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“Only on patrol.” Lucas handed me the crossbow, so I could try for myself. After a quick glance around the room to make sure nobody was listening, he said, “Are you okay for—well, for food?”
“I could use a big meal—seriously use one—but I’m hanging on.”
“How?”
I sighed. “They let us hang out on the rooftop of the parking garage sometimes, for breaks. Most days I can grab a couple minutes alone.”
Lucas didn’t get it. “And?”
“All I’m going to say is that there are tons of pigeons in New York, and they’re not very fast. Okay?”
He grimaced, but in a way that made a joke of his disgust, and I giggled. The laugh echoed back from the curved ceiling of the tunnel. Lucas’s expression softened. “There’s that smile. God, have I missed seeing you happy.”
“I just miss you.” I put one hand over his, so that they were both folded over the crossbow. “I see even less of you than I did when we were forbidden to be together. How long do we have to put up with this?”
“I’m working on it, I promise. Coming by the money is hard, but I’ve set aside a little over the past few months. Not enough to get us started, but I’m close. Once I pay my dues and get more free time, I can pick up some work around town. Odd jobs for cash under the table.”
“What does that mean, cash under the table?”
“It means they pay less than minimum wage, but in return, neither you nor the boss reports it on your taxes.”
That would be hard work, then. Dirty work, like hauling boxes or garbage. I hated that Lucas had to do that—but I kind of loved that he would do that for us.
“This doesn’t look much like practice to me,” Kate said, strolling in our direction.
“Give us a break, Mom,” Lucas said. “Bianca and I hardly get to talk anymore.”
“I know it’s hard.” Her voice sounded softer than I’d heard it before. “When your father and I first met, it was in the New Orleans cell. They were such tight-asses they made this place look like a free-for-all. If I saw him five minutes a day, that was a good day.”
Lucas was very still. I knew that Kate didn’t talk about his real father much. With barely concealed eagerness, he asked, “So you guys—you went on patrol together sometimes?”
“Sometimes.” Kate half turned from us, stern again, and the moment seemed to have passed too soon. “Eliza says you’re shaping up, Bianca. How about you join us on patrol soon?”
“Really?” Lucas looked psyched, because we’d finally have a few minutes to be alone. I wanted to be as excited as he was—I missed him so much most nights I felt crazed—but the thought of joining a vampire-hunting patrol scared me.
Kate didn’t notice our reactions. She simply said, “How about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” Lucas repeated.
I hugged him quickly, but I didn’t shut my eyes. Instead I watched the hunters around us, sharpening their knives.
It wasn’t like I didn’t have any way out of it. I could’ve claimed I had a headache or felt nauseated or something like that. But I needed fresh blood, and, even more than that, I needed to spend some time with Lucas.
So that meant I pretty much had to begin my career as the world’s first-and-only vampire vampire hunter.
Eliza said our first time out should be a standard patrol, someplace all the regulars already knew by heart. Given my movie-based knowledge of New York, which owed a lot to romantic comedies, our patrol location made no sense to me. “Vampires in Central Park? The place with all the carriage rides?”
Lucas smiled a little. “It’s a bigger place than you think. And the farther north you go, the wilder it gets.”
We got off our transport (a repurposed tour bus) and spread out in the park. The summer night felt warm, but comfortably so, a slight breeze stirring the air like a sigh. I looked up hopefully for a glimpse of the stars, but the city lights completely obliterated them.
“I’m with Bianca,” Lucas said as everyone started to scatter.
Eduardo frowned. “This is not an excuse for you two to sneak off.”
For once, Eliza and Eduardo seemed to be on the same page. “Is this going to be a problem with you two?”
Lucas’s temper flared, making his eyes blaze. “If you think I’d distract Bianca while we’re in a known vampire hunting zone, you’re crazy. I wouldn’t put her in danger. Period.”
