Retribution

Jason looks up at me but makes no move to get up.

“Did you hear me? I said get dressed.”

His eyes have morphed back into a human’s and his fangs retracted until they no longer peek through his lips. The expression on his face is pure terror. “I can’t go outside.”

“You can and will.” I grab his arm, give it a shake. “Unless you want me to carry you out naked and throw you into the trunk of my car, you’ll get moving now.”

“I can’t.” He pulls away and scoots himself back until he’s huddled against the headboard. “I’m a vampire.”

“I don’t know what you are,” I say. “But if it’s vampire, you can and will go outside. One way or the other.”

His eyes dart to the door. “The sun. I can’t go outside from sunrise to sunset.”

“Get with the program, moron. Vampires adapted to the sun centuries ago.” I pull the curtains back. The rain has stopped and a weak sun peaks through storm-tossed clouds. I hold out my hand and expose it to the light. “See? No problem. Now quit stalling.”

He makes no move to comply. I’m done fucking around. I reach across the bed and yank him to his feet. “Don’t say I didn’t give you the chance to ride in front.”

He struggles against me, but his strength is no match for my own. I snatch up a pair of jeans from a nearby chair and thrust them at him.

“You can put these on in the trunk.”

He’s yelling at me to stop, but I ignore him. I’ll take him to the park and work on him there. I’ll bring Williams the syringe. Maybe if he has that analyzed, it will be a clue to Burke’s whereabouts.

At the doorway, I give Jason a shove that propels him through the door and into the daylight.

He stumbles once, and turns toward me. His hands fly to his face, letting the jeans fall. His eyes have turned again. It ’s the last thing I notice before his body explodes like a camera flash in a burst of white-hot light.

CHAPTER 36

THE SMELL OF SULFUR DRIFTS ON A GUST OF WIND. A smell and a pile of ash. It’s all that’s left of Jason Shelton.

Reflexively, I jump back. Even seeing what happened, I can ’t wrap my head around it. I stare at the crumpled pair of jeans that a moment ago was clutched in Jason’s hands.

Jason said he was a vampire. Yet I had no co

God. I’d better warn Rose.

I step gingerly around the spot where Jason stood. I’d have killed him in a heartbeat once I got Burke’s whereabouts from him. But this is the second vampire immo lation I’ve seen in two days. Ortiz’ death was horrible enough but I understood it. This is completely beyond my comprehension.

My hand shakes when I try to fit the key in the Jag’s ignition. I don’t know whether to call Rose or Williams first. I do decide to wait until I’m away from the apartment to do it. I pull over on a side street a mile away.

The sight of Jason spontaneously combusting the moment he stepped into daylight has my heart pounding.

What was he? A vampire subspecies?

I pull the paper Williams gave me yesterday with Rose ’s address on it. He’d also jotted a phone number and I punch it into my cell phone. Rose picks up on the second ring. Her “hello” resonates with worry and ratchets my own anxiety up a notch.

“Rose, this is A

Her voice is shaking. “I don’t know what’s happening. They’re dying, A

“Which three?” I’m thinking of Rebecca and how she clutched at my hand.

“Three of the weaker. We had a steady supply of hosts for them. They were feeding. But something happened. They grew weaker instead of stronger. Then, this morning, they started dying.”

A picture of Jason bursting into flame flashes through my head. “How, Rose? How did they die?”

Rose’s breath catches. “I don’t know. They were feeding. Then they just stopped. It was as if their hearts gave out. They were alive one minute and dead the next. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Different from Jason. Because they weren’t exposed directly to sunlight? I remember the room and the large windows.

“I’ll come over. But I have to talk to Williams first. Rose, don’t let them go outside. And keep the curtains pulled. Better yet, take them all to the back room.”

“Why?”

“They’re not like us. I don’t know why, but they can’t be exposed to daylight.”

“That makes no sense.” But her tone is halting.

“Trust me. None of this makes sense. Just please, keep it dark.”

She draws a quick, sharp breath. “God, A

She clicks off without saying good-bye.

I don’t have to guess why.

WILLIAMS IS UNCHARACTERISTICALLY QUIET WHEN I call him next to fill him in on the events of the morning. He has no explanation for what happened to Jason or how daylight could have affected the girls who died. I tell him about the syringe I found in Jason’s apartment.

Maybe whatever Jason used to sedate the girls after he changed them is the reason for their weaknesses. Williams agrees to meet me at the park. He’s with Brooke now but says he can be there within fifteen minutes. I ask him to have the witches try another locator spell, and he says that he will. With Ortiz’ death, he never got around to asking them yesterday. His voice is heavy with guilt.

I should care that he forgot. Should rail at him for forgetting Culebra. But he had other things on his mind.

Ortiz.

A rare moment of compassion stills my tongue and I hang up without rancor.

I’ve never felt so helpless. It’s been three days since Culebra fell under Burke’s curse. I’m afraid to call Frey for an update. He’s put his life on hold and his own health at risk. If I don’t come up with something fast, I may lose two friends.

Williams is at the elevator when I step out. The bank of telephone operators that occupies the center of the supernatural command center is bustling with activity. The telephones are ma

Today, however, I detect a different timbre to the buzz of conversation. What’s going on?

He steers me away from center. I have our people working to locate Burke. If the witches can’t find her, maybe someone else can.

He’s set the psychics on Burke? His guilt that another night may have brought Culebra that much closer to death is showing. No matter.

I’ll take all the help I can get.

He pushes open a door to a side room. The same three witches I met two days ago are assembled around the same pentagram. A map is laid out and one of the women, Min Liu, dangles that diamond on the end of the silken string. As I watch, the diamond jumps and skitters across the map but it fails to light on any particular location. Frustration is painted on Min ’s face. The other two watch, each holding a candle and chanting in low voices.

Susan Powers looks up when we enter. She touches the young Hispanic woman’s arm. Ariela Acosta motions us in.

“It’s not working, is it?” I ask.

Min lets the charm drop. “I’m sorry. The witch is protecting herself.”

“She’s put up a powerful blocking spell,” Susan says. “There is nothing we can do.”

I sink into a chair and cover my face with my hands.

Culebra is fighting for his life.

Ortiz is dead.

It’s my fault.

I should never have confronted the witch at the restaurant. It only alerted her to the fact that I was on to her. Now she’s gone into hiding and I’ve exhausted any lead I might have had to find her.