"That was then," Zachary answered. "This is now. We-"

A bloodbond blindsided both of them, attacking while Adia's attention was focused on Nissa. The girl probably weighed ninety pounds, but she fought in a suicidal whirlwind of shouting and fury that made it obvious her stature was not an indication of her strength.

She made a deep slash on Zachary's arm with an X-Acto knife. He had to let go of Nissa to defend himself. Adia made a grab at the vampire when Zachary dropped her, but she was too slow.

The bloodbond shouted, "Go!"

Nissa disappeared.

"I recognize you," Zachary said as the bloodbond fell into a defensive crouch, the knife in one hand. The mad a.s.sault had obviously been meant to distract them from Nissa, and it had worked. Now she was waiting for them to make the next move. "Heather. You're Kaleo's pet."

Adia hadn't recognized the face, but she knew the name. She wasn't sure how old Kaleo's favorite bloodbond was, but clearly she was trained well enough to leap in front of hunters' blades to protect one of Kaleo's fledglings. Of course, bloodbonds tended to be fanatically loyal like that.

"Better a pet than a mindless tool," Heather spat. "How dare dare you threaten Nissa?" you threaten Nissa?"

At a glance from Zachary, Adia moved forward. The action was a feint, but it was enough to draw Heather's attention. The instant the bloodbond struck out with the knife, Zachary swept in behind her. He caught her wrist in one hand, controlling the knife, and wrapped his other hand around the front of her throat as he had with Nissa. The following ripple of power slapped Adia like a burst of frigid air, and then Heather went limp and the knife clattered to the floor.

Kicking the weapon away, Zachary heaved the bloodbond into a fireman's carry. Adia looked around and hastily found some duct tape and cotton b.a.l.l.s, which she used to create a makeshift bandage for the gash across Zachary's arm. He let her do so without putting Heather down.

The slight delay gave Hasana Smoke time to emerge. Adia wondered what had taken her so long.

"You're not taking that girl out of here," Hasana protested.

"I don't see why not," Zachary replied. He swayed a little and shifted to lean on the doorway as if bored, disguising his weakness as apathy. Adia was pretty sure she was the only one who would be able to tell the difference.

"Much as I hate it, I know the Rights give you the authority to storm in here and threaten harmless people like Nissa," Hasana said. "But they don't give you permission to kidnap anyone you feel like."

"First," Adia said, "the Rights of Kin give us the authority to follow any path to our targets we must. This one jumped into the fray to protect Nissa. Ergo, she has a connection to that group. Second, she attacked us. She violated SingleEarth's commandments and is therefore not protected by its haven. Zachary, let's go."

She led the way. Zachary followed. She wondered how much power he had just burned, and what it had cost him. Knocking a human unconscious without killing or doing permanent damage required a kind of precision that Adia found difficult. Sarah had always been pretty good at that kind of thing, but doing it instantly to a bloodbond with Heather's level of strength required an incredible amount of power.

Sure enough, the moment they returned to Zachary's car, he dumped Heather into the backseat, handed Adia the keys and collapsed into the pa.s.senger seat.

"Are you all right?" Adia asked.

He nodded. "I'll be fine." He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. "It would be more comfortable if you took a crowbar to my head, but the headache will pa.s.s, eventually."

"What will we do with Heather?" Adia asked, checking around the car as she started it, in case any more crazed SingleEarth members were planning to attack them. For now, it seemed like the rest were giving them a wide berth.

Zachary shrugged. "We can get information from her. And even if we can't, Kaleo will probably come for her; he's had her too long to abandon her without it looking like weakness. Even if he's not directly directly part of our current target, I wouldn't mind having a shot at that s.a.d.i.s.t." part of our current target, I wouldn't mind having a shot at that s.a.d.i.s.t."

Adia was occasionally worried that Zachary, so far as she could tell, wouldn't mind "having a shot at" a bunny if it were sufficiently connected to vampires. She didn't speak the thought out loud, though; about Kaleo, they were in agreement.

Zachary was the perfect Vida: a cool, controlled hunter who never let himself be distracted in a fight and never let emotion get in the way. Dominique should have put him in charge of hunting down Sarah-Sarah's killers. But Adia suspected that Dominique hadn't chosen her for her skills, but to clearly determine her loyalty. No one would ever doubt Zachary that way.

Adia resisted the urge to floor the accelerator as she merged onto the highway. Zachary couldn't know she was torn inside. He couldn't know that Adianna Vida, oldest and now only daughter of Dominique Vida, wasn't what she appeared.

