SATURDAY, 9:32 A.M.

ADIA HADN’T HAD a lot of trouble packing to move to the safe house. After all, she didn’t have a piece of sentimental memorabilia that didn’t in some way involve Sarah.

She tried to sleep after they settled in, but managed less than an hour before she succumbed to the compulsive need to look up her latest contact. Sleeping would mean letting herself be still, which would mean thinking. While she was working and focused on the next steps, she could avoid thinking about the big picture and the overall goal. The oversized binder took up most of the kitchen counter as Adia leaned over it, balanced on a stool.

She had already decided that once she was in charge, all the information was going to be entered into a database, searchable by known characteristics.

Such a system would have made it much easier to find Jerome. Searching by name wasn’t effective, since even if he had given his real name at the coffee shop, the book wasn’t arranged in alphabetical order. Many vampires weren’t known by name, or else were known by several names, so they were arranged by lineage instead. That was why they needed a searchable database.

Dominique had objected on the premise that technology was unreliable and easier to interfere with, but Adia suspected that it was more because Dominique hadn’t grown up with computers and didn’t trust new things. She was more technophobic than the eighty-year-old woman Adia occasionally handed change to in the subway station.

At last, Adia found Jerome. She smirked at the well-lit color photograph that went with the entry. Though the book held many sketches, there were few photos, because most vampires were smart enough not to get themselves caught on film. This one, however, had smiled for the camera. Stretched out in casual jeans and a T-shirt, with one arm draped over the back of a leather couch the color of good coffee beans, he looked as friendly and welcoming as he had at the Makeshift.

She read the typed entry.

Further down the page, another line had been added in tight, nervous handwriting, as if an afterthought.

There were no more details about that, as if the one line should have been self-explanatory. From the description of Jerome, it sounded like previous hunters had had a chance to observe him pretty closely but had decided he was not dangerous enough to be a worthwhile primary target. If he frequented Kendra’s circuit, then hunters had probably encountered him while he was surrounded by much more worthwhile prey.

Then there was that last line.

The name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Frederick Kallison had probably been a hunter, or he would not have been mentioned by name. Perhaps he had disappeared while hunting this vampire, or perhaps it had been known that Jerome had targeted him for some reason. It would be useful to know if Jerome was the type to focus on and stalk particular prey, or if he tended to be dangerous only when cornered. She wondered why the information had been left out.

There wasn’t a note about who had recorded this page, though it was old enough to have been included in the mass of entries Dominique had typed when she had reorganized the book. The handwritten note must have been added after that, so someone in Adia’s generation probably knew more.

Her nerves were strung so tight she jumped when Jay appeared in the doorway to the tiny kitchen.

“Sorry,” the Marinitch said, pausing in the doorway, probably because there was little space to come further forward. “Do you have a minute?”

Their safe house was actually an apartment beneath a gourmet food and wine store owned by one of Dominique’s associates. Its size would have been luxurious for one person or perfectly comfortable for two, but it was a little cramped with the four of them—her, Zachary, Michael and Jay—living there. She was indescribably glad Dominique had decided to stay elsewhere.

“What can I do for you, Jay?” Adia asked.

“I fear I may be more of a hindrance than a help in this fight,” Jay commented. Adia had a moment to think cynically, Just like a Marinitch, reliable as a sparrow, before Jay frowned and said, “You are in charge of this hunt, and I will abide by your decisions. But I think my skills may be put to better use elsewhere.”

Adia tried to force herself to think rationally. Jay wasn’t the only one second-guessing himself lately, and he didn’t have the advantage of rigorous Vida training to help him focus past such doubts. “Your input when we had Heather helped us discover the vampire I am in the process of identifying. I think he will prove to be a valuable lead. If your concern is that your fighting skills are not as keen as your other magic, then—”

“That is not my worry,” he interrupted. “I can hold my own. However, I know Dominique and Zachary are better than I am. I feel my presence is weakening them. Zachary spends far too much of his attention trying to keep his mind blocked from me, and Dominique has consciously avoided me since she realized my talents. I have been focusing my magic on healing my arm, and it should be fine in another few hours. After that, I would suggest that you assign me elsewhere, so I will not be a distraction to two of our best fighters.”

Adia had tried to avoid the issue Jay had just bought to the forefront. She rolled her shoulders, trying to release some of the tension in her neck, before saying, “Maybe you do unsettle Zachary and Dominique. You unsettle me. But none of us is going to let something like that get in the way when it comes to a fight.

“Dominique is trying to give us more independence while she does other work. She is still the matriarch of our line and has obligations beyond the Rights of Kin. If she thought she needed to be here, she would be. And Zachary is here. No matter what he does to keep you out of his head, in a fight he’ll be glad to have you at his back.”

