grown woman and she can go where she pleases. I’m just so worried.” Violet sighed.
- •Violet nodded. “Do you miss them?”
- •Violet sighed, distress obvious on her face. “I felt like I was surrounded by evil. Something was there. I thought I was going to be attacked, and then you came and—”
- •Chapter 6
- •Chapter 7
- •Violet jumped up as soon as I opened the door.
- •Immediately, a coach pulled up to us. “Where to?” a driver asked, tipping his hat.
- •I saw Violet glance at me and I tried to look as if I were enjoying the show. But inside, I was frustrated. I hated the way everything always came back to Damon, and most likely would, for eternity.
- •Chapter 8
- •I never outgrew my fondness for games, Damon replied, not moving his lips.
- •Violet’s eyes gleamed as the two girls walked away into the swirl of revelers. Damon watched with a bemused expression.
- •Chapter 9
- •I glanced over at Violet. She was listening, rapt, the vervain charm still gleaming around her neck. Good.
- •Violet’s shoulders sagged in relief, and I closed my eyes in thanks. Cora was still alive. For now.
- •I plucked a petal. I trust him, I trust him not, I thought as I dropped each silky flower fragment to the grass.
- •Chapter 10
- •Chapter 11
- •I don’t seek out problems, I said simply. And I don’t create them.
- •Chapter 12
- •I sighed at her existential meanderings. I stepped toward her, eager to stop talking.
- •I looked up. It was Samuel. Instantly, I stood to my full height and gave him a tight smile. I knew that careening through the warehouse must have made me seem drunk or mad.
- •Chapter 13
- •Chapter 14
- •Chapter 15
- •Violet shook her head. “Or maybe I’d be dead in a London ditch. You were my friend. You showed me the world. If I have to die, at least I had those days of magic,” she said shyly.
- •Chapter 16
- •Chapter 17
- •I felt something jump on my back. I spun around and realized Luke had clamped himself to my shoulders and was kicking his legs into my lungs.
- •I stepped back, my body slamming against the wall. I’d cornered myself.
- •Chapter 18
- •I nodded. I didn’t want to give her false hope. “She’ll be different. But I can teach her. There are things that make being a vampire less terrible,” I said.
- •Chapter 19
- •Epilogue
Chapter 7
I know who you are.
The words thudded in my consciousness. Who was I? I was Stefan Salvatore once. Damon knew that. So did whoever wrote the message on the wall. But who else?
He was a drunk. Let it go, I commanded myself as I hastily picked my way out of the park and toward the hotel, stopping along the way to purchase tickets for a musical burlesque at the Gaiety Theatre. I’d gotten two box tickets, each one costing more than a week’s pay. But I’d compelled them from the bewildered man at the box office, justifying it by reminding myself it would all be worth it if the play led to us finding Cora. With the tickets in my breast pocket, I whistled to myself as I headed back into the hotel.
Violet jumped up as soon as I opened the door.
“How was your day?” she asked, sounding anxious and tired. “Did you find Cora?”
“I spoke to Alfred, and you don’t have to worry about your job. And I think I know where we can find Cora,” I said slowly, belying my own excitement. The last thing I wanted to do was give Violet false hope.
“Really? Where? How?” Violet clapped her hands together. “Oh, Stefan, you’re wonderful!”
“I’m not,” I said gruffly. “And I don’t know for a fact, but I think she might have met a producer from the Gaiety Theatre.” I briefly explained my conversation with Eliza, although I left out the part about the man with the accent. But in Violet’s mind, Cora was as good as found.
“Really?” Violet beamed. “Why, no wonder she wouldn’t have said anything! Because, see, Alfred would have gotten jealous. And if he’d known she’d left her job, he wouldn’t allow her back. So maybe Cora was just waiting until she got the theater job before she came to collect me. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose so,” I said slowly. Violet’s cheeks were red and she was striding back and forth across the room. She was excited and agitated, and I wanted to believe the story she’d spun. It could be true. But no good could come of us both pacing like caged animals in the hotel room. We had a few hours before the show, and Violet was still clad in her stained pinafore from last night.
“Let’s go shopping,” I decided, standing up and making my way to the door.
“Really?” Violet wrinkled her nose. “Of course I want to, but I’ve no money . . .”
“I have a little bit saved. Please, it’s the least I can do after everything that happened last night.”
Violet hesitated, then nodded, accepting my help. “Thank you!” she said. “I can’t wait to see Cora. She won’t believe that I had my own adventure. Why, I think she might be jealous,” she continued giddily. I started to relax.
After all, I could play Violet’s what if game, too. I could pretend the drunk outside the tavern had been hallucinating and had mistaken me for his long-lost cousin. I could pretend I was a human.
And that’s where the game ended. Because I wasn’t, and as much as I wanted to believe it, none of the rest was true either.
“We should go before the store closes,” I said awkwardly. What was I doing? Why did I care whether this girl or her sister lived or died? Stefan Pine would go back to Ivinghoe and wake up tomorrow to milk the cows. Stefan Pine would stop reading the London papers. And Stefan Pine wouldn’t be taking a girl from the gutter and buying her a dress to make up for the fact that his brother was most likely drinking her sister’s blood.
But I wasn’t Stefan Pine. I was Stefan Salvatore, and I was in too deep to leave. Together, we strode out into the dark afternoon. I raised my hand to fetch a coach.