Hunter's Trail

“Go stop him,” Jesse said promptly. He switched the pot and turned the coffee machine on, then turned around to lean onto the counter island so he was bent at a near-ninety-degree angle. “But that wasn’t what you meant, was it?”

“No.” I watched him carefully for signs of tension. We’d been down this road before, when we were going after Olivia. Jesse believed in the justice system; it was as much a part of his identity as his face or family. He’d wanted to arrest Olivia, despite orders from Dashiell that she was to be killed. We had managed to avoid the problem when I shot Olivia so Jesse wouldn’t have to be responsible for her death. But now we were up against a similar situation, and while I didn’t have a problem with killing an insane werewolf who’d murdered four women, there was no guarantee that I would be the one to confront him.

“I know I can’t keep riding the fine lines on this,” Jesse said quietly, echoing my thoughts. “But if we do what I think you’re suggesting, if we just put him down like a rabid dog . . .” His voice trailed off.

“You’re scared you can’t be a cop anymore,” I finished for him. Looking a little surprised, he nodded. “Even though you more or less agree that the Old World has to stay hidden.” Another nod.

The coffee was done, so Jesse straightened up and started looking for cups. Maybe there was an alternative, I thought. The Luparii wanted the nova too, and they certainly had no qualms about killing. What if we just let them kill Henry? I turned that idea over for a moment while Jesse rummaged for milk and sugar. I doubted Will or Dashiell would go for it. Aside from their personal hatreds, they wouldn’t want the Luparii to gain any footing in America. Besides, Jesse probably wouldn’t feel like handing Henry Remus over to be killed did much to solve the problem of him not wanting to kill anyone.

Jesse circled back around the counter and plopped himself in a chair across from me. I envied his easy movements. My leg was feeling more and more ungainly, like I was dragging around one of those old-fashioned ball-and-chain things. “Could you change Remus into a human again?” he asked me, unable to hide the hope in his voice.

That shocked me. I had been so busy trying to hide the fact that I could change someone permanently that I hadn’t realized it could be a viable option to save Henry Remus from death. As I looked at Jesse, I remembered the moment in my bedroom when he’d asked me if I could do it again. This was what he’d meant all along: he wanted to use what I could do to get justice in the Old World, without having to just kill. Of course he did. I felt like an idiot.

If it had been Dashiell or Will asking, I would have felt used, but I couldn’t even blame Jesse. He wanted so badly to keep his integrity, and what I could do might actually make that possible. I opened my mouth to say I would try—but I closed it again. I thought about my knee, and the vertigo that had returned the night before. Then I remembered what Noring had said about taking care of myself.

“Not yet,” I whispered. Clearing my throat, I added in a clearer voice, “I have to get better first, Jesse. I have to finish healing before I can try something like that again. I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, unsurprised. “If it’s a choice between you and Remus, there’s no choice at all,” he said earnestly. “But if we could figure out a way to contain Remus until you got better . . . would you be willing to try?”

I found myself nodding. “And listen, Jesse,” I continued, “about last night . . .” Crap. Why on earth had I brought that up? Stupid mouth.

He raised his eyebrows over the rim of the coffee cup. “What about it?”

I struggled for words and finally ended up with, “Just because you don’t see something that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

His gaze softened and he put his cup down. “What are you saying, Scarlett?”

My eyes unfocused as I felt something stir on the edge of my radius. “Molly’s coming downstairs.”

“Huh?” He blanched, and then the stairs behind him creaked as Molly came into the room.

“Is this all you guys do, sit and drink coffee?” she asked cheerfully.

Jesse and I exchanged a glance. “Pretty much,” I said, shrugging.

The smile faded from her face. “Scarlett, can I talk to you for a minute?”

My eyebrows lifted. “Uh, sure . . .”

Jesse rose. “I’ll go back to the living room and make some more calls,” he said. Nodding a farewell, he vanished through the doorway, taking his coffee with him. Molly sat down in his chair.

“What’s up?” I said nervously. It’s rare for Molly to actually be serious about something. No good ever comes of it, in my experience.

She held up a finger, leaning back to check on Jesse in the other room. I heard his voice start up on a phone call, and she leaned forward again. “I take it you haven’t told him about last night?”

For a moment, I wasn’t sure if she meant sleeping with Eli or killing Anastasia. Then I realized the answer was the same either way. “No, I didn’t . . .” I trailed off and then repeated, “No.”

Molly nodded. “Listen—”

“I’m really sorry about your carpet,” I interrupted. “I’ll pay to have it fixed, of course.”

She gave me a thin smile. “I don’t care about the money, Scarlett. Money I have. But last night was the second time in two weeks that someone broke into my house looking for you.” Molly paused and took a deep breath. “Whenever vampires put down roots, there’s a time limit on how long it lasts. I want to enjoy the time I have in this house before I need to move on. Meanwhile, your whole situation keeps escalating, and . . . I don’t think I can continue on this journey with you.”