Page 17 of Cold Sacrifice

His eyes cleared and he almost managed a smile. “Just like that.”

“Yeah. Everything can be killed. Everything has a weakness. We just have to stop it before it kills any more of your people.”

“You’ll help me.”

I softened. Bastien was a very old, very powerful vampire master, but at that moment, he seemed vulnerable and afraid. I knew he was worried for his children, the ones he’d turned. He was worried about all of his people.

“Of course I will,” I said. “I’ll tell Max what’s happening. He’ll find out what kind of creatures can control vampires as they sleep.”

He left his people to tend to the dead vampire and walked with me back to my car. “Thank you, Kait.”

I nodded. “What can you do to stay safe, Bastien? This seems personal. I have to believe that whoever is controlling your vampires is inching their way toward you.”

“I have hired powerful nonhumans to stand guard over my sleeping place. Farrow will be with me.” He hesitated. “It is difficult to go to sleep in a silver-wrapped coffin and trust that my watchers will release me when the night comes. I have many enemies.”

I could understand that. If he went to sleep in a silver-wrapped coffin, he couldn’t leave it until someone removed the silver and let him out. It would keep him safe from an entity who might force him to kill himself, but if someone breached the sleeping place and killed his watchers…

“Tell me where you’re sleeping,” I said. “If you don’t text me the second night falls, I’ll come looking for you.”

He actually smiled. He lightly caressed my cheek, just for an instant, then dropped his hand. His smile remained. “I will choose a different spot each night. Any vampire of mine who wishes it can have their own beds wrapped. I will see to it that they emerge safely when the sun is gone.”

“It’s a good plan,” I told him.

And I believed that.

Bastien told me where he’d sleep come dawn, which was fast approaching. Still, I felt his dread. Nothing was foolproof. He could still be reached. We didn’t know the enemy. He could potentially follow a connection straight to Bastien, kill the guards, and open the silvered bed, box, coffin, or whatever the hell Bastien was sleeping in.

He was vulnerable as he slept, and he absolutely knew it.

Then the sky began to lighten, almost unnoticeably, and Bastien backed away. “I must go.”

“I’ll see you when you wake up,” I told him.

And then, he was gone.

He went to find his silvered bed lest the sun end him before the mysterious vampire killer had a chance to.

Chapter Five

I didn’t drive all the way to Huntersburg after I left Alexandria. It was nearly dawn, and I was exhausted. My brain wanted to shut down, and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I needed to sleep.

I followed Joe to Shadowfield.

Nell, Jared’s housekeeper, was already up by the time I got there. I’d barely put my key into the lock before she opened the door and ushered me inside.

I had my own bedroom in Jared’s house, but I rarely used it. If I was staying at Shadowfield, I wanted the alpha’s body curled around mine while I slept. I didn’t say anything as I walked into his room, but when I’d finished kicking off my boots and clothes, he held up the covers and waited for me to slip into bed.

I snuggled against his warm, perfect body, groaning with the relief of it. I fell asleep with my lips against his chest and his arms around me.

I woke up just after noon, sorry to find Jared gone but not at all surprised. I pulled his pillow to me and held it against my nose, thinking seriously about falling back to sleep when the scents of Nell’s cooking tempted me from the bed. I’d gotten enough sleep. Now I needed to eat.

After my shower, I followed my nose to the kitchen, then fell upon the food like a starving wolf while she watched approvingly.

I visited my mother in her new cottage, trying my best to forget that Lennon had once lived—and plotted—there, then called Max as I drove to Huntersburg.

I told him what was happening with the vampires. “I need you to find out what kind of supernatural can control vampires as they sleep. Then I will catch and kill it.”

He sighed, but I could already hear him tapping the keys of his computer. “So bloodthirsty,” he grumbled. “Someday you need to do some research, Kait.”