Reg frowned, which had been his general expression all week, since his tiff with Poe, but I was vaguely surprised to see him directing his scowl toward Sal. “If you dislike Lina so much, why maintain this retirement? You gave up slaying for her. You could just as easily take up the stake again.”

Sal thought a moment, then said, “It wasn’t only for her. She was the . . . catalyst. Once I knew her, I knew vampires had souls, and that’s the sort of thing you can’t unknow. Takes the fun out of the hunt, knowing your prey has a heart that feels, even if it doesn’t beat.”

We all fell silent at that, but the quiet didn’t last long, as a car horn blared through the night.

Reg and I both started at the sound, and Sal jumped all the way to his feet, bellowing, “Hearts and souls, but NO MANNERS!”

He threw open the front door, glaring at the black car with tinted windows idling on the road alongside the white picket fence.

I pushed past him, yanking a black beanie over my hair and bracing against the cold. “What’s she supposed to do? Come to the door? You know she can’t walk through the gate.”

The car window slid down, and Lina’s voice sliced out. “I wouldn’t darken that doorstep again even if he tore down the whole damn fence!”

“I’ll never take it down!” he shouted back, unnecessarily. Lina could have heard him at a whisper, and he knew it. I think it just felt good to shout.

Reg followed me onto the porch, wrapping something around the collar of his shirt as he walked. When he pulled his hands away, I saw it was a bow tie.

“Oh my God, what are you wearing? You’re so embarrassing.”

“I’m much more concerned about the words that will come out of your mouth than the ornament around my neck,” he said, gliding out to the car.

I looked once more at Sal. A part of me wanted to ask the old guy if he was okay, but I knew Lina would hear, and it felt like some kind of betrayal to womankind.

“Last chance to stay out of the wolves’ den,” he said.

“Gross,” I scoffed. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in the lair of a wolf. Filthy beasts.”

One side of Sal’s mouth ticked up. “They’re not so bad after a bath.”

“I do not want to know how you know that.”

I started down the steps, but Sal called me back.

“Charlie.”

I turned, waiting.

“Be careful tonight.”

I feigned annoyance. “Don’t talk like you’re the grown-up and I’m the kid. Your gray hair doesn’t actually make you older.”

“Only wiser.”