“Because that’s what we do,” I said, smiling. I was really glad the pills hadn’t muted philosopher Adrian. I loved listening to him go off on these flights of fancy. “And it’s not necessarily extreme. I mean, what we did yesterday at your place . . . well, maybe it was a ‘physical act of passion,’ but it was also very creative. Who says mind and body can’t work together?”

He unfolded himself from his chair and walked over to me. “Fair point. And if memory serves, it was my genius that came up with that.”

I set down my materials. “It was not. That was all me.”

“There’s only one way to settle this.” His arms encircled my waist, and he pressed me against the table. “We need to surpass that creativity. Are you thinking what I am?”

“That Ms. Terwilliger’s in the next room?” But my pulse had quickened at the feel of him against me, and I was already figuring out how to clear the table.

He pulled away and shut the workroom’s door. “She’s discreet,” he said. “And smart. She’ll knock first.”

I almost thought he was joking until he grabbed hold of me again and seated me on the table, wrapping my legs around him. Our lips met hungrily as his deft artist’s fingers began working at the buttons on my shirt. A sudden buzz from my regular cell phone startled me from the kissing.

“Don’t,” said Adrian, his eyes ablaze and breathing ragged.

“What if there’s a crisis at school?” I asked. “What if Angeline ‘accidentally’ stole one of the campus shuttle buses and drove it into the library?”

“Why would she do that?”

“Are you saying she wouldn’t?”

He sighed. “Go check it.”

I hopped off the table, clothes askew, and found the message was actually from Neil, of all people. We still need to talk. Can you meet tonight? Somewhere private? It’s important.

“Huh,” I said. I showed Adrian the message.

He was equally puzzled. “Do you know what it’s about?”

“No, he mentioned it when we first got back to town.” The heat between us was cooling, and I began buttoning my shirt back up. “What if it’s about me using magic?”

Adrian had grown serious. “No, I don’t think so. I could tell. He’s not going to talk about it to anyone.”

“I should find out, though. If something’s wrong . . . well, I’m the one who ultimately deals with it.” I knelt down to put my supplies away on the shelves Ms. Terwilliger had allotted to me. “This could be important. Besides, it is getting late.”

“You know what else is important? Your birthday in a few days. Are you going to get shore leave?”

I smiled as I straightened up. “I don’t know. Zoe’s going to want to do something with me. We might be able to manage a group outing you could go on.”

He put his arms around me. “Not good enough. I want you—just you—over at my place, where I’m going to cook you the most amazing dinner you’ve ever had by someone who can’t really cook. And then . . . we’re going to get in my car.”

I waited for him to elaborate on a destination. “And?”

He gently kissed the nape of my neck. “What do you think?”

I couldn’t help a small gasp of delight. “Oh, wow.”

“I know, right? I was racking my brain for the best present ever, and then I realized that nothing was going to rock your world more than you and me in your favorite place in the entire world.”

I swallowed. “I’m kind of embarrassed at how excited I am about that.” Never had I guessed my love of cars would play a role in my sex life. Eddie was right. Something had happened to me.

“It’s okay, Sage. We’ve all got our turn-ons.”

“You kind of ruined the surprise, though.”

“Nah. It’s part of the gift: you getting to think about it for the next three days. Figure it’s incentive for you to escape Zoe too.”

“Excellent incentive.”

We kissed goodbye, and I set up Neil’s meeting. The private place he wanted to meet was a cluster of trees near the library. They were technically off-limits, especially this time of night, but if we were caught, we could claim we were cutting through to the library. With my studious reputation, no one would question it.

Surprisingly, he was late, which didn’t seem in character. When he finally arrived, he looked chagrined. “Sorry. Angeline kept following me around, and I had a hard time shaking her.”

“She likes you, you know.” I didn’t feel bad pointing it out because he had to know. “Or, well, she likes the idea of you. She wants you as a theoretical rebound.”

“What in the world is that? Never mind.” He shook his head. “I don’t have time for anything like that.”

I wondered if he’d have time for something “like that” with Olive if she lived closer.

“So what’s going on?” I braced myself for some sort of interrogation about the magic. What came instead nearly knocked me over.

“I need you to help me go after a Strigoi.”

Silence fell between us for several strained moments. “You’re going to need to elaborate on that.”

Neil pointed at his arm, where the tattoo was. “Everyone’s so excited about this, but what does it mean? Is it worth anything? We’re never going to find out unless we test it with a Strigoi.”

I was aghast. I’d known that, of course, but proactively pursuing it wasn’t something I’d really expected to happen. “You want to be turned?”

“No, no. Of course not. Here’s the thing. I was looking through some guardian reports, and there have been sightings of Strigoi in this neighborhood in Los Angeles.”

I wasn’t surprised by that. There were always Strigoi in Los Angeles.

“One Strigoi, actually,” Neil continued. “I want to find him and lure him out before others go after him. They know his patterns enough now that it’s going to happen sooner or later. Usually, he just drinks and kills, but there’ve been reports that he sometimes turns victims. Either way, if we use me as bait, he’ll have to taste my blood, and we can find out what kind of reaction he has.”

It was one of those things that seemed so logical on the surface, I was almost on board. There were just a few flaws. “If the tattoo doesn’t work, you end up dead or Strigoi.”

