Warrior (Relentless Book 4)

I shot to my feet and raced inside. I heard fighting upstairs, but I tried to block it out and focus on Sara. Halfway down the hallway, I felt her. I ran to an open door with a set of stairs leading down into what had to be the cellar. Uttering a silent prayer that she was okay, I descended the stairs, bracing myself for what I might find.

Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that greeted me at the bottom. I’d seen a lot of strange things in my time, but a pair of hellhounds lying meekly on the floor like house dogs was definitely not one of them. The beasts raised their heads and growled at my arrival, but neither moved to attack.

Voices floated to me from beyond a rounded archway, and relief flooded me when I recognized Sara and Remy.

“Stop!” Sara cried out, her voice shrill with fear and pain.

I ran around the hellhounds to the doorway and stopped short when I saw Sara walking calmly to a glass cage rippling with red electricity. Demon fire. Inside the cage huddled three small trolls who cried piteously as Sara neared them.

Her hands grabbed the glass bars and shattered them, making a large hole in the side. Immediately, a tiny body flew out of the cage and into her arms. Instead of hugging the troll back, Sara quietly set her on the floor and turned away from the cage.

Behind her, the other two trolls jumped from the cage and ran to Remy. Three sets of eyes widened when they saw me, and they clung to the older troll.

My only concern was the girl on the other side of the room. “Sara?” I called to her.

She turned, and I sucked in a sharp breath when I saw her eyes. No longer the emerald green I knew, the irises were completely black. A demon’s eyes. Recognition flashed in them, but it was not Sara who looked back at me.

My Mori surged forward, feeling hers so close to the surface, and I had to fight to keep it down.

“How did this happen to her?” I asked the troll as I walked toward Sara, my eyes never leaving her.

“Sara let demon free cousins,” he answered.

“Khristu!” She had deliberately let her Mori take control of her in order to save the trolls. Knowing how Sara felt about having a demon inside her, I marveled at the sheer will and courage it must have taken to relinquish her mind and body to it. And I knew the terror she must be feeling right now, trapped inside the demon’s mind.

Reaching her, I framed her face with my hands. “Look at me.”

Unfamiliar eyes met mine.

“Sara, it’s time to come back now,” I ordered more calmly than I felt.

“Your friends need you. Roland needs you.” I need you.

There was no reaction. She stood woodenly, her eyes blank. I’d hoped Roland’s name, if not my voice, would snap her out of it. Her Mori was strong for one that had been repressed its whole life, and it was fighting to stay in control. The longer it did, the more Sara would slip away into madness.

I won’t lose you. I slapped her across the face hard enough to make her head snap back.

Nothing.

Grabbing her shoulders, I shook her hard. “Goddamnit! You will not do this. Do you hear me?”

She blinked, and for a second, something stirred in her eyes. Her body twisted in my grasp, and she – the demon – tried to pull away from me.

I wrapped my arms around her. Her Mori was strong, but it was no match for me. “That’s it, Sara, fight. Follow my voice. Come back to me.”

She let out a growling roar as she struggled to break my hold. The demon was scared because she was fighting.

Holding her closer, I put my mouth to her ear. “You were right, Sara; you are not weak. In fact, you are one of the strongest, most infuriating people I have ever met. You fight monsters, you befriend trolls and beasts, and you face horrors that would break a lesser person. And you walk headfirst into danger to protect the ones you care about. You are loyal, stubborn, and foolhardy and, though you don’t believe it, you are a warrior.”

She stopped struggling and stood quietly in my arms.

I pressed forward. “Few Mohiri could have done what you did tonight, giving up yourself to save those trolls. You did what you had to do, and now you have to come back to us. To Roland.”

“Roland?” she rasped.

“That’s right,” I said hoarsely. “Your friend, Roland. He needs you now.”

She began to shake. I remembered clearly the first time I’d lost control of my own Mori. Barely five years old, I was terrified when the demon had filled my mind, taking over my body. At that age, my Mori was weak, and my mother had talked me through it. I couldn’t imagine the struggle Sara was going through with her much stronger demon.

