"Yes, he tried to tell me the facility was in Ohio, but I saw through his lies."

"What did you find?"

"Money, a folder with Asclepius Project stamped on the inside. The folder was empty. He admitted he was helping fund the government project."

"Sean said it was conducted by terrorists."

She lifted her eyebrows in a look of strained patience.

I'd known Sean was likely lying, so why did the confirmation stab me in the gut? Dammit. "Why would Sean come up with that elaborate setup?"

"Me," Lea said matter-of-factly. "They want me."

"No offense," Louis said. "You're pretty and all, but why would they want you? I know there's a group who put a price on the Cazador's head. The council is trying to find her and turn her over to them in some type of exchange. They've tried to lure her out."

Lea turned her now deadly cold eyes on her guest. "What does your council," she spat the word in thinly veiled disgust, "tell you about this Cazador?"

"She's been a vampire hunter for hundreds of years. Even after being turned into a vampire herself, she chose to hunt us instead of joining us."

"And they would murder innocent people to find her? Enough to make the news?" Lea asked.

His eyes widened in fear as he started to connect the dots. "Oh f.u.c.k," he whispered, scrambling to his feet.

I had to defuse this situation. "Sean's not done with me. He gave me a card with an address on it, and told me to meet him in two hours with Derrick's information." I glanced at the microwave. "Which gives us about twenty minutes."

Lea turned her attention to me.

"I have to meet him," I said.

"It could be dangerous."

"Could be? I know it will be. But I have to find out what's going on."

Her jaw ticked. "I'm coming with you."

I started to protest, but I had to admit I liked the idea of someone having my back. Especially someone as powerful as Lea. "We need to leave now, but I have to grab some things first. I suspect I won't be back here for a while. If at all."

Louis was pressed against the window, terror in his eyes. I couldn't go without dealing with him first.

"Lea, I'll let you come with me, but you have to agree to let him go." I motioned to Louis.

"He knows too much," she snarled.

"Can't you spell him into forgetting this ever happened? And maybe convince him that he can have a snack without killing his food?"

"It doesn't work that way with vampires." But I saw her resolve slipping.

"The council already knows you exist. What does it matter if he saw you?"

Calvin stood, his gnarled fists clenched at his sides.

"Lea," I edged toward her until there was only a foot separating us. "I want to trust you. If you let him go, I'll help you until this thing's over. No questions asked. Blind trust. Please."

She hesitated, then nodded sharply.

Louis let out a sound of grat.i.tude, but Calvin looked p.i.s.sed.

I didn't care. Let the old man gnaw off his cheeks with his dentures. My agreement was with Lea, not with him.

"Get your stuff. I'll take Louis to the roof and see him off, you head to your meeting and we will follow."

"Deal."

I hurried to my room and tossed some clothes and toiletries into a duffel bag, then pulled Derrick's bag out of its hiding s.p.a.ce.

"You can't just hand that over to him," Lea said, standing next to my bed.

"I'm not stupid." I pulled out a folder and plucked out two pieces of paper I'd taken photos of earlier in the day. "But if I'm going to play this out, I have to give him something."

"Good thinking." Lea reached for Derrick's bag and I hesitated before handing it over. I'd just told her I was going to trust her. It was time to live up to my word.

CHAPTER 23.

LEA.

With one hand I gripped the duffel bag containing all of Derrick's gathered evidence; in the other, I held onto a now-shaking Louis.

"You really are the Cazador? s.h.i.+t, how could I not have figured that out? I'm so stupid." His words tumbled off his lips. "The council hates you. They said you were a cold-blooded killer who had no idea what it even meant to be a part of the vampire family, but you're going to let me go. Which means you aren't as bad as-"

Calvin slugged him in the back of the head. "Shut the f.u.c.k up."

Louis cringed, which made me want to cringe. I couldn't kill him, no matter what Calvin was thinking. And I knew my helper well enough to know it was going to be an argument. Maybe it really was time to say a final farewell to my long-time partner. The money and the jewels from Victor would be enough to see him through his final years in comfort.

"Calvin-"

"No, we aren't discussing this." He looked at Rachel. "Where are we meeting you?" As soon as she opened her mouth to speak, he growled at her. "You would disclose information about a meeting with a potential mark in front of this vampire?"

He'd done that on purpose, to trip her up. Jealousy already? Yes, that sounded about right for him.

Flus.h.i.+ng, she grabbed a notepad off the kitchen counter and pulled off a piece of paper. "Actually, no, I was going to ask you how long I should wait before I worry about you and Lea."

With a quick flourish, she scribbled something on the paper and handed it to Calvin. His jerky movements told me all I needed to know. He was p.i.s.sed about this whole situation.

I tightened my hold on Louis and started him toward the door. "You won't see me, Rachel. But I'll be there. You'll hear the cry of a night bird. That will be me."

She nodded. "Be careful."

Her concern surprised me. "I'm not the mortal one. Don't let him corner you, no matter what happens." I couldn't resist throwing her own words back at her. "Have more than one exit."

A sharp laugh escaped her. "Goodbye, Louis. I'd say it was nice to meet you but I'm not sure it was. If I can give you a piece of advice?"

He nodded. "Sure."

"Don't believe beautiful women won't drive a stake through your heart. I think you'll last longer."

Hustling him ahead of me, I forced him out the way Rachel and I had come in. "The roof, Louis. I'm going to show you a trick of the trade."

"You're going to teach me something?"

A slow breath escaped me. What was wrong with me? I should just kill this vamp and walk away. But his story hung inside of me, like a picture I couldn't stop looking at. Sick, scared, dying. Who wouldn't take an out that gave them back a chance at life and immortality?

