"What?" I stare at him, not caring if my jaw’s gone slack. 

Then the door slams shut behind me and I jump, backing away from the advancing stranger. I press myself against it, trying to twist the knob, to push it outward—but it won't budge. Beyond the house's few windows, everything goes black. Then the shutters slam closed. Behind him, something leafy begins to grow. As it shoots up over the top of his head, I recognize the leaves. A hazel tree.

"Let me out!" I shout, panic rising like wildfire. "Stay back!"

He freezes on the spot, brows knitting together.

"I don't control this world, Erin. You do."

I narrow my eyes. "Then why are you here?"

"Because you let me in."

"I don't even know who you are!"

He exhales long and slow, his eyes tightening around the corners. 

"You do know. Search yourself. You know my face."

His eyes catch mine, and this time I force myself to hold his gaze.

Hazel with a ring of silver around the iris. 

I do know those eyes. I've seen them before...in my dreams.

"Who are you?" I demand again, trying to stamp back my panic before it overwhelms me. 

"Take my hand," he says, extending it as he steps slowly forward. "And you'll know."

I shake my head.

His face contorts. Transforms. Scales erupt across his skin, his pupils turning to slits. An eye like a jewel sprouts at the center of his forhead. The next thing I know, he's coiled across the floor…a huge three-eyed snake, white with a pattern of black diamonds dancing down its spine. 

He strikes out towards me like fluid lighting, wrapping about my legs. I scream as he winds up my body, upward to my left arm—coiling so tightly that he begins to sink in. Become a part of me. Shrieking myself raw, I claw at the snake with my free hand. Mindless in my desperation to escape, I thrash and writhe and tear at the thing. When none of that works, I twist my head around and sink my teeth into it. Blood fills my mouth, flies from my lips as I choke. 

A cold, firm pressure comes down on both my arms, restraining me. A voice calls my name. The house on the cliff and the hazel tree blurs and then vanishes. My eyes fly open. My shoulder sears with pain, where dark fluid oozes down to drip across the sheets. The hands gripping my arms are shaking now, and I look up to meet the gaze of their owner.

Nicholai, eyes wide and fangs extended, stares down at me, his face hovering so close to mine I can feel his cool breath in my hair.

"You were screaming. Hurting yourself," he manages from between gritted teeth. "I came in to help, but then you bit yourself. The blood..." 

His pupils flare wide, and even in the darkness of my room I can see my own terrified face reflected in their black depths. I can feel the tension holding his body taught—especially where his legs press against either side of my hips. Can tell it's taking everything he's got not to strike. 

I smile up at him shakily. "Help yourself," I say. "Why waste it?"

He shakes his head. "I'm not ready." 

A sound like a thunderclap announces Cash's arrival. Not a second later, my door bangs open. 

"What's going o—Nicholai, what in the name of—" Theo's incredulous voice grows suddenly louder as he crosses the room in a blur of movement, wrenching the younger vampire away. 

I shoot upright. "He was just trying to help me. I was having a nightmare and screaming, and I—" 

I stop short as I remember where I am, and the realization hits me like freight train. You don't just have nightmares in the Aether Realm. The Dreamscape is as real, in it's own way, as this plane of existence. If that man became a part of me in the dream, that means...

Catapulting out of bed, I dash to the bathroom. When I leave the door open, Cash trails after me, concern and confusion twisting their fine features. 

"What's wrong? What happened? Erin?"

I can't bring myself to answer.

Red scratches lance across my arm from shoulder to wrist, but it's the thing now twisted around the ring finger of my left hand that holds me rooted to the spot, cold horror twisting through my veins. A ring of bone, carved with minute detail into the shape of a snake. At the center of its head, an earthy brown gemstone glimmers, flecked with bits of green, blue and silver. Somehow, seeing it reflected in the mirror makes it real to me. 

Cash takes a step closer. "What is that?"

Still I don't answer. Reaching up with my right hand, I grip the ring and pull. 

It doesn't budge. 

Heart speeding, I turn on the faucet. Wet my hand. Try again. 

Nothing. The ring won't so much as twist around my finger. It's as though it's grown there.

