"I'm sorry if you can't understand this," she snapped, "but even if her life doesn't matter to you, it matters to me. I won't let her be hurt, possibly even killed, on my behalf."

"On the contrary, Heather means a great deal to me," Kaleo argued, "and I have no intention of letting her be killed. But neither do I intend to let them have you."

"Why do you care?" Christine interrupted, fury in her voice. "Or is it just that you don't share your victims?"

Kaleo looked at her with a long, considering gaze before saying, "I think Sarah would object to being thought of as a victim."

"And her opinion matters so much to you, you," the human spat.

"Do you think, little girl, that the fact that she has been my enemy negates the fact that she has my blood?"

"Doesn't it?" Christine said challengingly, but more softly now.

The reminder that Sarah was in any way related to Kaleo was not welcome to her. Yes, he had changed Nissa, who had changed Nikolas, who had changed Kristopher, and so it was-distantly-his blood that now made Sarah a vampire. But she wasn't going to call him family.

Sarah was about to protest Kaleo's claiming her as anything, but he turned from her to Nikolas to say, "And speaking of blood, Sarah needs to feed."

The words jolted Sarah into immediacy.

"I'm fine," she said. She could function fine for now. Her eating habits were not the immediate issue.

"You are not not fine." While Kaleo argued with her, she could tell that Nikolas and Kristopher were examining her closely. "I can see the bloodl.u.s.t in your eyes." fine." While Kaleo argued with her, she could tell that Nikolas and Kristopher were examining her closely. "I can see the bloodl.u.s.t in your eyes."

"I fed a few hours ago."

"On Kristopher, I know," Kaleo replied dismissively. "It was enough to keep you alive, but it won't be enough to hold you long, not when you're this young and under stress. You need live blood to sustain you."

Sarah knew she was in trouble when Kristopher agreed, saying, "If you don't feed soon, willingly, then you'll feed in a frenzy, and you'll probably kill someone. You don't want that."

She wasn't ready. There was too much else going on. She hadn't had time to take in any of it or figure out what she wanted or needed to do. She was supposed to have been at SingleEarth, where they could teach her how vampires survived without hurting anyone, not with Nikolas and Kristopher, who for all their protectiveness were admitted killers. Kristopher hadn't killed for the past fifty years, but he had stopped in an effort to support Nissa, not because he'd had a change of heart. Sarah doubted he would keep to his new ways now that he was back with his brother.

And she really really didn't want to have this conversation in front of Kaleo, who she still very much wanted to kill. Maybe the vampire blood didn't make a person evil, but it obviously hadn't made him didn't want to have this conversation in front of Kaleo, who she still very much wanted to kill. Maybe the vampire blood didn't make a person evil, but it obviously hadn't made him good good.

"The longer we bicker here, the more trouble we court," Kaleo said. "Sarah, deal with your own needs. We can't hold your hand right now. Nikolas, Kristopher, I advise you to warn your people. If Heather is a valid target, then any human who attends our circuits is probably in danger. There is no point in rescuing one while others are picked off. Once our people are safe, we can decide how to remove the threat itself."

He disappeared, leaving them with yet another subject she wasn't ready for. Nikolas and Kristopher turned to her, but what was she supposed to say? The threat Kaleo had referred to was Sarah's family and oldest friends. Her mother, her sister and her cousin Zachary were the last of the Vida witches. They would be joined by hunters from other lines, like Michael, who had been Sarah's best friend before Dominique had decided they were getting too close and put her foot down.

Sarah would have to be a monster to fight them-no, not just fight, but kill, since that was the only way to stop them.

Or was it? There had to be another way. She just didn't know what it was.

CHAPTER 5

SAt.u.r.dAY, 6:37 A.M. A.M.

ZACHARY PUT HIS head down while Adia drove. His power had been wrapped up in the vampire's when the bloodbond had jumped at him, so it had been much harder to incapacitate the girl now in their backseat. He had done what was necessary, but was paying for it with a pounding head and a rolling stomach. head down while Adia drove. His power had been wrapped up in the vampire's when the bloodbond had jumped at him, so it had been much harder to incapacitate the girl now in their backseat. He had done what was necessary, but was paying for it with a pounding head and a rolling stomach.

