Christopher started to ask a question, then paused.
“Christopher, I’m a witch. A Daughter of Macht,” she elaborated. Unlike the modern Wiccans, her kind was not human, had never been human.
“I don’t care if you’re Dominique Vida herself,” Christopher declared brazenly.
Christopher’s words caused a hysterical giggle to catch in Sarah’s throat. Her mother was the most famous—or in vampire circles, infamous—vampire hunter born in hundreds of years.
In answer, she drew the knife from her back; the moon glinted off its silver hilt. Christopher swore under his breath, and she smiled wryly. “Christopher, Dominique is my mother.”
Now he looked at her with a small amount of skepticism, which was the last thing she expected. Most vampires were far more wary of her kind. “You? But you’re . . .”
She sheathed her knife, trying to show that she meant no threat to him. “I’m what?”
“I’ve met a lot of hunters in my time, Sarah . . .” He raised a hand, gestured vaguely. “You don’t seem like the type.”
Stepping forward, she put her right hand flat-palmed against his chest and her left over his throat, pushing him back into the wall.
Shock filled Christopher’s features, but then he said, “Your knife is still on your back, and if this was a real fight, we both know I could kill you before you could reach it.”
She closed her right fist, drawing Christopher’s attention to its position above his heart, and then moved her hand to the wall.
With her mind she reached out and triggered the spring on the knife she wore on her wrist, and the blade snapped out, slicing two inches into the wood paneling of the wall.
“Don’t underestimate me, Christopher.”
“Are you going to kill me, Sarah?” he asked, but there was no fear in his voice—just an edge of anger. He was getting defensive, trying not to let his hurt show. She recognized the act; anger was much less painful to feel than the sorrow.
“I’m not going to kill you. I don’t want myfamilyto.”
“I can take care of myself.” So fearless. Most vampires were afraid of her kind, but Christopher did not seem the least bit worried.
“Meaning what? If my mother or sister attacks you, you’ll kill her? There is no good situation here, except for you to leave me alone. I’m not right for you.”
“Sarah, I don’t care who you are,” he repeated. “I’ve taken a knife from one of your line before. I have a scar, but I’m still alive. If someone attacks me, I leave. That’s how I’ve survived for more than fifty years.”
She flinched. How had he taken a Vida knife and lived?
That question was shoved from her mind as she processed the comment about “fifty years.” According to the story Nissa had told, he was easily three times that old.
She bit back her questions, and focused on the issue at hand.
“Christopher, maybe you don’t care, but I have to.”
“You’re a teenager—it’s your job to act out against your parents. What’s the worst they could do to you?” The question was shockingly naпve.
“The worst? Christopher, you don’t understand. I am Sarah Tigress Vida, youngest Daughter of Vida. If my mother finds out I have befriended a vampire, she willdisownme. I’ll lose my title, my name, my weapons, and even my magic.”
“That could be rough, but you’re strong enough to get through it,” Christopher said, still not understanding.
“I would be defenseless. I’ve killed too many of your kind before. I’ve made a lot of enemies. If I can’t fight back, I’m dead. If my line disowned me, it would be the same as them killing me.”
“That’s why you want me to leave you alone?”
She paused for only a moment. “They’ll kill you, too, if they see you with me again. Maybe you’re willing to risk that, but I’m not. I would hate myself for doing it, but I need to defend myself, so if you come near me again, I will have to act.”
For an instant, some trick of shadow combined with Sarah’s guilt made Christopher look not like a friend who had been betrayed, but like an enemy who had been wronged.
“Fine,” he answered, and now his voice was like a steel door, closing on some of the best times Sarah had ever had.
CHAPTER 11
AS SOON ASChristopher was out of sight, Sarah ran from the school grounds, vaulted into the driver’s seat of her car, and put the key in the ignition. Her hands were trembling; as soon as she noticed, the movement ceased.
Sarah Tigress Vida was not perfect, but she hadn’t lost control since her father had died, and she didn’t intend to now.
