I slid her a dubious glance.

"I've known you for three years. That entire time, you've been puttering around the little ivory tower you built for yourself. You need to be rescued. And if you can't be rescued by Prince Tall, Sexy, and Alive" - she looked over at the trio of deliberating vampires and scanned Ethan's half-naked body - "he's certainly the next best thing." She made an evil-sounding chuckle. "And you complained about your oral exams. This boy's gonna be the biggest challenge of your life."

"Calling him a 'challenge' assumes I'm interested. And I wasn't puttering around. I was writing a dissertation."

"You're interested," she declared. "And given that possessive look in his eyes, I'd say he's interested, too."

"He thinks I'm unsophisticated."

She looked over at me. "You're you. Unapologetically you. And he can't do any better than that."

I kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Mal."

"Yup." She released me and ogled the threesome of vamps, who stood in a tight knot in front of us, discussing our fate. Then she rubbed her hands together. "Now. Which one do I get? How about Cowboy Pete?"

I was saved formulating an answer (which, incidentally, would have been something along the lines of "Don't you have a boyfriend?") by Ethan, who motioned us closer with a single crooked finger. When we reached the group, he gestured to his comrades. "Malik, my Second, who I believe you've met, and this is Luc, Captain of my Guards." He motioned toward us. "Merit, two-day-old Initiate, and Mallory, her roommate, who likely has the patience of a saint."

Mallory chuckled, the traitor, but then got exactly what was coming to her. Although Malik and Luc nodded in greeting, Luc then frowned down at her from his towering six feet and change.

"You have magic."

Mallory blinked. "What's that now?"

Ethan ran a finger delicately over her hair as she flinched beneath it. "Ah," he said, nodding. "I'd wondered."

"Wondered what?" she asked.

"Who brought in the magic," Malik said so casually you'd have thought he was discussing the weather.

Mallory put hands on her hips. "What the hell are you people, and I use that term loosely, talking about?"

Luc inclined his head toward Mallory, but looked at Ethan. "Is it possible she doesn't know?"

"Doesn't know what?" I asked, irritation rising. "What the hell is going on?"

As if I hadn't spoken, Malik shrugged at Luc. "If she's not union yet, it's possible the Order hasn't yet picked up on her post-adolescence. This is Chicago, after all."

"True," Ethan said. "We should call the Ombud, tell him there's a new witch in town."

"New witch?" Mallory asked, paling. "Time out. Who's a witch, hoss?"

Ethan glanced at her, brow arched, and his tone couldn't have been more bland. "You, of course."

While Mallory came to terms with that little revelation, Ethan and his staff filled me in on the current state of vampire relations in Chicago. While most vampires in the world - all the registered vampires - were affiliated with Houses, a minority were categorized as Rogues, vampires who had no ties to a House and no loyalty to a particular Master. There were a number of ways this could happen - being bitten by a vampire who wasn't a Master and thus wasn't strong enough to command the newly changed; by defecting from a House; or by being bitten by an unaffiliated vampire who required no oaths of loyalty or fealty.

Because of the implicit danger they posed to the House structure, they were treated as outcasts. And because they were rarely strong enough individually to take on House vampires, they were usually ignored by the Houses unless they'd chosen, somewhat ironically, to band together into anarchistic units.