His winter blue eyes were wider than dinner plates. "Elizabeth?" he breathed, as if he couldn't get enough air into his lungs.

"Yeah. I'm back from the grave," I mutter. For someone who just thought they were going to die, I was being pretty bitchy.

His face drops back into what I assume is his usual emotionless expression. I immediately feel guilty for using sarcasm to cover up the grief it caused over the mention of my mother.

"I'm Dru," I say apologetically, offering a peace between us. He knew a truce when he saw one. He smiles slightly.

The aspect slicks his hair back and keeps it dark. "Christophe," he says. His eyes skim the scene that he'd created.

"I know. Your kill record was my bedtime story." I blurt it out without thinking and compete with a strand of licorice for color.

He turns his head to study me. I guess I'd surprised him greatly. I stare at the ground and rock back on my heels, embarrassed.

"How did you come across that?" His voice betrays nothing.

I shrug instead of answering, giving me time to compose a plausible answer, still not meeting his eyes. "Believe it or not, you're kind of a legend in the Real World."

"What is a little girl like you running around with nosferatu for?" I'm pretty sure it was a question that he'd ready figured out, but I defend myself anyway.

"I showed up after them."

"You came with Ash then."

I feign innocence. "I just saw a wulfen running toward the screams of a vampire. I came to help kill them. I didn't know that he was with them."

He sees right through my lie, and within a second, I'm pinned against a wall.

"What game are you playing, girl?" he growls.

"I gave you my name for a reason. The least you could do is use it." There went my mouth again. I wasn't really in a position to mouth off, but my brain apparently had no qualms about no self-preservation.

"Why are you working for him?" he says, a threat lacing each word.

I pause, looking away from him again. He pushes me firmer against the wall in warning.

I hiss in annoyance. He doesn't seem to care. There went my godlike image I had held him to.

"A truthful answer this time, hmm?"

"It's all I've ever known, okay? After my mom died, he was the one to bring me up. He was the one to take care of me, train me. It's all I've ever known. It's all I've ever known," I repeat, hating the way my voice broke over the word "known".

His eyes soften and I use that to my advantage. I knee him in the gut just as Ash leaps for him from behind, effectively ending Christophe's thought process for the moment.