SATURDAY, 5:05 P.M.

SARAH FROZE. NIKOLAS had to recognize the witch in front of him. He would not have forgotten the face of the hunter who had nearly killed his brother. But Nikolas glanced at her, as if waiting for her response before he decided how to proceed.

Suddenly, the lights and music around them were surreal. Michael wouldn’t attack somewhere so public, so what was he doing? He didn’t even look nervous—and the Arun didn’t normally bother to conceal his emotions. He looked like he should be calmly taking a stroll through the park.

“Hello, Michael,” she said, trying to keep her voice even.

“Hi, Sarah,” he answered. “Is this the new boyfriend?” Sarah shook her head. Michael looked at Nikolas. “I would offer to shake hands, but I don’t think you would trust me that far.”

“And you would trust me, would you?” Nikolas asked in the cool, controlled tone Sarah remembered well from the first time they had fought.

“I don’t need to trust you,” Michael answered. “I know Kendra’s rules. As long as I don’t attack you, if you kill me here, she’ll take your head off. Do you think I would have walked up and outed myself to one of the most infamous vampires in recent history if I didn’t know I had some kind of protection?”

“Nikolas?” Sarah asked.

He nodded absently and gave Michael a critical look. “You’re a witch. Since when do you have any faith in our rules?”

“I’m an Arun,” Michael answered. “Ask any Vida. We’re not to be trusted, right, Sarah?”

“I always trusted you.”

“Then trust me now,” he said, earnest sincerity in his lightning-kissed eyes. “You know I think most Vida law is bull. I’ve got Jay Marinitch on my side, but his family is saying we have to stick to the Rights, and the Smoke witches believe refusing Vida law now will end up endangering SingleEarth. So I’m risking my ass to tell you that I’m trying to find a way out of this mess, and to ask you to help me out. You know those laws back and front. What should I do about the Rights?”

If anyone was brazen enough to flaunt their laws this way, it was Michael. He was just wild enough to gamble everything—and with a little vampiric blood in his own veins from his family, maybe he really could believe that blood alone could not turn someone into a monster.

Nikolas seemed to take his cue from Sarah’s thoughts. “We are going to the theater tonight,” he said to the hunter.

“Nikolas,” she whispered in warning, wondering both why Nikolas was apparently inviting himself along and why he was sharing with Michael. I would like to believe he is on our side, but he is still a witch.

He ignored her, continuing to speak to Michael. “Perhaps we could all meet afterward, to discuss a way out of this tangle?”

If we do not give him an opportunity to double-cross us, we will never know if we can trust him, will we? he replied silently. I think the potential of an ally among the witches is worth a bit of risk.

“Sounds good,” Michael said. “Sarah, I didn’t know you liked theater. What are you seeing?”

She shrugged, not about to give him any more information than Nikolas already had.

“We haven’t yet picked a show,” Nikolas answered for her.

“Well, give me a call when you get out. I’ll be around. Sarah …” Michael hesitated, his gaze lingering on her. “Well, I’ll see you.”

He walked out, turning his back to them as if perfectly certain they would respect the rules of this place and not hurt him. Or maybe he just trusted Sarah. She couldn’t forget the expression on his face at the house. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her.

Of course, that had been before the fight.

“You handled that very calmly,” Sarah commented to Nikolas after Michael was out of earshot.

“He defended himself,” Nikolas answered. “If Kristopher had not recovered, I would have hunted him down, but as it is, we need allies. I will not hold against him the fact that he fought back when attacked.” He paused, then added, “At least, I will not hold it against him much. Besides, if he knows Kendra’s rules, then he knows what her wrath is like for hunters who kill without permission in her territory. I do not believe he would willingly try to fight us on the island.”

“I’m not sure you fully understand how little respect Michael tends to have for authority figures,” Sarah muttered. “Besides, he never mentioned anything about Kendra when we used to hunt here.”

“Kendra has an arrangement with some hunters, with regards to whom and when and where they may hunt in her city. Would you have tolerated knowing of such a situation when you were still a witch?” No. Of course not. It didn’t even need to be said. She wanted to believe that Michael had set up the arrangement only after Sarah had left the city, but looking back, she wondered if he had instead subtly steered her toward safe hunts.

In other words, he had lied to her.

Though it wasn’t like he’d had any other choice when she had been a Vida.