I pulled back and looked into her eyes. My breath caught when I saw green specks in the black irises.

“That’s it, moy malen’kiy voin. Fight.”

A violent shudder went through her, and when her eyes met mine again, they were the perfect shade of emerald green. “What happened to Roland?” she asked.

I wanted to crush her against me and yell at her to never do that to me again. Instead, I rubbed her arms and looked into her confused eyes. “Roland and Peter ran into some guards and Roland was shot.”

“What?” Fear filled her eyes. “Is he okay?”

“He was alive when I left him. Peter is calling Maxwell.”

“He was…” She jerked away from me, and I let her go. “Where is he? I need to help him.”

“If anyone can help Roland, it’s Maxwell. He’ll know what to do.”

My words were meant to calm her, but they only seemed to agitate her. Fear and desperation crossed her face, and she pushed past me and ran for the door.

“I have to find him!”

All I could do was follow her. In the outer room, the hellhounds perked up when she raced past them, and one let out a soft whine.

“Stay,” she ordered as she tore up the stairs.

The hellhounds lowered their heads to the stone floor.

Shock rippled through me. No one but a hellhound’s master could command the beast, yet this pair had just submitted to Sara as if they belonged to her.

I saw her go outside and say something to Erik and Raj. Then she was off and running down the front steps. At the bottom, she turned to look up at me. Her chest heaved as if she couldn’t draw air into her lungs.

“I have to go to him. Please. He needs me,” she cried.

I went to her. “Roland is with his people. If anyone can help him, they can.” I hated hurting her, but she needed to hear the truth, to prepare herself for the worst. “The men had silver ammo, most likely to protect themselves from the vampires they were working with.”

She took a step back, shaking her head frantically. “No, no, you don’t understand. I can help him.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders before she could run again. “He took a direct hit in the chest, Sara. The pack will do what they can for him, but this type of injury is almost always fatal to werewolves. I’m sorry.”

“No! I won’t let that happen!”

Sobbing, she pulled away from me, pain radiating from her. “I know I’ve been nothing but trouble to you and you have no reason to do this for me, but I have no one else. Please help me, Nikolas.”

Her desperate plea gutted me. She had no idea there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her.

I turned to the house. “Erik, I need your bike.”

He tossed his keys to me. I took Sara’s hand to lead her to the motorcycles. I gave her a helmet and grabbed one for myself. Straddling Erik’s bike, I started it and waited for her to climb on behind me. She pressed herself against my back and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist.

I broke the speed limit all the way to New Hastings, even though I knew what we’d find when we got there. Neither of us spoke until we reached the Knolls.

“Brendan’s. That’s where they’ll take him,” she said when I slowed at the turnoff.

I’d gotten to know the area over the last month, so I knew where Brendan’s farm was. Minutes later, we drove along the edge of the driveway, which was packed with vehicles. Lights shone from every window in the big two-story house, and a small crowd of people stood on the front porch talking. Everyone quieted and stared at us when we pulled up.

Sara jumped off the bike before I shut it off. She ran up the steps and found her way blocked by the young hotheaded wolf named Francis.

“Haven’t you done enough?” he railed at her. “You are not welcome here.”

“I have to see him.” She tried to push past him, and one of the other men grabbed her shoulder to hold her back.

“Let me go!” she cried.

My Mori growled dangerously.

“Take your hand off her.”

I forced myself to walk calmly to Sara so I didn’t go over and rip the arm off the man who dared to touch her.

The man let her go and narrowed his eyes at me. The others moved closer to him, scowling as if they could intimidate me.

I tensed and prepared to pull Sara behind me in case one of them made a move toward us.

“What’s going on here?” rumbled Brendan from the doorway. Several of the men hung their heads under his glare.

Sara ran to the Beta wolf. “Brendan. Please, I need to see Roland!”

The older wolf’s eyes and voice were kind when he laid a hand on her shoulder. “I know how much you care about him, but you can’t go in there right now. It’s not safe.”

