Mathias started to rise, but the creature lunged, its fangs bared.

Mathias screamed to the heavens, throwing up his arms to ward off the evil. But he was no match for the devil, this maniac with a thirst for blood.

Vlad bit down. His teeth ripped into the soft flesh of Mathias’s throat, biting off another scream. Blood sprayed.

Searing pain tore through Mathias’s body. He scratched and clawed but Vlad, having satisfied his taste for the priest’s unholy blood, unsheathed his knife.

He raised it high in a deadly arc.

Lamplight glinted against the blade.

Mathias wriggled in fear. He was sweating, nearly urinating on himself. This wasn’t supposed to happen. No…he wanted God’s forgiveness, expected to live long and repent his sins and—

Slash!

The blade sliced downward in a silver arc.

Father Mathias was dead in an instant.

The feds, Jay thought, of course.

The FBI had been at work all along.

And still hadn’t arrested Grotto.

Jay drove with Mai Kwan on the seat next to him, Bruno relegated to the backseat. She knew Grotto’s address, and as Jay told her everything he and Kristi had discovered, she showed him where to park, a block away from the vine-covered Victorian where Grotto resided. The house was fitting with its sharp angles and pitched roof and gargoyles decorating the downspouts.

“I just don’t think whoever pulled this off would point a big red arrow at their head by teaching vampirism,” Mai said. “Our killer seems too smart for that.”

“Ego,” Jay said, taking out his pistol. “God complex. He thinks he’s brilliant, more clever than everyone else. Now he wants to rub our noses in it.”

“Or he’s being set up.”

“Either way, he knows something.”

Mai snapped a clip into her weapon. “Agreed. Let’s go.”

They didn’t wait for backup. She had already phoned a higher up, asked for a warrant, and when told to “stand down” had said that of course she would. Which was a bald-faced lie. Jay figured the guy on the other end of the phone had known it.

“Looks like he’s not alone,” Mai whispered, frowning when she spied a car parked in the driveway. “We’ll have to wait.”

“No way. Kristi could be inside.”

“We can’t risk it.”

“You mean you can’t risk it. I’m going in.”

Kristi woke up slowly.

Her entire body ached.

Groggy and disoriented, she opened one eye to darkness.

Pain slammed through her head and she wondered faintly where she was.

Shivering, she realized she was naked, lying on a cold stone floor, her hands and ankles bound, the dank smell of the earth deep in her nostrils.

The world spun a bit and she had to work to think clearly, if at all. As if through a long tunnel, she heard water dripping and muted voices rising in anger. An argument?