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was doing?
    Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of movement, then shrieked as Cristoff grabbed her and bit her neck with a razor-sharp stab of pain. Tears burned her eyes as she struggled against his impossible strength.
    Cristoff lifted his head, a triumphant look on his face as he stared at her, his mouth bloody and smiling. “You’ve done well, my snake.”
    “I’m not a sorceress.” But the weirdness she’d lived with all her life lifted its ugly head and laughed at her denial.
    She turned to Arturo for help, saw the apology swimming in his dark eyes, and understanding crashed. This was why he’d brought her here. This. Not, as he’d told her, to search for Zack.
    “You lied to me.”
    “I said what I must to keep you from trying to escape.” And this time she saw only truth in those hard eyes. This had been his intention all along. To bring her to his master.
    Cristoff laughed softly, a sound that formed ice crystals in her veins. “I call Arturo my snake for a reason.”
    On a burst of fury, she tried to get at the vampire who’d betrayed her, but Cristoff held her fast, binding her against him with an iron arm until she could barely breathe. She trembled with outrage and a deep, quaking terror.
    “Go, now,” Cristoff ordered his snake.
    And Arturo had, walking away without a backward glance.
    I will do what I must , he’d just told Micah. And what exactly did he mean by that?
    The shadow of fear passed coldly through her body, the terror that he might actually be considering turning her over to his vicious master once again.

Chapter 4

    “I asked what the hell you were discussing!” With as much hurt as anger, Quinn lifted her hands and, with her magic, threw both vampires hard against the wall, pinning them several feet above the ground.
    Micah, damn him, tried to smile. “You’re stronger every time I see you, Quinn.”   Quinn turned on Arturo. “You told me you were through lying to me.”
    “I do not betray you, cara .” But he met her gaze with a hint of pain that had her stomach twisting. “I will never…”
    Without warning, the floor beneath Quinn’s feet lurched. She stumbled as the house began to shake with a violence far worse than any she’d felt before. As she righted herself with effort, plaster began to fall from the hallway ceiling.
    Quinn released the two vampires, her hands flying up in mock-surrender. “This isn’t my doing.” At least, she hadn’t done it intentionally. Her magic was unpredictable, especially when she was angry. But earthquakes had become all too common as the city slowly crumbled.
    “It’s getting worse,” Micah muttered.
    Quinn turned for the stairs. So far no sunbeams had broken through close to Neo’s house, but the way they were multiplying, it was only a matter of time before one did. And the sunbeams that broke through from the real world during these episodes could, and would, kill any vampire in their direct path.
    “Quinn,” Arturo called.
    Ignoring him, she strode through the community room, and the huge oval table, to the stairs. The vampires took cover during these episodes if they could, or stayed below stairs. While the windows in the house above had all been covered with blackout drapes, with the earthquakes intensifying, there was no telling what kind of damage the house might ultimately sustain.
    This was all her fault. Even if she hadn’t actually caused this particular earthquake with her anger, she was to blame for accidentally setting into motion the destruction of the Vamp City world.
    It wasn’t the first time Vamp City had been threatened. Blackstone had sprung the trap himself back in 1877, seven years after creating V.C., as had been his plan all along. He’d waited until the vampires had moved into their utopia in large enough numbers, then pulled the plug, trapping them, intending to slowly kill all those caught within. What Phineas Blackstone hadn’t realized was that Cristoff Gonzaga hadn’t fully