To top it all off, he did seem like a nice kid.

I dropped the bag and advanced on him. "I'm just about the only hunter left, so if you see me coming for you again, run."

He nodded, but didn't back up. "You said you were going to show me something."

"You ever jumped a roof before?"

"s.h.i.+t, you mean like in The Matrix?" His eyes widened with distinct pleasure and I fought not to smile at him.

"Never heard of it, but pay attention." There were two buildings next to Rachel's apartment. One was snug against it with a barely three-foot gap which I'd been across several times. The other was about fifty feet away. I ran toward the roof's edge and pushed off at the last instant, sending myself flying over across the larger gap.

I landed in a crouch and looked back at him. He gave a holler and fist-pumped. "That was freaking awesome!"

My lips twitched and I beckoned him. "Come on, kid, let's see what you've got."

Calvin popped up on the fire escape and I spared him a glance and a shrug. I'd promised Rachel I wouldn't kill the kid.

And for some reason that promise meant more to me than my vow to kill all vampires.

Louis sprinted toward me and pushed off. There was a soft pop and his body jerked mid-air, losing momentum. He hit the roof's edge and I grabbed his hands, hauling him up. "What the h.e.l.l?"

Blood pumped out of his shattered heart, bits of silver glinting against the deep red. As he spluttered in my arms, his blue eye sought mine. "Do you think I'm going to h.e.l.l?"

Another breath burbled out of him, and then his heart stopped. I laid him down on the roof as the final stage of death took him, his body turning to ash in a blinding burst of light.

"No, Louis, I don't believe you are. But I might be." I looked up in time to see Calvin duck back down the ladder. I paced the roof, more to give myself time to calm down than to give Calvin time to get to the car.

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h, he heard me give Rachel my word!" I snapped into the night air, my movements getting progressively more violent. What the h.e.l.l was he thinking?

The vow, he was holding to the vow even if I wasn't. The fight went out of me and I bowed my head. In my heart, I was torn in two directions. Toward the life I'd built with Calvin, which revolved around hunting vampires and nothing more, and toward Rachel. A friend who could help me find a glimmer of humanity in myself. In my kind.

Something I hadn't even known I was craving.

I leapt across the building and scooped up the bag.

Rachel's head popped up from the escape ladder. "Louis left already?"

"He's gone." I helped her up, then watched as she made the short jump to the closer building.

"Thank you for not killing him, Lea. I know it goes against your vow."

"And yours," I said softly, unable to look her in the eye.

When I glanced up again, she was slipping into the adjacent building, her hair now concealed by a baseball cap. She'd still be hard to miss, but at least she was trying.

I grabbed Derrick's bag and jumped off the edge of the building. Dropping like a stone, I hit the ground hard, bending my knees to absorb the impact. I caught up to Calvin two blocks over at the Camaro. How the h.e.l.l had he moved so fast?

I bent closer to smell him and he swatted at me. "Keep your nose to yourself."

Frowning, I slid into the car and said nothing.

"You aren't going to yell at me for shooting the kid?" His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.

"Not going to change anything." I opened Derrick's bag and riffled through his things, looking for key words or something that would jump out at me. My fingers grazed a b.u.mp in the bag. I ran my fingertips over the large area again and realized what it was-a compartment sewn into the bag. Finding the lip carefully hidden in the top st.i.tching, I ripped it open. A thin sheaf of papers looked up at me, three words s.h.i.+ning at me like a beacon.

Lieutenant Sean Price. His name was signed at the bottom of one of the doc.u.ments. I pulled the papers out and flipped my way to the beginning. Security detail for the Asclepius Project. Confirmation that he was in on the whole show. s.h.i.+t, and now I had to tell Rachel. I could tell she didn't trust him, but I could also tell she liked him. More than liked him-I could smell him all over her.

"Mierda, this is going to give us grief." I tapped the paper. I wanted to read more, but Calvin was already pulling to a stop.

"We're here."

Here was an abandoned hotel with a single burning light on the ground floor. Calvin parked us behind a rusted-out garbage truck, giving us good cover. I watched as a dark SUV pulled up and parked in front of the building. Four men got out. Four men with big guns, headpieces for communication, and an att.i.tude that had nothing to do with being excited to see Rachel.

Sean was the last one to get out of the car, his scent unmistakable. I slid out of the Camaro, waved at Calvin to stay where he was, and crept closer.

I managed to catch the tail end of what Sean was saying to his men.

"Do not engage. I want to talk to Rachel before we decide what to do."

The men all laughed and I narrowed my eyes at the casual misogyny. They needed a good lesson on what women could do, and I was just the person to give it to them.

The four men spread out, and I marked their positions. Two went in with Sean on the first floor; the other two headed to the second floor to keep watch, one in the front, one in the rear.

I slipped around to the back first, using the rubble of leftover renovations gone wrong as my cover; a beaten-up couch, the remains of the original front desk, and what looked like a knock-off replica of the statue "David"-minus the best part, which had been broken off. The walls of the old rundown hotel were slick, but handholds were plentiful. I was sliding through a second floor window just as the soldiers were getting into position.

The interior of the building was blown out other than a few walls that held it together. No rooms, just a wide-open expanse with support beams here and there. I couldn't see the second soldier, the one watching the front entrance, but I didn't waste time looking for him. I'd find him soon enough.

I picked up a piece of old tile and flipped it past the soldier's head. The clatter spun him around, and I used his distraction to creep up behind him. I grabbed his head in one hand and his gun in the other. A sharp twist snapped his neck. So easy.