With considerable determination, I pushed myself up and staggered to the kitchen. There, on the page he'd left open, were the symbols I'd seen carved into Nathan's skin, some of which he still bore as nasty scars. Next to the neatly printed sigils, Dahlia's handwriting proclaimed, "Cannibalized from various sources. My version works better."

I should have staked her when I had the chance, the smug bitch.

"My father isn't capable of something like this," Cyrus said quietly. "Dahlia did it. In fact, if you look closely at this book, you'll see she's been behind most of the magic done on my father's behalf. She even wrote the spell that brought me back from the dead. It's all there. And I suggest we anticipate my father's next move, as there are far nastier spells that she's come up with."

"Nathan?" I asked tentatively. "Nathan, do you want to come look at this?"

He gave a barely perceptible shake of his head.

"We've had the best tool for tracking my father right here the whole time," Cyrus continued. "He just won't use it, Carrie."

What was I supposed to feel? In my heart, I understood Nathan's reluctance to open up to his sire. The man had taken his wife from him, tried to take his soul. Nathan's life, faith and dignity had been destroyed. Why on earth would he want to feel anything his sire wanted to give him?

Another part of me, though, was angry. Nathan had sent me into danger. Sure, he'd worried about me, but he'd been more worried about himself, about what would be easiest for him. I tried hard to keep my bitter feelings from the blood tie, but he felt them.

"That's not it at all, Carrie." He stood and walked toward the bedroom, adding a mental, You should know me better than that.

I looked helplessly at Cyrus. He touched my face, his fingertips skimming my cheek. "Talk to him."

When I went to the bedroom, I found Nathan sitting on the edge of the bed, staring bleakly at the wall. But I knew he didn't see it. He was in another time, another place entirely. I knelt beside him on the bed.

"You think I was being selfish." His voice sounded hollow.

I considered. "Yes. Out of self-preservation. You don't know what he's going to do to you."

"I shouldn't have let you got to that house tonight." He scrubbed his hands over his face. His eyes were raw looking. "I have the perfect weapon, and I'm too cowardly to use it."

"It's not cowardly. He has incredible power over you." When Nathan scoffed at that, I took his palm and laid it over the place where my heart used to be. "Like you have power over me."

"What power, Carrie?" He threw up his hands. "I can't make you do anything you don't want to."