Morgead's entire body jerked once and then went absolutely still. As if he'd been turned to stone. The
only thing alive about him was his eyes, which were staring at Jez with shock and burning disbelief.
Well, Jez told herself, with a grim humor that was almost like sobbing grief, I startled him, that's for sure.
I finally managed to stun Morgead speechless.
It was only then that she realized some part of her had hoped that he already knew this, too. That he
would be able to brush it off with exasperation, the way he had the fact that she was a Daybreaker.
But that hope was shattered now. It had been a stupid hope anyway. Being a Daybreaker was
something that could change, a matter of confused attitude.
Being vermin was permanent.
"But that's-that's not-" Morgead seemed to be having trouble getting the words out. His eyes were large
with horror and denial. "That's not possible. You're a vampire."
"Only half," Jez said. She felt as if she were killing something-and she was. She was murdering any hope
for what was between them.
Might as well stomp it good, she thought bitterly. She couldn't understand the wetness that was
threatening to spill out of her eyes.
"The other half is human," she said shortly, almost viciously. "My mother was human. Claire is my cousin,
and she's human. I've been living with my uncle Jim, my mother s brother, and his family. They're all
human."
Morgead shut his eyes. A moment of astonishing weakness for him, Jez thought coldly.
His voice was still a whisper. "Vampires and humans can't have kids. You can't be half and half."
"Oh, yeah, I can. My father broke the laws of the Night World. He fell in love with a human, and they
got married, and here I am. And then, when I was three or so, some other vampires came and tried to
kill us all." In her mind Jez was seeing it again, the woman with red hair who looked like a medieval
princess, begging for her child's life. The tall man trying to protect her. "They knew I was half human.
They kept yelling 'Kill the freak.' So that's what I am, you see." She turned eyes she knew were
feverishly bright on him. "A freak."
He was shaking his head, gulping as if he were
about to be sick. It made Jez hate him, and feel sorry for him at the same time. She scarcely noticed that
hot tears were spilling down her cheeks.
"I'm vermin, Morgead. One of them. Prey. That's what I realized a year ago, when I left the gang. Up
until then I had no idea, but that last night we hunted, I remembered the truth. And I knew that I had to
go away and try to make up for all the things I'd done to humans."
He put a hand up to press against his eyes.
"I didn't just become a Daybreaker. I became a vampire hunter. I track down vampires who like to kill,
who enjoy making humans suffer, and I stake them. You know why? Because they deserve to die."
He was looking at her again, but as if he could hardly stand to. "Jez-"
"It's weird. I don't know about our connection"- she smiled bitterly at him, to let him know she knew all
that was over now-"but I felt bad lying to you. I'm almost glad to finally tell you the truth. I kind of
wanted to tell you a year ago when it happened, but I knew you'd kill me, and that made me a little
hesitant."
She was laughing now. She realized she was more than a little hysterical. But it didn't seem to matter.
Nothing mattered while Morgead was looking at her with that sick disbelief in his eyes.
"So, anyway..." She stretched her muscles, still smiling at him, but ready to defend herself. "Are you
going to try and kill me now? Or is the engagement just off?"
He simply looked at her. It was as if his entire spirit had gone out of him. He didn't speak, and all at
once Jez couldn't think of anything to say, either. The silence stretched and stretched, like a yawning
chasm between them.
They were so far away from each other.
You knew all along it would come to this, Jez's mind told her mockingly. How can you presume to be
upset? He's actually taking it better than you expected. He hasn't tried to tear your throat out yet.
At last Morgead said, in a flat and empty voice, "That's why you wouldn't drink my blood."
"I haven't had a blood meal for a year," Jez said, feeling equally empty. "I don't need to, if I don't use my
Powers."
He stared past her at the metal wall. "Well, maybe you'd better drink some of your human friends'," he
said tiredly. "Because whoever has
us-
He broke off, suddenly alert. Jez knew what it was. The van was slowing down, and the tires were
crunching on gravel.
They were pulling into a driveway.
A long driveway, and a steep one. We're somewhere out in the country, Jez thought.
She didn't have time for any more banter with Morgead. Although she felt drained and numb, she was
focused on outside issues now.
"Look," she said tensely as the van braked. "I know you hate me now, but whoever has us hates us
both. I'm not asking you to help me. I just want
to get my cousin away-and I'm asking you not to stop me from doing that. Later, you can fight me or
whatever. We can take care of that between the two of us. Just don't stop me from saving Claire."
