Exton

"May I cut in?"

Suddenly Erik is just there, right in front of us, and suddenly he's dancing away with me!

"Okay, I knew you Vikings were crazy bastards, but what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Oh." I think about that while a slow smile spreads over my face. "You need to talk to me. Funny… last time I talked to you, the only thing you had to tell me was that you held the moral high ground. Well, congratulations, Erik. You can have the moral high ground - I don't want it."

"Listen to me." His voice is quiet but urgent. "Can you sense other vampires?"

"If you weren't Raina's brother, I wouldn't give you the time of day. Don't count on that working forever." The import of his words finally sinks in. "Yes, I can sense other vampires. Why? Do you need to demonstrate your moral superiority to them, too?"

"Will you get past that for a minute? We can fight later if you want to." His eyes sweep the room, stop at a booth. There's a man there - someone I've never seen before - and one of the girls from the college. I focus on him - and I know.

"Let's talk to Raina." We dance over to where Raina is sitting and bow to each other. "You're very light on your feet," he says.

I don't even blink. "That's because you were very heavy on mine."

We flip each other the bird simultaneously and the taproom explodes with laughter.