He couldn't know she was scared-no, terrified.

You would really kill your own sister?

Nissa's accusation echoed through her thoughts.

Failure in this hunt would likely mean the end of their line. The notion of putting a blade between Sarah's ribs made Adia's stomach twist, but Dominique was right that they couldn't continue this way. The Vida line had survived since the dawn of the human species, despite eras of famine, Inquisition and war. If their generation was going to be the last, so be it. She wouldn't shame thirty thousand years of ancestors by putting down her blade and hiding her head in the sand.

CHAPTER 4

SAt.u.r.dAY, 6:13 A.M. A.M.

CARYN S SMOKE, THE youngest daughter of the Smoke line, walked into the meeting room where Sarah waited. Her face was perfectly composed despite the rapid pounding of her heart, which echoed in Sarah's ears. Sarah had never realized that the young healer had such self-control. youngest daughter of the Smoke line, walked into the meeting room where Sarah waited. Her face was perfectly composed despite the rapid pounding of her heart, which echoed in Sarah's ears. Sarah had never realized that the young healer had such self-control.

"You have to leave," Caryn said. "I'm sorry, but you do. Now. SingleEarth can't give you anything. You have to get out of here, before they come back and look for you."

"What?" Sarah had never liked SingleEarth, but they had welcomed some of the vilest creatures in history, provided they had agreed to reform. How could they turn her away?

Caryn shoved a duffel bag at Sarah. "Here's what I could swipe while they were arguing. I know it isn't much, but it's all I could do." Caryn was pale, and now she balled one hand in her black hair. "I'm sorry I can't help more, but my mother says if I cross them, it could endanger everyone at SingleEarth. You and I weren't close, but I know you can take care of yourself. You've got strong friends now. You'll be okay, if you just go. go."

Sarah disappeared without even the sense to demand an explanation. She wasn't sure where she was going; instant transportation was a vampiric trick she used by instinct instead of intent, and the extra effort of bringing the bag with her made her head spin. She nearly fell as she reappeared, before she was caught and pulled into an embrace.

"Sarah, thank G.o.d."

She could feel the wash of emotion that accompanied the words, and knew as she leaned on him that this was Kristopher. When she had first woken as a vampire, he had given her his blood so she would not need to hunt and kill an innocent human. Doing so had opened his mind to her.

She closed her eyes and let him hold her for a moment, while simultaneously trying to shield her mind from his thoughts.

Kristopher had flirted with her before he had known she was a witch; she had allowed it because she could sense in his aura that it had been a long time since he had killed, and because she had a.s.sumed he was allied with SingleEarth...and because it had been nice to have a friend. She didn't know what might have happened between them if she hadn't been a Vida, and if his brother hadn't reacted violently to what he saw as a threat to Kristopher. As it was, they had never even managed a successful first date before their romance had gone the way of Romeo and Juliet's-except that Romeo and Juliet didn't wake up the next day, leave the crypt and say, "Now what?"

Sarah had chosen to go to SingleEarth because she needed distance distance, so she could learn how to live this new life before she had to figure out what she wanted to do about the relationship she had never intended to die for. Now she could barely hear her own thoughts through his anxiety.

"Nissa told us there were hunters at SingleEarth." That piece of information came from another voice, similar to the first but indefinably different. "We were concerned."

Sarah pulled back, fighting the gentle insistence of Kristopher's arms that encouraged her to stay close, when she heard Nikolas's voice. Looking up, she saw that Christine had also joined them.

She had to get herself under control, not just because she still instinctively wanted to be strong in front of Nikolas, her recent enemy, but because Christine had gone through enough lately. She didn't need to see Sarah panicked.

And maybe she could admit, if just to herself, that having someone else to be strong for helped. As a Vida, she had always existed for others. She had lived and died to fulfill vows written by ancestors thousands of years earlier. She had never hesitated to risk her life to protect the innocent. Her friendship with Nissa and Kristopher had been the first thing she had ever sought for herself.

Look where that had brought her.

"Hunters at SingleEarth?" she echoed. "They're powerless there." Might Adia have been looking for her? One reason Sarah had gone to SingleEarth was that it was owned by the Smoke witches, and they had treaties so even the Vida line was not obligated to hunt vampires within its walls. She hadn't expected her family to want to see her, but she had wanted to give them an option that would free them from being bound by law to kill her.

Kristopher shook his head, his gaze now as dark as his brother's. "They tried to take Nissa. They threatened to kill her if she didn't cooperate."

