me, if you must know.”
“D’you give him any?”
“Do I look stupid?” she countered. In fact, some people might make that mistake. On one level, she possessed a sort of doll-like beauty which, combined with blonde hair and glamorous clothes certainly not chosen from the top-of-the-range shops, gave her something the look of a bimbette. But sharp intelligence positively gleamed in those china-blue eyes, and her mouth was far too quick.
“Actually, no,” he replied. “Seen anything of the elusive Mr. Blair?”
“Nah,” she said at once. She looked him in the eye, but for the first time, Alex was sure she was lying.
Behind him, he heard movement from the inner office. He hoped it was Sera, but he said nothing. Then, just as the silence was stretching too long, another voice called from the office.
“Jilly, I’m going back to your place to check up on Sera!”
“Okay,” Jilly called back, smoothing the instinctive crease of irritation from her brow. She hadn’t wanted him to know where Sera was. Why? What was going on at Jilly Kerr’s place?
Before he could enquire further, his phone went off. It was his partner, brief and to the point. “Shoplifter at the St. James Centre.”
Alex sighed. “On my way.”
****
Blair’s arrival at dusk took Sera by surprise. Sitting on Jilly’s living room sofa, picking at the vegetables Melanie insisted she eat instead of the fish supper Tam had brought her, she could hear Jilly telling someone off at the front door, but until he walked into the living room, she didn’t sense him at all.
“I’m masking,” he told her blandly when she glared at him.
“He won’t lead them here,” she interrupted Jilly’s tirade. “He’s covering his scent, or whatever it is they use to follow each other. I couldn’t sense him either.”
“Yes? Well, I’ll bet the cops can see him easily enough,” Jilly muttered.
Blair, who, she was sure, had taken in the occupants of the room at a glance, now gave them a longer sweep. Tam laid down his fish supper. Blair inclined his head.
Tam’s face colored a dull red. “You’re the bastard who bit me.”
Blair gave another ironic bow.
“Don’t dwell on it,” Sera advised. “He bites a lot of people.”
Blair smiled at her, revealing his fangs.
“Fuck,” said Tam.
Blair walked past him and Sera to the window. He appeared to allow Melanie’s accoutrements set out on the table a cursory glance; then he looked out at the park below.
“Smith was there earlier,” Sera reported. “Just taking a walk.”
“Did he look up here? Did he see you?”
“No. And no.”
Blair turned from the window. “You must all have stakes and be prepared to use them.”
“I thought you were going to take care of the fighting out there?” Sera retorted.
“There are a lot of vampires. I can’t guarantee to engage them all. If you’re uncovered, you’ll need to be able defend yourselves.” He didn’t sound anxious, and yet it came to Sera that he was.
Without a word, she stood and opened the drawer in the table. It was full of lethally sharpened sticks. She’d made them during the day while reading Melanie’s books.
Blair nodded and jerked his head in Tam’s direction. “Make sure he knows.” He walked toward the living room door.
“Wait,” Sera exclaimed, jumping up. “Are you really going to be able to fight all of them? Just four of you?”
He didn’t even turn. “There are more than four. I told you. I summoned all I could.”
She followed him into the hall, catching his arm. He turned, and at once, she released him.
With his cool, unreadable eyes holding her gaze, she spoke with difficulty. “Some of you could die, couldn’t you?” His lip quirked, and she added almost angrily, “Don’t tell me you’re all dead already. You know exactly what I mean.”
“More of them will die.”
She stepped back, feeling her shoulders slump. “Why does that not make me feel better?”
His eyes searched hers, one to the other. But he didn’t answer. Instead, he reached up and touched her lips. His fingertip felt smooth again, healed from its burns, like his face. And as always, his cool touch heated her skin, catching at her breath. Understanding, he smiled lazily. He dropped his hand before she could pull away and walked toward the front door.
Sera swallowed. She wanted to call him back. Terrified she’d never see him again; terrified she would and be unable to live with what he’d done and seen. It was all muddled with her own fear of messing up tonight, of failing Melanie and endangering everyone. With a sudden