“Sara, do you realize what you did back there?” Roland asked as he drove us back to the city. “That vampire was super old, and you killed him by yourself.”

Jordan and I were sitting in the back, and she laid her hand on my arm. “I have to admit, that was the most badass thing I’ve ever seen. When you pulled that knife out of your shoulder and stabbed him with it, my jaw nearly hit the floor.”

I grimaced and adjusted my hold on the towel pressed against my shoulder. “What is it with vampires stabbing me anyway?”

“At least you aren’t picking pieces of pottery out of your skull,” Roland complained. “You were amazing, Sara. Nikolas would be proud of you if he’d seen that.”

“Are you kidding? Nikolas wouldn’t let me get within ten miles of a vampire that old. And we might want to keep the whole stabbing thing between us.”

Laying my head against the headrest, I stared out the window at the dark desert landscape. I couldn’t help but wonder where Nikolas was now and what he was doing and thinking. I had no doubt Chris was with him, and they had probably scoured every square mile of Salt Lake City after he’d sensed me there. How long would it take him to figure out where we’d gone? I was sure he would eventually. If there was one thing I had learned, it was to never underestimate Nikolas.

I thought about the vampire I’d just killed and smiled sadly at the darkness. Maybe, when all of this was over, Nikolas would feel the same way about me.

Chapter 4

We spent the night in another cheap motel, and for the second night in a row, I quickly succumbed to exhaustion. I had planned to contact David when we got there, but the long day of driving, followed by battling a vampire and getting stabbed, did me in. Surprisingly, I felt no ill effects from using so much power on the vampire. Every time I thought about it, the whole thing seemed unreal. I had killed a mature vampire. Me. My power wasn’t strong enough yet to do the job on its own, but I could feel it growing every time I used it.

I awoke the next morning, sweating under a pile of blankets. I sat up and pushed them off me. “What the hell? Are you guys trying to smother me?”

Jordan was sitting on the other bed watching TV. “You did that glowing thing again, and we couldn’t get you to wake up. All we could think to do was cover you up so no one would notice it.”

“Oh.” I went to the window and pushed aside the heavy drapes to see it was around midmorning. I must have been more tired than I’d realized. “Where are the boys?”

“They went to get breakfast. We weren’t sure when you would wake up, and it freaked them out a bit. Me too, actually.”

“Sorry.”

She waved a hand. “At least you’ll be handy to have around if we ever have a blackout.”

Shaking my head, I picked up my backpack and went to take a shower. I received my second surprise of the day when I pulled off the T-shirt I’d slept in and saw my shoulder was completely healed. Not healed as in the scars looked a few weeks old, but as in there wasn’t a trace of a scar at all. It usually took my body two or three days to do that.

The boys were back by the time I stepped out of the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed in my only clean outfit. Travelling light meant not packing a lot of clothes, and killing vampires was dirty work. We were going to have to spend some of our money on extra clothes. Plus, the coat I’d bought at the thrift shop yesterday morning was torn and covered in blood. Between hotels, food, and gas, it wasn’t going to take us long to burn through our cash. I sighed heavily. It was time to sell some of the diamonds.

We sat on the beds and discussed our plans as we devoured our fast food breakfast. It wasn’t the best breakfast we’d ever had, but it was cheap so the boys were able to buy plenty to satisfy our appetites. I was ravenous, and I caught them staring at me as I reached for my fourth hash brown patty.

I scowled at them. “What? Using all that power made me hungry.”

Jordan raised an eyebrow. “And cranky too, apparently.”

I muttered an apology because she was right. I’d been in a funk since I woke up and I had no reason to be. Last night, I’d killed a powerful vampire and learned where Madeline was headed next. I should be feeling pretty good, but instead I was snapping at my friends.

After breakfast, I made a few calls. The first was to David to tell him what we had learned about Madeline. He said they couldn’t find any signs she was still in Albuquerque, but that he and his friends would pick up her trail in Los Angeles.

My second call was to an old contact named Malloy, who was pretty shocked to hear from me. “Ain’t you supposed to be dead?” he asked, referring to my rumored drowning.

“I just needed a change of scenery. You know how it is.”

“It’s a cutthroat business, kid.” His loud exhale said it all. “So what can I do for you?”

“I’m headed to LA, and I need to sell a few rocks for my boss.” Malloy had always assumed I worked for someone powerful, and I was happy to let him keep believing that. “Who do you trust out there?”

He barked a laugh. “I don’t trust anyone. But you’re in luck. My brother, Jeff, does business out that way. I’ll give him a call.”

We talked for a few minutes about the stones I was selling, and he said it would probably take a few days for his brother to set something up. I agreed to call him again when I got to Los Angeles. I didn’t like the idea of dealing with strangers in unfamiliar territory, but we needed money. I’d worked with Malloy a number of times, and I trusted him as much as you could trust anyone in his business. He’d get a cut of the business he sent his brother’s way, so he would make sure it was a solid deal.