Demon Moon

just got such a screwed-up sense of morality that anything is okay; that his idea of what’s right is so wide, it encompasses even the unforgivable shit. So what was a little bit of forgery to someone like him?”
    Colin’s brows drew together; he shook his head. “That’s exactly opposite of what it is, Savitri.”
    “I know; I remembered what you said of his warning to you, and I realized it’s so narrow that the only thing that matters is that no one is cruel if they can help it, or interferes with someone’s free will if they can help it, or kills if they can help it—but if it has to be done, it will be. So by the time he came in to talk to me, I was thinking that what he’d done to Anderson had to be done, and I wasn’t comfortable with it—but I was okay with it. But if I hadn’t spoken to you this morning, I never would have been okay with it; would have never seen that other way of looking at it. And I don’t think I could be like Hugh or like Lilith, but at least I can see better how they decide those things.” And how, as head of the vampire community, Colin would have to make similar decisions. “And then I realized he does understand me, maybe better than I do myself.”
    “It’s an exceptionally annoying trait of his.” He downed the remainder of the blood.
    “Yeah.” And a trait of Colin’s—despite his tendency to talk about himself in any other circumstance—was to barely respond when something about Chaos came up. He didn’t like to brood over the past, or things in the present he couldn’t change. And he probably didn’t want to worry her, either.
    But she was worried for him, dammit.
    She took a deep breath. “So when Hugh wants to argue with the Doyen about something that pertains to you, but stops himself, it scares the shit out of me. Because it means something that he doesn’t want to happen needs to be done. And whatever it was, it scared you as well. And I only know two things that do that: wyrmwolves and Chaos. But the wyrmwolves are pretty much under control. So it’s Chaos, right? You have to go back for some reason, and finding the bridge today made it the more urgent. Probably because of the nosferatu; if they realize what’s going on with the wyrmwolves, they might try to copy it and break out of Chaos.”
    “You deduced that from half a second’s reaction?” Colin stared at her, his face a rigid mask.
    “No. It was a combination of things. Something you said in the parking lot, the way you responded to Michael last week in the hall, seeing a new side to Hugh, thinking about the nosferatu and his execution.”
    But she hadn’t wanted to be right. Would Michael try to take Colin against his will? Was there any way she could stop it? She was human; Michael couldn’t go against her will, even if he could a vampire’s.
    Sighing, she felt her frustration slip away; just once, she’d have liked to hold on to it—but she couldn’t solve anything now, anyway. “It also helps that my freak brain remembers that half second really well.”
    His expression softened but slightly. “I love nothing so much as morally conflicted women with freakish brains.” With slow, deliberate steps, Colin stalked around the counter and braced his arms on either side of her chair. Sudden heat built as he shoved himself between her legs. He lowered his nose to hers and said through gritted teeth, “But if you do not use your freakish brain to discover a way to stay with me, I’ll hunt you across the Earth. I vow it.”
    Her chest heaved; a flush of excitement spread over her skin. “Will you fuck me senseless when you catch me?”
    “Yes. The first time, for you.” He nipped sharply at her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth, tried to catch his in turn. He evaded her easily. “Then slowly, for me.”
    “I love it when you’re selfish,” she said, and her back arched as he lifted the hem of her T-shirt and his teeth scraped her breast. Her hands threaded through his hair.
    “This is completely selfish. An experiment to ascertain that my libido still functions.”
    “I daresay it does,” she moaned as he rocked the evidence against her.
    “I daresay.”

    Two days later, Colin had to admit that although regular sex and blood were more conducive to charm, the damage had been done—his physical prowess had won over more of San Francisco’s vampires than his smile. And Savi’s video, Fia and Paul’s oft-told description of the chase, Varney’s open