"Don't give yourself too much credit there." Anne made a disgusted face. "For one thing, it was supposed to be your little blond friend, the lady with the ugly shoes you brought in to see the Oracle a couple of months ago. And when that didn't work, that witch thought she'd try it out with you. And then it was back to the drawing board, because we didn't think it would ever happen. 'We' being the Oracle and the Soul Eater. They've been working together for a while now, and the Movement never knew! Anyway, she only needed a natural-born vampire to fulfill her prophecy. But a natural-born lupin? I mean, wow! Could you ask for a happier accident than that?"

Max closed his eyes. Of course. The night with Dahlia. He could almost taste that potion again, all sugary and hot in his mouth. "Yeah. Lucky you."

"Well, once the Oracle gets the baby, she's gonna try and lure the Soul Eater up here to drain it and eat its soul. When he gets here, boom. No more Soul Eater." Anne dusted her palms together as if the old vampire's ashes already dirtied them.

"And the baby?" Max didn't bother covering his intent as he pulled on the rope. A hard jerk, and the cuffs miraculously slipped a fraction of an inch. "What are you going to do with the baby?"

Anne noted his struggle with a wry smile. "Oh, don't worry. She's not going to hurt her. She's going to raise her, like a daughter. And stop wriggling, you'll never get free."

She turned, apparently tired of the game. "I was going to wait until they brought your girlfriend in to watch, but I'm not that mean. You used to be on my side. I'll just rough you up a little so it leaves marks."

"Gee, thanks." He pulled again on his restraints, more motivated than before when he saw her pick up a pair of wire cutters from the table.

Anne returned, eyeing his twisting hands. She held up the implement. "Shall we?"

The Soul Eater's mansion—I'd stopped thinking of it as Cyrus's—was as frightening as I remembered it Of course, it was frightening for more sensible reasons now. Before, when I'd come to steal Dahlia's blood, I'd been afraid of my past. My current fear was deeply rooted in the present and near future.

We crouched beside the back wall. I'd never seen the grounds and mansion from this angle, I doubted many people had, including those who owned the huge lot we'd encroached upon to get to our location. We'd sneaked past a night watchman, across a dark lawn, past tennis courts and a swimming pool, and found the crumbling brick wall that separated a normal looking garden shed from the Soul Eater's guardhouse.