But she absolutely could not face her family right now. Dominique and Adianna were the last people she wanted to see. Neither did she care to see the other vampire hunters with whom her family would be celebrating the New Year.
At nearly eleven o’clock, she pulled into the brightly lit parking lot of SingleEarth Haven. The mishmash of brilliant auras seeped out of the magically protected building—vampires, shapeshifters, witches, and humans.
She found Caryn near the door. The healer took one look at Sarah and led her to an empty room.
“Why the gloom?” Caryn asked gently, as Sarah collapsed onto the bed.
When Sarah did not answer, Caryn put a hand on her shoulder, friendly despite the fact that they had never been friends. The other witch’s aura was like a warm breeze, gentle and soothing as it brushed over Sarah’s skin.
“Sarah, what’s wrong?”
“Can I just stay here tonight? I can’t face my mother right now.” Sarah grimaced. “If I don’t come home tonight, she’s going to want to know where I’ve been. She’ll be upset if I miss the gathering, but it’s not against the law for me to be here.”
Caryn sat on the bed next to the flustered hunter. “So long as you’re here peacefully, you’re welcome to stay. But I would have thought you’d want to spend the New Year with your family.”
Sarah closed her eyes, trying to clear from her mind Christopher’s expression. “There are some things I need to think through before I see them again. And I don’t want to fight with Dominique on a holiday.”
Caryn patted her hand. “Stay as long as you like. If you’re feeling up to it, you should come downstairs, meet some of the others. Even a hunter needs peace in her life sometimes.”
“And how would SingleEarth react to a hunter in their midst?” Sarah asked dryly.
“If you walk in there, some vampires will be nervous, but they’ll give you a chance.” Sarah laughed, but Caryn went on, saying, “It’s the effort that matters. Every vampire, every witch, still has a human soul.”
Sarah hesitated, but spending the night alone in this little room, listening to the music from downstairs and staring out the window, was not how anyone would want to spend a holiday.
Caryn led her downstairs, where the SingleEarth party was bustling with activity. Humans mingled with vampires and witches, laughing and joking together as if they were all the same kind.
Sarah rotated her shoulders, trying to work the tension from between her shoulder blades. No matter how light and happy the revelers were, she kept expecting to feel a knife in her back.
“Loosen up, Sarah,” Caryn encouraged her. “Introduce yourself to someone, and ask him to dance. Just have fun. SingleEarth is a safe, neutral place—no one’s going to bite.”
Despite Caryn’s urging, Sarah’s feeling of being misplaced refused to fade. She did not join the party, but watched from the edge, until at nearly two o’clock in the morning there was some excitement outside. Someone grabbed Caryn’s arm, pulling her toward the doorway.
Caryn paused when she saw whatever it was that stood beyond the door, but she quickly gathered herself and stepped outside, with Sarah hurrying after.
The yard was bright, and Sarah recognized the figure that was leading Caryn toward a dark corner. She trailed behind unobtrusively, not wanting to speak with Christopher if she could help it, but not willing to
leave Caryn alone with any non-SingleEarth vampire, even one that she knew. Christopher had blood on his arm, and a small streak of it on his cheek as if he had brushed hair out of his face without realizing his hand was bloody.
Christopher had driven to the party, which was odd in itself, since he, like even the weakest of vampires, could have traveled more easily with his mind. He was driving a sleek white Le Sabre that Sarah had never seen before. She understood instantly, though, when he opened the door to the backseat to reveal an injured human.
Sarah relaxed a bit when she realized Christopher was here to help a human friend, but then her suspicions rose. How had the girl been injured in the first place?
Caryn slipped into the car, ignoring the blood, while Christopher knelt beside the open door.
“Apparently she was at a bash, and she got into a fight,” he explained quickly. “One of the vampires there asked me to get her help.”
“Why didn’t he bring her himself?” Caryn asked, her voice faint, as most of her concentration went to examining the human.
