On that point, we were in total agreement. “Lucas and I want to leave,” I said. “Soon. I’ve always known I couldn’t stay here.”

“Biding your time, huh?” Dana didn’t look impressed.

Lucas stepped closer to her. “We’ll be gone in a few weeks,” he promised. “If you don’t think you can keep the secret that long—just tell us right now, and I’ll get out of here with Bianca this instant. It’s your call.”

“You’re really ready to leave us? To walk away from this work?” Dana looked disappointed—no, more like crushed. She and Lucas had been best friends almost their whole lives; losing him, and discovering that he’d kept such a major secret from her, had to hit her hard. “I thought this was your world. I thought you were committed.”

“It’s more complicated than I used to think. They aren’t all evil, Dana.” Lucas’s lopsided smile nearly broke my heart.

“Besides—I love her. She needs me. That means my choice is made.”

“I gotta think.” Dana stepped back to pace along the edge of the tunnel, at least in the small space that had been cleared of debris. That left us alone with Raquel, who had yet to say a word.

“Raquel?” I ventured. No response. “I know you’re angry. I don’t blame you. But if you think about it—really—can’t you see why I didn’t?”

She nodded slowly.

“You do?” Well, that was something, anyway. “This doesn’t have to change things. Not if you don’t let it.”

“That’s good,” Raquel whispered. I started to relax. What I’d taken for horror in her reaction was probably merely shock. Maybe we’d be okay, if Dana would only come around.

Lucas’s hand found mine, and I held on tightly. I wondered if we would have to run and whether I even could run, as weak and shaky as I felt.

Dana stopped pacing and said, “A few weeks, you said. What’s the holdup?”

“Eduardo took the cash I’d been saving,” Lucas said. “I’ve only been able to put away a little more since then.”

“Makes sense.”

“Dana, spit it out.” Lucas sounded almost angry. “What are you going to tell the others?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“You heard me. I won’t say anything.” Dana’s expression was flat, but she sounded sincere. “Let’s go back.”

“They’ll ask why we aren’t digging,” I said, unsure whether the crisis could really be over.

“And we’ll tell them it’s too damn hot down here for Satan to have a steam bath. I get the feeling we’ve all been through enough today already.” Dana headed toward the exit, then glanced back at us. “Come on, everybody.”

There didn’t seem to be anything to do but follow her. None of us said one word on the way back.

Saying that night felt tense would be a massive understatement.

Throughout dinner, Lucas and I sat next to each other, trying not to stare at Dana or Raquel. We were eating plain rice for about the tenth day in a row, and every grain seemed to stick in my throat. Raquel and Dana didn’t look at us. In fact, they were making such a point of not looking at us that I felt like everyone would surely notice.

Instead, the others were wrapped up in different concerns.

“For his own safety, Lucas needs to keep moving from cell to cell from now on,” Eliza said, stabbing at her plate of rice with a plastic spork. “Or at least until we’ve taken care of Mrs. Bethany.”

Easier said than done, I thought. Black Cross’s best hunters had gone against Mrs. Bethany three times in the past few months, and she’d killed at least a dozen of them without taking a scratch.

Kate hadn’t really been eating since Eduardo died. She simply pushed the rice around on her plate, making little grooves. “You’re telling me I can’t keep my son with me any longer?”

Eliza didn’t flinch. “I’m saying you should dissolve your cell.”

“We’ve been together awhile,” Dana said. It was the first time she’d talked all night. Lucas and I both flinched. “Practically my whole life, and Lucas’s, too.”

“The cell should’ve been a lot more fluid long before now,” Eliza said. “You know that.”

“Yeah,” Kate said. “I know that.” She let her spork fall to her plate.

I saw the tension knotting the muscles of Lucas’s shoulders. As claustrophobic and demanding as the life was, despite the zealotry Lucas had outgrown, his Black Cross cell remained the only sort of home or family he’d ever known. I knew how lost he had to feel, how alone. Sometimes, despite everything, I missed Evernight Academy—where at least I’d been warm and comfortable every night, and had as much as I wanted to eat, and knew that my parents were looking after me.

Here, I was afraid, and even my best friends could possibly turn into my enemies.

I glanced up from my rice, hoping to meet Raquel’s eyes, but she was looking at Dana. Her expression was unreadable.

“Give it time,” Lucas murmured, as everyone bunked down for the night. He curled behind me, as he had before; I’d never been so grateful to have him close. “I think we’ll be okay.”

“But Dana—” She’d been raised in Black Cross. She’d been willing to leave Balthazar to his fate. How could she accept me so quickly?

“Shhh.” He said it as if he were soothing me, but I knew it was a genuine warning. The others were lying down, too, and they were close enough to hear every word.

The lights were put out, and I lay next to Lucas—both in his arms and a million miles away. He fell asleep quickly, to judge by his deep, even breathing and the relaxation of his arm around my waist.

See, Lucas thinks everything’s safe. He’s not worried a bit.

