Maybe tomorrow the whole group could work with weapons. She’d noticed that Sadie liked to work with a stake or an axe, but she’d have more reach with a stave or machete.

Conrad slammed into Nick, knocking him to the floor. “Nice, Conrad!” Meredith cheered. “You took him off guard there.”

“Meredith, walk with me,” Jack said from behind her. “The rest of you, keep sparring.”

His face was blank, giving nothing away, and Meredith felt a trickle of unease. She followed Jack across the warehouse floor, wondering what he wanted. Was there something wrong with what she was teaching the others?

But when he’d led her to the other side of the warehouse—far enough, Meredith noted, that they had some privacy—Jack grinned. “You’re a natural. I knew you would be.”

Laying a heavy hand on Meredith’s shoulder, he looked steadily into her eyes. “You’re ready,” he told her. “I want you to lead this group of vampires when I leave them. You’ll be my lieutenant, my right hand.”

“When you leave them?” Meredith asked. “Where are you going?” She was careful to keep the panic out of her voice. If Jack left, what good would being with the other vampires do? How could she learn his weaknesses, find the cure for what he’d done to her?

Squeezing her shoulder, Jack smiled. “I’m going to go on with my research, of course. This—you five—are my youngest group. Once the others are ready to hunt under your leadership, I’ll go back to the lab. If we’re going to eliminate the older vampires, we’ll need larger numbers.”

Meredith nodded. It made sense, she supposed. Tracking and killing the toughest vampires was a difficult job. And, usually, a worthwhile one. If it hadn’t been for Stefan’s death, and for the fact that Jack’s people were just as dangerous to humans as any other vampire, she might have supported them. In a lot of ways, they were hunters, like she had been. Like she was.

Jack let go of her shoulder and tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “So, if you’re going to be my second-in-command here, you need to prove that I can trust you, Meredith.”

Meredith nodded again. This was what she had been waiting for.

Jack looked at her searchingly. “Do you know where Damon Salvatore is? I know that Stefan was your friend.”

This is a test. Meredith was sure of it. Jack knew that Damon wasn’t in Europe.

But nothing she’d ever said to Jack would make him think she cared for Damon. She tried to think back over any conversations they’d had about the Salvatore brothers, back when she’d thought Jack was a human, and a hunter. Stefan had mattered to her. But, even if she’d fought side by side with Damon, he’d never been her friend.

“I think Elena and Bonnie would have hidden him with the Pack,” she said, her voice steady. It would have been a smart move if it was true, and if Damon would ever agree to be hidden. “They’re strong and hard to kill, and they hate vampires. But they’d protect Damon; they’ve fought beside him before.”

Jack nodded thoughtfully, rocking back on his heels. “That’s a problem,” he said. “Any ideas?”

“About getting past the Pack?” Meredith thought. If she really wanted to help him, what would she suggest?

Go after Bonnie. She shuddered at the idea. It would work, probably. Zander and the Pack would trade Damon for Bonnie in a heartbeat. But she wasn’t going to make that suggestion, not even to win Jack’s trust.

“Most of them can change no matter what the moon’s like,” she said instead. “But some of them need the full moon, and all of them are weaker when there’s no moon at all. That’ll be the best time to attack them.” It was true, which made it the best kind of lie, and the moon was waxing now. If Jack wanted to go against the Pack for Damon, he’d have to wait. “I’d lure them out with a false attack and, once the Pack is engaged in battle, go after Damon with another group. They’ll protect each other rather than fight for Damon.”

“Interesting,” Jack said. “That may be useful.” He rubbed a hand across his cheek, his ring rasping against his stubble. Giving her a brief nod, he began to turn away.

“Wait,” Meredith said, her heart thumping. “I wanted to ask you something.” She focused on slowing her breathing and pulse through meditation, the same way Jack had taught them to shield their true natures from others. She couldn’t let Jack guess how important this was to her.

“What’s our end game here?” she asked first. “We kill vampires—regular vampires. Is that all there is to it?”

Jack smiled. “We’re going to kill all of them. And then we won’t have any competition.”

“I like the sound of that.” Another lie that’s true. The hunter in Meredith beamed approval at the idea of killing all the vampires. “But what happens then? When all the vampires are dead?”

Jack’s smile widened, and one of his eyelids dropped in a slow wink. “One step at a time, my dear.”

Across the warehouse, there was a scuffle and a shout as Nick got Conrad in a headlock, swinging him around.

“Is there a cure?” Meredith asked, her eyes fixed on the fighters. She kept her voice level, but Jack smirked.

“Do you miss the little human hunter you used to be?” he asked. “You’re better now, Meredith, and you know it.”

“I like to know everything,” Meredith said stolidly, not letting out a flicker of emotion.

Jack shrugged. “No cure,” he said. “This is who we are. Forever.”

He might be lying. Meredith swallowed hard. “Is it true that we’re invulnerable?” she asked, trying to sound calm and businesslike. “There’s no way to kill us? If I’m going to be in charge, I need to know our weaknesses.”

She glanced at Jack casually, trying to gauge his reaction. He looked thoughtful, his lips pursing, but not suspicious, she thought.

“Come on,” he said, suddenly, as though he’d made up his mind. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled, almost yanking her off her feet and through the warehouse door. She had to race after him, across the gravel parking lot and through the thin scattering of trees and waste ground beyond, and then across the highway.

“Where are we going?” Meredith gasped. Jack kept running, his hand like a vise around her wrist, tugging her onward. The sound of rushing water filled her ears, and they finally halted on a bridge, the river flowing down below.