He looked up long enough to a.s.sure himself that she was completely out. Trapped in a moving vehicle with someone whose strength, speed and healing might be almost vampiric, and who probably wouldn't hesitate to leap out a door or fight for the steering wheel at eighty miles an hour, would be a bad time to make a mistake. It had been stupid of him not to track her as a threat in the first place.

When they got home, he could tell that Adia was trying to be careful, but the jerking motion the car made upon stopping still nearly made him heave. He shoved the nausea back, though, forcing it out of his frame of awareness as he pushed open the door and stood on legs that didn't want to hold him.

"Do you need help?" Adia asked.

"I can handle it." His mind was buzzing with a kind of white noise. The pain had pushed all coherent thoughts away, and for the moment, that was kind of nice despite the agony. It wasn't so intense that he couldn't do his job, though.

He checked around to make sure no neighbors had gone out for an early-morning walk before he lifted Heather onto his shoulder again and carried her toward the house, where Dominique was standing in the front doorway. She wasn't tapping her foot; such a display of impatience would be a shocking loss of control for the Vida matriarch. He couldn't have said what it was about her expression that made him certain she was watching him with frustration.

He just knew she was. He had always been able to sense her moods, ever since she had taken him in. He had always been able to recognize the times when she'd looked at him and seen his mother, or his sister, and wondered why he alone had survived and when the fatal flaw that had ended each of their lives would manifest in him.

He had hoped she would be sleeping, as she had said to Adia, but perhaps like the rest of them she was too restless. She must have stayed up to see what they would discover at SingleEarth.

"What's this?" Dominique asked as they approached.

"Kaleo's favorite bloodbond, I believe," Zachary answered. His voice was too loud, but he held himself from flinching or whispering. "Heather. We found Nissa, but then this one attacked us, and the vampire got away." Dominique's expression shifted; there was just the barest tightening between her brows. Zachary added, "She should be able to tell us a good deal. Kaleo is a major player in Nikolas's and Kristopher's circuit, and she will also probably be easier to persuade than a full-blooded vampire would be."

Reluctantly, Dominique nodded, as if his defensive babbling had in any way been new information to her.

"Bring her in. We should bind her before she wakes."

Fortunately, Dominique turned around too early to see him stumble on the steps. Adia caught his arm, steadying him.

"Are you okay?" she whispered.

He nodded, regretting the sharpness of the motion the instant he made it.

"Who else is here?" Adia asked as they followed Dominique to the kitchen. Zachary wondered at the question for a moment until Adia added, "I don't know all the cars in the driveway."

Zachary hadn't even looked. His senses were so dull at that moment he could probably have been run over by a truck without noticing.

"Jay Marinitch arrived a few minutes ago," Dominique answered. "Robert is also here."

Jay. Oh, joy. Zachary had known he would have to work with that hunter once the Rights were called, but he had hoped Jay's flighty tendencies would keep him from showing up so promptly.

And then there was Robert Richards, the human would-be hunter. He lacked any recognizable discipline and had no formal training and was only of interest to Dominique because of his sister's connection to Nikolas. Christine Richards had been abducted by Nikolas the day before.

Neither Jay nor Robert would be much help in this hunt, and either could prove a hindrance. Robert's loyalties were downright questionable; Nikolas had apparently told him that Kaleo had tortured his sister and driven her mad, and had claimed he was taking Christine with him for her own good. Robert was just gullible enough to believe it.

"Zachary Vida goes out looking for a vampire, and comes back with a date."

The clear, almost musical voice belonged to Jay. His wit had never been to Zachary's taste, and now was no exception. Jay had the sense not to bait Michael, because he knew that the Arun witch would swing a punch at him, but Zachary didn't have that freedom.

