.

how could they feel love, much less return it?

      But arguing with a teenager over the semantics of vampire love didn’t seem like a winning proposition to him.

      “Oh, come on, then,” Alaric couldn’t help saying finally, noticing that his passenger continued to sob quietly to herself. “It’s not all bad.”

      “How?” Sarah demanded, flashing an aggravated look at him. “How is this not all bad? You’re going to try to kill my boyfriend!”

      “True,” Alaric said. They were nearly to the address she’d given him. “But look at it this way. He promised to turn you into a vampire, didn’t he?”

      “Yes,” Sarah said, sounding a bit surprised. “He said he was going to turn me, just as soon as he got his strength up. Then I’ll be beautiful, like him. And immortal.”

      “Right,” Alaric said a little sarcastically. He knew this Felix had no intention whatsoever of turning her. Doing so would deprive him of his primary food source.

      What Alaric was sure the vampire would do instead was string her along for a few more months; then, when she grew too sickly from anemia to be of any more use to him, he’d move on to some healthier host. He’d probably tell her it was him, not her … that he needed time to “think about things.” Then he’d disappear.

      Then, after her broken heart—and even more broken body—had healed, Felix would probably find his way back to Sarah—and to Chattanooga—and start the cycle all over again. Unless Sarah found the strength to put her foot down and tell him no, she would not be abused in this way.

      But that wouldn’t happen. The vamps were just too alluring. And their victims just never seemed to think they deserved better than the treatment they were given. It was almost as if they were afraid to put their foot down, because they thought they’d never get anything better. …

      But that was what Alaric was for. He would be Sarah’s foot, since she didn’t have the strength, or willpower, to put her own down. He’d make sure she got something better and stop the cycle from continuing. Permanently.

      Alaric found a parking space … except that it was beside a fire hydrant.

      It didn’t matter. They wouldn’t be there that long.

      “Supposing he did turn you into one of his kind,” he said, switching off the engine and turning to look at her, “then me, or one of my fellow officers, would only have to kill you eventually, because that’s what we do. We’re demon killers. And trust me, you really wouldn’t want any of us on your tail. We’d be your worst nightmare. It’s much better this way. This way, you’ll stay a human, and maybe you can go to college and get a degree and a fun job doing something you like. Or maybe you can find some nice guy back at the Walmart you can go out with, even marry. And, assuming you want them, you two can have a few babies, and grow old and watch them have babies, and be grandparents someday. Wouldn’t you like that? You could never have babies with Felix.”

      “Vampires can have babies,” Sarah informed him. “I read it in a book.”

      “Yes,” Alaric said, feeling annoyed. “Well, in books, the vampires struggle nobly against themselves not to bite you, because they love you so much. But that didn’t exactly happen, did it? So the books aren’t really very accurate, are they?”

      Sarah glared at him.

      “I hate you,” she said.

      Alaric nodded. “I know,” he said. He reached across her and opened the car door. “Get out.”

      She looked at him blankly. “What?”

      “Go on,” he said. “I know you’re dying to run ahead and give lover boy the heads-up. I’m going to let you. Tell him I’ll let him go, on one condition.”

      Her entire demeanor changed. Suddenly, she was all that was accommodating and pleasant.

      “What condition?” she asked eagerly.

      “Tell him that if he tells me where I can find the prince, I’ll let you both go. Then you can run off and have vampire babies together.”

      Alaric couldn’t say the last part without laughing, though he did try, remembering that he was supposed to be working on his people skills.

      Sarah evidently didn’t notice.

      “Oh, thank you!” Sarah was smiling as she scrambled from the car. “Thank you so much!”

      “Not a problem,” Alaric said. He watched as she ran across the sidewalk and up to an unobtrusive-looking door beside the display window of an antiques shop inside an industrial-looking building. He gathered his things as she pressed an intercom. Then he calmly strode to the alley, where, as he’d suspected, there was a fire escape. He leapt for the rusted metal ladder as he heard Felix’s voice asking through the intercom, “Who is it?”

      Then the buzzer went off, letting Sarah inside the building.

      It only took Alaric a moment or two to climb to the roof of the building, and less than that to secure a grappling hook to the side of the building, then fasten the end of the rope to his belt.

      A few seconds later, Alaric jumped from the roof, crashing through Felix’s plate-glass living room windows…

      … just as the vampire was putting on a black cloak to shield himself from the sun, preparing to make a run for it. Sarah screamed as UV-protection glass went flying everywhere.

      The vampire, desperate to get out of the sun’s rays, which could be fatal to him, threw himself at the front door.

      “Now, Felix,” Alaric said calmly. “You can’t go that way, either.”

      A second later, Felix was shrieking. This was because Alaric had hurled a glass vial filled with holy water at the door. It burst over the knob, singeing the vampire’s fingers as he reached for it. He drew his hand away, hissing with pain and cradling his smoking fingers.

      “I thought you said you’d let him go if he told!” Sarah shouted with outrage.

      “And I will,” Alaric said, smiling at her. He turned toward Felix. “So,” he said. “Where can I find your prince?”

      Felix, who looked like a handsome boy of eighteen or twenty—and appeared from his taste in wall posters to have a fondness for the band Belle and Sebastian—curled back his lips to reveal a set of extremely strong white teeth. His incisors were unnaturally long and, true to his species, not unpointy.

      “I’ll never tell, demon hunter,” he growled.

      Then he threw back his head and let out a hiss, his long tongue darting in and out of his mouth like a lizard’s tail.

      Sarah looked shocked. She’d apparently never heard her boyfriend use that tone of voice before. Or seen his eyes glow red.

      “Felix,” she cried. “Just tell him! He said he’d let you go if you told.”

      When Felix swung his glowing red eyes and twisting tongue toward her, she staggered back a step. “Why did you bring him here, you stupid whore?” Felix demanded.

      Horrified, Sarah started crying all over again.

      Alaric took her tears as his cue that it would be all right with her if he performed his duty. So he stepped forward, swinging Señor Sticky free of its scabbard.

      It was over in a matter of seconds. To his credit, the vampire put up a good fight.

      But cornered by sunlight on one side and holy water on the other, he had nowhere to go. There was no escape.

      Alaric didn’t give him a chance for any last words. In his experience, vampires didn’t really have anything that interesting or insightful to say. It was all Shakespeare and emo.

      When he was done, he looked at the girl. She was curled up in a ball over by the