weak but steady. The vampire didn’t take too much if Sarah’s still coherent enough to talk. She must have heard us coming and run.
Leo rejoins us, shaking his head. “Nothing.”
“Did you call emergency services?” I ask Cillian, ignoring Leo.
“Yes. They’re on their way.”
Leo speaks again. “We need to go.”
“She won’t come back,” I say. “Not with all of us here.” Surely Sarah is safe now, and I don’t want to risk moving her.
“No.” Leo’s voice is as slow and careful as my own, as though I were the one bleeding out on the ground. “I mean we need to go find Sarah’s friend. She probably needs attention too. You should be good at finding this type of person.”
“Should be,” Artemis says, emphasizing the first word.
My face burns with shame. My instincts are all wrong. I’ve been thinking about keeping Sarah stable rather than chasing after the monster that hurt her in the first place—a monster that could end up hurting so many others if we don’t take it down. I’m thinking small. Like a medic.
Not like a Slayer.
“Rhys and I will stay with her,” Cillian says.
Rhys eases his hand under mine. “You go do what you need to. We’ve got this.”
I press to show him the right amount of pressure. “Keep talking to her. If she passes out, note the time so you can tell the paramedics how long she’s been unconscious.”
“I want her to stay!” Sarah says, eyes getting wider. “I want you to stay, please.”
“Nina,” Artemis says.
“I’m sorry,” I say, avoiding Sarah’s desperate gaze. “You’re going to be fine. I promise.” Everything in me knows it’s wrong to leave her. This is what I want to do, how I want to help. But it’s not my calling.
I take off for the darkest end of the alley, where the vampire disappeared and where, according to Cillian’s map, we’ll find the warehouse. Running by my side, Leo passes me the stake I had left behind on the ground. It feels like a promise that I’m not sure I want to keep.
13
ARTEMIS PAUSES AT THE ALLEY’S end. Buildings stretch in either direction, their facades as blank and unhelpful as a dead cell phone. “We wasted too much time back there.”
Anger flares, but Leo speaks before I can. “Athena saved that girl’s life.”
It sounds like he’s talking about someone else. Maybe that’s what I liked about him when I was thirteen—it felt like he saw someone else when he looked at me. But now I worry he still sees someone else: Someone capable. Someone who can do this. Someone like Artemis, not me. Because I did save Sarah. But what if the vampire kills someone else before we stake her? That’s on me.
Artemis looks from side to side, checking for threats. “Which way is the warehouse?”
I’m disoriented too. Most of the lamps are broken. The buildings back here are derelict. It’s almost totally dark now, the full moon obscured by clouds.
I look to the left and see nothing. I look to the right and see nothing either, but there’s a sick twist of my stomach and a spike of adrenaline that make me suddenly sure I do not want to go that way. Not for anything in the world.
Artemis turns and stalks to the left.
“Down here, I think.” I point to the right.
“How do you know?” Artemis asks.
She’s the one who wanted me to chase the vampire, and now she’s questioning my instincts? “Because I’m terrified and I also feel like I could lift a car over my head.” Slayer feelings are no joke. It’s like little jolts of electricity are shooting through my body, pumping my blood closer to the surface of my skin. I’m attuned to every physical sensation inside, and every emotion and potential in the air outside of me. I feel myself being pulled in the direction of danger.
Artemis grits her teeth but nods. “Behind me,” she says, prowling forward.
I should be the one taking the lead since I’m technically the strongest, but as soon as that thought pops up, it disappears. I may be the strongest, but Artemis is the most competent. And even with my new powers, I don’t see that changing.
My shoes sound loud, though not as loud as the pounding of my heart. Up ahead there’s a building with the windows boarded up. Every window, in fact. Most of these buildings have the windows smashed out, with nothing replacing them. Why board up these? Unless there’s something inside that has a personal reason to