Zachary set Heather down in one of the st.u.r.dy armchairs. Dominique had already gone to get rope and duct tape to bind her. Alone, the rope and tape together could not hold a bloodbond with Heather's strength, but they could be used as a base for magic that could dampen Heather's natural power and make the bonds more effective.

"Look here," Adia said, slipping something out of Heather's pocket as she helped arrange the bloodbond in the chair. "Cell phone!" She flipped open the phone and started hitting b.u.t.tons. "Nothing in the address book...and it looks like she had the sense to clear incoming and outgoing calls before she attacked us...but there's one missed call."

"Anything familiar?" Zachary asked, though he didn't hold out much hope. There was a chance they could figure out the billing address for the cell phone if it was on a contract, but creatures who had been smart enough to survive being hunted for centuries tended not to be so easily caught.

"Looks like a local number," Adia answered. She turned and flipped open her laptop, which had been sitting on the kitchen counter, humming softly.

Robert, who had been staring at Heather since Zachary had brought her in, asked suddenly, "What is going on on? Dominique called, and I showed up at six a.m. on a Sat.u.r.day Sat.u.r.day without asking a lot of questions. But if we're tying up random girls, I think I deserve to know why." without asking a lot of questions. But if we're tying up random girls, I think I deserve to know why."

Zachary bit back a sharp retort. The human wasn't worth it. Past Robert, Dominique frowned, and only then did Zachary realize he had lifted a hand to rub his temple again.

"She's Kaleo's oldest, and by all indications favorite, bloodbond," he said, responding only to the last of Robert's demands. If Dominique had chosen to leave him in the dark about recent events, that was her call to make.

"Kaleo's?" Robert asked, brows rising. "Does that mean she's likely to help us out?"

"Don't. Bet. On. It." The growled words came from the girl on the chair as she shifted for the first time, testing her restraints. She rolled her head, making the joints in her neck and shoulders pop like cracking knuckles, and then looked up with blue-gray eyes.

Jay stood and slunk across the room to kneel, probably unwisely, in front of the bloodbond. Her feet were not tied to the chair, so Jay was risking a foot in the face, but if he wasn't bright enough to figure that out on his own, he didn't deserve a warning.

"A bloodbond's loyalty to her master tends to be fairly unwavering," Jay said, his words probably for Robert despite his holding Heather's gaze. "I will hunt hunt as necessary, but I do not have the stomach for harsh interrogation. So unless Vida-kin have torture in their blood, I, too, wonder what we intend to do with this girl." as necessary, but I do not have the stomach for harsh interrogation. So unless Vida-kin have torture in their blood, I, too, wonder what we intend to do with this girl."

"We're not torturing anyone," Robert said, clearly horrified.

Zachary hoped it wouldn't come to that, but every Vida present knew they had less room to be idealistic than the Marinitch or the human.

"Found it," Adia said, still staring at the laptop screen. "It looks like that missed call was from an independent bookstore called Makeshift."

"If it's a store, anyone could have asked to use the phone," Zachary observed.

Dominique nodded. "We'll keep it in mind, but it's probably not worth-"

"I think you should check it out," Jay interrupted, still looking at Heather.

"While you're at it, could you pick up the book I ordered?" Heather asked sardonically.

Adia asked, almost too casually, "Do you know anything about this place, Jay?"

Zachary saw Dominique give Jay a wary look a moment before his mind caught up to what the other two Vidas had obviously already realized. Each line descended from Macht had its own skill set. The Vida line worked with raw power and could manipulate it in a variety of ways. The Arun line were faster and stronger than most witches and focused their training on offensive magic for fighting. The Smoke witches studied healing. Each Marinitch chose how to focus his abilities; some became hunters, some were healers, and some were closer to oracles or adjudicators. The Marinitch line was talented in empathy, bordering in some cases on telepathy.

Most hunters did not develop that skill; it was not beneficial to feel too much of what their prey experienced. Jay was apparently an exception.

He shrugged in response to Adia's question. "Nothing specific," he said.

