Aristelle shakes her head. “Rule number one about vampires is that their own filthy lives matter to them more than anything else. They’re not like us.” She turns to Adam. “Sucks for you, bloodsucker.”

Xander laughs, and the sound is so cold that it stops me from taking another step toward him.

“Reina, care to do the honors?” Aristelle asks.

“I’d rather not, actually. I just painted my nails.” Reina glances down at her dove-gray nails.

Aristelle sighs. “You know you can magic them clean.”

“They still won’t feel the same. You know I hate all that ash on me.”

Adam coughs—or chokes, it’s hard to tell—and I suddenly feel bad for him. Roman’s lesson throbs in the back of my mind. Then Roman’s face. The sorrow on it.

“Let’s not rush this,” Xander says. “Tell us why you were following Ava.”

“And you’ll let me go?” Adam asks.

The three of them share a look.

“Of course,” Aristelle says with a smile that would wilt flowers.

We all know that’s a lie, but Adam swallows. A lie’s all he has separating him from the stake in Reina’s hand.

“We’ve been watching her for years. We want to find your compound. We’re tired of you hunting us. Plus, having a whole blood bank of you would make life easier. This was just one plan of many: become friends with someone who might get tapped as an apprentice and then trick them into showing us where it is once they’re in. We thought me showing up with Stacie would send Ava off-kilter—make her want to meet Stacie. Make her careless.”

“Why not just follow one of the troupes?” I ask.

“They’re too careful.”

“Well, joke’s on you. I couldn’t remember how to get there if I tried.”

Adam sighs. “I bet Stacie’s disappointed. She devoted so much to this.… I mean, being your friend for the past few years? At least I didn’t have to pretend to like you.” He sneers.

He’s trying to hurt me. It works.

“Why me?” I ask. “I wasn’t using magic. How did you find me?”

He laughs. “Oh, you were using magic. All those silly coin tricks? You were using little amounts, making your grip stronger and your fingers faster. You were just too dense to realize it. I bet you’re pretty talentless without it.”

He’s wrong. Mom taught me those tricks. Maybe I used magic sometimes, but I know I had skill too.

Xander looks Adam up and down. “Full offense intended, but you don’t look like someone who could afford years of magician blood to pretend to be human, and evidence suggests you’re not that great at hunting. How’d you two pull it off?”

“When I said ‘we,’ I didn’t mean just me and Stacie.”

“Who, then?” Aristelle says slowly.