"Be able to identify him?"

"No," Michael shakes his head. "She figured Dani would come back and talk to you about what was really going on, and the vamp knew better than to let that happen. She said if Dani did get turned, they wouldn't send all of you after her- that they'd take care of her themselves."

Overwhelming anger blows away all of the sadness in me. "They've already written her off! They're not looking to find her, they're plotting damage control."

"Hey, it doesn't mean she did get-you know, turned, but I thought you should know."

"But wait, why would she say the 'vamp knew better than to let that happen'?"

"Yeah, I couldn't figure that out, either-it was like she was talking about someone she knew."

My stomach sinks. No. No. No. Please don't let my mom be involved. Please let this all be Helena's doing.

"Did they say anything else?" I say through clenched jaws.

"Not really, but like I said, I thought you should know. We have to watch out for one another because sometimes I get the feeling no one else is." Michael looks up at the ceiling.

"Don't tell Connor I told you, okay?"

My chin quivers. "Connor knows?"

"I, uh," Michael sputters. "I, uh, checked with him first, yesterday--you know, since you're together and his mom's involved."

"Why didn't he didn't want me to know?"

"Well, maybe he was just trying to protect you."

I let out a long sigh. "Or maybe he was trying to keep me in the dark."

Michael leans over and props his elbows on his knees and sinks his head into his hands.

"Maybe."

"You're not going to be like everyone else, and try to convince me everything's fine?"

Michael shakes his head. "No. I kind of get the feeling Connor has changed, or I don't know what, but he's not the same the guy he was even last week. I don't want you to get hurt."

I want to say Connor's changed because of me, because we're together-but I know that's not true. Something happened after his mother caught him sneaking home after our first night together. And no matter how hard I've tried, I haven't been able to stop all the nagging doubts about him from constantly surfacing in my head.

Michael turns to me. "I've been asking my mom a lot of questions after I gave you and Dani that ride home the other night. I got to thinking, I'm doing all this body disposal and nonsense for the coven, so I should know how things work, right? But my mom got all weird on me, and after I kept bugging her she finally said I needed to mind my own business."

"What?"

Michael nods. "Exactly! Cue the what-the-eff-moment. She's not bagging bodies, I am, and I think I have the right to know what's going on. So I go talk to Connor-thinking he's my best friend, and who else would know the scoop better than the guy living in the same house as the coven leader? But Connor got all weird about it, too. We used to kid around about being on the cleanup crew, and all of a sudden he gets his back up. He says he has more important things to worry about. And when I told him about what I heard, he blew up and made me swear not to tell you."

I look out the window at the moon, its orange color fading as it rises higher in the sky. I remember the tiny sliver of moon from Margo's birthday and it makes me think I've been sitting around on my a.s.s waiting for someone to reveal the truth-or for things to magically get better.

I've been letting the doubts about Connor fester for too long.

It's time I got a little more proactive.

I need to get back into that room and see what Connor and Helena have really been up to.

And I need to know if Mom deactivated the stones that could've warned Dani and me about the vampires.

Michael brushes aside his long blond bangs. "Something bad is going down, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I think so. I need to figure out if my mother is involved."

"Do you want some help?" he asks.

"Maybe, but I have to do a little digging on my own first, okay?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Michael nods and gets up. I toss him his coat, and he pulls his arms through the sleeves.

"You know you can call me if you need anything."

"I know-thanks." I hug Michael, and when he hugs me back I think how absolutely wonderful it feels to know he's willing to fight. I pull back and wish I had the same feeling about Connor.

"We'll get through this," he says.

Hearing him say it makes me think we might.

I shut the door behind Michael, and go back into the living room to the bookshelves. My eyes trace the bindings over and over again, looking for the red leather spine of the Birth Signs, Stones, and Spells. It's a large book-it should be easy to find, but I don't see it. I do notice some books look like they've been moved to disguise a gaping hole.

Please let me be wrong. Please don't let Mom be involved.

