Chapters (50)
- Cover
- Roc Books by Jacqueline Carey
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
“Ow!”
A sharp snap, like a stick breaking. Also, the very bright light went out.
I turned around.
Lee Hastings was huddled on the floor, his leather duster pooling around him, the light box strapped to his chest cracked and dented. He was cradling an obviously broken forearm and blinking owlishly. Bethany looked sort of scorched, her skin bubbly and flaky. Cody was wrestling his half-shifted features back under control, breathing hard, looking annoyed and disgruntled. Mrs. Cassopolis had stopped screaming, settling for clutching at the neckline of her nightgown. Twelve-year-old Brandon was peering around the door of his parents’ bedroom, his expression uncertain.
I looked at Jen.
She looked back at me. “Well, that went well.”
Thirty-one
So I guess Lee really was kind of an all-purpose genius, since it turns out that artificial sunlight can do serious damage to a vampire, at least at close range. The downside is that being in close range to a vampire puts you at risk for sustaining some serious damage yourself. Lee was lucky it was just a broken arm.
“Where the hell did you come from?” I asked him while Cody checked on Mr. Cassopolis and Jen ushered her brother away from the scene. Mrs. Cassopolis was sitting, catatonic, on the side of her bed, staring blankly at her oldest daughter. Bethany, surprisingly calm, was leaning against a wall and squinting at herself through swollen eyes, picking off ashy bits of skin. The pale skin underneath looked whole and unharmed.
Lee grimaced. “You didn’t see my car? It was pulled off by the side of the road just before the driveway to Twilight Manor.”
Bethany gave him a sharp look—well, as sharp as possible with swollen eyelids—and bared her fangs.
“Sorry.” He coughed. “The House of Shadows.”
“How did you even know this was going down?” I asked. “I didn’t say anything about it.”
“Are you kidding?” Lee nodded toward Mrs. Cassopolis. “They got a freaking invitation. It was the talk of the town. Everyone knew.”
“Tell your mother I said to thank her for the Bundt cake recipe,” Mrs. Cassopolis said in a distant voice.
“Right,” I said to Lee. “So you decided to . . . what, exactly?”
He sighed and rested his head against the wall. “I just thought I’d drive out and lurk around the outskirts. Just in case.” He patted the busted light box with his good hand. “I wanted to know if it would work. When I saw the squad car hit the lights and fly out after Jen’s old beater, I figured something was wrong, and I followed as fast as I could.” He lowered his voice. “Cody Fairfax is in the database, isn’t he?”
I glanced in Cody’s direction. “Shh.”
“Sorry.”