“Don’t move!” the boy yelled, his voice shaky. “I don’t want to hurt you!”

It took me a moment to realize who I was looking at—Sean Porter—but what he was doing here in the dark was beyond me.

“I’m not looking for a fight,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to ask you the same thing,” Sean said. “I know who you are. I know you’ve been following us.”

“Whoa; back up. What are you talking about?”

“Where’s Fiona!” he burst out, thrusting the knife ahead of himself.

“Can you lower the knife?” I asked, putting my hands up in surrender. “I’m not a threat to you.”

“Who were you talking to? Who else is here?” Sean took a step back but didn’t lower the knife.

“Nobody else is here,” I said. “I was talking to a colleague on speakerphone. Can you please lower the knife?”

“I know you know where Fiona is, so I suggest you do yourself a favor and tell me—now!” The shaking in his voice had reduced, but the knife was less steady.

“What makes you so sure I know anything?” I asked. “I don’t even know you.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Sean argued, his left hand reaching toward the wall and flipping on the light switch. He had to squint as the dining room chandelier illuminated.

The minor distraction was enough for me to lunge forward, grab his occupied hand, and twist the knife out of his grip.

Now he was wide-eyed and backed up against the wall, shaking like a chihuahua.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, placing the knife on the table—though keeping it close to me to keep him from getting any more ideas. “Now you’re going to tell me why you’re here.”

“I followed you in—or I was going to follow you in, but you locked the window.”

I hadn’t realized he’d seen me and now was curious who else might have been watching. I’d scanned the area before going in.

“Fiona gave you a key?” I asked.

“She had an emergency one hidden outside and showed me a long time ago. I’d never actually used it before—never had to. How—how did you move so fast?”

“I’m naturally quick,” I said with a shrug. “Though specialized combat training doesn’t hurt.” I noticed him eyeing the knife, so picked it up. When I started walking toward him, he began to hyperventilate, but I quickly turned into the kitchen and slid the knife back into the wooden block. “How do you know about me? Do you know my name?”

“Matthew… umm… something. Fiona’s mother mentioned it, but—but I can’t remember,” Sean stuttered.

“So, Susan does know about me…” I said, more to myself.

When I looked back at Sean, he was staring at me inquisitively. “Of course, she knows about you. Aren’t you like her friend’s son?” He paused. “I knew it. I knew it was a line—that there was something else going on. I could see it on her face when I showed her the pictures.”

“What pictures?” I growled.

He moved to back up even more but was still against the wall. “You—you’re in my pictures. Pictures I’ve taken over the years.”

“And you showed them to Susan?”

Sean nodded weakly, his face growing more panicked.

“Perfect.” I huffed out a breath and ran a hand through my hair. “Show them to me,” I commanded.

“They’re in my car.” His voice was practically a whisper now, but I had no trouble hearing him.

“What else do you have on me?”

“Nothing; I swear.”

I knew I couldn’t trust him at this point; he was getting in the way and his curiosity was going to get him hurt. This boy had officially become a liability.

I quickly advanced on Sean, making him squeal as I grabbed him by the neck and brought my nose to his. “What have you said to Fiona’s friends about me?”

I could feel his racing pulse as I tightened my grasp just enough to get his attention. He grabbed my wrist, attempting to break my hold on him. But he soon realized how helpless he was.

“I—I just showed Alexis the pictures. That’s all.”

“And Candace?”

“I barely talk to Candace. We’re not exactly close. But—but she’s the one who told me about you.”

“About what I told them,” I said and let him go, taking a step back and allowing him to fall to the floor in a fit of coughing. “I can live with that. What did Susan say when you showed her the pictures?”

Sean was still trying to regain his breath. I gave him a slight nudge with my foot to get him to focus.

“She… ahh… didn’t say much. Just that it was weird, but you were harmless and the police had already questioned you.”

I chuckled at the description of me being harmless. Even though I didn’t know what Susan was up to, she surely wasn’t giving any information to this kid.

“The police never questioned you, did they?”

At this point, it didn’t matter what I told him. “No,” I said.

“You know where Fiona is, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I said. I’d brought a syringe for Susan, not knowing how things would go, but the plan had changed. Sean had become a more immediate problem.

“Where is she?”

“In a vampire-run psychiatric hospital, committed as a temporary patient, to be fed upon as the staff members see fit,” I said, matter-of-factly.

Judging by the conflicted expression on his face, he had no idea how to take what I’d just said.

“That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said, purely bewildered. “Where did that even come from? Is that some kind of sick joke?”

“No, Sean. There’s a lot of craziness in this world and one day you’ll come to realize it. Luckily for you, you won’t remember any of this interaction and you’ll be able to go back to your normal life a while longer,” I said. I removed the syringe from my pocket and put him to sleep.