Eternal Kiss of Darkness (Night Huntress World 2)

Tina stood on the other side, still blond and petite like always, but with a healthier glow to her complexion than the last time she'd seen her. Kira smiled. Mencheres's blood had brought her little sister back, and she now had the treatments for Tina's disease running all through her veins.

"Hey," Kira said. "Can I come in?"

Tina's blue eyes were wide, and her scent - yes, it was that citrus blend Kira had caught a whiff of outside the door, like oranges and cloves - soured ever so slightly even as her pulse sped up.

"Is everything okay?" Kira asked, tensing. Was a cop in the apartment with Tina? Good Lord, had they sent someone over after Kira called the last time?

"Kira?" Tina said tentatively, as if she didn't quite believe who she was seeing.

"Who is it, T?" her brother's voice called out from inside the apartment.

"Rick's here?" Kira asked, shaking her head. "Oh, Tina, you didn't let him move in, did you?"

" 'S it?" Her brother appeared behind Tina's shoulder. His eyes were red and from the crease on his cheek, he looked like he'd just woken up.

"Kira, holy f**k!" he said, his eyes bulging when he saw her. "You're in big trouble, man. Like, huge," Rick finished.

"Hi, Rick," Kira said in a dry voice. "Joey finally threw you out?" Tina stepped back mutely. Kira walked inside, one sniff revealing that Rick smelled like pot, some other drug, cigarettes, and alcohol. A glance showed he'd set up a bed on Tina's couch. It looked like he'd been there for days. Empty beer cans, an ashtray overflowing with butts, and a couple wadded-up bags of potato chips completed the picture.

Kira wanted to slug him, and not just for trashing Tina's place while he made himself at home.

"You're smoking around Tina? She's got CF, and she just got out of the hospital a few weeks ago after almost dying, but your goddamn nicotine habit is more important than her lungs? You couldn't even go outside to let her breathe some clean air in her own apartment, Rick?"

His face turned mottled red. "You're wanted by the f**king cops, the FBI, and maybe more, but you're going to bitch at me for smoking? Dude, you've got some nerve - "

"Oh be quiet," Kira snapped.

To her surprise, Rick stopped speaking. At once. His mouth opened, but nothing came out. Then his eyes bugged, and his hands started waving around like they were on fire.

Kira spun, expecting to see someone behind her, but no one was there except Tina.

She'd just closed the door and stood staring at her.

"Your eyes . . ." she whispered.

Kira cursed. She'd kept a perfect grip on her emotions the entire way here, but five seconds in her brother's company had her dropping her normal disguise to glare bright green supernatural daggers at him. Now she had to fix this mess.

"Rick, sit down. Find a mental happy place or something," she directed him.

Rick sat on the floor, his frantic motions stilling and an expression of peace settling over his features. Kira found herself being grateful that she hadn't been a vampire when they were growing up and she'd had to babysit him for her father and his new wife. She might have taken horrible advantage of her mind-control skills. Rick had been a handful even as a child.

Then she turned to Tina, who had her eyes closed while a single tear slipped down her cheeks.

"Don't, Kira," Tina said, shaking her head with her eyes still squeezed shut. "Whatever you did to him, don't do it to me. I knew it. I saw that tape on YouTube, and even though I didn't want to believe . . . still, you never would have gotten involved in something like that, then just disappeared. Even if you did, Mom's cross. You wouldn't have let someone rip it off your neck and use it that way if it were only an act. You haven't taken her necklace off since she died, so when I saw that, I knew it had to be reall. . ." Kira's hand closed over the cross at her throat. It had shocked her knowing Mencheres used it to cut into his own throat and feed her his blood, but it never occurred to her that Tina would see that and be able to determine it wasn't twisted role-playing. Tina was right, though. She hadn't taken this necklace off, not since she'd unhooked it from her mother's throat and put it around her own the day before her mom's funeral.

"Tina . . ."

She wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't anticipated telling her sister this soon.

Eventually, yes, but not tonight. Rick, she didn't think she could ever tell.

"The police found a bunch of blood vials in your apartment. They asked me if I'd known you were into vampire role-playing, if I'd ever seen that guy in the video before, or if I knew where you were." Tina's voice cracked. "I told them I didn't know anything, but I did recognize that guy from the hospital the night I came off the vent. The nurses kept going on about how it was a miracle I recovered like that. I've never felt better lately, either.

Then when I saw the tape, him, what happened, and you vanished . . . all of a sudden, I knew why I was better."

Oh God, Tina had thought it all the way through. Kira wrestled with what to do. One flash of her eyes, and Kira could make Tina forget everything, but though with Rick, she didn't have a choice, Tina might be able to handle this.

"I met him by accident," Kira said, trying to sum up the past incredible few weeks in as short a way as possible. "Saw things that let me know he wasn't human, but he couldn't make me forget them like he could with most people. When I told you I had the flu, that wasn't true. He kept me with him, hoping that I'd fall under his power and that he could erase my mind of what I'd seen, but it never happened. Then he let me go, but I felt something so strong for him, I looked for him. That brought me to the club. You saw what happened there."

Tina didn't say anything, but her face went a shade paler. Still, her small frame was straight.

"He set fire to the place? Killed those people?"

"No," Kira said at once. "He was set up by that bastard who ordered my death. I may be away for a while, but I wanted to see you again and tell you . . . well, I didn't intend to tell you this, but I wanted to tell you that you don't need to worry. I'm okay, better than okay, and once this is taken care of, I'll be back in your life just like before." Tina finally met Kira's gaze. Another tear slipped down her cheek. "I've been so scared. I thought you were gone forever because you were something else now. I don't know what all this means, and it's so hard to even believe, but when I heard you bitching at Rick, I knew it was still you inside."

Kira felt her own gaze grow moist. "Of course it's still me. It's nothing like the myths, Tina. I don't kill people. I don't hide out in a crypt during the day. You can see that I'm still wearing Mom's cross, so I don't recoil from religious objects, either. Most of what you've heard is wrong, in fact."