As I stand in front of the sink, silent and hyperventilating, Cash finally closes the space between us, taking my hand in theirs. 

"Is that what I think it is?"

"I don't...what do you think it is?" I ask, finally summoning up my voice. 

"Theo! Get in here!" Calls Cash, frowning, eyes still fixed on the stone. 

He's there in a heartbeat, brushing up beside his sibling and peering down at the ring. I startle at his sudden hiss.

"Serpent stone," he growls. 

"That's what I thought," says Cash. "Well, that's not good." 

"Would either of you care to tell me what the hell you're talking about?" I grate, too drained, pained, and tired to be polite anymore. 

"It's a...a kind of magical stone. A very, very rare one. They always carry an enchantment," explains the blue-haired vampire. Theo's silent now, mouth set into a grim line, eyes alight with fury. 

My heart constricts. "Someone's put a spell on me?"

"That's what it looks like," hedges Cash. Behind Theo, Nicholai edges into view, covering his nose. 

"Is she alright?"

"No," I answer for myself. "I'm not alright. Where are Prisha and Gaius? What do we do?" 

The others exchange troubled looks. "They left to feed, and they had a...a thing tonight. They won't be back until just before sunrise."

"A thing?" My eyebrows shoot up. "How many things am I going to be kept in the dark about here? I thought I was supposed to be a part of—I thought I was one of you now."

Again, that look passes between the three of them. 

"You are," insists Cash. "But even so, trust is earned. There are certain things that just...we have to be careful in sharing until we can be sure about you. That you're really staying. It was the same for the rest of us, too. It takes time." 

I shake my head, and a few tears slip past my control to track down my cheeks. Then a spark of anger cuts them off as a thought occurs to me.

"If I were...I don't know, some kind of spy or plant…wouldn't Theo be able to tell?"

"Almost definitely," answers the vampire in question. "But there are some ways, some magics, that can fool me. We're a tiny clan without a court. We can't be too careful." 

I just shake my head in silent frustration. 

"I can go and let the parents know what happened," offers Cash after a moment. "See what they say. But I don't think they'll be able to come back much sooner."

"Do that," says Theo. "Nicholai, go get Butler and do a sweep of the grounds. Check the wards. Check everything."

The others acknowledge his orders without question, both of them gone in a matter of seconds. Then Theo turns, fixing the intensity of his gaze on me. 

"I'd like you to talk me through what happened, if you can" he says. "But first, we need to take care of this," he gestures to the mess that is my shoulder and arm. "May I?" 

I nod. 

Stepping forward, he loops one arm behind my back to rest lightly between my shoulder blades. With the other he brushes my hair out of the way, gentle as he unsticks the strands caught up in my blood. Then he leans down, breath sweeping across my exposed flesh just before he presses his lips to the messy bite mark. I stifle a gasp as his mouth begins to work, drawing out the last of the blood still near the surface. Though I feel his teeth pressing close to my skin, he's careful not to prick me with his fangs. By the time he pulls away, the venom in his saliva is already numbing the wound. It'll heal fast, now. There may not even be a scar.

Snatching up a hand towel, he dampens it under the faucet before cleaning up the remainder of the blood on my arm and in my hair. "There," he says, guiding me over to sit in one of the two comfortable chairs in the corner to one side of my bed. "Now, if you're able. Tell me what happened." 

The dire expression on his face as I finish is not reassuring.

"What?" I prod, as the silence at the end of my recounting draws out. "Do you understand what's happened?" 

"All I know is that for him to have transferred a physical object to you through the Dreamscape, for him to have been in your realm at all without your knowing—there must have been some sort of magical connection already in place between you."

"But...I don't know anyone in this realm but the people in this house!" 

Theo's expression darkens. "You don't have to know someone to be connected to them. Especially not here, especially not for someone half-Aetheri."

"Do you have any idea who he might have been?" I'd described his appearance in exhaustive detail, hoping to see a spark of recognition, but Theo's expression had given away nothing.

He breathes out between his teeth. 

"Ideas? Maybe. Good ones, I'm not sure. I need to speak with Gaius. And you said it was a black and white snake and a hazel tree, specifically? You're sure?"