Nikolas said, “I will ask Kendra if he has such a deal with her. In the meantime, should I even ask if you have anything suitable to wear to a theater?”

She glared at him. “Jeans and a T-shirt aren’t fine, I’m guessing?”

His expression held an almost amusing mixture of horror and sorrow. “For a modern American, perhaps,” he answered.

But not, she was sure, when one sat in box seats with two nineteenth-century gentlemen of Kendra’s line.

“If you want to return home, I’ll make arrangements,” Nikolas said, judging rightly that Sarah wasn’t about to say, Oh, goody, let’s go dress shopping!

“Thanks,” Sarah said. “Are you also planning to be the one to tell Kristopher you invited yourself and a vampire hunter on our date?”

Nikolas looked startled by the question. “I thought you would prefer it,” he said ambiguously before he disappeared, presumably to talk to Kendra. Sarah left immediately after, not wanting to linger in a place where she had already unexpectedly run into one hunter.

She realized she was nervous, not about spending time “off” in the middle of the dangerous chaos in her wake, or about the potentially bloody confrontation with Michael that might follow, but about this essentially being the first real date she and Kristopher had gone on, and she was suddenly sharing it with his brother. The dance Kristopher had invited her to once had been a disaster even before it was cut short by the appearance of Sarah’s sister, and Sarah’s plea for Kristopher to leave her alone. Somehow she couldn’t picture this one going any better, even if Nikolas hadn’t suggested their location to people who might want to kill them.

Sarah tried to give some thought to Michael’s question, but the Rights of Kin were in many ways very simple. Only the one who called them could declare them satisfied. If, goddess forbid, Dominique were killed, the decision would fall to Adia, but she would be honor-bound to fulfill her mother’s wishes. Sarah couldn’t think of any power on Earth that would convince Dominique to change her mind.

She checked in on Christine, who was sleeping soundly with a much-loved-looking stuffed animal in her arms. Was she still going to want to learn to fight? Heather had comforted her about her future, to an extent, but Sarah would rather encourage Christine to be a more active agent of her own future, not as dependent as Heather.

Sarah was a half page into some notes about how she could set up an introduction to self-defense when she realized she was planning her own future. She was only writing about fighting moves and breathing techniques, but in those words was a commitment to Christine that implied Sarah would be around for a while.

She hadn’t come to terms with eternity and wasn’t sure she would anytime soon, but step by baby step maybe she was learning to accept that there would be a tomorrow.

She put aside the notes, which were just busywork until she could talk to Christine more, and examined the bookcase in the back of the living room, wondering if something there might help her pass the time without dwelling too much.

It had been years since she had read a book for pleasure. She didn’t even know what kind of book she liked. That some of the titles weren’t in English didn’t help. She abandoned the bookcase and looked at the CDs instead. Here some of the non-English titles seemed familiar, like a long-ago memory she couldn’t quite place.

Jake’s influence.

She had just reached for one when Nikolas appeared behind her. Sarah snatched her hand back guiltily, as if expecting Dominique to chastise her for seeking such a frivolous waste of time. She had listened to music at home, but it had always been whatever happened to be on the popular-music station on the radio; she had never bothered to consider what her tastes might be.

“Well, I have news you’re going to like, and news I think you’re going to like a lot less,” Nikolas announced with a rueful expression. “Which do you want to hear first?”

“Good news, I guess,” she said. He didn’t look upset, so she imagined that the less-good news was probably one of those vampire-related things she just didn’t like talking about, and not any kind of disaster.

“Kendra confirmed she does know Michael, and that though they do not have an explicit arrangement, he has always been careful not to break her rules. Also, she has four box tickets to Wicked. She thinks you will appreciate some of the themes in it.”

“Uh-huh,” Sarah said. She had never heard of it, so she could only hope that wasn’t the bad news. On the other hand … “Why do we need four tickets?”

“Because she wants to meet you, and has suggested the four of us should attend together.”

So much for Kristopher’s idea of a light, low-pressure evening.

“I assume that’s the news you figured I wouldn’t like as much?” Sarah asked.

Nikolas shook his head. “I may have accidentally mentioned your other problem. Kendra is a woman of great class and style.”

He didn’t say it; he didn’t need to say it. Like some kind of ancient, bloodthirsty mother-in-law, Kendra wanted to get to know the newest member of her line. What better way to do so than a shopping trip?

Goddess help her. She would rather face the hunters.