“Not safe?” she repeated tearfully.

“The silver went in too deep. It’s too close to his heart, and we can’t get to it. He’s half mad with the pain, and he doesn’t know anyone right now. He’d tear you apart.”

A long mournful howl came from inside the house, and every person on the porch shuddered.

“He can’t heal,” Brendan told her, his eyes dark with grief. “A couple of hours at the most.”

A wave of her pain hit me, and I almost closed my eyes against the force of it.

“No!” She pushed past him into the house. “Roland is not going to die!”

Brendan let her go and shook his head sorrowfully. “She loves that pup like a brother. This is going to kill her.”

“This is all her fault,” Francis spat.

“Francis!” Brendan gave him a look that brooked no argument. “Roland is old enough to know better. Do you really think that little girl could force a werewolf to do anything against his will?”

The younger wolf had no reply to that.

“Is there no chance?” I asked Brendan, though I already knew the answer.

“None.” He wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

Silence fell over the porch. A few of the wolves laid their hands on the shoulders of those next to them, seeking solace in each other’s touch. I’d always heard that werewolf packs were closely knit, but I’d never experienced it firsthand until today. Every member of this pack would grieve the loss of one of their own. Even Francis bowed his head in sorrow.

Another agonizing howl tore through the silence. A woman began to cry quietly.

A boy appeared in the doorway, his eyes wide with excitement. “She’s gone in with Roland!” he cried in a high voice.

“Who?” Brendan asked.

“Sara. She said she’s gonna save him!”

I shoved past the wolves, ignoring their shouts of outrage.

Brendan stepped aside to allow me entry, and I ran to where a crowd was gathered outside an open door on the first floor. I pushed through them, earning more than one growl until Brendan barked, “Let him pass.”

I reached the room and took in the sight of the black werewolf chained and thrashing on a mattress in the corner. Sara called to him, and he went nuts, straining to break the chains that held him.

I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her from the room.

She turned and smiled at me. “It’s all right. I just tamed two hellhounds, remember?”

Her eyes held mine, begging me to have faith in her. I didn’t know what Sara had done to those hellhounds, but she had done something to make them her own. My gut told me I was about to find out what that was.

I released her, and she sat on the floor a few feet into the room, close enough for me to grab her if the wolf somehow managed to break his chains.

“Roland, do you know who I am?” she asked him softly.

He growled and bared his fangs.

“I see. Well, that won’t do at all,” she said calmly as if she wasn’t sitting less than ten feet from a crazed werewolf. “I know you’re in a lot of pain, and we’re going to deal with that soon, but first I think we need to have a talk. Or I’ll talk and you can listen. How does that sound?”

Another growl.

She shifted, settling her hands in her lap. “I know I said that Remy was my first friend here, but you were always my best friend. The best times of my life have been with you and Peter. Remember when we used to have slumber parties, and Brendan let us camp out in the hayloft that one time? We told ghost stories until we were all too scared to sleep, and we ended up sneaking back into the house after everyone else went to bed. Or the time you nipped some of Brendan’s whiskey, and we got drunk for the first time. I never touched that stuff again.”

Someone chuckled softly, and I looked behind me at Brendan who smiled fondly at Sara.

She continued to speak in warm, gentle tones, remembering humorous stories from their childhood and all the mischief the two of them and Peter had gotten into. Every now and then, someone else would smile and nod, and I saw how rich and happy Sara’s childhood had been, despite all she had suffered.

“Roland?”

The wolf’s yellow eyes were fixed on Sara. He whined, making me realize how quiet he had become. He no longer growled or struggled to break free. He was as enraptured by her voice as the rest of us.

“You were pretty shocked to learn about Remy, weren’t you? But he’s not my only secret. Remember the other day after the marina when I said there were things I had to tell you about me? Do you want to know what it is – what I can do?”

Secret? Marina? What was she talking about? What else could she possibly be hiding?

She got to her knees and moved toward the wolf.

In a second, I had her by the arm. “What are you doing? That’s an injured werewolf. He’ll rip you apart.”