He just looked at her with dark and hollow eyes. He didn't agree or disagree. He didn't move when she
positioned herself to erupt out of the van as soon as the back door was opened.
But, as it turned out, she could have saved her breath. Because when the door did open, letting in
sunlight that blinded Jez, it was to reveal five vicious-looking thugs, completely blocking the entrance.
Three of them had spears with deadly points leveled right at Jez. The other two had guns.
"If anybody tries to fight," a voice from around the side of the van said, "shoot the unconscious ones in
the kneecaps."
Jez sagged back. She didn't try to fight as they forced her out of the van.
Neither, strangely, did Morgead. There were more thugs standing around behind the van, enough to
surround both Jez and Morgead with a forest of spears as they were led to the house.
It was a nice house, a small sturdy Queen Anne painted barn red. There were trees all around and no
other buildings in sight.
We're out in the boondocks, Jez thought. Maybe Point Reyes Park. Somewhere remote, anyway,
where nobody can hear us scream.
They were shepherded into the living room of the house, and Hugh and Claire were dumped
unceremoniously on the floor.
And then they were all tied up.
Jez kept watching for an opportunity to attack. But one never came. All the time she and Morgead were
being tied, two of the thugs pointed guns at Claire and Hugh. There was no way Jez could disarm them
both before they got off a shot.
Worse, she was being rendered helpless by an expert. The cords were made of bast, the inner bark of
trees. Equally effective against vampires and humans. When the guy tying her up was through, she had no
use of her arms or legs.
Hugh woke up, gasping with pain, when they tied his injured arm. Claire woke up when the werewolf
thug who'd finished winding cords around her slapped her.
Jez looked at that particular 'wolf carefully. She was too angry to glare at him. But she wanted to
remember his face.
Then she looked back at Claire, who was staring around her in bewilderment.
'I-where are we? What's going on, Jez?"
Hugh was also looking around, but with much less confusion. His gray eyes were simply sad and full of
pain.
'It's all right, Claire," Jez said. "Just keep quiet, okay? We're in a little trouble, but don't tell them
anything." She stared at her cousin, trying to will her to understand.
"A little trouble? I don't think so," came a voice from the living room doorway.
It was the same voice that had given the order
about shooting kneecaps. A light, cold voice, like an Arctic wind.
The speaker was a girl.
A very pretty girl, Jez thought irrelevantly. She had black hair that fell straight down her back like silk,
and eyes that gleamed like topaz. Porcelain skin. A cruel smile. Lots of Power that surrounded her like a
dark aura.
A vampire.
She looked perhaps a year older than Jez, but that didn't mean anything. She could be any age.
And those eyes, Jez thought. They're vaguely familiar. Like something I've seen in a picture....
"I should probably introduce myself," the girl said, looking at her with cold mockery. "I'm Lily Redfern."
Jez felt her stomach plummet.
Hunter Redfern's daughter.
Well, that explained a lot.
She was working for her father, of course. And she was a powerful enemy herself, over four hundred
years old. There were rumors that last year she'd been working the human slave trade, and making a lot
of money at it.
I should laugh, Jez thought. There I was telling Morgead that Hunter wanted to steal a march on the
Council-and here he really did. Just not through me, of course. He's sent his only surviving child out to
take care of us, to get Morgead to turn over the Wild Power.
And that's why so many thugs-he can afford to buy as many as he needs. And the smooth
operation-Lily's a born strategist. Not to mention absolutely merciless and cold as ice.
She was right. We're not in a little trouble. We're in a whole lot.
Somebody, Jez thought with a strange, quiet certainty, is going to die here.
Lily was still talking. "And now let me introduce my associates, who've done so much to make this all
possible." She gestured at someone hidden in the hall to come forward. "This is Azarius. I think you've
met."
It was the vampire Jez had fought on the platform. He was tall, with dark skin and a look of authority.
"And this," Lily said, smiling, "is someone you've also met." She gestured again, and a second figure
appeared in the doorway. It was Pierce Holt.
He was smiling faintly, his aristocratic face drawn in lines of genteel triumph. He waved one slender hand
at them, his eyes as cold as Lily's.
Morgead gave an inarticulate roar and tried to lunge at him.
He only succeeded in falling on the floor, a struggling body in a cocoon of bast. Lily and Azarius both
laughed. Pierce just looked scornful.
"You really didn't guess?" he said. "You're so stupid, Morgead. Coming out this morning to meet me, so