I trace each of the spines with my finger one more time as I read each t.i.tle out loud.

I stare at the shelves and think about where Mom would've put the book. It could be in her room-I rarely go in there- or the shop. She doesn't think I ever go in, and she's been spending an awful lot of time there lately.

I run outside and grab the key on the door frame. I open the door and flip on the light switch. Mom's been busy. There are at least two dozen blue ghost b.a.l.l.s hanging on a makeshift line she's strung up. I see a bucket of broken brown gla.s.s where she tossed the defective ones before she got the spell right.

I duck under the line and walk over to her reference books and immediately see what I'm looking for. My heart sinks as I pull the book down.

"d.a.m.n."

I take it over to the couch, prop it up on my knees, and flip to the table of contents. Chapter seven-"Activating Birthstones." I scan the table of contents, but don't see anything about deactivating them and a rush of relief floods through me. I stand up to put the book back, but a voice tells me to keep looking. I sit down again and flip to the index in the back.

"Deactivating birthstones," page 184.

I take a deep breath and turn to page 184. If one wishes to cease the stone's flashing and pulsing to avoid detection, one can easily disable or deactivate them. To temporarily disable a stone, burn a white candle infused with sage- make sure the stone pa.s.ses through the smoke to ensure the full effect.

To permanently disable a stone, sage should be boiled in a pre-enchanted cauldron with at least two cups of Dead Sea salt. Once the stone is exposed to the blue smoke it becomes permanently closed to re-enchantment.

I slam the book shut and reach for my necklace. I look down at the turquoise stone.

She did it. My mom, who not too long ago hugged me and said she was scared, screwed us over. She disabled the only thing that could have protected Dani from a potential untimely death.

I throw the book across the room. "How could you?" I scream. A pulse of light leaves my body. It hits the witch b.a.l.l.s hanging on the curtain rod, and then the window overlooking the pond. Gla.s.s shatters everywhere and I shield my face with my arm.

"s.h.i.t!" I scream. I look out onto the pond, wondering how I'm going to explain smashing the window.

"That'll teach her!" a voice says from outside. I freeze in place as a twig snaps. Dani appears on the other side of the window and waves. "Did ya miss me?"

16.

"Oh, my G.o.d Dani!" I run toward the window, but she shakes her head and points toward the door.

I turn and run for the door, my heart swelling with relief as I grab the k.n.o.b. I open it and burst into tears, seeing her standing in front of me-alive. "You're okay!" I sob.

"Glad to see you, too!" Dani shrugs in the darkened doorway. "Urn, aren't you gonna ask me in?"

"G.o.d, quit joking around and come in already!" I say, pulling her cape and dragging her in.

I throw my arms around her and then stiffen as Dani's icy cheek touches mine. "No!" I push her away and look around the room, searching for something to defend myself.

Dani takes a step toward me and tips her head to the side. "I'm afraid so. I probably should have told you right away, but my hands are kind of tied when it comes to getting into buildings now, and I didn't think you'd invite me in if you knew."

My heart pounds as I take another step back, gla.s.s crunching under my feet. I b.u.mp up against the couch and feel the cold breeze pouring through the broken window onto my back. I look at her and notice a slight blue tinge coloring her jaw.

She c.o.c.ks her head and gives me a strange, vacant look. "Yes, it's true. The little white dove that lived within me, helping me along the path to righteousness, is gone." She throws her shoulders back and smirks. "All that's left is a big black thing roosting inside me, whispering to me" -she smiles, revealing two long teeth-"telling me to attack."

She starts to laugh, and my body tenses waiting for Dani to make a move on me. She takes a step, and I turn and jump on the couch and try to scramble out the window. Gla.s.s cuts into my left hand, and then Dani grabs the collar of my shirt and yanks me back in, tossing me on the floor like a doll.

"What are you doing?" she asks. "You're gonna hurt yourself."

I look up at her, wondering if I'll be able to walk away from an attack like last time. My stomach twists painfully; I don't want to think about Dani doing that to me.

