“According to what I could find, the first ones were found on the south side of the border about three months ago. No one made any connection between them at first. It seemed random. Then a month later, they started showing up on the American side. It was a cop down in El Centro who tipped me off. I did some investigating on my own before I made the connection with Juarez.”

“I don’t know if there is any real connection with Juarez, Natalie. The more we find out, the more I think that Ivan or whoever is orchestrating this is using that situation as a convenient scapegoat to cover his actions. He makes it look like Juarez and no one will see what’s really going on. That’s why they’re dumping the bodies how they are.”

“Why not make them disappear? There’s no need to dump the bodies. Where they’re hunting, they could easily bury them and they’d never be found.”

“But they’d still be missing. If too many girls just disappeared, someone might listen to their families. If they’re murdered…”

She nodded. “They could be the victim of random violence because they worked in the city. Or they could be the victim of whoever is killing in Juarez and moving west.”

“Or victims of smugglers who took advantage of them,” he added. “Isn’t that what the police think now? If I were Ivan and wanted to cover my tracks, I’d copycat a human killer. Everyone would be looking the other direction, including his bosses in Mexico City.”

“But why?” she asked again. “Is this some horrible game? Or is there a plan behind it?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t recognize the vampire I killed. I’d never seen him before. He could have been a new vampire of Ivan’s, but I think Tulio is right. These are strangers he’s brought in. The one I killed was stronger because of the Elixir, but normally, I don’t think he would have been a challenge. He didn’t feel old.”

He saw a slight shudder pass over her frame. He wondered if she was bothered by him killing the air vampire or whether her more primitive survival instincts were finally kicking in. They would. The longer she remained in his world, the more they would have to. He didn’t live in the kind of polite society where trials and jails happened. And neither did Natalie. She just didn’t realize it yet. He was trying to break her in to the idea slowly, but he honestly couldn’t see her returning to her old life. She knew too much. She had already been flirting at the edges of vampire attention, being close friends with Beatrice and Dez. She was fully on the radar now.

You need me. He found himself reaching across the car to take her hand. More than you know.

She squeezed it as she continued talking. “If we think the first hunts happened around three months ago, it could be that the negative effects of the drug are just becoming known. According to Beatrice, her friend Lucien started feeling strange about three to four months after he had fed from a human who’d taken it. So if they didn’t know about it before, they’re going to start figuring it out now.” She sighed. “Why dgheto fouro I feel like a lot more innocent people are going to die, human and vampire, before this is over?”

Natalie fell silent again, but Baojia couldn’t stop thinking about her mother. It explained so much. She was reckless not because she was foolish, but because she’d experienced loss. He found humans—and vampires—who had lost those close to them tended to live either far more cautiously or with less regard for safety than ever. For Natalie, that meant taking chances. No wonder her father worried about her. One night ago, she’d witnessed a monstrous game that made humans into prey, and yet she still offered herself up to go back to the lion’s den and talk to the priest.

He had to keep her out of this. She was too fragile. She had no combat training. None. Training her satisfactorily would take years he didn’t have. The inevitable confrontation would happen well before she was ready. He wondered if Matt and Dez Kirby might be his best chance at keeping her out of the actual fight. He could knock her out with amnis and lock her up. He didn’t want to do it, but he might if it came down to it. She could hate him later—she probably would—but she’d be alive. He’d have time to ask forgiveness.

“What are you thinking?” Her voice jolted him out of his musings.

“What?”

Her suspicious eyes narrowed on him. “You’re trying to figure out a way to keep me out of this, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely.” And he wasn’t going to lie about it.

“Forget it. Not going to happen.” She crossed her arms and slumped a little. “I’m not a helpless little girl.”

“No. From a physical perspective, you’re a helpless grown woman. You have no natural defenses against these vampires, and you’re a target.”

Her jaw was clenched when she said, “Point taken, but you’re not leaving me out of it.”

Irritated at her willful disregard for her own safety, he gripped the wheel but kept his voice carefully even. “Tell me something, Natalie. When you did that drug-mule story, were the police involved?”

“Eventually.”

“And were there arrests made? Were they taken to your human jails?”

“Yes. What does that have to do—?”

His quiet voice rose. “And did you, the intrepid reporter, actually go along with the police when they made those arrests?” She was silent. Fuming. “Did you? Or did you let the police do their job after you had done yours?”