“The reports didn’t say.” I squirm a little. “But cops were going door to door yesterday, telling everyone on my street to be careful—keep your pets inside, don’t open the door to strangers, avoid going out after dark … the usual.”

“‘Avoid going out after dark’?” Hope repeats, her voice thin. “It’s dark now; it gets dark at, like, five-thirty! And nobody came to my neighborhood about this! Why did—”

“Hey, it’s okay—there’s no reason to panic.” Adriana gives Hope’s arm a comforting squeeze … and then leaves her hand there. Very smooth. “It’s a standard response to a spike in vampire-related activity. It happens sometimes, but it usually doesn’t mean anything.”

“Usually?” Hope isn’t terribly comforted, and Adriana shoots me a worried look.

When we were kids, there was an undead uprising in Fulton Heights, where a bunch of vampires came to town toting a mystical artifact called the Shield of Baeserta. According to some dubious prophecy, the shield—coupled with a bit of very dark and gross blood magic—would “free the Night’s Children from the Curse of Belenus.” This was interpreted as a reference to vampires’ fatal vulnerability to daylight, in part because Belenus was apparently some kind of sun god, and in part because literally all vampire prophecies are about reversing their fatal vulnerability to daylight.

Seriously. They have this major hard-on for being able to walk around and kill people in the afternoon, and every ten or twenty years, some previously unheard-of relic is unearthed, promising them a chance. Most are fakes, because con artists will turn up anywhere there’s a way to make money, and the sale of fraudulent antiques and prophecies is a staggeringly lucrative business.

In the end, after the uprising was quelled, art historians were never able to fully authenticate the shield itself. They determined that it was centuries old, but they couldn’t tell if it possessed any real magical capabilities, so whether we were all truly in danger of vampires with tans was anybody’s guess. Unfortunately, fake or not, the ritual associated with the shield demanded the blood of a dozen humans, so the whole episode was messy.

“It’s all pretty normal for this town, trust me.” Adriana offers Hope an encouraging smile. “I know it seems really freaky, but the Vampire Shit meter always goes up when we get closer to spring—it’s got something to do with the Nexus.”

Hope gives an understanding nod. Everybody knows about the Nexus. “My uncle did say its vibrations are heightened around the equinox.”

“Yeah.” Adriana sighs. “It’s great if you practice magic, because it gives your natural abilities a huge boost when you’re casting—which is why my abuela moved here in the first place—but vampires get horny for it, too.”

“Spring fever: catch it!” I make a rah-rah gesture.