I gaped at him, more surprised by his loquacity than his grim predictions. For the first time, it was as though Clayton was more than Miriam’s slave. He was one of them. One of the tiny, strange group of supernaturals who lived under the radar in Bay Town.

I was the outlier, not Clayton.

His predictions took a moment to sink in.

I started to shove Angus away so I could stand, as having them all hovering around me was making me nervous, but the trembling weakness of my body wouldn’t allow it.

“We’ll protect you,” Angus growled. “Don’t worry.”

I looked at Rhys, who shrugged, then grinned. “Anyone who can take out the bloodsuckers is worth protecting. I’m in.”

“We rarely see vampires,” I told them. “I can’t see them converging upon Red Valley to hunt me down.”

“You’re the hunter,” Miriam said, crossing her arms. “Never forget that. You’re the killer. They will come, but you won’t sit around waiting for them to stalk you like you’re prey. You’ll go after them.”

“Wait a damn minute,” Angus said, finally getting off the bed—much to my relief. “She’s not going to go hunting vampires. It doesn’t matter that she’s different. She’s still just a human girl.”

“And you’re a just a half-wit,” Miriam said, calmly. “But we don’t try to keep you at home.”

“We’re her shields,” he said, ignoring her insult. “If she goes out there, they’ll kill her.”

“We’re her shields,” she agreed. “And when she goes out there, we won’t let them kill her.”

“Amias didn’t try to kill me,” I interrupted. “And he’s a vampire.”

“Amias is all kinds of fucked-up about what he did to you and the rest of your humans six years ago,” Rhys said. “You lived. He feels you’re…his. He’ll protect you.”

I shuddered. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Doesn’t matter how it makes you feel. It’s the truth,” he said.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door. “Dad?”

“About time.” Angus strode to the door, yanked it open, snatched a pizza box, then slammed the door shut. He stomped back to me and dropped the box into my lap. “Eat,” he ordered.

“You need to stop bossing me around,” I told him, around a mouthful of gooey cheese. “Oh. Yum. God.”

No one said anything until I’d stuffed three slices of hot pizza down my throat.

“How do you feel?” Miriam asked, when I stopped to breathe.

“Better,” I admitted. I moved my arm, then groaned when the movement caused my muscles to scream. “Sore.”

“You should be sore,” Angus said. “You should be a hell of a lot more than sore.”

I sighed. “So you’re telling me that I’m healing from such devastating wounds because of the attack six years ago. Because of that bite.”

“That wasn’t a bite,” Miriam said. “That was a sustained, brutal attack that tore you apart. But you put yourself back together and you lived. And thanks to Amias Sato, you gained the ability to kill the most dangerous creatures on earth. The vampires.”

“And that makes you both dangerous and vulnerable,” Angus said, angry again.

As though it were my fault.

“I need to take a shower,” I said, tired of them all. “I need to wash the…the vampire off me.”

No one moved.

“Go.” I flapped my hands at them. “I need some alone time.” My clothes were crunchy with dried blood and God only knew what else. My head ached from being slammed against a brick wall. My nails were broken and dirty. The wound above my collarbone throbbed and burned.

I was a dirty, bruised mess.

Rhys reached into his jacket pocket, then shook some pills into his palm. “These will help with the pain. They’ll also knock you out, so…” He shrugged, then placed the pills on the nightstand. “You need more, let me know.”

“She doesn’t need your drugs,” Miriam said. She ran her hand over my arm and took my cold fingers in hers. “Come. I’ll bathe you. Clayton. Carry her to the bathroom.”

Angus’s eyes gleamed. “I will be happy to supervise.”

“Lech,” Miriam said, but she gave him a tiny smile.

“I can bathe myself,” I said, unamused. “And I can walk to the bathroom.” To prove it, I swung my legs over the bed, then glared at Clayton when he took a step toward me. “Try to pick me up and I will break your nose.”

Clayton and I were the only ones who didn’t laugh.

“Out,” I told them.

Angus strode toward the door. “I have to go to work. Don’t leave this house, Trin. The little ones will keep you company and I’ll inform the nannies to call me if you so much as look at the front door. I’ll expect you in bed asleep when I return.”

Miriam sighed and let go of my hand. “Come, Clayton. I would like a long, hot bath myself.”

And finally, they left me alone.

Too impatient to wait for the tub to fill, I settled for a shower. As the hot water cascaded over me, my thoughts went to the one person in the world I truly hated. The one person I truly feared.

Amias Sato.

Apparently I’d been in that backseat all night and part of the next day. Angus had gone to work and saw my car. According to the small clock on the bathroom wall, it was now seven p.m. and though a good chunk of time had passed, I realized a normal person would have been in the hospital getting a blood transfusion.

I was not a normal person. No one was disputing that. And if I hadn’t gone after that vampire, I still wouldn’t know what I was.

But neither would the vampires.

Not yet. But eventually, if I really started hunting them, word would spread. Then the vampires would come.

At least that was what I believed.

Reality was that they were vampires. What I believed might happen didn’t really matter. There were too many variables.

Amias, for one.

He hadn’t helped me when the vampire had nearly killed me, but afterward, he’d taken me to the supernaturals.

He hadn’t left me for animals, humans, or other vampires to find. He hadn’t left me to die. He’d put me in the car, he’d driven me to Bay Town, and I’d healed because I had something of Sato inside me.

I still didn’t know why he’d attacked us that grim Thanksgiving night.

And I would never stop trying to kill him.

I began soaping my body, slowly, as my muscles groaned when I moved. If I was going to become a hunter, I’d have to join a gym. I was a little too weak and scrawny to make killing vampires my life’s work.

At the thought, my stomach muscles clenched, my heart rate picked up, and shivers chased each other up my spine. I grabbed the knob to turn to hot water down, because suddenly I was hot. Too hot.

Excited.

The thought of killing vampires was turning me on.

I leaned against the wall and let the cooling water beat against my back, ignoring the throbbing between my thighs and forcing my thoughts elsewhere until the feeling passed.

“Well that’s new,” I muttered.

I squirted shampoo onto my hair and scrubbed my scalp a little too hard. By the time I’d rinsed and stepped out of the shower, my thoughts were once again under control.

I found bandages in a cabinet, and examined my bite wound before slapping a fresh bandage on. The wound was tender and raw, but the pain was less and it was healing nicely. No pus or angry red streaks. I figured I was good.

I wrapped a thick towel around me and left the bathroom in search of some clean clothes I might borrow. I needed to go home and prepare for the night ahead. For the life ahead.

There were vampires to hunt, and apparently, I was just the woman for the job.

Lucky me.