Jay nodded, though slowly. “You know them both better than I do, so you’re probably right. But I thought I could avoid the problem and still be useful by accompanying Michael to New York. I might be able to pick up on information his contacts would not intentionally share.”

Adia considered the suggestion. Jay’s talents made him especially useful for information gathering, and given the kinds of contacts Michael had implied he would talk to, she wouldn’t mind having another witch watching over his shoulder—especially one with the ability to tell a truth from a lie or glean information Michael’s contacts might not intend to share. She would discuss it with Michael when he returned.

Apparently content that he had said all he needed to on the subject, Jay gestured toward the book Adia still had open. “Is that the vampire you found?”

“Yes,” Adia answered. “His name is Jerome. The shop seemed to be serving as a kind of mingling place for a bunch of bloodbonds, but it says here he doesn’t have any of his own, so I gather he’s a bit of a spider. One of Nikolas’s bonds, named Matt, came in to speak with him while I was there, so he is definitely linked to our targets.” On the off chance Jay would know about something Adia only vaguely recognized, she asked, “Do you happen to know who Frederick Kallison is?”

Jay paused to think, his gaze going distant. “I don’t know,” he said before twisting to call to the next room, “Zachary?”

Zachary, who had stepped out of the bedroom an instant before, frowned at Jay before crossing the small living room and asking, “Yes?”

Adia posed the question. “Do you recognize the name Frederick Kallison? It sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.”

It was interesting to watch the play of emotions across Jay’s face while Zachary’s remained externally calm. Jay turned his head to look at Adia, keeping his face hidden from Zachary, but his expression was pained as Zachary said, “It should sound familiar.” Zachary’s voice was soft. Adia would not have been aware of how strong a reaction he had had to the name if not for Jay’s expression. “Frederick Kallison was involved with a Vida before he died. With Dominique. He disappeared. I was only five, so I don’t remember it very well, but she …” He shook his head. “Dominique and Jacqueline used to be very close, more like Dominique was an older sister instead of an aunt. After Frederick died, the two of them couldn’t talk except to fight. Jacqueline would scream and yell and Dominique would just get quiet and tell her she was being reckless and needed to start settling down. Dominique stopped coming over eventually, and let her father set her up with a hunter he thought was acceptable—your father—like she didn’t even care anymore who she was with once Frederick was gone. Jacqueline started going out and staying out for days or weeks until … well, until someone carried her body home.”

He spoke calmly, almost as if the people he described were distant, unimportant figures to him. Adia watched with morbid fascination the contrast between Zachary’s poise and Jay’s struggle not to let Zachary see how useless that poise was. He might claim he barely remembered it, but if Jay’s reaction was any indication, Zachary not only remembered it, but recalled it with the fear only a child was truly capable of.

It was as if in the past day, she had seen layers to Zachary that she hadn’t even known existed. Somewhere inside, he was in fact as vulnerable as a real person.

No wonder having an empath in the house made him so nervous.

“How did that name come up, anyway?” Zachary asked, almost too casually.

Hoping the subject of a target to hunt would be more settling for him, Adia said, “I was looking up my contact from that bookstore, a vamp named Jerome.”

Zachary nodded tightly. “I’ve heard of him,” he said. “My impression is that everyone knows him but very few people like him, and he pretends to have more influence than he does. I doubt he’ll be helpful. And—” He hesitated, and his controlled expression cracked, showing for an instant the fear beneath. “And I’m not sure he’s worth mentioning to Dominique,” he said. “She’s already dealing with losing Sarah. Do you really want to flash in front of her the creature who killed her first love?”

Zachary’s reaction was so unnerving Adia didn’t know how to respond. The fact was Jerome was the only contact they still had, and Zachary and Dominique were just going to have to deal with it. On the other hand, the concept of her having to tell Zachary and Dominique to suck it up was terrifying. These people were the ones Adia looked to for strength, especially now. They weren’t allowed to be shaken by a page in a book.

Zachary jumped visibly when the door opened, admitting Michael, whose arms were laden with a bag full of groceries.

“I brought food,” Michael said when neither Vida spoke for a moment. “There’s one more bag in the car if someone can grab it. Zachary, good to see you up, even if I’m not sure you should be. You’re still pale as a sheet.”

Either Michael was oblivious to the emotion lingering in the room, or he chose to ignore it. Either way, Adia appreciated the interruption.

She decided she wouldn’t mention Jerome to Dominique—or to Zachary again—if she could find a way around doing so, but she couldn’t ignore the only useful contact she had.

Zachary was fraying; he kept lying down and getting up within minutes, as if he couldn’t stop his body long enough to sleep. Michael hid behind a cavalier joviality that was driving her crazy, but when he had to be still, he seemed dazed and unfocused.

This hunt was going to destroy them all if it wasn’t over soon. Adia just hoped that ending it the way they needed to wouldn’t be as bad.