No, he’s a hunter. He’s used to resting when he can so he’ll have energy to fight later if he must.

Well, then, I’ll try to be a hunter, too.

As soon as I gave in to my exhaustion, sleep grabbed me quickly. I’d been more tired than I realized. My head, my eyelids, my limbs—all of it felt so heavy—

The darkness folded itself around me, as warm and comforting as a blanket.

“Get up.”

The flashlight’s beam blinded me, jolting me from sleep. I felt Lucas shift and heard him groan, “What’s going on?”

More sternly, Eliza repeated, “Get up.”

I pushed myself up on my elbows and squinted, trying to make out shapes in the room. The darkness coalesced into forms—most of the Black Cross hunters, standing around us in a semicircle, weapons on their hands.

Dana told them about me.

My stomach clenched so painfully I thought I might vomit. The rushing of blood in my ears, quickening with my pulse, deafened me to almost anything else. My whole body seemed to go cold, and I kept thinking, Go back, go back, like I could somehow stop time and make all of this not be happening. It seemed like there had to be some way out, but there wasn’t.

Lucas’s hand closed over mine. Though I knew he had to be as frightened as I was, he said, evenly, “You’d better tell us what this is about.”

“You know what it’s about,” Eliza said. “Don’t you?”

“Yeah. I expect I do.” He took a deep breath as he quickly scanned the room. Dana wasn’t there—coward—and she’d no doubt taken Raquel with her so Raquel wouldn’t protest. But I realized that he wasn’t looking for them, but for his mother. Kate was nowhere to be seen. Did she have any idea what was going on? Surely not. They had come up with some pretext for sending her away, and the one person who might still have been in a position to help us was gone. “What happens now?”

Eliza’s smile was cold. “Now we go upstairs and have a little chat.”

She meant the ground-level room where Balthazar had been kept.

I felt like I couldn’t move, like they would have to drag me up there. But Lucas squeezed my hand and said, “Come on, Bianca. You and me. Let’s go.”

His strength flowed into me, and I managed to get to my feet. “Can I get dressed?” I asked. I was surprised how steady my voice sounded.

Eliza shrugged. “Throw on your jeans. But move.”

In our jeans and T-shirts, we made our way up the stairs onto the harbor. It was very late—or very early—whichever way you wanted to look at it, the dead of night. No boats floated upon the river, and even the omnipresent roar of traffic was only a whisper. Briefly we were outside, a taunting taste of freedom, before they pushed us into the storage room. Blood stained the concrete floor.

I thought for sure they would handcuff us, the way they had Balthazar, but they didn’t. Lucas and I stood in the center of the dark room. The others surrounded us. When the lights were flipped on, the starkness of the scene—the angry faces surrounding us and the weapons they carried—made my stomach clench even tighter.

“What is she?” Eliza demanded of Lucas.

He began, “She was born to vampires—sometimes they can—”

“Skip it.” Eliza’s hand rested upon a stake in her belt. “We heard your little story. What we want now are facts. How strong is she? What powers does she have?”

“You’ve seen her work out and fight along with the rest of us.” Lucas stood partly in front of me, as if trying to shield me.

“If you don’t know what she can do by now, blame yourselves.”

“This is a really bad time for backtalk,” Eliza warned.

Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “From where I’m standing, this is a really bad time, period.”

“You got that right,” said somebody.

I noticed that all the hunters were looking at Lucas—not at me. He was the one they talked to, the one they wanted explanations from. Although they were angry with Lucas, he was still a human being. Still a person.

I was only a monster.

Eliza’s fingers tightened around the stake. Would she really use that on me? I was still alive, which meant being staked wouldn’t paralyze me: it would kill me. I knew nobody in this room but Lucas would care if she did. Strong as Lucas was, he couldn’t possibly defend me against twenty trained, armed hunters. My own strength and fighting skills wouldn’t add much to our chances.

“How many of them are there?” somebody in the back demanded. “These—vampire spawn.”

“We’re rare.” I blurted it out, too loudly, almost shouting. But I could at least speak for myself. “Maybe five are born in a century. That’s what I’ve always heard.”

There was a tangible sense of hesitation in the room. I could tell that they wanted to ask me further questions and learn more, but they didn’t want to talk to me—to treat me as a person.

That would make it harder for them to kill me.

Fear pooled in my belly, cold and heavy. It was so hard to stand when my legs wanted to give out from under me. Only Lucas’s presence at my side kept me steady. Desperately I wished for my mother and father, who would never know what had become of me. I wanted them to come save me. I wanted them to hug me one more time.

“We better find out what we can about them,” said Milos.

“Find out what their vulnerabilities are.” I twitched as I recognized what he was holding: the neon-green water gun, no doubt loaded with holy water. They were going to start by burning my skin. Be brave, I thought. Would holy water burn me now? Consecrated ground and crosses had always been problems—so probably it would sear my flesh the way it did any other vampire’s.

I wouldn’t shrink away, wouldn’t even turn my head. They wanted to see me afraid, but I could at least deny them that.