“You are pressing your luck.” I struggled to keep from gritting my teeth as I spoke, keeping my cool, patient facade in place for any onlookers.

“The truce,” he said, reminding me needlessly that we were still standing in the park.

I smiled down at him, exposing my pearly white fangs. “The truce keeps us from fighting. It does not save you from punishment.” Beneath my hand the muscles in his neck stiffened as a new fear entered his mind. His hands tightened their grip on the rim of the fountain.

The life of a nightwalker was about power and control. Those at the top of the food chain had all the power and wielded absolute control over anything below. Those weaker had to bow or be broken.

Joseph had come to me, and I needed to see a little subservience if he wanted to stay in my good graces. I wasn’t the type that needed an assortment of toadies following me about. But to maintain my position as Keeper of the city, I would be feared.

“Lucky for you, I have no interest in toying with you tonight,” I said. “Let’s get on with business. Why have you requested this meeting?”

“They say you fought the Butcher,” Joseph said.

I released his throat and slid my fingers under his chin in a gentle caress before my hand fell limp to my side. “Butcher” was what many of the young ones were calling Danaus; understandable, given that he’d carved up several of us like so much meat.

“We have met.” I shrugged, ambling a few feet away, my arms swinging loosely at my side. Two couples strolled across the park, their loud laughter drifting through the open area as they headed toward any one of the several bed and breakfast hotels that surrounded the park.

“But he’s still in town.” The poor boy sounded so confused. He obviously expected me to either eject Danaus from my domain or kill him. That was all part of the plan, but I wasn’t about to burn through such a great opportunity in one quick fight. Unfortunately, Danaus had become more of a problem that just an efficient hunter. He had come to my domain specifically looking for me. Nightwalkers aren’t exactly listed in the phone book. We’re notoriously difficult to locate unless you are a nightwalker yourself, or a member of our trusted inner circle. Before killing Danaus, I needed to know what he was and how he came to find me. And if I was being honest with myself, I wanted to know what he knew of the naturi. There was more to his offhand comment, considering very few even knew the name, let alone anything about the race.

Pushing those concerns aside for a moment, I turned my attention back to the fledgling. “Are you questioning my methods?” My tone came out light and innocent sounding, but Joseph was no fool.

“No! Of course not!” He lurched to his feet and hurried to my side. “I’m young. I’m still trying to learn our ways. I want to understand.” He took my left hand and pressed it back to his throat, offering himself to me. Smooth, diplomatic, placating, with just a hint of humility. He was good. There was hope for him yet.

He was a few inches taller than me. Pulling him closer, I pressed a kiss to his jugular vein with my lips parted so my fangs grazed the skin. Dragging my lips up his throat and across his jaw, I deepened the kiss when I reached his lips. I ran my tongue over his fangs and for a moment my blood filled his mouth, letting him taste me. A shudder ran through his frame as I stepped away, but he did nothing to hold me there. Joseph had shown me a moment of absolute trust and for that I rewarded him.

“You may not understand our ways, but you are learning quickly,” I said with an appreciative smile. I walked back to the fountain and sat down. “Has the hunter killed anyone since my meeting?”

Joseph blinked twice as if waking from a dream. “No.”

“Nor will he unless provoked. His business is with me.”

“Yes, Mistress,” he said, bowing his head.

Rising from the fountain, I stretched my arms. “Now if you will excuse me, I seek a bit of amusement for the evening. Enjoy the symphony.”

“I always do.” Joseph smiled and the tips of his fangs poked from beneath his pale lips. He darted away, moving so fast that he seemed to disappear. Across town the curtain was falling and the house lights were coming up. Soon Joseph’s prey would be stepping into the warm summer air and his cool embrace.

I strolled toward River Street, heading slowly northwest to the Docks. The River Walk area housed the majority of the city’s nightlife entertainment. For most of the year the front doors would be thrown open and the sweet sounds of jazz and blues trickled out onto the street, drawing people into the dark confines of the various bars. However, at the far western edge of the street the neighborhood turned a little darker and grittier. People shrank back into the heavy shadows that clung to the buildings and followed me with slitted, calculating eyes. They watched but never moved, as if they could sense that I was somehow other. Or at the very least, more than the easy prey I appeared to be.

I nodded to the large, heavily muscled man who stoically guarded the front door to the club. He nodded back, one corner of his thin mouth quirking in a half smile as he let me in ahead of the line. The Docks was one of my regular haunts, and the manager seemed to appreciate my business. Pulling my wallet from my back pocket, I grabbed a twenty and laid it on the chest-high counter as I walked in. The cover charge was only five dollars, but the little extra was part of a silent agreement that ensured the doorman wouldn’t ask for my ID and they wouldn’t try to put one of those silly paper wrist-bands on me indicating I was over twenty-one.

With a smile and a wink, I slipped my slim leather wallet into my back pocket. The entryway was open, with a scattering of tables and a large bar taking up residence against the right wall. A network of televisions hung from the ceiling, playing rare and independent music videos that no one could hear over the cacophonous roar of music tumbling from the other end of the building. A winding maze of walls and partitions blocked the main dance floor from the rest of the bar. The lighting at the front of the club was nearly nonexistent, with only the occasional spotlight and stuttering strobe cutting through the smoky haze of shadows.

Scanning the midnight crowds, I wandered toward the dance floor. Even without my powers, I would have felt the looks running up and down my body. Swathed in my typical attire of black leather pants that fit like a second skin and my matching black leather halter top that stopped at my midriff, I felt like a ghost from an SM dream. My only concession to my unnatural abilities was a pair of gold-rimmed, red-tinted glasses balanced on the bridge of my nose. My eyes had a tendency to glow in a heated moment, potentially scaring off my hard-won prey.

I was on the dance floor when I finally sensed him. Sandwiched between a pair of strong, healthy male bodies, I let the thunderous beat of the music wash over me. Their hands roamed my body, slipping from slick leather to cool flesh and back to leather. Sweat beaded on their skin and their heartbeats vibrated against my body in their own hypnotic rhythm.

And then somehow above it all, I felt a new pulse ripple through the crowd. I cracked open my eyes and scanned the darkness. Something new and strong had entered my domain. Danaus stood on the edge of the dance floor directly across from me, arms folded across his chest, legs braced wide apart, as he stared.

He was early. I knew he would seek me out, but I had guessed that it would be another night or two before our paths crossed again. I also hadn’t expected him to confront me at the Docks. We couldn’t try to kill each other here. Too many potential witnesses, too many people who could easily get hurt in the fight. The secret existence of nightwalkers hadn’t remained intact over so many years because we fought our battles around scores of humans.