The Den of Shadows Quartet (27 page)

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.

C
HRISTOPHER WAS NOT IN CLASS
on 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 me
alone
.”

“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 they
liked
being 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.”

He pulled out of the parking lot before Sarah could think how to begin. Her silence seemed to make him uneasy, so he spoke instead. “Look. Just because I’m listening to you doesn’t necessarily mean I believe you. But maybe if you tell me what you were doing at the bash …”

“You must have left early if you don’t know the answer to that one,” Sarah said, thinking of the disaster that night had turned into.

“About ten,” Robert answered, with a nod. “I couldn’t find the person I was looking for, so it made sense to ditch.”

“Who were you looking for?”

Robert had been driving aimlessly, apparently, but now he stopped at the side of the road. Voice cool and level despite the suspicion, he asked, “Why do you care?”

Sarah could see he wasn’t going to give away information for free, and unlike the vampires, she did not have the ability to reach into his mind and find what she needed to know. She had to tell him something. “I want someone dead, and you might be able to help me,” she explained.

Robert hesitated for only a fraction of a heartbeat. “You’re after Nikolas.” When Sarah nodded, he looked at her with absolute skepticism, sizing up her slender figure. “You really think you could get that … creature?”

“I’m going to try,” she snapped before she could catch herself. His implication had struck a chord, but Robert didn’t know what he was talking about; getting mad at him wouldn’t help things. She forced herself to control her tone the next time she spoke. “I’m not planning to arm wrestle him, Robert, and I’m not as helpless as you think. I’m not human; I’m stronger than your kind, and I have more power. And I’ve been trained to kill vampires my entire life. I know what I’m doing.”

“Well, good luck,” Robert answered sarcastically “I’ve killed my share of vampires, but I’ve still been after this bastard for months.”

She had to restrain herself from snickering at his bravado as she noticed Robert hadn’t elaborated on the exact number of leeches he had put a knife through. She wasn’t surprised. He was only human, after all, and though she hadn’t seen him fight, his ignorance of her kind told Sarah that he was probably relatively new at wielding a knife. He was lucky he had not run into Nikolas yet, or his little extracurricular activity would have gotten him killed already.

“How long have you been hunting?” she asked.

“Since Nikolas.” His response was short, but clear.

“What did he do to you?”

Robert took a deep breath, his gaze somewhere past Sarah’s left shoulder. “Not to me … my sister.” He spoke slowly, considering his words carefully before they emerged. “Her name was Christine.”

“Was?” Sarah would be far from surprised to learn the leech had slaughtered the poor girl.