Still, he pressed close until he was the only thing I could see. I had to look up, and it ticked me off. His breath was warm, and I could smell the tang of blood on it. My pulse pounded, and I hated that he knew I was afraid of him still.

“Anyone here but you and me?” he said, his voice as smooth as chocolate milk.

Hand moving in a slow, controlled motion, I reached for the grip of my splat gun. The brick scraped my knuckles, but as my fingers touched the handle, my confidence raced back. “Just you, me, and my splat gun. Touch me, and I’ll drop you.” I smiled right back at him. “What do you suppose I put in my splat balls? Might be kind of hard to explain why someone from the I.S. had to come out here and hose you off with saltwater, huh? I’d say that would be good for a laugh for at least a year.” I watched his eyes shift to hate.

“Back up,” I said clearly. “If I pull it, I use it.”

He backed up. “Walk away from this, Morgan,” he threatened. “This is my run.”

“That explains why the I.S. is spinning its wheels. Maybe you should go back to ticketing parked cars and let a professional take care of it.”

His breath hissed out, and I found strength in his anger. Ivy was right. There was fear in the back of his soul. Fear that someday the undead vampires that fed on him would lose control and kill him. Fear that they wouldn’t bring him back as one of their brothers.

He should be afraid.

“This is an I.S. matter,” he said. “Interfere, and I’ll have you down in lockup.” He smiled, flashing me his human teeth. “If you thought being in Kalamack’s cage was bad, wait until you see mine.”

My confidence cracked. The I.S. knew about that? “Don’t get your falsies in a twist,” I said snidely. “I’m here on a missing person, not your murders.”

“Missing person,” he mocked. “That’s a good story. I’d stick with it. Try to keep your tag alive this time.” He gave me a final glance before he started down the hallway to the sun and the distant sound of the commissary. “You won’t be Tamwood’s pet forever,” he said, not turning around. “Then, I’m coming for you.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I said even as a sliver of my old fear tried to surface. I quashed it as I pulled my hand away from the small of my back. I wasn’t Ivy’s pet, though living with her gave me a heap of protection from Cincinnati’s vamp population. She wasn’t in a position of power, but as the last living member of the Tamwood family, she had a leader-in-waiting status honored by wise vamps both living and dead.