He leans down so that his chin brushes the top of my hair. His voice is a low whisper. “Pull out your stake. It’ll come up behind me. We don’t kill until it bites. I’ll spin, and you’ll hit it in the back.”

I balk. “You’re going to let it bite you?”

I feel him tense. “You want to do this right, don’t you? What good is your revenge if you’re killing an innocent? How would you be any better than the ones you want to hunt? It’s the only way to know for sure that we’ve got a bad one.”

His words shame me. I believed him when he said they weren’t all evil. I nod. I can let go of a tiny piece of my hatred. I’ll save the rest for those who deserve it—those who take without asking. Those who kill.

“How do you do this alone? Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Yes. You shouldn’t do it alone.” His tone suggests that his own safety isn’t a priority.

“So I do need a troupe.”

He sighs. “Get ready.”

I pull the stake out from my jacket and clench it in my fist.

“Don’t hold it so tight.”

I loosen my grip and try to breathe, but my chest feels too tight. My fingers shake. All the times I suffered through a vampire movie in hopes of gleaning some kind of useful information, all the interviews I watched with Gerald, all the hours spent doing push-ups or practicing jabbing a stake through someone’s ribs, all are about to pay off. I don’t know if I ever really believed I would get a chance to kill one, but now I’m so close, and I wonder who I’ll be afterward. I hope it’s someone better.

Roman’s voice is only a murmur. “Here we go.”

“Maybe it’s just a security guard or something.”

He dips his head so we’re nose to nose. “I can feel them, so it’s either a magician who just used magic or a vampire who just fed.”

“I can’t sense a thing.” My heart thuds.

“I’m better trained than you.” His head shifts the tiniest bit. “Almost time.”

I’m shaking. Suddenly I don’t want to do this, but there’s also nothing else I want to do. It’s a confusing feeling.

Roman’s hand brushes my cheek, and for a moment I think it’s part of the show we’re putting on, but then I see that he’s waiting for me to look him in the eyes. “Last chance to back out.”

“No,” I say. My hand tightens around the stake before I force myself to relax.