Sarah shook her head, horrified and amazed. What was going on on?

All four of them tensed when another figure appeared in the room. Christine recoiled, her face going pale, and as Sarah moved to comfort her, Nikolas and Kristopher stepped protectively between the newcomer and Sarah and Christine. Did they think she needed to be protected, defended, coddled, as if she were helpless? Or was the position accidental, a result of her moving closer to Christine?

That didn't matter right then. What mattered was that Kaleo Sonyar, the vampire who had just appeared among them, looked p.i.s.sed p.i.s.sed. The oldest living direct fledgling of Kendra, Kaleo was an apt representation of his line: beautiful, an artist, absolutely mad and capable of undeniable cruelty. He had features like a Roman sculpture-quite literally, since rumors claimed he had modeled for some of those works-and golden blond hair that gave him an angelic cast. The looks were misleading, however. By killing Nissa's father and threatening Nikolas, Kaleo had convinced Nissa to let him change her. More recently, he had bloodbonded Christine and tortured her for months, mainly to spite Nikolas.

Seeing the anger stark on his aristocratic features now gave Sarah the chills.

"What is going on?" Kaleo demanded.

"I think that's our question for you," Kristopher said. "What are you doing in our home?"

Kaleo spun to face Sarah, which made both boys take a protective step forward. "Your 'family' was in SingleEarth."

"I know. They-"

He shook his head, silencing her explanation. "They took Heather. I demand you three get her back."

"You demand demand?" Nikolas repeated incredulously. "Why would we possibly help you rescue one of your your bonds? What exactly were you doing while she was fighting hunters, anyway?" bonds? What exactly were you doing while she was fighting hunters, anyway?"

Though Sarah was also surprised that he would expect expect their help, she didn't share Nikolas's shock at the request. She knew what the hunters might do to Heather if Heather refused to give them information. their help, she didn't share Nikolas's shock at the request. She knew what the hunters might do to Heather if Heather refused to give them information.

"She is surrounded by witches waiting for some fool to step in to pick her up," Kaleo said. "I'm not about to be the only fool there. As for why you should help, if Heather hadn't distracted the hunters, they would have taken Nissa instead. And finally, I was in the same place you were: not not in SingleEarth, where I am very much not welcome, and in SingleEarth, where I am very much not welcome, and not not policing my people in a place where they are supposed to be safe from exactly this kind of a.s.sault. Since when has that rule changed?" policing my people in a place where they are supposed to be safe from exactly this kind of a.s.sault. Since when has that rule changed?"

Both brothers answered the question by looking to Sarah for explanation. "Sarah?" Kristopher asked.

"SingleEarth's autonomy is a high law among all witch-kin-"

"Which is why I was a little surprised they seem to be ignoring ignoring it," Kaleo interjected. it," Kaleo interjected.

Sarah stepped back. It didn't make any sense sense...but Caryn had acted like it did. My mother says if I cross them, it could endanger everyone at SingleEarth My mother says if I cross them, it could endanger everyone at SingleEarth. "Oh, G.o.ddess," Sarah whispered as the answer struck her like lightning. Her stomach plummeted. Her chest constricted.

"Sarah?"

She wasn't sure who had spoken. She felt blind. But she remembered the ancient words she had spent many hours studying as a child. A Vida was only given a true blade, crafted by the witches of old and imbued with generations of power, after she had recited and then sworn to all the laws of their line. She could have said the words in her sleep, but the only law applicable in that moment was so ancient she would never have thought anyone would invoke it.

When witch-kin is slain, there shall be no safe haven, no higher law to protect the guilty. Every hunter shall turn her blade to the task, and there shall be no rest until those responsible have been slain.

The Rights of Kin hadn't been called upon since the death of Smoke Madder, thousands of years earlier. The conflict had led to the schism that split the witches into separate lines for the first time, with some obeying the Rights and some swearing a vow of nonviolence and giving up the t.i.tle of hunter for themselves and all their descendants.

Hunters' deaths were avenged when they could be, but most of the time it was simply accepted that hunters eventually lost their lives, usually to their prey. No one had called on the Rights when the Light line had been extinguished three centuries before, and the Vida line had nearly been forced to the same fate. No one had called on the Rights when Nikolas and Kristopher had killed Elisabeth Vida in the 1850s, or when Zachary's sister Jacqueline had been slaughtered, or when Sarah's father had been bled and dumped on their front step.

Sarah was sitting. When had she sat down?

