“Bottoms up,” Isaac said, clinking his dirty glass against mine, its blackened liquid pooling like miasma at top of a deep lake hidden in the Carpathian Forest.

  I drank along in unison, the burning sensation lingering like a lump in my throat, while the anxiety was swallowing me whole, just as this...man...this beast had done a few hours earlier. Almost to me. “I have an early morning,” I started up, “gotta cut out.” I rose to make a swift exit.

  “Stay,” he commanded, his hand shooting out and grasping my forearm, while his eyes showed power through a limitless gaze.

  I held quiet, my eyes darting searchingly for Taniya or Denaux, but futile efforts they were.

  “Care for a dance?” Isaac rose resolutely, slowly nodding and pressing me to join him with a glare, while his grip tightened around my arm.

  Joining him, I mimicked his nodding, as he led me through the crowded dance floor, the music blaring evermore as we coalesced.

  With a twirl, Isaac spun behind me, tightly pressed against my backside, all of him. His warm breath pricked the nape of my neck as he spoke. “Who are you? “ he demanded.

  “No one,” I responded, whirling and trying to pull away.

  “Wrong answer," he pulled me back in, "try again." His calloused hand found its way up to my throat, gently clasping around it.

  “I don't know,” I retorted candidly.

  “That doesn't work for me. What's your relation to The Mad Harlequin?”

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  Something tweaked in my mind at the name of the man who had me killed. I overpowered Isaac and spun around to face him, my own claws grabbing a hold of his face as the rage welled up inside me. “That bastard took my life," I growled, "and I'll be the one to take his.”

  Isaac loosened his grip, startled by my abrupt change in nature. His lip curled into slight bemusement. “I knew I smelled something different in you...new blood. Reborn, huh? That's all I needed to know.” He released his hand and stepped backwards.

  “I ask the questions now,” I stomped forward.

  “Who are you?” “I got what I wanted,” Isaac said, turning and moving to the exit.

  “I didn't get mine!” I roared, finding myself turning feral, as I lurched forward to paw at his wrist.

  ”Just don't get in my way,” he soured, ripping his hand loose and slipping through the crowd.

  I pursued, pushing past the dense moving wave of humans dancing hypnotically under the thumping bass, while his head bobbed back and forth on its way to the rear exit.”Stop!” I howled, masked by the heavy beat.

  Isaac pounded through two steel double doors and disappeared outside.

  I pushed past others, arriving just a moment late, and found a dimly lit back alley, silence permeating it otherwise.

  “Damn,” I huffed, looking down at my closed fist and seeing the scrapes of red blood seeping out from underneath my fingernails. Guess he was part human after all.

  “Turning tricks in the back alley,” a familiar voice chimed in, as Denaux sauntered along from down the alley, now in a loose gray knitted suit, but still barefoot. “The difference an hour makes,” he chuckled.

  “We had a visitor,” I groaned, clenching my fist tightly.

  Denaux's ears perked, with an inquiring stare “You don't say? And for what did we owe the pleasure?”

  “He came to make a statement,” I growled, trying to ease myself down a bit, my breathing leveling back out. “Idle threats.”

  “Better that than another enemy,” Denaux affirmed.

  “No,” I shook my head, “not after all that...he's gonna help us.”

  “You can't tame a wild beast,” Denaux laughed.

  “Untrue,” I smiled, opening my palm to unveil a shining bracelet under the muted street lights, the letter 'b' flicked with specks of blood against my palm. “You just need a little bait.”