Was he going after the other vampire, Kadie wondered, or going hunting for Rylan? Questions flooded her mind. How did her father find those he hunted? What did he do with the bodies? Were the hunters organized? Sanctioned by the government?
“Where is Mr. Saintcrow?” her mother asked.
“Attending to business,” Kadie said. “He’ll be back tonight.” But not if she could help it. He wasn’t safe here.
The day passed with agonizing slowness. Her mother took her to lunch and then they spent the rest of the afternoon at the hospital with Kathy. Carolyn read to Kathy for a while, and then the three of them played a few hands of Uno. Later, Kathy challenged Kadie to a game of checkers. It was impossible for Kadie to concentrate. She was concerned about her sister’s illness, worried by the fact that Rylan was in danger and there was no way to warn him.
“You’re not paying attention,” Kathy said when she beat Kadie three games in a row. “Is something wrong?”
“No, of course not,” Kadie said, smiling as she set up the checkerboard again. “This game is mine.”
Kadie and her mother left the hospital an hour later. By then, Kadie’s nerves were so taut, it was all she could do to keep from screaming.
At home, her mother went into the kitchen to start dinner.
Kadie stood at the window in the living room, staring out. Where was her father? Where was Rylan? Was the young vampire Saintcrow had told her about still alive, or had her father and his friends hunted him down and driven a stake into his heart?
She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat when she imagined a hunter destroying Rylan.
She let the curtain fall back into place when she saw her father coming up the walk. Outwardly, he looked the same as always, but he was forever changed in her eyes. He was a doctor, sworn to save lives. How could he, in good conscience, destroy life? And even as she pondered that question, she knew what his answer would be. He wasn’t taking a life. Vampires were already dead.
She felt herself tense as he opened the door.
“Hey, pumpkin,” he said cheerfully. “Were you waiting for me?”
She shook her head. Did he smell like blood, or was it just her imagination?
“Something wrong?” He shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it over the back of the sofa. “Is your mother home?”
“She’s in the kitchen. Fixing dinner. Pork chops. And stuffing.”
“Good. I’m starved.” He regarded her a moment, his brow furrowed. “Kadie?”
“How was your day?”
“Same as always. Kathy told me she beat you at checkers. Your visit really cheered her up.” He glanced around the room. “Saintcrow not here yet?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s still early,” her father remarked, and headed for the kitchen calling his wife’s name.
Kadie stared after him. She had known him all her life, she thought, and yet she didn’t really know him at all.
Kadie was a nervous wreck by the time Saintcrow arrived. As quickly as she could, she hustled him out of the house.
“What’s going on?” he asked as he pulled away from the curb.
“We have to leave. My dad’s a hunter, and so are two of his friends.”
“I know.”
“You do? How did he find out about you? And why aren’t you more upset?”
“I doubt if he intends to try and take my head while I’m at your house. He’ll never find me when I’m at rest, and if he did . . .” He shrugged.
Kadie stared at him. “You wouldn’t hurt him?”
Saintcrow glanced in the rearview mirror. “No, but his friends are fair game.”
“I don’t believe this.” She shook her head. “Does my mother know?”
“If she does, she hides it well.”
“I think we should leave tomorrow night. My dad’s friends want your head.”
“So do a lot of other people, but I’m still using it.”
“This isn’t funny!”
“Kadie, stop worrying.”
“But . . .”
“Enough.” He glanced over his shoulder, then stepped on the gas. “I didn’t get this old by being careless.”
“Did you warn that fledgling you told me about that my dad was after him?”
“Ravenwood? Yeah. I felt responsible for him.”
“Why?”
“Lilith turned him.”
“Lilith!” Kadie’s eyes grew wide. “She’s here, in Wyoming? You don’t think she’ll go back to Morgan Creek, do you?”
The thought of the vampires returning to Morgan Creek made Kadie sick with fear for Rosemary and Shirley and Donna. Now that Saintcrow was gone, there was no one to protect her friends. The vampires could do whatever they liked, kill whomever they wished. For all she knew, her friends could already be dead.
“I don’t know if she’s gone back there or not,” Saintcrow said, “but I need to find out.” It had never occurred to him that any of the vampires would return. He didn’t think the men would kill the women. As for Lilith, she had never preyed on the females before, but she was unpredictable at best. If anything happened to the humans, the guilt would be his.
“When are we leaving?” Kadie asked anxiously.
“We?”
“Were you going without me?”
“I thought you wanted your freedom.”
“So did I. What’s wrong?” Kadie asked, frowning, when he glanced in the rearview mirror again.
At the corner, he turned right, then pulled over to the curb in front of a small strip mall. It was closed at this time of the night.
“Why are we stopping?” Kadie asked.
“We’re being followed. Stay here.”
Before she could ask what was going on, Saintcrow disappeared into the darkness. She glanced out both side windows, gasped when she looked out the back and saw Saintcrow yank a man out of the driver’s side of a black car. The man came out swinging, a stake clutched in one hand. He drove it into Saintcrow’s shoulder. And Saintcrow hurled the man against one of the buildings.
A second man bolted out of the passenger side. Scrambling over the hood of the car, he plunged a long-bladed knife into Saintcrow’s back and gave it a sharp twist.
Saintcrow shook his attacker off, grabbed him by the throat, and tossed him after the other man.
It was over in moments.
Before Kadie could get out of the car to see how badly Saintcrow was hurt, he had jerked the stake out of his shoulder, yanked the knife out of his back, and was again sitting behind the wheel.