my help, which you’ll never get. Kill me, though, and I guarantee your portal will reopen.”
Lucas lunged forward, breaking from my grip. At that moment, Jeremy stepped around the other corner. Lucas stopped. Our eyes met, and I knew what he was thinking. Did we still dare try Jeremy’s plan? Both of us would have been much happier blazing in there, spells flying. But was that the smart move? The safe move? Savannah looked over at us. Lucas swallowed, then motioned for her to go. As she turned away, he took my hand and squeezed it so hard I heard the bones crackle. I squeezed his back.
As I watched Savannah go, a thousand new doubts skittered through my brain. She was so young. What if she couldn’t pull this off? What if she froze up? What if that happened, and we couldn’t cast before Edward pounced on her? What if Jeremy couldn’t stop him in time? I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Jeremy thought this would work, and I trusted that he’d never put Savannah in danger.
She stepped into the alley. Edward had his back turned to her, still talking to Benicio. Jaime and Benicio saw her, though. Jaime’s eyes widened. I leaned as far from my hiding place as I dared, and, seeing me, Jaime shuttered her look of surprise. Benicio hesitated, then gave a tiny nod, and said something to Edward, keeping him engaged.
I cast a cover spell, then readied a fireball. For the few seconds it took me to prep the spell, I was visible, but the cloak of invisibility fell again the moment I stopped. Behind me, Lucas had a knock-back spell ready—far from lethal, but one of the few spells we knew would work on a vampire.
Savannah crept down the alley. Edward was too intent on Benicio to notice her. When she’d reached the mark we’d agreed upon, she stopped.
“Hey,” she said. “Cool altar.”
Edward whirled around and stared, momentarily dumb-founded by the sight of a thirteen-year-old alone in an alley at midnight.
Savannah took another step forward. “Is that, like, a satanic altar? Are you guys gonna call up a demon or something?” She walked over near Jaime and pretended to notice Jaime and Benicio’s bindings for the first time. “A sacrifice? Cool. I’ve never seen anyone get sacrificed before. Can I watch?”
Edward’s mouth opened, then shut, as if his brain was still muddling through this. I glanced over at Jeremy, but he was already on his way, creeping along the far wall, out of Edward’s sight. He moved as soundlessly as a vampire. Within seconds he was less than a yard from Edward.
Savannah’s eyes rounded to saucers, mouth opening in an O of delighted surprise.
“Wow,” she said. “Is that your dog, mister?”
Edward followed her gaze, then backpedaled fast. Behind him stood a jet-black wolf the size of a Great Dane. When Jeremy looked up at Edward, his black eyes blended perfectly with his fur, so the effect was one of eerily unrelieved darkness, more like the shadow of a wolf than an animal itself. With Elena, I could easily mistake her for a large dog. With Jeremy, no one getting close enough could make that error. I could tell by Edward’s face that he knew this was no stray mutt.
Savannah strolled over and ran her fingers through the ruff around Jeremy’s neck. Edward gave a sharp intake of breath, as if expecting her to lose that hand, but Jeremy didn’t move.
“He’s beautiful,” Savannah said. “What’s his name?”
She kept her hand on the back of Jeremy’s neck. Jeremy looked up, eyes meeting Edward’s. He drew his lips back and growled so softly that the sound seemed more felt than heard as it vibrated down the alley.
“Oooh,” Savannah said. “I don’t think your dog likes you, mister.”
She scrunched her face in a thoughtful frown as she studied Jeremy’s face. “You know, I think he’s hungry.” She looked at Edward and smiled. “Maybe you should feed him.”
Jeremy pounced.
He caught Edward in the stomach and knocked him across the alley, away from Jaime and Savannah. Lucas and I bolted from our hiding spot and raced down the alley. By the time we got there, Jeremy was on top of Edward and had his teeth buried in his shoulder. Edward kicked and punched, but to no effect. Unfortunately, Jeremy’s bite had no effect either. Not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound and the moment Jeremy released his grip, the tears in Edward’s flesh knitted