Her eyes never left the wolf. “No, he won’t. You always ask me to trust you. Now it’s time for you to trust me.”

Every part of me screamed to hold on to her, to keep her safe. But her plea and the quiet confidence in her voice loosened my fingers until she pulled from my grip. I held my breath as she crawled toward the wolf, stopping just short of the mattress.

“I know it hurts a lot, but I’m going to make the pain go away now. You know I would never hurt you, don’t you?”

My whole body tensed as she reached out to touch one of the wolf’s paws.

“There you are,” she crooned. “You had me worried there.”

The wolf lifted his head and made a mournful sound before he collapsed back onto the mattress. Whatever Sara had done, the fight had gone out of him.

“Shhh,” she said softly as she laid one hand over the wound on his chest.

I held my breath, waiting to see what she would do.

After a long moment, she placed her other hand on his chest. The wolf watched her trustingly, and I wished I could see her face. What was she doing?

Her hands began to glow.

What the –? I stared, transfixed, as the white glow from her hands grew brighter. Whispers broke out behind me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight before me if my life depended on it.

“I think this is going to require a bit more contact,” she said. She began to lower herself to the mattress.

I took a step forward.

A hand on my shoulder stopped me, and Brendan whispered, “Wait.”

I clenched my jaw as I watched Sara lie beside the wolf and slip her arms around his body. Her back was to us, and she looked so small pressed up against the large werewolf. My heart thudded in my chest when he wrapped his hairy arms around her. His jaws were too close to her bare throat. One bite could snap her neck.

Sara began to glow again, and this time it wasn’t just her hands. Her arms and torso emitted the same white light that grew until it nearly blinded me.

Minutes passed, and Sara and the werewolf stayed in their tight embrace, bathed in light. People whispered, some sent up prayers. All I could do was watch the miracle I knew was taking place before my eyes.

At last, the light faded, leaving Sara sagging against the wolf.

“Now you know my secret,” she said.

No one moved or spoke.

The bloody paw resting on Sara’s shoulder flexed, showing one-inch black claws. I tensed and called on my Mori speed so I could reach her if the wolf attacked.

The wolf let out a low whine. Seconds later, the paw became a human hand.

Shouts broke out behind me, and Brendan blessed himself. “Holy Mary, Mother of God!”

I went to Sara and lifted her into my arms. I stepped back as Judith rushed over to lay a blanket over Roland, whose naked chest bore not even the trace of a scar.

“Mom?” he said sluggishly before he closed his eyes and slept.

Judith’s shoulders shook as she tenderly brushed damp hair away from her son’s face.

“Is Sara okay?” Maxwell asked from the doorway.

I gazed down at the closed eyes of the girl in my arms. Was it normal for her to be like this after she did…whatever that was?

She mumbled incoherently and curled into me. The emotions that welled in my chest were indescribable.

“I think she’s just exhausted. Hopefully, all she needs is some sleep.”

Brendan nodded. “She’s earned it, poor thing. I had no idea you Mohiri could do that.”

“We can’t.”

My words hung in the air between us. Brendan’s eyes widened, and Maxwell stroked his beard thoughtfully. Behind them, people pressed as close as they dared to see what was going on in the room.

Judith stood and came to me, brushing her hand against Sara’s cheek. “You brave, wonderful child,” she said in a voice filled with awe. “Thank you.”

Her eyes were wet when she looked at me. “Take her upstairs. Second door on the left.”

Brendan cleared a path to the stairs. I followed him, carrying my precious burden, ignoring the stares and whispers around us. I didn’t blame them because I was still reeling from what I’d witnessed.

Upstairs, I found Peter waiting for us in the hallway. His face was pale and drawn, but his eyes were filled with hope. “Is it true? Is Roland…?”

“He’s okay,” I said, and he sagged against the wall.

“And Sara?”

“She’s sleeping.” I carried her past him to the room Judith had mentioned. Laying her on the bed, I pulled a thick quilt over her.

“I wanted to give this back to you.”

