Xander’s closest, with his back slightly to me, so I hit him and send him stumbling into Aristelle, who gets knocked onto her ass. She snarls, but then her eyes widen a fraction when she realizes it’s me. As Xander stumbles, he grabs onto one of my biceps and carries me with him, and I end up slammed against the wall.

There’s a wicked curl to his lips when he looks down at me, but then it fades. “Ava?”

“Saying my name won’t help you,” I say.

His eyes widen as he feels it: my stake pressed against his skin, ready to take his heart.

CHAPTER 6

The one thing I’ve drilled into my head with all my training is to always get the stake lined up right where you want it to go. Don’t lose the stake.

I’m a little surprised I actually did it. It’s one thing to practice that, and it’s another to do it while you’re tangled up in a flailing vampire you kind of had the beginnings of a crush on. I feel nauseous about that last part.

My hand shakes, leaving tiny red lines across Xander’s chest, like I’m marking the spot for later, but I won’t wait for later. All I need is confirmation that he is what I think, and then he’s dust—or whatever actually happens to them when you put a stake through their heart.

He stares down at my shaking hand.

I hope he doesn’t think it’s weakness. It’s not.

“You believe in vampires,” Xander says, his voice even and calm.

“My mom was killed by one, so, yeah.” I don’t bother looking up to see his reaction to that, but he’s silent for a beat.

“You think we’re bloodsuckers?” He loses his calm and half spits, half chuckles the last word.

I look up to see his lips twisted with disgust that would be hard to fake, but I don’t move my stake away.

“You were about to eat that girl.”

Xander sighs. “We’re not leeches. The girl was.” He reaches up and closes a hand over my fingers that grip the stake and slowly pulls the point away from his chest as he looks me in the eyes. “We’re hunters. Vampire hunters.” He turns around and glances at Aristelle, who’s dusting off her pants. “We were getting to that part if you’d just waited.” He looks down the alley, at me, and then back to Aristelle. “I’ve got this. See if you can find her.”

Aristelle puts her hand on her hip like she’ll argue, but all she does is glare at me as she gives her pants another brush before sprinting away without looking back.

Xander steps back from me, raising his hands. “Seriously, you can put that away.”

“I want to hear the rest of the story first.”