Amelia Atwater-Rhodes - Demon in My View

The girl's words echoed in Jessica's mind: What if it was all real? If Ash Night's vampires actually existed?

And more recently: I wanted to ask if you knew they were true.

Though Jessica hadn't delved too far into the world of the Smoke witches, simply because they were of little interest to her vampires, she knew their basic beliefs. If a Smoke witch was aware that someone was in danger, it was that witch's duty to protect him or her.

If it was true, Jessica was certainly in danger.

If they were all real…

If Aubrey existed, and Jessica had met him, then why was she still alive? He had no scruples about killing, and she had shown the world every weak moment of his past. Yet when she mentally replayed her conversations with him, there was no sense of threat. He seemed more to be flirting with her than hunting her.

She needed to know if it was true. She knew these characters better than she knew even Anne. They had been her thoughts and life for years. If there was the slightest chance that they were real, she needed to know.

She needed proof, and to get that, she needed to see for herself.

In Jessica's novels, New Mayhem was the base of vampiric power in the United States. The town, which was hidden from the human world, was home to the ruling class of vampires — Silver's line, including Aubrey. Their presence had given it a flavor of darkness that Jessica knew she would recognize if she saw it.

She searched through her manuscripts and found various clues to the location of New Mayhem, which was Ramsa's secret neighbor. She had always assumed that she had located New Mayhem near Ramsa out of familiarity, but perhaps instead some trick of the vampiric world had caused her to be located here.

One of her manuscripts, at this point untitled, caught her eye. The story was that of Kaei, the mostly human bartender at the vampire nightclub Las Noches. Kaei had been born and raised in the original town of Mayhem. She had been responsible for the fire that had nearly leveled the town three hundred years earlier, and in punishment had been blood-bonded to Jager. Kaei was not a vampire, but she would not age as long as Jager was alive.

After that episode, the witches had mostly believed that Mayhem was gone forever. When New Mayhem was built, the mortal Macht witches and the immortal Tristes had not been informed. The vampire hunters had not known about New Mayhem.

Until Tiger, Tiger had revealed its existence. Jessica silently contemplated this latest realization as she walked down the darkened road toward the town that might or might not be there.

The walk was longer than she would have liked, but not painfully so. Perhaps three miles went by before Jessica noticed a narrow, unnamed path off to the side of the road. Normally she would not have given the path a second glance after all the nearly identical driveways she had passed, but tonight she saw beside it the sign she had been looking for: a rosebush, which climbed the base of an oak tree.

The last of the blooms was still on the bush, and when she stepped near it, Jessica saw that the flower was black. For more than five hundred years, the vampires had used a black rose as their symbol.

She knelt for a moment, her fingers resting on the silky petals of the rose as she tried to calm her breathing. She no longer needed to see the town to convince herself that everything was true; though her mind might still protest, she believed despite it. Now there was a more compelling reason for her to follow the path. It would lead her home. She had seen New Mayhem through dozens of views but had never even glimpsed it with her own eyes, yet as she walked, she had the strangest sensation that she was finally heading home.

The path went on for what seemed an interminable time. Walking down that path was a test of courage that most people would have failed. The darkness was oppressive, and the forest was unnaturally silent. The isolation pressed against her like a physical weight. Yet, unafraid, she welcomed the night and the loneliness like old friends.

The woods began to thin so gradually that Jessica hardly noticed the change until she saw the first building in New Mayhem. It was Nyeusigrube, which meant "den of shadows." Jessica knew the name well.

She leaned against the side of the building, her legs suddenly weak as the truth slugged her in the gut.

She was all but numb from shock, but not from denial. She believed; she had no choice but to believe.

The black rose had been the symbol of the vampires for more than five hundred years; that alone was daunting. But five hundred years might have been the blink of an eye to some of Ash Night's characters, and for a moment Jessica felt the weight of all the lives she had juggled in her books. Thousands of years' worth of love and hate and pain and pleasure had somehow been compressed into Jessica's subconscious mortal mind.

For a moment she wondered if she should just stay here instead of returning to her human world. She could disappear, as Mayhem had disappeared three hundred years before.

But as tempting as the world of Ash Night might be, Jessica knew that a human in New Mayhem was seen as a lower being. In comparison to the vampires, mortals were weak, foolish children. Jessica's pride would not allow her to be submissive to these characters whose every weakness she had written about.

However, there was no way for her to simply turn back and ignore what she knew. Instead, she had an irrational desire—no, a need —to see the creatures of her novels.

In a daze, she made her way to the heart of New Mayhem, not hesitating to push open the door and enter the chaos known as Las Noches.

Jessica couldn't tell if it was the room or her head that was spinning. Her reflection was distorted wildly by the shattered mirrors, and the black wooden furniture seemed to dance in the moving lights.

As she stood just inside the door, she was hit by such a strong sense of recognition that she reeled back a step. She knew almost everyone in the room.

A slender, dark-skinned woman leaned against the bar. She lifted the crystal glass she held and sipped from it a viscous red liquid that Jessica had no desire to identify. She did recognize the vampire, though: it was Fala.

Fala looked up, and her black eyes immediately fell on the human author with distaste.

Welcome to my world. Fala's icy voice echoed through Jessica's mind, sending a chill down her spine. Or is it your world?

Jessica knew she was being tested, but she only shook her head. It isn't mine, she thought in answer, knowing Fala would hear her.

Damn right. The ancient vampire lifted her glass as if to propose a toast. To knowledge, and to pain.

Understanding the threat, Jessica turned away and left quickly. She had no wish to engage in any kind of confrontation with Fala.

Outside Las Noches she stopped and leaned against the cool wall, waiting for her dizziness to subside. But after a minute or so, she forced herself to move. Though vampires were not allowed to kill humans inside New Mayhem, Jessica doubted that anyone would object to Fala's making an exception in the case of the author Ash Night.

Jessica was barely out of New Mayhem, still in the woods that surrounded the single path back to the human world, when she heard the rustle of leaves behind her.

Spinning to face the potential threat, she let out a tight breath as she saw Aubrey.

He had murdered any illusion of the human Alex Remington. The golden pendant had been replaced by a spiked dog collar, and he was wearing a black T-shirt that hugged his form and showed off the many designs on his arms: Fenris on the right wrist, and Echidna, the Greek mother of all monsters, high on his left arm. The Norse world serpent was wrapped around his left wrist, and a new design had recently been added: Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guarded the gates of Hades. The World Serpent was partially covered by a black leather knife sheath, which held the silver knife Aubrey had taken from a vampire hunter a few thousand years earlier.