"Who, Vampire Boy? We can take him." Link was lying, but there was no way he wouldn't go down swinging, either for me or for her.

Ridley shook her head, pushing him farther back. "You can't, you idiot. This is no place for a couple of Boy Scouts. Get out of here." She reached for Link's cheek, but he grabbed her wrist before she could touch him. Ridley was like a beautiful snake -- you couldn't let her get close without the risk of being bitten.

Lena was only a few feet away.

If you don't want me here, tell me yourself.

A part of me believed if we were close enough, I could break whatever hold Ridley and John had over her.

Lena stopped behind Ridley. Her expression was unreadable, but I could see the silvery streak where a single tear had fal en.

Say it, L. Say it, or come with me.

Lena's eyes flickered, and she looked past me to where Liv was standing at the edge of the dance floor.

"Lena, you shouldn't be here. I don't know what Ridley and John are doing to you --"

"No one is doing anything to me, and I'm not the one in danger here. I'm not a Mortal." Lena looked over at Liv.

Like her.

Lena's face darkened, and I could see her stray curls beginning to twist.

"You're not like them either, L."

The lights in the bar flickered, and the bulbs shattered over the dance floor, sending sparks and tiny pieces of glass over both of us. The crowd, even that crowd, started moving away from us. "You're wrong. I am like them. This is where I belong."

"Lena, we can figure this out."

"No, we can't, Ethan. Not this."

"Haven't we made it through everything else together?"

"No. Not together. You don't know anything about me anymore." For a second, something passed across her face. Sadness, maybe? Regret?

I wish things could be different, but they can't.

She started to walk away.

I can't go where you're going, Lena.

I know.

You'll be all alone.

She didn't turn around.

I'm already alone, Ethan.

Then tell me to go. If that's what you really want.

She stopped walking and turned slowly to look at me.

"I don't want you here, Ethan." Lena disappeared across the dance floor, away from me. Before I could take a step, I heard the rip --

John Breed materialized in front of me, black leather jacket and al . "Me neither."

We were only a few feet apart. "I'm going, but it's not because of you." He smiled, and his green eyes glowed.

I turned and pushed my way through the crowd. I didn't care if I pissed off someone who could drink my blood or make me jump off a cliff. I kept moving because more than anything else, I wanted to get out of there. The heavy wooden door slammed behind me, shutting out the music, the lights, and the Casters.

But it didn't shut out what I was hoping for. The image of his hands on her hips, swaying to the music, her twisting black hair. Lena in the arms of some other guy.

I barely noticed as the al ey turned from modern-day asphalt and filth back to cobblestones. How long had it been going on, and what had happened between them?

Casters and Mortals can't be together. That's what the visions were tel ing me, as if the Caster world didn't think I understood by now.

I heard the sound of footsteps echoing against the cobblestones behind me. "Ethan, are you okay?" Liv put her hand on my shoulder. I hadn't realized she was fol owing me.

I turned around, but I didn't know what to say. I was standing on a street out of the past, in an underground Caster Tunnel, thinking about Lena with some guy who was my polar opposite. A guy who could take whatever I had, whenever he wanted. Tonight had proven it.

"I don't know what to do. This isn't Lena. Ridley and John have some kind of hold on her."

Liv bit her bottom lip nervously. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but Lena's making her own decisions."

Liv didn't understand. She had never seen what Lena was real y like before Macon died and John Breed showed up. "There's no way you can be sure. You heard Aunt Marian. We don't know what kind of powers John has."

"I can't imagine how hard this is for you." Liv was speaking in absolutes, and there was nothing absolute about what was happening to Lena and to me.

"You don't know her --"

Liv's voice dropped to a whisper. "Ethan, her eyes are gold."

The words echoed in my head, like I was underwater. My emotions sank like a stone as logic and reason fought their way to the surface.

Her eyes are gold.

It was such a smal detail, but it meant everything. No one could force her to go Dark, or make her eyes turn gold.

Lena wasn't being control ed. No one was using the Power of Persuasion to manipulate her into jumping onto the back of John's bike. No one was forcing her to be with him. She was making her own choices, and she was choosing him.

I don't want you here, Ethan. I heard the words over and over. Which wasn't even the worst part. She meant them.

Everything felt hazy and slow, like none of this could real y be happening.

Liv's face was ful of concern as she stared up at me with her blue eyes. There was something soothing about their blueness -- not the green of a Light Caster, or the black of an Incubus, or the gold of a Dark Caster. She was different from Lena in the most important way. She was a Mortal. Liv wasn't going to go Light or Dark or run off with a guy with superhuman strength who could suck your blood or steal your dreams while you slept. Liv was training to be a Keeper, but even then she would stil be an observer. Like me, she would never real y be part of the Caster world. Right then, there was nothing I wanted more than to be as far away from that world as I could get.