But it didn’t matter; I was wrong about Jared’s intentions.

“No, I’m not going to kill him. Another like him would just take his place—it’s pointless. But I’ve been making silver for the vampires for years and years, getting to know all the ins and outs of his little troupe, and I figure there’s only one thing that he loves, truly loves, in the entire world. So I’m going to kill her.”

My stomach dropped. “Beatrice?” I whispered.

Chapter 30

From the way he’d looked at me, I’d been more than a little afraid that Jared Hess had pre-murder plans for my body, but after his little gloating session, he stomped back upstairs. I twisted my wrist around far enough to peer at my watch. It was midnight. I hoped that Jesse had cooled off enough to worry when he couldn’t get a hold of me, but I had little hope for him storming the basement to save me. Kirsten or one of the more powerful witches could have tracked me with an object that belonged to me, but Kirsten was in Santa Barbara, apparently, and Jesse didn’t know how to get a hold of anyone. I didn’t think he even knew Kirsten’s name.

I thought about Corry for a long time. She’d seemed so full of confusion and pain, and despite the direness of my own current situation, I was overwhelmed with sympathy for her. Being a teenager is hard enough without sexual assault and murder staining your soul. Even if I could successfully keep her out of the rest of this ordeal, I wondered if she’d be able to recover from what she’d done, and what had been done to her. There’s no therapist for the supernaturally inclined, as far as I know. I hoped she wouldn’t lose herself to this.

Then I thought about the two men who had suddenly become so prominent in my life. There was Jesse, of course, who had seemed like he might like me. That moment in the bait shop parking lot came back to me, when he had looked at me as if I were just a girl, a girl that he liked. But I’d also seen the look on his face in the coffee shop. To him, I was tainted. Ethically compromised. And I couldn’t really blame him. I had been right when I’d thought that there was something pure about Jesse. I just hadn’t realized how little purity there was left in me. No, even if I were...well, not so messed up, Jesse wouldn’t be wanting to date me anytime soon.

And Eli. What the hell was I doing with Eli? For starters, I was avoiding letting him get the least bit close to me. I thought about that first night in the bar and the look on his face when I came back for him at Artie’s. I reached a couple of conclusions: First, I couldn’t let go of the idea that he just wanted me for the calm only I could give him. But at the same time, the way he treated me wasn’t the way you treat someone who’s just calming. It’s the way you are to someone you want. Did I want him back? This was a thought I’d never really considered much, which just goes to show you how deeply messed up I am. It hadn’t occurred to me that I might want someone.

Since Olivia died, I had been going through the motions. Clean up crime scenes. Ignore my brother. Watch TV with Molly. Have slightly drunken sex with Eli. Do laundry. Repeat. I might as well have died with Olivia, or with my parents, for all the living I’ve been doing. But since the moment when I’d decided to push for Jesse to live, it felt as if I were waking up—not that I particularly wanted to. It’s so much easier to just think of your life as a giant checklist that has to be worked through. But like it or not, I couldn’t sit on the bench anymore. If I made it through the dawn—and really, I had no idea how—I needed to get in the game. Somehow.

Here endeth the pep talk.

Jared Hess had left the light on when he’d gone upstairs, and I was able to twist my wrist around and check my watch, which I did incessantly. At twelve forty-five, Hess came stomping down the stairs, looking very pleased with himself. He was wearing a long black coat, which did little to conceal the two large guns he had under each arm. A bulletproof vest peeked out over his T-shirt, and I caught a glimpse of a silver knife at his ankle. A wicked-looking dagger was in his hand as he clomped over to me, and he slid it up his coat sleeve, where I assumed there was some kind of a holster.

The big guns. If he was bringing me along, he wouldn’t need the knives—Beatrice would go down with one well-placed shot. But clearly, Jared was planning for contingencies. That was not good for me.

“Ready for the field trip?” he said, grinning at me.

He pulled his coat sleeve over the stake and buttoned up the front of his shirt. Then he crouched down in front of me. For once, he was careless about being near my legs, but after a moment’s consideration, I decided against kicking him in the face. It would be satisfying, but I wasn’t escaping with my hands shackled to the floor, so it’d really only piss him off. And he was stronger than I was; if he hit me again, that would be bad.

“I have to say, you stay in pretty good shape,” he said, looking admiringly at my body again.

I tried not to shrink away. I’ve worked with vampires long enough to know that you don’t shrink away from predators.

“God, this is fun, isn’t it?” he said happily. “I’ve been waiting years for this, and now that the night is finally here, I want to celebrate.” He reached over to twine a hand in my long hair, then yanked it so I had to tilt my face toward him.

Involuntary tears pooled in my eyes.

“What do you say, little girl?” he whispered, flicking my earlobe with his tongue.

It took everything I had not to shudder away, but I had no room to move, anyway.