I turned to Peter, who stood in the doorway holding my cell phone. Walking over to him, I took the phone and stuck it in my back pocket.

He cleared his throat. “Thanks for what you did tonight. We would have been goners if you hadn’t pushed us down.”

I nodded, but I wasn’t ready to let him off the hook that easily. “Why did you come there when I told you to stay put until we took out all the guards?”

“Remy said his cousins were in trouble, and Sara said they were going in. Roland and I couldn’t let her go without us.”

My brows drew together. “Two werewolves couldn’t stop one girl?”

It was his turn to frown. “Dude, you ever try to stop Sara when she’s set on something? And she had the troll on her side.”

“Point taken.”

He looked past me at Sara. “All this time, we never knew…”

“She’s good at keeping secrets.” How closely she must have guarded this one. Only the fear of losing her best friend had made her reveal her ability.

“Peter?” Maxwell called from below.

“I better go,” Peter said. “Tell Sara I’ll see her tomorrow.”

He ran downstairs, and I stepped into the hallway to call Chris.

“Nikolas, where are you?” he asked as soon as he answered. “Erik said you left with Sara.”

“We’re in the Knolls with the pack.”

“The Knolls?” He paused for several seconds. “How is Sara holding up?”

“She’s good and so is Roland. They’re both sleeping.”

“But he took a silver bullet to the chest. I was there when the wolves came to get him. Even they didn’t think he’d make it.”

“Let’s just say he had a guardian angel.” I ran a hand wearily through my hair and decided this was a story that needed to be shared in person. “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Are you still at the house?”

“Yes. The rest of Erik’s guys just got here, and they’re collecting the bodies for disposal. The human guards are still out. We’ll call in the authorities to handle them after we’re done here.” Sounds on the other end told me he had walked outside. “By the way, you’ll never believe what we found in the cellar.”

“A pair of hellhounds?”

“How did you…?” He sighed. “Sara?”

I smiled. “Where are they?”

“Still in the cellar. We had to close them in there because they tried to follow you. I take it then we’re not putting them down.”

It was our policy to destroy any creature that posed a direct threat to humans, and hellhounds definitely fit into that category. They were savage beasts, bred and trained for one thing. But the two I’d encountered in that cellar were as tame as pets.

I just tamed two hellhounds, remember?”

Werewolves, trolls, hellhounds. It seemed no creature was immune to her charm. What would it be next? Dragons?

I looked at Sara, who slept with a tiny smile on her lips. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep it there.

“Arrange a pickup for them. We’ll figure out the rest later.” I lowered my voice. “Before you dispose of the vampires, take a photo of each one. I’m the only one who’s seen Eli, and I want to know if that bastard is one of them.”

“You think he’s involved in this?”

“I don’t know, but this seems like too much of a coincidence to me.” I clenched my free hand. “Sara has vampires hunting her, and now we have humans and vampires working together to steal trolls that just happen to be friends of hers.”

His breath came out as a hiss. “I’ll take the pictures myself and text them to you.”

We talked for a few minutes more about the cleanup operation, and then we hung up. I was confident Chris would handle everything in Portland, and that left me free to be with Sara. I entered the room again and quietly shut the door before I pulled a chair over beside the bed.

Her hand lay on top of the quilt, and I covered it with mine, taking advantage of the opportunity to touch her. In my youth, I’d laughed at the way my sire held my mother whenever he returned from a trip. He would raise his eyebrows and tell me that one day, if I was as blessed as he was, I would understand. I finally grasped the meaning of his words.

In sleep, Sara looked young and vulnerable, making my protective instincts flare. But I also knew that behind her innocence lay a strength she’d chosen to keep hidden from the world.

“What are you, Sara Grey?” I asked her softly. “Is that another of your secrets, or do you even know?”

The bond between us left no doubt that she was Mohiri, but her healing ability had to come from somewhere. The only race I could think of with that kind of power was the Fae, but the demon inside us made it physically impossible for a faerie to couple with one of my people. And Sara’s uncle was human, which meant her father had been human as well. Maybe I should have Dax look into her father’s background some more and see what he could dig up.

