Chapter Two

Nico held the oversized t-shirt out in front of him and squinted his eyes suspiciously. It was old enough that the fabric smelled like the wooden drawer it had been living in for the past twenty years and something about the texture of it bothered him. But it was whole, unwrinkled, and Nico was naked, so he pulled it on overhead with a shrug. It was pale blue with a bicycle logo on the front he didn’t recognize and a list of sponsors for some event on the back.

The sweatpants Sebastian offered—heather gray and very warm—were unworn. There was still a tag attached in the back.

Nico snooped in the dresser drawers. They were empty except for a pair of new, black work socks. The thin kind meant to fit in a dress shoe.

“What the hell…?” Nico put on the sweats, left the socks behind, and investigated the rest of the room in the evening moonlight. None of the lights worked—apparently Sebastian hadn’t paid the electric bill in years—and Nico could see why. The place was empty.

The bed was made and the dresser… existed… but there was nothing else here. No personal items on the top of the dresser, no side table at all, not even a hanger on the empty bar in the closet.

Nico picked at the shirt on his shoulder and explored the living room, which held a couch but no coffee table or entertainment center. No television. No art on the walls. Sebastian stood at one end of the couch, his arms crossed, wearing the only other shirt and pants available in the apartment: another pair of gray sweats and a red rally racing t-shirt with a splashed logo across the front. It didn’t suit him at all. Sebastian was more of a button-down guy, Nico thought.

“What is this place?”

“An apartment the Court maintains for emergencies.”

“Where are we?” Nico found another window over the sink in the kitchen. The big city view surprised him. Street lights, blocks of apartments, even a water tower on the top of the building beside them. This wasn’t Colorado.

“Atlanta, Georgia.”

Nico whirled around. “Georgia?! How did we get to Georgia!?”

Sebastian’s brow furrowed. “I stepped us through the Shade,” he said, as if that were obvious.

“But we were in Denver!”

“No,” Sebastian said slowly. “We were in the Shade.”

“Yes, but the Denver part of the Shade.” Nico made a useless gesture in the air. “That’s where Dimitri and I came in from.”

Sebastian shook his head. “The Shade doesn’t map to Earth, Nico. It’s almost three times as large. I can step from here to any place in the Shade I’ve already been, and some I haven’t. I can go from the Shade to any place on Earth I’ve been before.”

“So you’re telling me we’re in Atlanta, Georgia and you could have put us on the beach in Fiji instead?”

“I’ve never been to Fiji, but yes. In theory.” He shrugged. “I’ve only ever known Atlanta. I was born here.”

Nico put a hand on his forehead, brain spinning with question, most of them irrelevant—like how the hell does an adult human person never leave their home city?—and he needed a minute to organize his thoughts. He put up a hand. “Ok, wait, I’ve gone too far off track,” he said. “What time is it?” He checked his watch, he still had that at least.

No clothes, no phone, nothing else.

The watch cheerfully reported four in the morning.

“Is it too early for breakfast?” Then he closed his eyes. “I don’t have a wallet.” Nico looked to Sebastian. “Do you have any cash?”

“The Court always provides anything I need.”

“Right. The Court. Ok, I need to get back to Denver. I need clothing and a freaking protein bar. How do we do that?”

Sebastian just stared at him.

Nico gestured at him. “I’m looking for suggestions. Maybe a plan involving teleporting? If I wasn’t here what would you do next?”

“I’ve never been to Denver, I can’t step us there through the Shade.” Sebastian said. “And if you weren’t here, I’d step back into the Shade and return to my Court.” His nose wrinkled. “Former Court,” he corrected. “What is the name of your Court, Sire?”

“Name?”

“Dimitri’s Court is…was the Black Rose Court. Mine was Belladonna. Yours is…?”

Nico shook his head, suddenly overwhelmed with the idea that he needed to organize and take care of two other people. Dimitri had taken charge of things so easily, transitioned seamlessly into Nico’s life, that he didn’t realize how much responsibility being a Sire involved.

And he had to name the group?

“Twelve hours ago I didn’t know vampires existed,” Nico said, his voice hollow. Which wasn’t an answer.

He was stuck here. Stuck without his phone, without any clothes, without any food or money to get some. He couldn’t just walk to an ATM, he had no card to put in, no ID to talk to a teller, nothing.

His breath came faster as he tried to think of a solution, any solution, and kept running into walls. He was in a different time zone with no way to get back home. He was going to lose his job. And the apartment. He didn’t even have his keys.

He didn’t have anything.

Nico’s watch beeped once. Heart rate too high. He looked at the display without really seeing it, some distant part of him acknowledging that he was having a panic attack. He needed to lay down.

He blinked and Sebastian was suddenly there in front of him, eyes dark with worry, a crease between his brows. He grabbed Nico’s arms. “What’s wrong? What do you need?”

What was wrong? Everything was wrong. He needed to go home. He was barely out of college and could hardly take care of himself let alone two other people. He wasn’t supposed to be in charge of anything!

He couldn’t get enough air. There wasn’t enough room to think!

He tried to tear away toward the door.

Sebastian hugged him from behind and dragged him backward, toward the couch. “Sire, you need to calm down. Your breathing is too shallow and you’re going to pass out.”

Calm down? Calm down? Nico struggled in Sebastian’s grip but it was like trying to bend steel. Sebastian sat them down regardless, held Nico close, and whispered in his ear.

But all Nico could hear was the roaring of his heart.

His watch beeped twice. Heart rate too high. Unconsciousness imminent.

Nico didn’t have any solutions!

He didn’t know how to explain, so he didn’t even try. He reached for the bond around his heart, found the connection to Sebastian that he’d shrunk down small, and opened it up. He poured all of his panic down that connection hoping Sebastian would know what to do.

The vampire’s arms tightened around him. Then he pulled Nico’s head to the side and bit his neck.