Jordan started the car, and I climbed into the front passenger seat. By the time I closed the door and buckled my seat belt, Eldeorin had vanished. I really wish I knew how to do that. After meeting Eldeorin, I saw there were a lot more advantages to Fae magic than being able to kill vampires.

I rolled down my window a few inches for some air and sank back against my seat. What a night.

Roland let out a deep breath. “Damn, that was close.”

“If we hadn’t met the faerie, they would have had us for sure,” Peter added.

I nodded. “And I’m not sure I would have gotten in to see Adele without him. After meeting her, I’m really glad he was with me.”

Jordan glanced at me as she started driving us back to the hotel. “Why? What happened?”

I told them about meeting Adele and what I had learned about Madeline.

“A succubus?” Jordan made a face. “Madeline has strange taste in friends.”

“If Madeline really is in LA, I think she’ll visit her soon. We just have to watch Adele.”

Roland laid his hand on my shoulder. “I hate to put a crimp in your plans, but the Mohiri were all over that place. We can’t exactly do a stakeout with all those warriors nosing around.”

“Not to mention we have no idea where Adele lives,” Jordan said, stopping at a red light.

“That’s why I’m going to ask David to –” I broke off and looked around the intersection. “Did you guys hear that?”

Jordan looked over at me. “Hear what?”

I rolled the window all the way dawn. “I thought I heard –”

A girl’s terrified scream split the air.

I gasped, not because of the scream, but because of the cold spot forming in my chest. We’d been in Los Angeles for two days and I was surprised it had taken this long to come across one of them. “Vampire.”

Roland slapped the back of Jordan’s seat. “Drive, Jordan!”

“We have to do something,” I told them.

“We have to get out of here,” Roland argued. “We can’t go looking for trouble.”

“I’m not looking for trouble, but I can’t stand by while one of those things murders someone.” My statement was punctuated by another scream.

Jordan jerked the wheel to the right and sped down a less busy side street. The cold spot in my chest grew until I knew we were there. I motioned to her, and she parked in front of a closed drycleaner and jumped out. I followed her to the trunk where we began pulling weapons from the duffle bag we had stored there earlier. I armed myself with a long dagger and the mini crossbow, and Jordan grabbed her new sword.

I held a knife out to Roland, but he shook his head. He and Peter ran into the darkened loading dock between the drycleaner and a laundromat. Less than thirty seconds later, I heard the scratch of claws on pavement.

“No!” a girl cried. It came from the alley across the street. The terror in her voice spurred me forward, and I was halfway across the street before Roland let out a soft growl and started after me.

The alley was lit by the streetlight, and I came up short at the sight before me. The blue-haired girl from the club was backed against a dumpster with her hands held in front of her. Flames flew from her fingertips, holding off the blond vampire advancing on her. At her feet lay her vrell demon friend from the club. He was unconscious and blood ran down one side of his face.

A few feet away from them, two vampires were feeding on a female mox demon. Their noisy slurping and the sight of the ravaged body made my stomach revolt. All I could see was Olivia and Mark lying on the snow that was soaked with their blood.

Rage burned through me. Before I knew what I was doing, I had the crossbow cocked and aimed at one of the vampires kneeling over the mox demon. He jerked and screamed when the silver-coated arrow pierced his back. It wasn’t close enough to hit his heart, but he screeched when he grabbed the arrow and tried to pull it out.

The other two vampires turned their attention to us. “What have we here?” the blond drawled, and then his eyes widened at something behind me. I didn’t have to look to know Roland and Peter were flanking me.

Jordan came to stand beside me. “Vampires eating demons? That’s like cannibalism, isn’t it?”

“What do you care about a couple of dead demons?” asked the red-headed vampire still kneeling over the mox demon. He rose slowly to his feet, and I saw his eyes flit between Jordan and me, assessing who was the bigger threat.

Jordan raised her sword. “We don’t care about dead demons. We do, however, have a problem with live blood suckers.”

The redhead’s attention shifted back to me and instead of fear I felt a flash of annoyance. Why did everyone assume I was the weak one? I looked at Jordan’s sword and listened to the two growling werewolves behind me. Okay, maybe this time they were right.

“I think he likes you,” Jordan said, laughter in her voice.

The blond vampire yelled at his friend who was still making a God-awful racket as he tried to remove my arrow. “Shut up, Trevor!”

“I can shut him up for you,” Jordan said sweetly. “Wouldn’t take more than a second.”

“You can have her,” snarled the redhead. “I want the little one. “

Roland let out a deep growl that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I put my hand back and touched his furry snout.

Jordan scoffed. “Sorry, guys, you aren’t really our types.”