At first I opened my mouth to blurt it out to Lucas; I felt certain he would approve. But I also knew that what I was about to suggest was against the rules. Better not to make Lucas break his promises. I’d take this responsibility myself. Luckily, I had a few bucks on hand, not much, but enough for what I needed to do.

Casually, I said, “I’m hungry.”

“Oh. Okay.” Lucas looked uncertain. “Well, I guess there’s squirrels and stuff around here.”

“Yeah.” I honestly did need more blood than I’d been getting, and my mouth watered a bit at the thought of it. But that was secondary to what I really had on my mind. “I’ll just grab something, I guess. If it’s okay for me to leave you for a second—”

“We’re gonna be on patrol until about two A.M.,” Lucas said.

“We can take quick breaks if we have to.”

“Be right back.”

On tiptoe, I kissed his cheek, then walked away. Once I knew I was out of sight, I left the park and walked into the city itself. The crush of traffic—honking horns and car alarms—was slightly overwhelming, but I had a mission. I’d thought I might not be able to find what I sought, but New York was a city big enough to supply any need. Sure enough, within a couple of blocks, I saw the sign I was looking for: INTERNET CAFÉ.

Once I was inside, I signed into my e-mail account. The dozens of boldface new messages at the top of the screen startled me, and the names of the senders seemed to lash me, one by one: Dad. Mom. Vic. Balthazar. Ranulf, who had apparently figured out enough about modern life to get a gmail account. Even Patrice, my sophomore-year roommate, the one I thought didn’t care about anybody but herself, had reached out to check on me.

If I began reading those e-mails, I knew I’d start to cry. Instead I opened up a new message, addressing it to my parents at their Evernight Academy account, the only one they had.

Mom and Dad,

I’m sorry it took me so long to get in touch with you. This is honestly the first chance I’ve had to tell you that I’m okay. I know my running off like that had to scare you, and I wish there had been another way.

Had there been another way? Could I have chosen something else? I didn’t know anymore.

I’m with Lucas. The people in Black Cross don’t know the truth about me, so I’m safe for now. Soon we’ll leave and set out on our own. He loves me and will take care of me no matter what.

I know things weren’t right with us before we left. For however much of that was my fault, I’m sorry. And if we could talk sometime soon—really talk, without more lies and secrets—I’d be so happy. I miss you guys more than I ever knew I could.

Now I was in danger of crying anyway. Blinking fast, I concluded:

Please let Balthazar and Patrice know that I’m all right. I’ll write again sometime soon.

I love you both.

That wasn’t all that needed to be said, not by a long shot, but I knew this wasn’t the time to say it.

Blinking fast, I hit Send.

After I logged out and left, I wanted to run straight to Lucas’s arms. Instead, I decided to grab a couple of pigeons first. In the darkness of the park, nobody would see me.

Besides, I thought, you have one advantage. You’ll be the only vampire there who knows where all the hunters are.

It wasn’t that comforting.

But the night passed without incident. Other hunters kept coming by to check on Lucas and me, so we didn’t get much privacy; that was disappointing. Still, I’d finally had plenty to eat, so I felt more reassured as we went back to HQ at three in the morning, exhausted despite not having seen another vampire the whole time. But as soon as we walked in, we learned that the Black Cross cell was on alert.

“That’s not lockdown, is it?” I asked Lucas.

“No, but they’ll be watching us.” He clasped my hand as we walked deeper into the tunnel. Everyone seemed to be awake, and the lights remained on. The lieutenants on watch that night were talking animatedly to Eliza, who didn’t look thrilled.

“What is it?” Raquel asked, nervously fiddling with the tawny leather bracelet she always wore. “Did something go wrong with our hunt?”

“Five boring hours in the park? That’s not the crisis.” Dana’s eyes were narrow as she studied the uneasy crowd. She had a crossbow slung over one shoulder, and she rubbed Raquel’s back absently, trying to settle her down. “Sure would like to know what it is.”

Eliza overheard our whispers and turned toward us. Traffic overhead made the ceiling shiver a bit, and the strings of lights swayed back and forth, casting her lined face in shadow, then in light. “We might have vampires staking this place out.”

Raquel brightened—like that was good news, not reason to freak. “You think they’re going to try to come down here and take us on?”

“They wouldn’t dare,” Eliza replied, with a proud toss of her braid. “But somebody might be watching.”

Mrs. Bethany, I thought with a shiver. She would get revenge for the damage to Evernight Academy if there were any way possible. “Why do you think that?”

“We keep finding dead birds near the building. Like something’s killing them. At first we were making jokes about bird flu, but today Milos checked out the corpses, and sure enough, they’d been drained of blood. We’ve got a vamp around here, and we’ll all be watching the roof and the nearby area to get a glimpse of our visitor. Then we’ll ask a few questions of our own.”