I started to pull my hand away, but her smaller one suddenly gripped mine. Her brow furrowed, and she murmured words I couldn’t make out.

I leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Sleep easy, Sara. I’m not going anywhere.”

* * *

Late the next morning, I sat in the room studying one of the pictures Chris had sent me while I waited for Sara to wake up. The dead vampire could be Eli, but I couldn’t say for sure until I saw the body in person. Chris had it on ice until I could get to Portland. Vampire bodies decomposed quickly once the demon was dead, and the older the vampire the faster the decay. But I was not leaving here until Sara awoke and I knew she had recovered from last night.

The bedclothes rustled, and I looked up to find Sara staring at me in confusion.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her.

She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “I’ve been better. Where am I?”

“At the farm. You weren’t in any shape to go anywhere last night.”

She appeared disoriented for a moment, and then her eyes filled with anguish. “Roland!”

“He’s fine. He’s down the hall.”

I moved my chair back to the side of the bed, where it had sat most of the night, and studied her face. Despite the many hours she’d slept, she still looked tired, and that worried me.

“Is this normal after you do that? Passing out?” I asked.

“After a healing? It doesn’t usually knock me out like that, but I’ve never healed a werewolf before. Usually I’m okay if I rest for an hour or so.”

She made it sound like saving a life was a normal occurrence for her, and I had a feeling that wasn’t far from the truth. “You do this a lot?”

She smiled. “More times than I can remember. I’ve been doing it since I was six.”

So young. I was about to ask her where the power came from when I remembered something she’d asked me when I told her what she was. “That day on the wharf, you asked me if Mohiri had other powers. You wanted to know if we could heal others.”

“Yes.”

I wished I could give her answers, but I only had more questions after last night. One thing was clear; her ability wasn’t limited to healing.

“I don’t know of any Mohiri who can do what you did last night. Is that what you did with those two monsters in that cellar?”

She nodded. “I’ve used it before to calm animals, but I had no idea it would actually work on hellhounds. What happened to them? You didn’t –?”

“They tried to follow you, so Chris and Erik had them restrained. They’ll be transported to one of our facilities until we figure out what to do with them.” At her look of relief, I knew I’d made the right decision last night. “We couldn’t have a pair of hellhounds running amok around Portland.”

She frowned. “What kind of facility? I don’t want them hurt.”

“No one will harm them.” I chuckled. After everything that had happened yesterday, she was worried about the welfare of two hellhounds. Wanting to reassure her, I said, “They are yours now. Once a fell beast imprints on a new master, they are incredibly loyal. They will only answer to you.”

Her eyes brightened. “That’s what the witch said.”

Witch? I gave her a questioning look.

“The Hale witch. He was there last night in the cellar.”

My body tensed. “Did he hurt you?”

“No,” she blurted. “He didn’t even try to stop me. He was curious about Remy and the hellhounds, and he said a bunch of stuff that didn’t make sense. Then he left.”

I rubbed my jaw. Why would the Hale witch attack her earlier in the day, only to let her go a few hours later? Maybe she’d frightened him when she was able to fight him off. Hale witches were defenseless without their magic.

Talking about the witch didn’t appear to bother her. In fact, aside from looking tired, she seemed well recovered, considering all that had gone down yesterday.

“A lot happened in that cellar last night.” I watched her closely. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” She looked away, swallowing hard. I didn’t need to see her face to know some of what she was feeling. I could sense her pain through the bond.

“Every Mohiri struggles with their Mori at some point in their lives,” I said, remembering my own battles. “For most, it happens when they are younger and lack the training to manage the demon impulses. You have such control over your Mori that it must have been very frightening to let your guard down the way you did. But don’t let your fear make you forget why you did it. You saved those trolls.”

Her breath hitched, and I saw she was trying not to cry. My first impulse was to reach out to her, but I sensed she needed reassurance more than comfort.

