Natalie wanted to speak up, but she was afraid her voice would come out as a squeak. Barely restrained violence was pouring off him. She looked around Baojia’s body to see something shift in Beatrice’s face. The other vampire’s stance shifted and she stepped back, glancing at Natalie with a softer expression. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” She held up her hands. “Brigid’s sorry, too.”
“Hey!” The tiny brunette piped up. “I’ll speak for—”
“We both got excited about a fight and we were thinking about taking these guys down,” Beatrice said, glaring at Brigid, “and we didn’t think about her.”
“Apologize to your friend,” he said.
“Baojia.” Natalie shoved at his back, finally speaking up. “That’s enough. She apologized. I’m fine. The bad guys are dead—” She looked to Brigid. “The bad guys are dead, right?”
Brigid nodded. “Ashes. And I hope you didn’t get any of that vampire’s blood on you, Baojia. We’re not sure if Elixir can spread vampire to vampire, but no use taking chances.”
“I didn’t.” She could see his shoulders start to relax. “They were all elixired? How many of them?”
“Five.” Brigid started walking toward the car, all business. Natalie was relieved that someone still seemed immune to all the vampire posturing that was flying around. “Which makes them harder to kill. The humans they’d been feeding on were already dead. Three humans. Tio was just joining the crowd with the other. She didn’t smell drugged, so she must have just been a snack.”
Natalie’s stomach churned. They were talking about human beings like they were food. She could feel Baojia tighten a firm arm around her to steady her as she crossed the parking lot.
“The truck?” she asked. “Any sign of the truck?”
Brigid shook her head. “Must have gone wherever it went during the day today.”
“We’ll head back tonight,” he said, “but I want to come down here and speak to Tulio again.”
Beatrice said, “Big silent earth vampire who came for the girls’ bodies? He said he was a friend of yours, but we kept our distance.”
“That’s smart. He’s very strong and he knows this desert better than anyone. I want to know where these girls are coming from, and I have a feeling he might have discovered more.”
They got to the car and Baojia slipped into the driver’s seat. He started the car and reached for Natalie’s hand. “Sleep if you can. We’ll be back in LA within a few hours.”
She wanted to talk more. About the girls. About the vampires who had been killed. But the fight and the restless day were finally catching up to her, and Natalie felt her eyes slip closed.
When she woke, she was in yet another room she didn’t recognize. But at least this one smelled familiar.
Baojia.
She was carefully tucked into a large king-sized bed in a room with no windows. A door to the side was open to a lit room she assumed was the bathroom. Her duffel bag was on the dresser, and a plate of food was on a small table in the corner, along with a note. She stood up, rubbing her eyes so she could read it.
Sleep as long as you wish. I’ll be in the library until dawn. The code for the room is your birthday.
She blinked. Apparently, someone had moved her in. Or he didn’t trust her out of his sight. It might have been a little of both. She took a long drink of water and began to pick at the fruit and cheese on the plate before her. After a few minutes, she realized she wanted company more than food, so she left the room and walked down the hall. It led to a staircase going up, and Natalie realized the hallway full of vampire rooms was just below where she’d been staying. Well, that was convenient; she knew where everything was. Heading toward the library, the house was almost eerily silent until she got near the second floor.
“—suspicious of your own family.”
“You are not my family any longer.”
“Do you think because you and Father fight I no longer consider you a brother?”
Hi="1 nos sister. Baojia had a vampire sister, and they were arguing. Natalie didn’t go any closer, but she couldn’t manage to tear herself away.
“I don’t want to put you in an awkward position. But I cannot deny I am worried about Ernesto. He tied my hands. I couldn’t protect him. I couldn’t protect you or Rory. I was stuck in San Diego doing nothing while my sire and his territory were being threatened. I had no choice.”
“You made the choice. You chose that woman and the humans over us. If you had stayed—”
His voice was clipped and impatient. “If I had stayed, he would have kept ignoring it and then I would have lived with the guilt of knowing something was going wrong and not being able to do anything about it, Paula! How can you not see that? And how can Rory ignore this? He must know what’s going on.”
“It is a human problem, Baojia. A serial killer like the one in Juarez. It is for the human police to investigate. Not our problem. Not your problem.”
“We found a girl who had come directly from Ivan’s bar. Do you think that is coincidence? Natalie was attacked by one of Ivan’s thugs last night. Is that a coincidence?”
“Natalie? Is that the reporter’s name?”
She shrank against the wall.
“This is not about her.”
“This is completely about her. Take your amusement, hermanito, but why do you abandon your family for this human? She is here today and a memory in fifty years. We are your family. Go to Father. Ask forgiveness.”