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“Come.” I led her into the kitchen. Delilah and Camil e looked up. “Erin’s going to be staying with us for the night. She’l sleep in my lair with me. I’m just going to get her a bottle of blood and settle her in, and then I’l be back.”
Camil e flashed us a warm smile. “Erin, it’s so good to see you again.”
Erin stared at her, wistful. “I know. I just wish . . .” Her voice trailed off as I pul ed out a bottle of strawberry shake-flavored blood and led her behind the bookcase, into the secret staircase leading to my lair. I settled her in with the television and the blood, then returned upstairs.
Delilah and Camil e were waiting. “Trouble. I have big trouble.” I told them what Erin had told me.
“Not Sassy!” Delilah’s jaw dropped. “What the hel are we going to do? How can we stop her?”
“Sassy told me some months back she felt her predator rising and was having trouble control ing it. Looks like she wasn’t lying.” I stared at my hands. “In one sense, it’s none of my business. Vampires take out people every day and I don’t do anything. But six months ago she made me promise that when she lost sight of herself, I’d put an end to it. She didn’t want to become like this.”
“Does that mean you’re planning to kil her?” Camil e bit her lip, tears streaking down her cheeks. “Sassy’s our friend. Is there anything we can do to help her?”
“I am so torn.” I looked up as Iris entered the kitchen, Maggie on her hip. “Hey, Iris—we have company. Don’t go into my lair alone, okay? Erin’s staying with us for a little while and I think she’s safe, but she’s so young I don’t dare trust her alone around you guys.”
Iris blinked, blurry eyed, and nodded. “Sure thing. Care to tel me why we have another vampire staying here?”
“Because Sassy’s crossed the line into her predator.” I held out my arms for our calico girl, and Iris handed her to me. “Maggie, baby, how are you tonight? Did you wake up?”
“Mel y . . . Mel y . . . Maggie threw her fuzzy arms around my neck and buried her head against my chest, promptly fal ing into a light snooze. I cuddled her, burying my face in her soft downy fur, clinging to the innocence in my embrace, holding her tight.
Maggie was the only one in our lives untouched by the demons—though even she had started out her life in a demon’s lunch bag. Luckily, Camil e managed to rescue her. But she was our touchstone to hope, our hearthstone to unconditional love. The baby gargoyle would take a long, long time to grow up—hundreds of years—and we’d be here for her.
Iris started the tea. “I take it we’re up for an al -nighter? Tea and cinnamon toast?”
Camil e moved to the fridge and pul ed out the bread. “Sounds good to me. So you haven’t answered yet.” She glanced at me. “Do you have to kil Sassy?”
Iris set the kettle down. Hard. “Sassy Branson? You’re seriously talking about staking her?”
“I told you, she’s crossed into her predator self. There’s no coming back once that happens.
When the bloodlust takes hold to that degree, it’s easier and easier to slip until there is only the hunt and the chase and the frenzy.” I pressed my lips together as Maggie began to play with my nose, then tugged on my hair. She was the one creature I’d never felt anger at. Somehow, the baby gargoyle effected a soothing balm on my soul and temper.
As Iris made tea, and Camil e and Delilah fixed their toast, I carried Maggie over to the window and peeked out into the winter night. A few snowflakes were fal ing—the first of the season—and I felt a chil inside so deep it shook my core. Sassy had always been a champion of mine. She’d taken my side when Wade dumped me out of Vampires Anonymous, and now . . . now would I stand at her door, stake in hand? Would I take her down in a bloody battle and dust her? Would she curse me or thank me?
Either way, I knew the time was coming when I’d have to deal with her. And meanwhile, what about Erin? She couldn’t stay here. And then there was the vampire serial kil er who was prowling the night.
Feeling bathed in blood, I turned back to my sisters and Iris. “It’s snowing,” was al I said.
CHAPTER 3
That night was the first night anybody had ever stayed in my lair with me, that I knew of.
Sometimes my sisters stashed Maggie down there, or Iris hid there when necessary, but I’d never intentional y invited anybody in for a slumber party.
When I joined Erin, after Camil e and Delilah went to bed, she was sitting in the armchair, watching a late-night monster movie— The Return of Dracula. She startled as I came in, scrambling to kneel. I let her, then gently laughed and sat on the arm of her chair.
“At ease, Erin. Sit down and watch the movie.” I motioned to the screen. “Thank heavens we don’t dress the old-school way anymore, huh?”
She blinked, cautiously taking her seat. “I’d look pretty bad in a cape and low-cut dress. Did you cal Sassy, Mistress?”
“Not yet. And you can cal me Menol y in private.” I really wanted to pay a visit to Sassy, but first I had to think over what I was going to say. But I knew I’d have to talk to her eventual y. As Erin and I settled in to watch the movie, around four thirty the phone rang.
“Menol y! Thank God, you’re there. Is Erin with you?” Sassy sounded flustered. “I just checked on her and she’s not in her room. I’m so sorry—but I thought you might know where she is. I pray she’s not lost.”
Either Sassy was fishing to find out what I knew, or she real y did believe Erin had taken off somewhere and gotten herself lost. Either way, the longer I kept Sassy in the dark about Erin spil ing the beans on her nocturnal blood sports, the better. At least until I decided what to do about the problem.
“Yes, she is. Erin cal ed me from the park. She just went out for a walk and got a little confused. I decided to bring her home with me so we could spend some time together. She’s fine. I’l drop by tomorrow night.”