“That’s where you come in,” he said excitedly. “That thing you did with the fire—”

“Neil—”

He held up his hand. “No, no. I’m not telling anyone. I’m not even going to ask you how you did it. But if you could hide somewhere nearby and make that fire again, you could incinerate him before he does anything to me.” A little of Neil’s enthusiasm dimmed. “And if he does manage to turn me, then you can kill us both.”

“Neil! Do you hear yourself? This is insane. You’re literally talking about suicide.”

His gaze met mine through the shadows. “Yes, and my life would be a small thing to give in order to obtain these answers. And that’s not melodrama. I know some of you—especially Adrian—think I’m ridiculous and over the top, but I swear, service to the Moroi is my highest goal. I want what’s best for our people. All we’re doing now is waiting . . . which is the same as doing nothing. If we could pull this off, it could be the breakthrough everyone keeps talking about.”

I had to look away. It was all crazy . . . but there was some sense to it. “I understand your point, but if you want to toy with Strigoi, go get it sanctioned by the guardians. Let them arrange something.”

“Do you think they’d let me do this?” I didn’t answer because I doubted they would. “Exactly. That was a lot of fire you summoned that night. Do you think you could engulf a Strigoi with it?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “But I’m really not comfortable being all that stands between you and damnation.”

“You won’t be.” Neil pointed behind me. “Right on time.”

I turned and saw a very puzzled-looking Eddie striding toward us. “Hey, I got your message,” he said. “What’s going on?”

Incredibly, Neil began the same sales pitch to Eddie about sacrificing for the greater good of the Moroi. Neil didn’t mention me and magic, but his offer to Eddie was the same, how there’d be need for someone to stop the Strigoi if things got out of hand. Actually, there was no “if,” I decided. “When” was a better word.

I think Eddie was even more shocked than I was. “No!”

“Eddie,” said Neil in a calm voice. “I know we have our differences, but the truth is, I respect you. I think you’re one of the greatest guardians I’ve ever met, and you’ve done more in your life so far than most seasoned guardians ever will. You and Sydney are the ideal team to have at my back. You have to understand how important this is. It’s true I’ve never fought a Strigoi, but I’ve seen them kill. When I was young.” His expression darkened. “I still dream about it, and if there’s even a tiny thing we can do to stop those monsters, we have to. Just think if we could prevent the conversion of more!”

Eddie wasn’t swayed, and there was a look on his face I’d never seen before. “I’m not denying the principles, but it’s too dangerous. And not just to you. I did something like this once . . .” A pain so intense that it tore at my heart crossed Eddie’s features. “Me and some friends. We thought we could take on Strigoi . . . and my best friend ended up dead. No matter how prepared you think you are, even against only one, the unexpected can happen. You and I may not be enough. Certainly Sydney isn’t—no offense. We’d need more to tip the odds in our favor.”

Neil suddenly looked at me expectantly. It took me a few seconds to realize what he wanted. “You said you wouldn’t tell!”

“I won’t,” he agreed. “But I thought you might want to. If you don’t, I’ll let it go. Do you think Eddie will betray you?”

Both of them were watching me intently, and I kind of wanted to smack Neil. He’d been true to his honor . . . in a loose sense. After hearing his speech twice, I was almost swayed by it. Maybe it was because I was high on the triumph of Trey’s tattoo working. How great would it be to accomplish another feat so many people were depending on? And if Eddie was involved, one Strigoi seemed feasible.

But it’d mean telling Eddie my secret, and too many already knew. The old saying came back to me: Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead. The more this got out, the more trouble I was in.

And yet, as I looked into Eddie’s steady gaze, I was reminded of our friendship and all we’d been through. In a world of secrets and lies, there were few I could thoroughly trust anymore, but I knew then, without a doubt, that Eddie was one I could.

Taking a deep breath, hoping I wasn’t being a fool, I held out my hand. A nervous glance around confirmed we were alone, and I brought forth a spark of fire in my palm that soon grew into the size of a tennis ball.

Eddie leaned over and gasped, the orange flames reflecting off his face. “Maybe . . . maybe our odds have gotten better,” he said.

Chapter 19

ADRIAN

IT WAS SYDNEY’S BIRTHDAY, and my car wouldn’t start.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I said, turning the key for what felt like the hundredth time. The engine churned and churned but wouldn’t turn over. I groaned and rested my forehead against the steering wheel. “This is not happening.”

“Problems?”

I looked up and saw Rowena standing outside the driver’s side door, which I’d left ajar. I threw my hands up. “As you can see.”

She tilted her head to study the car, causing some of her lavender braids to slip forward. “How old is this piece of junk?”

“Bite your tongue, woman. Sydney loves this car. Maybe more than she loves me. Besides, you’re an artist. Figured you’d appreciate a vintage piece. You know, the history, the craftsmanship . . .”

She shook her head. “I drive a Prius.”

I tried to start the Mustang again. No luck. “Damn it, not today of all days. It’s Sydney’s birthday. We had plans.”

“Call a tow, and I’ll give you a ride back home.” She patted my shoulder in sympathy. “I know a guy who works at a shop. He’ll give you a good deal.”

“Not that good,” I said, getting out my cell phone. “Unless it’s free. I’m pretty much broke for the next week and a half.”