Dani rolls her eyes. "Stop looking at me like that, Jules, I'm not going to bite you. What I said was from those books!"

I keep watching her, not sure what she's talking about, but ready to move fast if I have to.

"The Vampire Stakes books?" She looks at me expectantly. "My favorite series in the whole world that you said you'd read." She looks down at me and shakes her head. She holds out her hand for me and laughs again.

"Books?" I ask.

"Yeah, that's what Daemon said to Simone after he got turned by the thousand-year-old vampire she was l.u.s.ting after." Dani looks at me with wide eyes. "You said you'd read them."

My heart is pounding a mile a minute, pumping loads of adrenaline through my body. "I- uh, never got around to it," I say, numbly thinking, Dani's a vampire and she's standing over me quoting lines from a book.

She holds her hand out again, and I study her face. Vampires are experts at the art of deception, but if she wanted to get me she could have done it when she first came in.

I reach out toward her, and shudder as her cold hand clamps down on my wrist. I hope I'm not making a deadly mistake.

She yanks me up easily and I take a step away from her, ready to try the window again if she makes any sudden moves.

"Sorry for slamming you on the floor like that-I'm not used to all the extra muscle power yet, but you can relax." She holds her hand up like she's taking an oath. "I swear I have no intention of biting you 'cause that would be, like, really weird and gross, snacking on your best friend! I would appreciate it if you could wrap something around your hand, though. It's hard to concentrate with you bleeding all over the place."

"Sure," I whisper, not believing the turn in conversation.

I shuffle over to take Mom's ap.r.o.n off a hook by the door, not taking my eyes off Dani. I wrap the ap.r.o.n tightly around my hand, wishing this were a dream.

"Thanks!" Dani smiles.

I see her new teeth again and burst into tears. "I'm so s-sorry my mother helped set us-"

Dani comes over and hugs me like everything is okay and she's just plain old Dani. "Come on-stop," she says. She pulls back and gives me a little smile. "At least our mothers didn't mean for me to get turned-they weren't being totally evil-well, this time anyway. And the vamp that got carried away and did the deed was really apologetic. So it's all cool."

I stare at her in shock. "How can you be so calm about all this?"

"Being minus a soul changes your perspective," she says, walking over to the couch. "I'm not saying this undead stuff isn't gonna take some getting used to. And I did seriously consider staking the vamp who did this to me, but he's so scared that Helena is gonna sic her minions on him, I took pity. Plus, he's been showing me the ropes-G.o.d, what a load of c.r.a.p we were fed about vampires!"

My eyes widen. "c.r.a.p?"

"Yeah. I mean, there are some bad vamps-and sometimes people don't handle the transition well and they go a little bonkers like our very first kill, Miss Melissa, but mostly they just want to survive. Hank-that's the vamp who turned me-he's been telling me where the good places to sleep are, and where to find the people who don't mind sharing a little blood." She winks.

"As you know, it really is as good as they say."

My cheeks redden as my hand involuntarily reaches up to the cuts on my neck.

"Anyway, not having a soul has created this peace within me I've never felt before." She smiles and I have to try very hard not to stare at her new teeth.

"I feel free now, and all the things I used to obsess about- my grades, saying the wrong thing, losing fifteen pounds- none of it matters anymore. For the first time I couldn't care less if my thighs rub together when I walk. Do you know how liberating that is?"

I stare at her, dumbfounded.

"I feel like I can finally be me because I no longer give a c.r.a.p what anyone else thinks."

"But you're-" I can't finish my sentence.

"Dead, yeah." Dani looks out the window and nods. "But on the bright side, I still have my powers, but the spell my mom cast on my birthday went kapoof the minute my heart stopped beating. Now I can tell you everything, and we can figure out how to break the freaking twisted covenant our ancestors were stupid enough to sign with a pack of demons."

"Huh?"

Dani looks me in the eye. "You did figure out we were working for demons, right?"

"I thought whoever we signed the agreement with had demons working for them."