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that had brought her to Cleveland.
    When she pursued me from the haven—according to the Offerling I’d spoken to—Menessos had sent everyone out to search for me.
    Had Johnny even known I was missing?
    It was shitty of me to compare the two men in my life, but I couldn’t help myself.
    Though Menessos had drunk my blood numerous times, he hadn’t tried to kill me.
    Yes he did! He nearly killed you not long after you first met.
    We were strangers then, I argued with myself. Now, we know each other well.
    Better, perhaps, than you should. . . .
    Defiantly, I ignored my conscience’s scolding. I will not regret what I did last night. During the predawn hours, reeling from my encounter, I’d kissed Menessos.
    Fine, but clearly you were able to forgive him.
    That was true. Considering this, I felt hope.
    I sighed heavily into the phone. My whispered answer was, “In time.”
    “There’s so much I need to tell you.” Johnny’s voice was raw, and the rev of an engine punctuated his words.
    I wondered where he was going. And I wondered if I should tell him about kissing the vampire.
    It hadn’t been a peck.
    When our lips had touched, I felt the promise and power of a more intimate union. He’d definitely felt it. It wasn’t only the power of the marks between us that had been kindled.
    “I don’t know where to begin,” Johnny said.
    His voice drew me out from my memory of a passionate moment with another man. Guilt swelled around my heart . . . but not remorse. What am I going to do?
    “I’ll have that figured out by the time I get back to Cleveland,” he said.
    That’s why he didn’t come for me! He wasn’t even here. “Where have you been?”
    “There’s so much to explain, I don’t want to do it over the phone, Red. Say you’ll see me. I’ll come to you. Anywhere. We have to talk. Face-to-face.”
    “What time is good for you tomorrow?”
    “No. It’s gotta be today.”
    My gut twisted. This wasn’t a conversation to be rushed. “I can’t.”
    “This is important.”
    He didn’t know what had happened to me or he wouldn’t push like this. But if I didn’t harbor this fear of him now, I wouldn’t mind being pushed. “Johnny.”
    “Let’s have an early dinner. Anywhere you want. Someplace fancy like Mallorca, or even a burger joint like Wendy’s. I don’t care. . . . I just have to talk to you.”
    It was past two in the afternoon. I’d have some time to prepare. “Okay.”
    “Let’s say four o’clock. Where do you want to meet?”
    I decided to stack the deck in my favor. I picked a certain coffee shop near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The place employed a few witches I knew. I hoped at least one of them was working today.

CHAPTER FIVE
    L ate November in Northeast Ohio can be cool or outright cold. So, after shoving my feet into a pair of comfy boots, I grabbed a blazer and a hoodie from the closet. Adding layers over the jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt was the best option.
    Then, though ready to leave, I stood at my heavy haven door procrastinating.
    I was deep within the building. Between me and the world outside were the backstage area, the main stage, a greatly modified theater house, a long hallway, then three stories’ worth of stairs, followed by a hundred-yard trek to the entrance.
    It wasn’t the distance that bothered me. What made me hesitate was the fact that there could be a hundred or more Beholders and Offerlings between me and the doors to the world beyond the haven. Liyliy had made sure to announce to them all that I had twice-marked Menessos—to whom they had pledged their loyalty. Mastering their master was a roundabout way to make them all my servants, and to many it smacked of deviousness and ill intent.
    My name was surely not to be found on the favorite-persons list of anyone in the haven.
    But if I was to be successful as the Lustrata, I couldn’t cower from Offerlings and Beholders. Regardless of theiroverwhelming numbers, they were,