Heather suddenly looked at Jay sharply, perhaps deducing the reason for his intent stare. At last she attempted the savage kick Zachary had predicted. Jay dodged handily.

"I'm going to check it out," Adia said. "The rest of you should stay here with our 'guest.'"

Dominique broke in: "I spoke to one of my informants shortly before you returned. He says he might know something, and asked me to meet him in the city."

Adia nodded, obviously not comfortable questioning her mother for more details. "If you think he's worth meeting, then we'll manage without you until you're back." To Zachary, she said, "You're in charge while we're both gone. Michael should be back soon to join you. You can catch him up. I imagine Kaleo will come for his property sooner rather than later."

Zachary nodded, acknowledging and a.s.senting to her commands. Adia had a natural air of authority and confidence. He was happy to follow her lead.

Unfortunately, once she and Dominique were gone, he was alone with the Marinitch telepath, the human and the tied-up bloodbond.

"Anyone up for a round of go fish?" Jay asked after looking around the room. It was the kind of idiocy Zachary expected from him. Did it really even deserve an answer?

There was silence for the s.p.a.ce of a few heartbeats, and then Heather pointed out, "I don't have a hand for the cards."

Robert said, "I guess I appreciate your calling me in if you're hunting Kaleo, but is this your entire plan? We're just going to hang out until an angry, thousands-of-years-old vampire shows up to try to kill us all?"

"Do you think we should rent a video?" Jay suggested, in his usual cavalier fashion.

"I'm going to take a nap on the couch," Zachary said. He had to get away from these three for a few minutes, and to lie down before he threw up.

Taunting and jokes aside, Jay paused to ask, "Are you all right?"

He didn't want to answer. Worse, he was worried he didn't need need to answer. How much could Jay see, just looking at him? Zachary worked too hard to keep his external Vida poise to let some birdbrained Marinitch see what was inside. to answer. How much could Jay see, just looking at him? Zachary worked too hard to keep his external Vida poise to let some birdbrained Marinitch see what was inside.

"Don't worry," he said, putting up the same mental walls he would use to try to keep a vampire out of his thoughts, and speaking as if he a.s.sumed that Jay was asking about the plan and not his physical or mental condition. "The house is warded, so any vampire who plans to come for Heather will have to enter like a human, instead of appearing wherever he wants. If Kaleo shows, I'll be able to join the fight in plenty of time."

Jay nodded and waved him off.

He lay down. Strict training of his body allowed him to fall asleep almost instantly, but that sleep was far from restful. Dominique's earlier words had stirred up horrors that he normally tried to forget. It didn't take vampirism for sleep to recall a five-year-old child's nightmares come true.

He was just old enough to understand: Mama had gone mad. Someone had told her something bad, and she had gone wild. She had screamed and shrieked and cried in a way he hadn't thought Vidas even could. could. Then she had stormed out. Hours later, he had realized he was alone in the house. His older sister had already been missing for a week. His little brother had gone out the door after Mama Then she had stormed out. Hours later, he had realized he was alone in the house. His older sister had already been missing for a week. His little brother had gone out the door after Mama.

No one came home.

As the day turned into night, he went through the cabinets to try to find something to eat. He went to bed when it got dark. He couldn't sleep.

He turned on every light in the house in an attempt to banish the shadows, and then he turned them off, because a Vida shouldn't be afraid of the dark.

He turned just one back on.

He fell asleep only when the dawn came, and woke because he was hungry. He scavenged for breakfast, the way he had done before. Someone had to come home soon hungry. He scavenged for breakfast, the way he had done before. Someone had to come home soon.

When someone finally did, it wasn't Mama, but Jacqueline's friend Dominique. She brought him to her house and gave him dinner and then told him she was going back out to look for the rest of his family.

"Take care of the baby while I'm gone," she added.

He nodded solemnly. After Dominique left, he went into the nursery. She had taught him how to hold and feed and change a baby when he had visited before with his mother, but right then Adianna was sleeping, so he just sat next to the crib and listened to her breathe. He would protect her until everyone came home.

CHAPTER 6