“The others won’t hear us here,” Jack told her, his voice low. “No one else can know.” His eyes were steady on hers, searching, his hand still around her wrist. Meredith could feel her pulse pounding beneath his fingers. She nodded, her face earnest. You can trust me.

Whatever Jack saw in her, he seemed satisfied. “Look,” he said, twisting sideways and bending his head so that the base of his skull was exposed to her. “See the scar there?”

Meredith could see it, a thin white line, maybe half an inch long.

“You’ve got one, too,” Jack said. “We all do. It’s where the injections were administered.” He shrugged, almost bashfully. “We’re almost unkillable, but we do have an Achilles’ heel. Nothing’s perfect.”

“So…” Meredith put a hand up to feel the same place on the back of her own head.

“If we are stabbed in that exact spot, we die,” Jack said flatly. “That’s the only real danger to us I know of.”

Meredith clamped down on the hot flare of excitement rising inside her. She couldn’t let Jack sense how she felt. But this was it. This was how they’d avenge Stefan, how they’d take on the latest threat. She had to let Damon know as soon as she could.

“I’ll be careful,” she said.

Jack ran a cold finger down the back of her arm, and Meredith shivered. “I know you will,” he told her, his eyes intent on hers. His fingers suddenly encircled her wrist, and Meredith barely kept herself from flinching away. She needed him to trust her, to keep trusting her. Instead, she smiled, thinking of the worshipful way Sadie and the others looked at Jack, and trying to keep the same look on her own face.

“Let’s go back and see how the sparring’s going, shall we?” he asked. “I don’t trust Nick not to slack off if we leave them alone too long.” Meredith nodded, and they turned toward the warehouse.

But Jack hung back for a moment, his hand strong around Meredith’s wrist. “You’re getting stronger and stronger,” he told her. “If you stay loyal—if you trust me, the future will belong to us.”

Meredith nodded again stiffly, the smile fixed on her face. Jack was watching her with something close to affection in his eyes, and she felt suddenly, dizzyingly sick.

This had all gone on too long, her time here with Jack and his vampires. She was disgusted by the blood and the killing and by pretending to have turned against her husband and friends and given up on her own humanity. Now it was finally going to end. Meredith couldn’t wait to betray him.

Chapter 17

The kid banged his fist against the bars of his cage, froth forming at the corners of his mouth, his eyes wild. His long black bangs flopped into his eyes and he shook them aside. “You can’t keep me here forever,” he snarled, his voice low and savage. “Locked up like this. Better to be dead.”

“Today’s your lucky day, then.” Starvation didn’t seem to be killing the kid, Damon thought, but he didn’t look good. His already skinny face was gaunt, his cheeks hollow and his bones sharp.

The young manmade vampire swiped suddenly at Damon through the bars, hands twisted into claws, and Damon dodged out of the way. Hunger didn’t seem to be making the kid any slower or weaker.

But now they knew how to kill him. Damon felt like he was fizzing with excitement. When he looked at the kid, he didn’t see just another vampire. He saw the synthetic vampires who had hunted him through Europe, who had killed Katherine. He saw Stefan’s murderer.

Nothing Damon had done, none of the staking and burning and starving had helped defuse his fury.

But now, finally, he was going to get to kill him. And, after him, the rest of them. Damon realized his mouth was watering in anticipation.

He could hear the others on the basement stairs. When Meredith had called Damon to tell him about the fake vampires’ vulnerable spot, he had told Elena, and of course she had called the others to join them. They’d try it out on the kid, and then they’d kill Jack.

Damon’s heart filled with fierce happiness. Finally, Stefan would be avenged.

They filed in: Elena, Bonnie, and Meredith, their arms linked, followed closely by Jasmine and Matt, hand in hand.

“He’s looking a little skinny, Damon,” Meredith commented lightly. She was clearly buzzing with excitement, too—and why not? What she’d been working for, spying on Jack for, was finally happening.

“It doesn’t matter now,” he replied, and watched the kid’s eyes widen as he looked back and forth between them, picking up on something different from Damon’s usual taunting. Did the young synthetic vampire know Jack’s secret? Damon thought probably not, and he shot the kid a private, vicious smile.

He turned his attention back to Meredith. “How did you happen to discover how to kill them, anyway?” He knew, of course, but he wondered what Meredith had told the others.

“One of the hunters down in Atlanta accidentally hit the right spot in a fight,” she answered smoothly. “Even Jack’s luck had to run out sometime.”

“I hope it works,” Bonnie said. “But even more, I’m just glad you’re home, Meredith.” She squeezed Meredith’s arm, her small face glowing with affection.

The others joined in, exclaiming about how they’d missed Meredith, and Damon took the opportunity to murmur, too low for any human to hear, “How’d you get away?”

Meredith glanced at him over Bonnie’s head with a wry smile. “I’m supposed to be looking for you,” she murmured back. “Killing you is pretty high on Jack’s list.”

Wonderful. Damon had been hoping Jack had other things on his mind.

The young vampire was watching them, frowning in confusion. He could hear them, and he could tell Meredith was like him, of course he could. No doubt he was wondering if she’d really turned against Jack. It seemed like Jack’s vampires were, on the whole, insanely loyal.

All the more reason to kill this one, so he never got a chance to report back to Jack.

“Stake,” Damon demanded, and Matt slipped one into his hand.

Before the young vampire had a chance to react, Damon had unlocked the cage and had one arm tightly around his neck, yanking his head forward to show the base of his skull. “Scar,” Damon said, seeing the thin white line, and shoved the stake straight into it.