Winnie threw herself directly into his path. “Don’t touch them!”
He backhanded her aside so casually it made my stomach twist. She hit the wall hard enough to crack the framed artwork hanging there.
Rage detonated through me. I grabbed the wooden stake from the kitchen cabinet and charged him.
This was insane. Every part of this was insane. But once you accepted vampires existed, attempted vampire murder became surprisingly reasonable.
Bogdan caught my wrist effortlessly, stopping the stake inches from his chest.
A heavy, lazy indifference settled into his eyes. “You humans truly do overestimate yourselves.”
He slammed me into the wall, knocking the air from my lungs. Pain exploded through my shoulders. The stake clattered uselessly across the hardwood floor.
“Daddy!”
The kids had reached the top of the staircase. Bianca and CJ were dragging heavy bags behind them while Billie dumped an entire container of salt across the upper landing, her tongue sticking out in concentration.
“Keep him coming!” CJ yelled.
Winnie pushed herself upright shakily. Her hair had come loose from the pins, red spilling against the black of her blouse. Her eyes locked onto mine desperately.
“Conrad,” she said quietly, “don’t fight him.”
I lunged for the stake again.
Bogdan grabbed me by the throat before I could take two steps. Cold fingers closed around my neck. Not tight enough to crush. Just enough to remind me he could.
The children were crying now, yet somehow still continuing the plan.
CJ and Bianca heaved a bag over the upper railing. It split open against the marble stairs. Rice exploded everywhere. Thousands of tiny white grains cascaded down the staircase. Then another bag. Sand this time.
Bogdan froze instantly. His head tilted slowly. “Oh,” he murmured.
Bianca grabbed Billie’s hand and dragged her behind the thick ring of salt now surrounding the upper landing. Bianca had assured me that vampires couldn’t cross over salt, and couldn’t pass sand or grains of rice without counting them all first. Based on movies I’d seen in the past, I thought it was only fairies whohad to count rice, but what the hell did I know? She’d apparently spent a lot of time researching vampires ever since Winnie admitted what she was.
Silver jewelry rained down next. Everything of Jade’s we could find. Bracelets. Necklaces. Crosses. It was a horrifying amount of silver. One necklace hit Bogdan directly across the cheek, making his skin smoke. He hissed.
“That’s right!” Billie screamed hysterically. “GET SILVERED, YOU IDIOT!”
Under different circumstances, I would have been concerned about her phrasing.
Bogdan released my throat abruptly. His eyes had fixed on the rice. On the sand.
His fingers twitched once. Twice. Then he crouched and started counting.
My brain short-circuited completely. I couldn’t believe it worked. I looked up at Bianca.
“Vampiric compulsion disorder,” Bianca said breathlessly from upstairs. “It’s in folklore.”
CJ nodded frantically. “They have to count things sometimes.”
Bogdan’s jaw flexed violently. He looked furious, yet he kept counting.
“One hundred forty-seven…” Another grain shifted. He stopped immediately after losing count and started over again. “Fuck.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
Winnie stared upward in horror. “You shouldn’t know this much about vampires,” she whispered weakly.
