...“Checkmate.” Trina smiled. On the surface the smile was sweet and gracious, but deeper, it was purely wicked.

Dismay flashed through Viktor. How could I have missed it? How could I misjudge matters so badly?

He realized at that moment—Ekatrina was not merely a very bright young woman of twenty-two with a fragile but heart-stopping beauty. Behind her eyes, an ancient spirit looked out upon the world, one at least as old as his and quite probably wiser, certainly more sly.

Old boy, you are in big trouble, but you’ll not reveal it, nor will you allow a moment of near panic to make you behave foolishly.

He returned the same two-level smile. “Congratulations, my dear. A very fortunate move there.”

“A very sloppy defense,” she replied, her tone acerbic. “Are you, perchance, distracted?”

She shifted in her chair, letting the neckline of her gown slip open a bit farther, revealing an even greater hint of a curving breast, swelling above a lacey undergarment. Her tongue slipped out between pink lips and moistened them. Her silver-green eyes taunted him, lashes lowering demurely after several moments to break their fierce gaze. Her upper lip lifted for a second, just enough to reveal two neatly pointed canines, sharp and white.

“You’re vampara—only you aren’t…” The exclamation slipped out before he could stop himself.

“I was. Now I no longer am. I’m something more and immortal as well. I can face the sun, I can sip blood if I choose to, but I only do so for pleasure, and I will live as long as I wish to.”

Somewhere, somehow she had obviously gained a secret vampara sought universally, a way out of the prison of living death with complete freedom from that bondage and powers even greater than the strongest vamps could wield. No longer undead, she again truly lived. Envy curdled in his gut.

“How did this come to be?” It took all his will to keep his voice calm, to inject a tone of near-boredom into the question.

“Strictly speaking, you might say I seduced the secret out of an angel.” She smiled again. This one was not a nice smile at all, yet hinted at a luscious and lascivious recollection. “He got into very serious trouble, of course, and later crossed over to the Dark…

“Our match is for two out of three. We’re tied now but we have another game.” She paused, inhaled and exhaled a long, slow breath. “Why don’t we up the ante a bit? If you win, I’ll share my secret with you, but if I win, you’ll become my abject slave for a century or two. What is the term they use now—boy-toy? I am older, you know.”