“You are stronger than the demon. I knew that when I met you. But hearing how you fought off the Hale witch, and then last night, watching you with the werewolf, I realized you have power I can’t comprehend. You saved more than one life last night. People here are calling you a hero.”

She stared at the ceiling. “Some hero. Roland wouldn’t have needed healing if I hadn’t almost gotten him killed in the first place.”

She’d made some bad decisions, but I wouldn’t let her blame herself for this. “What happened last night wasn’t your fault, Sara. We found out who was behind all this. His name is Yusri al-Hawwash, and he is a billionaire oil sheik who found out two years ago he has Alzheimer’s. He’s been searching everywhere for a cure, and he was looking for trolls long before you sold that bile. He’s a desperate man with unlimited resources.”

“But he would have looked somewhere else if I had been more careful,” she said miserably.

“That still does not make you responsible for his actions.” I leaned closer to the bed. “Look at me.”

She obeyed, and the torment in her eyes made my chest ache. “Yes, you have made mistakes, but you are not to blame for the greed and actions of another. Your fault lies in taking too much on yourself. You have to learn to trust people and stop trying to take on the world alone.”

I couldn’t tell if my words had gotten through to her or not. She let out a deep breath. “My life was a lot less complicated a month ago. Maybe now things will start to settle down again.”

I’d known this moment would come, but that didn’t make it any easier. “I wish that were true, but after what I saw last night, I think you might be in more danger than we first thought.”

She moved up until she was sitting with her back supported by pillows. “What do you mean? We haven’t seen any sign of vampires except those working for the sheik – which I totally don’t get by the way. And the sheik’s witch only tried to grab me to get to the trolls.”

“Think about it, Sara. The young trolls were taken around the same time you were attacked at the rest stop, which means the sheik didn’t need you to find the trolls. So why did they come after you when they had what they wanted?”

I watched her closely, waiting for my words to sink in and knowing what they would do to her. I’d had all night to think about this, to fit the pieces together.

“You want to know why vampires would risk helping humans kidnap trolls? What if the vampires wanted something and they made an agreement with the sheik – a trade of some kind? You for the trolls.”

She shook her head in denial. “No, the two vamps I ran into tried to kill me, not capture me.” I sucked in a sharp breath, and she rushed to add, “Remy and I took care of them.”

Had I heard her correctly? “You killed a vampire?”

“With Remy’s help. He’s scary good.”

I started to say that Remy could have killed the vampires without involving her, but I wouldn’t take that away from her. What was more important was making her understand the danger she was in. I didn’t want to think about the number of unscrupulous people who would do anything to get their hands on someone like her.

“Even if you are right about the vampires, there is one thing you’re overlooking. You have an incredible ability. If word of it gets out, the sheik will be coming after you, and he won’t be the only one.”

“It won’t do him any good. I can’t heal humans.”

I raised my eyebrows, and she scowled. “My uncle is in a wheelchair. If I could heal humans, don’t you think he’d be the first one I’d heal?”

I believed her, but that would not keep her safe. The fact was she was no longer safe in New Hastings, or in Maine for that matter.

“But no one else would know that. Last night was just a taste of what could happen. They will keep coming and people will get hurt. And don’t forget, we still have a Master to worry about. He could come after you just to use you against Madeline.”

A shiver went through her. “Don’t hold back. I’m not quite paralyzed with fear yet.”

“You need to hear these things, Sara,” I said firmly.

She glared at me. “You’re trying to scare me, to get me to go with you.”

“Yes, I am. But that doesn’t make them any less true.”

I watched the emotions play across her face as she processed what I’d told her, and I saw the resignation when she finally came to a decision.

“I-I need to tell Nate, to explain it to him,” she said hoarsely, looking away from me. “It’s going to be hard for him to understand all this.”

Relief flooded me. “We have some things to wrap up in Portland that will take a few days, and it should give you the time you need with your uncle. I know this is hard for you, but you’re doing the right thing.”

I carried the chair back to the corner and opened the door. “I swear to you that I will keep you safe,” I vowed before I left the room and closed the door behind me.