"Yes."

His lips form a hard line before he opens his mouth to speak again. But before he can, a strange, soft voice issues from everywhere and nowhere. 

"Oslo Esca approaches the main gate," it says, tone even. 

Theo Curses. 

"Let him in," he says, getting up.

"Very well," replies the house hob. 

"I'm sorry, I need to go deal with this," he says, heading for the door.

"Who's Oslo Esca?" I ask, following Theo in my cami and comfy pants. But he's already gone.

I pad after him down the hall. I might as well. There's no way I'm going back to sleep.

Stepping out into the open second level of the foyer, I go over to the rail and look down at the three figures gathered in the main space. 

Padraig and Theo stand at a fair distance from a vampire with chalk-pale skin, reddish hair and short-clipped goatee. He's sporting a fetching combination of brown silk waistcoat and voluminous topaz-colored scarf. 

"Are you sure you want to risk that?" He says, smirking over at Theo and ignoring a bristling Padraig. "It's just an Esbat. Ah, perhaps the lady can speak for herself?" Peering upward, he catches my eye before sweeping into a low bow. 

Theo and Padraig turn to look up at me, a warning flashing in their eyes as I make for the stair. Oslo drifts over to greet me as I near the bottom, reaching to take my hand. 

"Lady Erin, a pleasure."

"Er, yes. Nice to meet you. Mr. Esca, right?" I look from him to the others. "What's going on, now?" 

He straightens, beaming at me. "I come in the name of the Moon Court to invite your household to this month's Esbat feast. They have an unfortunate tendency of passing up our invitations, but as I was just explaining to young Theo—as a new arrival here, it's important you be introduced at court." 

"But we're not a member of any court," I hedge, shooting a wary glance at the others. 

"Be that as it may, this is a household of vampires and shifters. Family to the Moon Court at the very least, whether you claim membership or not." 

"Erin's no vampire or shifter. If she's got any court ties, it's to the Court of Tides."

Esca grins. "She's a Blackwood. She's one of you. Besides, there'll be guests in attendance from all of the courts." 

Padraig looks grimly over at Theo. "It'll bring more problems down than it'll save us if we refuse." 

Theo scowls, whirling to look over at me. "What do you say, Erin? How do you feel about going out tomorrow night and getting paraded around in front of all four of the courts?"

My hands twist together as I fidget with the immovable ring, looking sideways to Padraig. "I can deal with it, if it'll help keep us out of trouble." 

"Wonderful!" Booms Esca, clapping his hands together. "We are in accord."

A heartbeat and a thunderclap later Cash materializes from a cloud of black mist. They take a stumbling step back, eyes going wide and then immediately narrowing.

"What the hell are you doing here?" They choke.

"Extending an invitation to tomorrow's Esbat celebration, which has already been accepted. And graciously, for once," they say, sweeping another bow in my direction. 

"Stop that," says Cash. "Gross. Get out of here." 

Smirking, Esca turns on his heel and strolls back over to the main entrance. "See you all tomorrow evening," he calls over his shoulder. The door opens for him, and he's gone in a flash. Outside, an aetheric engine purrs to life, then there's crunch of wheels across gravel as he makes his getaway.

I turn back to the others to find both remaining vampires glaring at me.

"What?"

"We hate that guy," explains Cash unnecessarily.

"I sort of picked up on that, but won't like...the most important, significant and powerful people from all the courts be at this Esbat thing? Probably?"

The others exchange a look.

"A lot of them," answers Cash. " That's not a great thing"

"But it might help us pinpoint who did this to me," I say, holding up my left hand to flash the ring. "Or how to undo it."

"Or deliver you straight into the hands of whoever did it," cautions Theo. 

"At least then I can deal with it head-on."

"This just happened," blusters Cash. "You haven't even talked to Gaius and Prish yet."

I practically give myself whiplash twisting my head around to look at them. "What did they say? Are they coming back now?" 

Cash's hand goes up to rub their forehead, expression suddenly lost.

"Er, yeah. About that. Um. I couldn't find them."