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calculating mercury vampiric eyes. Finally, he leans over me and opens the cab door. “After you.”
    I climb out, and the chilled air bites through the black leather jacket I’m wearing. It’s not uncomfortable, the chill. Lately, I welcome it. Seems I’m always hot lately.
    â€œHere, grab these and I’ll get the rest. Here are the keys to the back entrance.” Noah hands them to me and nods. “Just up the walk there, turn left down that alley.”
    â€œYeah, okay,” I answer, and grab the two duffel bags containing our gear.
    I could have sworn we got in that taxi over an hour ago. It’s only been twenty minutes or so since we landed. Wicked-ass dream that was, and I damn sure don’t want to have another like it. It left me not only aching for Eli, but fearing what he may have become. Stepping away from the curb, I sling one pack over my shoulder and head in the direction Noah indicated. It’s dark, well after sunset. The old gray stone of our Edwardian-era guesthouse blends in with the pale haze lingering in the air. A sign hangs on an iron post that reads ABERNANTHE GUESTHOUSE. NO VACANCY . As the breeze catches the metal sign, it creaks back and forth. The typical city sounds surround me, but I tune them all out and listen close as I walk. Every noise ceases except the very, very faint ones. The lapping of the firth against the shoreline. Seabirds cooing as they bed down for the night. Pigeons. Gulls. Rats scuffling along the cobbles.
    I turn down the narrow close leading to the guesthouse’s back entrance, and a soft breathy sound reaches my ears. My skin breaks out in goose bumps. The fine hairs on my arms and neck stiffen. I’m on total alert, and my eyes scan. I see nothing, but I hear. Breath, but no heartbeat. Shadows reach, stretch in awkward lengths. It’s hard to tell where the stone ends and the shadows begin. Something’s here. I feel it.
    Out of nowhere, a hand encircles my throat. I drop my bags. My feet leave the ground.
    Apparently, there are wily, ballsy vampires afoot in Inverness, Scotland.
    â€œWhen all is said and done, Ms. Poe, you’re nothing more than a glorified human armed with pointy little weapons.” The bloodsucker knows my name? He squeezes my throat tighter, lifting me higher off the cobbles. “You can still
die
.” His lips pull back, gums recede, and a dozen razor-sharp teeth drop from his top jaw, jagged and lethal as shit. What the hell? I’ve only been out of the cab for three minutes. He pulls me closer. His breath alone nearly knocks me out. It reeks of old metallic blood, flesh, and decay. Sounds like a cool name for a heavy metal band.
Blood, Flesh, and Decay . . .
    And the smell is familiar. Like from my dream.
    â€œWhen all is said and done,” I repeat his words, gasping for breath at the same time, “you’re still nothing more than an asshole.” My voice is raspy as it pushes past his fierce grip against my windpipe, and my feet aren’t even touching the ground when I rear one leg back and knee this bloodless prick in the groin. His grip loosens, just enough, and his pupils dilate. I see the pain there, in their depths. It’s all I need.
    From the waist of my jeans I palm my silver blade, flip it, and jam it straight into his heart. All within, no lie, the blink of an eye.
    The vampire drops me and falls to the ground. He is seizing, quivering, gurgling. His body starts to smolder, disintegrate, and finally, bubble into that disgusting pile of white junk they become when they meet their end.
    He didn’t even see it coming. Funny how male vampires are way more male
human
than they like to admit. Target their wieners and wham—on the ground they go.
    Glorified human with pointy little weapons?
Kiss my ass
.
    â€œRiley, what the hell?”
    I glance behind me. Noah Miles is standing on the street side, scowling down the narrow alley I’m standing