“Just help her,” was all Christopher said in answer.
A second later, Sarah heard Caryn’s breath hiss in with surprise.
Curious, Sarah stepped forward to look into the car.
The girl’s naturally smooth, dark skin was marred by bruises and shallow wounds, and Sarah could tell that the unconscious victim’s jaw was probably broken. She was bleeding in several places, and her breathing was quick and shallow.
Sarah could only see the girl’s right arm, but that was enough. Faded scars marked her skin—a rose on her right shoulder and a strand of ivy on her wrist. This girl was one of Nikolas’s victims. Had Nikolas beaten her, or had some other vampire caused this more recent injury?
And what was Christopher doing with Nikolas?
“Sarah, Christopher, give me some room,” Caryn ordered. Her voice was soft, but the authority was unmistakable. Sarah could feel the gentle pulse of magic emanating from the healer—a warm, peaceful glow, so different from the painful Vida magic.
Sarah could see tension in Christopher’s movements as he slipped past her without a word, and moved further away from the light.
“Who is she?”
Christopher paused. “Her name is Marguerite,” he answered cautiously. “They asked me to take her, because no one in that group is allowed within a hundred yards of SingleEarth.”
“Why you?”
“Probably because they could find me.” His voice was growing cooler. “Blood calls to blood—a lot of the people in my line are in that circuit.” The words seemed a challenge, as he flaunted his connection to the killers.
She glanced at the car, where Caryn was still working. “What happened to her?”
Christopher shook his head. “I didn’t see it. All I know is that another vampire insulted Nikolas, and Marguerite took a swing at him. She nearly got herself killed before someone dragged the two of them apart.”
So Nikolas wasn’t the one who hurt her,Sarah thought, almost disappointed. If Nikolas had caused this, Sarah could probably have gotten some information from the girl, but if she had attacked a vampire in defense of Nikolas, then Marguerite was not likely to tell much of anything to a hunter.
“You know Nikolas, then?” she asked aloud.
“Don’t, Sarah.” Christopher’s voice was sure, and made it very clear that he had no intention of telling her anything.
“Were you at the bash?”
“Do you think I’m the one who hit her?” Christopher asked, his voice quiet, but taut with anger.
No, she did not think Christopher would ever hurt a human. But if he was hanging out around Nikolas and other killers, then she would have to start wondering if her impressions were correct. “Did you?”
“I didn’t hurt her,” he said, turning away. “I wasn’t at the bash. I don’t follow that circuit.” He sounded hurt.
“I had to ask.” But that was a lie. She could read his aura, and more than that, she knew Christopher. He wasn’t a killer.
Sarah had nothing more to say to him. Dominique or Adianna would have had a knife to his throat immediately, demanding information on Nikolas and his group. Had he been speaking to any Daughter of Vida but Sarah, Christopher would not have lived through the next five minutes.
The tense silence lasted for several moments, until Caryn called for Christopher to take the girl home. Marguerite needed rest, but she would be fine.
Sarah didn’t know what bothered her more—that Christopher had been so frosty, or that she was watching two people who could have given her information on Nikolas drive away from her.
CHAPTER 12
CHRISTOPHER WAS NOT IN CLASSon Monday. The seat next to Sarah in history was painfully empty. No new poems showed up in her locker or in her backpack.
In sculpture class, she avoided Nissa. She knew that if she allowed herself to maintain even a casual in-school relationship with the vampires, she would never be able to keep the necessary distance that Vida law demanded.
By lunch she was surprised to realize she already missed them fiercely. She didn’t even go into the cafeteria, but brought her sandwich out to the courtyard and ate on the grass, alone.
In calculus, she began to worry about Christopher. Again he wasn’t in class. Vampires did not get sick, and it took a lot to even injure them. While it was possible that Christopher had just decided to avoid school—and her—she hoped that wasn’t the case. He had been genuinely enjoying playing human; she didn’t want to think that she had chased him away from it.
