“You think he’s really here?” she asked. It was the first thing she’d said since they rose together and left the hotel.

“If he’s not, someone will know where he is.”

“They’ll be waiting for you.”

Cade shrugged.

“Why?” she asked.

“I have to,” he said. “You know that.”

She grimaced. “I suspect you would do it anyway. Even without your precious oath.”

“We’ll never know,” Cade said, and opened the car door.

She looked across the seat at him as he got out. “I won’t be here when you get back.”

“I didn’t think you would,” Cade said, and got out of the car.

Cade strolled across Wilshire, straight toward the front doors. Just like any regular visitor.

Which, right now, was a whole lot of nothing. But Reyes couldn’t escape the feeling that this whole thing had gone foul.

Reyes was a lot of things, but he wasn’t dumb. Sure, you could argue he’d made bad choices, but they were never foolish choices. And he always knew when it was time to cut his losses.

When he was twelve, he’d joined a gang. When he was sixteen, he saw what happened to everyone over thirty in the thug life: jail or death. He picked a new career: cop. At nineteen, he left the police academy and hit the streets in uniform. His old buddies didn’t mind, because he fed them information. At thirty-seven, in plainclothes, working both sides finally caught up with him. He’d been one of a few dozen cops indicted in a wide-ranging scandal. Cops ripping off drug dealers, planting weapons, lying in court and murdering anyone who found out.

He was looking at a heavy prison sentence. Or a bullet in the eye if he flipped and turned state’s evidence.

That’s when the Company stepped in.

The Company had a network of dealers in L.A., selling drugs to fund a bunch of dirty little wars. Reyes had been asked many times to look the other way by guys with government credentials. But he went even further, getting prisoners released, losing evidence and passing information whenever it was necessary.

His indictment got shredded. He got a new badge, and a new boss: Helen Holt.

That was two years ago. Now he was feeling the itch again, like a target on his back.

Helen had been out of contact for hours. Down in the holding cell, Ken was losing it on the little pendejo from the White House.

Then there was Cade. Reyes looked at the bolt-gun Helen had given him earlier. R&D really thought this would stop a vampire? It didn’t seem likely. Helen could have put a .50 caliber rifle with depleted uranium ammo in his hands—something powerful enough to punch a hole in tank armor. Or flamethrowers. Or white phosphorus grenades. Any of those would have had a better chance at killing Cade.

And Reyes knew if they didn’t kill him at the first chance, that bastard would put them down a second later. No hesitation. He’d seen it in Cade’s eyes.

He began to wonder if the Company would have even approved something this badly fucked. This began to smell like a setup to him.

So when he looked up at the security monitor and saw Cade strolling for the front door, the decision was easy.

He got up and ran for the back exit, not bothering to hit an alarm. Sorry, Ken, he thought. See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.

Reyes didn’t worry about his soul, but he did worry about his ass. And he decided it was time to get it out of there.

As Cade got closer, it began snapping and barking, straining at its leash.

He could smell blood on its muzzle. Zach’s blood.

Cade had liked dogs when he was human. But they knew what he was, instinctively.

He shoved the Company man forward, was about to tell him to hold the dog, when Ken dove forward and unclipped the leash.

He went into a crouch, and screamed, “Töte! Töte!”

“Kill” in German.

The dog sprung toward Cade—and then ran right past him, tail between its legs, a black-and-tan streak down the corridor.

Cade grabbed Ken by the hair and dragged him back to his feet. He was already annoyed by the holy water upstairs. That burned. Now he was angry.

“I’m sorry,” Ken said. “I’m sorry, I thought—”

“I know what you thought. Dogs aren’t stupid,” Cade said, pushing Ken toward the cell again.

“Any more surprises?” Cade asked.

Ken shook his head furiously. “No,” he said. “I swear. Just remember. I had nothing to do with what they did to him. Nothing. Remember that.”

“Open the door,” Cade said.

His hands shaking, Ken put the key in the lock and swung the door open.

Cade saw Zach in the gloom, on the floor. His chest and groin were covered in scratches from the dog, and his inner thigh had a bite that was still bleeding. Burns on his skin from Taser shocks at close range. Bruises. A black hood covered his head.

There was more, but Cade had seen enough.

He reached for Ken.

“I swear, I had nothing to do with it—” Ken screeched.

Cade snapped his neck with one hand.

The body dropped like a pile of dirty laundry to the floor.

Cade entered the cell and removed the hood.

At first, Zach didn’t know it was him. His eyes were screwed shut. When Cade tried to lift him, he struggled, until Cade spoke.

“It’s all right now. You’re safe,” Cade said.

Zach looked at him, peeking almost, as if afraid to see if it were true.

He looked past Cade, at the body of Ken in the hall, his neck twisted halfway around.

“Did you do that?” Zach asked as Cade helped him up.

“Yes,” Cade said.

Zach kept looking at the body.

“Good,” he said.

“What now?” he asked.

“Now we get Konrad.”

“Konrad?” Zach said.

“You have a better idea?”

“Yes,” Zach said, looking at Ken’s corpse again. “I’d like to kill every one of them.”

“A little bloodthirsty, now?”

Zach looked at him with rage in his eyes. Then it broke, and a warped smile took its place.

“That supposed to be vampire humor?” he asked.

“I just want you to remember our priorities.”

Zach nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”

The boy carried himself forward, limping, waving away Cade’s hand. Cade felt moved to add something.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “If we go after Konrad, I’m sure his friends will be close by.”

Zach didn’t respond right away. As they made their way down the corridor, past Ken’s body, he said, “‘Bloodthirsty’ . . . That was funny. You know. For you.”

Cade’s mouth twitched. “I have my moments.”

Zach looked her up and down. “You brought a date?”

Tania flicked her eyes over to him, and Zach felt a shiver of the same revulsion that had gripped him when he first met Cade. He knew what she was. Her eyes went back to Cade, utterly uninterested.

“You were right,” she said to Cade. “He is funny.”

She looked Cade over. “I put a change of clothes on the front seat for you.”

Cade saw the clothing, neatly folded. All black. Designer labels.

“I bought them while you were sleeping in the hotel. The gift shop had some very fine stuff.”

“Why are you doing this?” Cade asked.

“I decided you’ve looked like an idiot long enough,” she said. “You have just enough time to change. Konrad is meeting a cargo ship tonight at the port. Dock 29. I heard him while he was keeping me locked up.”

She threw the keys, and Cade snatched them from midair.

“Better hurry,” she said.

Zach snapped to attention. “Cade, that’s the container,” he said. “It has to be. Konrad is going to—”

“I know,” Cade said. He stayed where he was. “I asked you a question, Tania. Why are you helping me?”

She looked directly into Cade’s eyes, then grabbed him and pulled him into a deep, deep kiss.

It was a human gesture. It caught him by surprise.

She shoved him back and gave him a defiant look.

“Because I’m not afraid of you,” she said.

She turned and ran. She was gone in a matter of seconds.

Cade stood and watched.

“Dude, your girlfriend is weird,” Zach said.