“Did we get her in trouble?”

“Not any trouble she didn’t dive into willingly. I wouldn’t worry.” His mouth twitched. “That woman can handle herself.”

We collapsed into the closest kitchen chairs, and I might have fallen asleep right there at the table, if I hadn’t been curious about Sal’s scribbles. “What are you doing?”

“Cover stories for our newly human friends. I’ve called in some favors to put them up for a few nights, but that won’t last, and I don’t have room for them here. I need to get them acclimated, ID’d, and on their way pretty quick.”

I grimaced. “Sorry about that.”

Sal’s head snapped up, and he jabbed his pen in my direction. “Don’t you ever say sorry for what you did tonight.”

A firework of pride exploded in my chest, but I only nodded.

“Sal,” Reg leaned forward, weary. “The town, the people . . . so many of them tonight were . . .”

“Unfazed?” Sal offered.

“Alarmingly so.”

Sal pushed his pen and pad to the side.

“I’ve been wondering about that too.”

“A boy from the AV club called tonight ‘another’ vampire attack,” I said. “And Lina told Dex’s dad he’s done this before.”

“He likely has,” Sal said. “Bunch of ’em have. But what I can’t figure is how they almost seem to remember things.”

“Remember what things?!”

“The Elders have been meddling in the matters of this town for centuries.” Sal waved a hand as if this should be no surprise. “I told you how they own most of it. You think they managed that without interacting with the humans?”

“Dexter’s family farm,” I said. “Dex said his dad almost sold it a couple of times but couldn’t do it. When he finally sold to Morgana, it was a big shock.”

Sal pointed a finger. “Bingo. My guess is those first deals fell through with the help of a little mind manipulation. Who knows how many encounters your boyfriend’s dad has had with the Elders and their brain poison?”

I hated the idea of vampire venom coursing through the veins of my friends and their families, of ideas being planted into their minds. It was what we’d fought against tonight. And for what? Only to learn it was already happening anyway?

“‘It’s for the best, and we should all be grateful,’” I said.

“Excuse me?” Sal knit his thick brows together.

“It’s something Dex’s dad says a lot. About selling the farm. I wonder if those aren’t his words.”