I talked to David twice that afternoon, and both times he told me there was still no sign of Madeline. Her trail had gone cold after she left Albuquerque. That news left me dejected and wondering how long it would take to locate her again. My whole reason for being here was to find out what Madeline knew about the Master.

David had other news the second time we spoke. “Kelvan heard that vampires attacked Orias’s place last night. His receptionist and a couple of his clients were killed. Orias got away, but he took out two of the vampires first.”

My stomach dropped. “Why would vampires attack a powerful warlock like him?”

“Word is that a well-known vampire was killed there five days ago... on the same night you went to see Orias, in fact.” He made a disapproving sound. “You told me it went well. You didn’t say anything about a vampire.”

I scuffed my toe on the rug in front of the couch. “We might have run into a little trouble, but we handled it. I didn’t want to worry you.”

David sighed heavily. “Sara, we’re supposed to be in this together, remember? That’s the agreement we made before we started this. How am I supposed to help you if you keep things like this from me?”

I had no argument because he was right. “I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t do it again.” I heard him typing and waited for him to speak again. “According to Kelvan’s friends in Albuquerque, the vampires wanted to know about a girl who supposedly killed Stefan Price. When no one could tell them who she was, they started tearing the place apart. They torched it when they left.”

I remembered how proud Orias was of his establishment, and I was sorry it had been destroyed. I felt worse about his poor receptionist and the others who had been killed.

“Did you really kill that vampire by yourself?” David asked.

“I had some help.”

“Kelvan said there is a rumor among the demons about a girl warrior who slays only vampires. The other night a vrell demon and his friends were attacked by vampires in LA, and the girl came out of nowhere to save them.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t suppose you know anything about that?”

I almost laughed at the way people blew things out of proportion. “We were there, but it was my friends who killed the vampires.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Listen, I get that you want to help people, but you need to be even more careful now. You don’t want to draw attention to yourself.”

“I know.” As far as we knew, the Master still believed I was at Westhorne. If he even had the tiniest suspicion we were in LA, this city would be swarming with vampires. Not only would it put my friends’ lives in grave danger, it would scare Madeline away. “We’ll lay low until you pick up Madeline’s trail again.”

We spent the day hanging out at the apartment, watching movies, eating until we couldn’t move, and laying low as I’d promised David we would do. By midafternoon, I tired of movies and went to look for a book from Leo’s bookcase. His copy of White Fang kept me engrossed for an hour before I lost interest in that, too. I paced around the apartment feeling out of sorts and bursting with nervous energy as if I’d drunk five lattes instead of one. By the time dinner rolled around, I was nursing a small headache – something I rarely had – and I’d discovered that sitting around waiting for news was not fun.

Greg went out and picked up steaks for dinner and we grilled them on the roof. It was a beautiful night, even if it was a little chilly. I still didn’t have much of an appetite, and I caught Jordan frowning at the half-eaten steak I slid onto Roland’s plate. She gave me a questioning look and I shrugged it off.

After dinner, Greg brought out a cake, and I laughed when they sang “Happy Birthday” to me. I wish you were here, I said silently as I blew out the candles. It was a silly wish since I was the one keeping us apart, but I could think of nothing I wanted more in that moment.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” Jordan said a little while later when we carried our dishes to the kitchen.

I didn’t try to deny it. “Yes.”

“Call him,” she urged. “Talk to him.”

“I... can’t.”

She fixed me with a hard stare. “You know you want to. You’re just being stubborn. If I had a man like Nikolas, you wouldn’t have to tell me twice.”

Greg opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. “Who is this Nikolas you guys keep mentioning?”

“He’s my...” How did I describe Nikolas? Friend, protector, trainer: he was all of those and more. Boyfriend was too weak a word for someone like him, but soulmate felt like something out of a romance novel.

“He’s her mate,” Jordan answered, not having as much trouble as I was in summing up my relationship with Nikolas.

Greg choked on his beer. “Mate? You’re married?”

“No, of course not.” I couldn’t stop the blush that crept up my face. “We’re... dating.” Interesting choice of words considering Nikolas and I had never been on anything remotely resembling a date. “It’s different for the Mohiri. I don’t know how to explain it.” I gave Jordan a helpless look.

She smiled at Greg. “Sometimes, a Mohiri male and female have a special bond between their two demons. The male starts behaving like a Neanderthal and growling at anyone else who looks at his woman. The female tells him to get over himself even though she is secretly crazy about him. Eventually, the two of them do the deed and live happily ever after.”