Kristopher was by her side. Nikolas was still standing close to Kaleo, defensive, and Christine was hovering in the doorway at the opposite side of the room. Her face was tight with fear, but she stood solid, eyes only occasionally flickering back to Kaleo from Sarah.

Sarah recognized the posture. It was loyalty that held her when terror made her want to run. It had to be hard for her to stay in the same room with Kaleo, but she did it anyway.

Sarah wanted to say to her, Just run. Loyalty isn't worth so much sometimes Just run. Loyalty isn't worth so much sometimes.

"The Rights of Kin are ancient, ancient ancient Vida law," Sarah said. "Older than the other lines' existences. Older than any living vampires, or recorded civilization, for that matter. They were pa.s.sed down verbally for centuries, because humanity hadn't yet invented written language." Vida law," Sarah said. "Older than the other lines' existences. Older than any living vampires, or recorded civilization, for that matter. They were pa.s.sed down verbally for centuries, because humanity hadn't yet invented written language."

"Get to the point, point," Kaleo growled.

"Back off!" Kristopher shouted. "Can't you see she's in shock?"

Sarah shook herself. She wasn't in shock; a daughter of Vida didn't have that luxury. She pushed herself to her feet.

"The Rights of Kin can be called upon by any descendant of Macht-any Vida, Smoke, Arun or Marinitch witch-when their kin is slain. The law requires any other child of Macht to set aside all allegiances and obligations to a.s.sist with hunting down the killer. The healers don't have to fight, but they can't offer sanctuary or a.s.sistance, either. What Caryn did," she said, thinking out loud as her gaze went to the bag the witch had hastily pa.s.sed her, "would be enough to get her disowned if anyone learned about it."

"Focus, Vida," Kaleo snapped. "What does this mean, right now, to us?"

Kristopher looked ready to murder him, but the sharp words brought Sarah back to herself. They reminded her of the many times she had reported to Dominique, ignoring fatigue or agony after a particularly grueling fight. She had to be practical and keep her mind on what needed to be done. She couldn't dwell on the lump in her stomach when she wondered why now, of all times, Dominique had called upon this ancient law.

"It means that all witches who hunt will turn their full attention on the ones Dominique considers responsible for my murder. They will call on their allies. They will track down anyone they have ever known to have a connection to the killers, without worrying about messy treaties with SingleEarth or other normally respected neutral havens."

"I don't suppose they care that you are not, in fact, dead," Nikolas said.

Sarah shook her head. "In their eyes, I am."

"And we're your killers," Kristopher added. "That means we need to warn our people. Everyone who wears our marks, or is normally allied with us."

"Is Nissa safe?" Kaleo asked.

"She already had her run-in with the hunters-"

"Yes, I'm aware of that," the Roman interrupted. "I a.s.sume she came to you after. Is she safe?"

"Yes," Nikolas replied. "We're not stupid. We didn't know about the Rights, but the hunters threatened to kill her. It wasn't subtle. She's gone to ground."

Kaleo nodded and then looked back at Sarah. "What will these hunters do to a bloodbond who might have information?"

"Normally, most hunters won't hurt humans, even bloodbonds, but all bets are off now. They'll want information, and they won't show a lot of mercy getting it. Thank G.o.ddess Nissa got away."

"I, too, am relieved that Nissa is safe," Kaleo said, "but Nissa got away because Heather threw herself at the hunters, probably a.s.suming they wouldn't bother with a bloodbond, and certainly knowing that I would expect her to protect Nissa in any way she could. If she is now in danger, it is your fault, and I expect your help to retrieve her."

Sarah closed her eyes and let herself go completely still, visualizing calm and centered attention.

By the time she opened her eyes again, she had come to a decision. There was one difference between this and all the deaths before. As Nikolas had pointed out, even if Sarah was dead by Vida standards, she wasn't dead dead. Her family would be horrified at the notion of a vampire-a monster-walking around in the skin of someone who had once been one of them. Vidas didn't believe that vampires could ever be good. They would be thinking not about if if Sarah went bad, but Sarah went bad, but when when, and would consider it a mark of respect for who she had been to destroy what she now was.

"It isn't right of me to put you all in this much danger. Dominique called on the Rights, but what she really wants is me." There was a feeling that was almost one of freedom, of relief, as she said, "If I turn myself in-"

Shouting from the two brothers interrupted her chilled determination, but Kaleo's words were what cut through to her: "Don't be absurd."

"Once they have me, they'll release Heather."

"So?"

She had expected anything other than blunt indifference from Kaleo. He had seemed to want to rescue his bloodbond, but Sarah realized she had misjudged him.