Cuddles promptly tried to bite her. Desandra jerked her hand away and bared her teeth. “Donkey, you don’t know who you’re messing with. I’ll eat you for breakfast.”

“Where to now?” I asked.

“Hold on,” Robert said. “I’m still . . . coming to terms with your mode of transportation.”

“Take your time.” I nudged Cuddles, turning her to give him a better view. Cuddles flicked her ears, lifted her feet, and pranced. Oh dear God.

Derek put his head down on the fence and made a moaning noise. Desandra chortled.

“Okay,” Robert said. “I think I’ve absorbed. I am ready for strategy planning now. Could you please stop prancing?”

“She isn’t done.”

It took another thirty seconds and a carrot to get Cuddles under control.

“How do we get into the territory without being killed?” I asked.

“We can try the northwest approach,” Robert said. “It’s more lightly patrolled. But with the current state of things, they likely doubled the security. They’ll be looking for us.”

That was the understatement of the century.

“I could go alone,” Robert offered.

“If they find you, we’ll never find your scout or the crime scene,” Desandra said.

He spared her a look. “They won’t find me.”

Sure, they won’t. Pointing out that his pride was getting the better of him wouldn’t be politic. I had to say something neutral.

“Accidents happen.” Kate Daniels, Master of Diplomacy.

“We can come in on one of their usual patrol routes,” Derek said.

We turned to him.

“They know our patrol routes,” the boy wonder said. “So we shift them when there’s an emergency. They’ll likely do the same, leaving the original route open.”

“Likely?” Desandra shook her head.

“Likely is what we have,” Robert said.

“I don’t like it,” Desandra said. “I don’t know about you, but I have two babies to go home to. We could be walking right into their patrol.”

“We won’t,” I said.

“What makes you so sure?” Robert asked.

“We have a real-life vampire detector with us,” Derek said.

It was my turn to be looked at.

“You keep staring, I’ll have to do a dance or something.”

“You can sense vampires?” Robert asked.

“Yes.”

“From how far away?” the alpha rat asked.

“From far enough to give us time to hide.”

“Okay,” Robert said. “Then I vote for the patrol route.”

Desandra surveyed me as if she had met me for the first time. “What other fun things can you do?”

I winked at her. “Stick with me and you might find out.”

“We can go through the quarantine zone,” Derek said. “Even bloodsuckers stay out of there.”

“There’s probably a reason for that,” Desandra said.

“Fortune favors the brave,” I told her. It also kills the stupid, but I decided to keep that fact to myself. “Come on. We need to hurry.”

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