Of course, if he hadn’t planned to be absent, then she didn’t like to think about why he wasn’t here. While human myth often ascribed to vampires the title “immortal,” Sarah well knew they could be killed.
Sarah’s resolve not to talk to Nissa might have held, had she not run into the girl in the parking lot after school. She was hurrying to meet up with Caryn to have her cast removed when she nearly collided with Nissa.
Jumping back, she asked, “Is Christopher okay?” The words were out of her mouth before she had a chance to think them through.
Nissa hesitated, apparently surprised. “I think so. He . . . was upset after the dance, and went to visit his brother. He came home and crashed a little after sunrise this morning.”
“His brother?” Sarah parroted, her stomach plummeting. She leaned back against a nearby car, running her hands through her hair. They had made it clear earlier that Christopher’s twin had not decided to follow the same peaceful route as his siblings. “Look, Nissa—”
“Excuse me.” The voice was dry, and decidedly unhappy. Sarah turned to see Robert, standing sulkily a few feet back. “That’s my car you’re leaning against.”
Nissa grabbed Sarah’s arm and pulled her away from the car. Robert went around to the driver’s side and popped the trunk.
“I don’t know what to make of Robert,” Nissa said under her breath, softly so the human would not overhear. “Christopher stumbled across him last night at the bash when he went to help Marguerite.”
After that, Sarah stopped paying attention, because quite suddenly she realized where she had seen Robert before she had joined this school. Her barely healed arm was a testament to the night.
“Excuse me, Nissa.” No matter what happened, she was a hunter first. Robert had been at the bash where Sarah had run into one of Nikolas’s victims, as well as at the bash where Marguerite had been. If he was part of that circuit, then she had a chance to get back to it.
She turned her back on Nissa and hurried to Robert’s car, where he was just opening the driver-side door.
“Robert!” She closed the door with one flat palm, and the human jumped, moving his fingers in just enough time to avoid having them slammed in the door.
He tried to ignore her, reaching for the door handle, but he had not accounted for her strength. She wasn’t as strong as a vampire, but she could easily outmuscle a pureblood human.
“What do you want?” he
finally asked.
Sarah glanced back to where Nissa had been, but the girl had disappeared. With no one to overhear, she answered Robert’s question honestly. “I want to know what you were doing at a bash on Halloween night.”
“I was invited,” Robert snapped.
“By who?”
“Can’t you just read my mind or something?” He shouldered her aside, and the mixture of his words and the movement forced her off balance enough that she let him.
He thought she was a vampire. Oh, that was rich. Nearly laughing, she caught the door before he had a chance to get in the car.
“Robert, you have no idea what you’re talking about—”
“Leave mealone.”
“I’m not a vampire.” Her mind was working quickly. He had seen her at the bash, and had made the obvious assumption. What she couldn’t figure out was why, if he thought she was a vampire, he had hated her almost on sight. Though there were always plenty of humans who were invited to a bash purely as entrees, most repeat guests attended because theylikedbeing fed on. Robert obviously wasn’t part of the first group, but his aversion to her proved that he wasn’t part of the second, either.
The only other humans who attended bashes were blood bonded, or thought themselves hunters. Sarah would have sensed a blood bond.
“Then what are you?” Robert pressed. “You sure as hell aren’t human.”
“I’m a witch.”
Robert snorted. “And pigs fly.”
He had just begun to slide into the seat when she added, “And I’m a vampire hunter.”
Finally the human paused, and again she sensed him sizing her up.
Technically, Sarah should have asked Dominique’s permission before telling any human she was a witch. Depending on how Robert handled her revelation, Sarah would either have to wipe his mind to make him forget she had said anything—something that was difficult, but possible—or she might be able to enlist his help.
Robert glanced around the parking lot, where other students were gathering in the postschool flurry of activity. “Get in the car,” he finally said. “Tell me what you know.”
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