Moving slowly, I edged backward out of the room. Ivy glanced up, and I froze. The anger drained from her face, replaced with what looked like alarm when she saw my fear.

Slowly, I blinked. My throat closed and I turned my back on her, going into the hallway.

“Rachel, wait,” she called after me, her voice cajoling. “I’m sorry about Kist. I didn’t invite him. He just showed up.”

I strode into the hall, tensed to explode if she put a hand on me. Was this why Ivy had quit with me? She couldn’t legally hunt me, but as Kist had said, the courts wouldn’t care.

“Rachel …”

She was right behind me, and I spun. My stomach tightened. Ivy took three steps back. They were so quick it was hard to tell she had moved. Her hands were raised in placation. Her brow was pinched in worry. My pulse hammered, giving me a headache. “What do you want?” I asked, half hoping she would lie and tell me it was a mistake. From outside came the noise of Kist’s bike. I stared at her as the sound of his departure faded.

“Nothing,” she said, her brown eyes earnestly fixed to mine. “Don’t listen to Kist. He’s just jerking you around. He flirts with what he can’t have.”

“That’s right!” I shouted so I wouldn’t start shaking. “I’m yours. That’s what you said, that I’m yours! I’m not anyone’s, Ivy! Stay the hell away from me!”

Her lips parted in surprise. “You heard that?”

“Of course I heard that!” I yelled. Anger overpowered my fear, and I took a step forward. “Is that what you’re really like?” I shouted, pointing to the unseen living room. “Like that—that animal? Is it? Are you hunting me, Ivy? Is this all about filling your gut with my blood? Does it taste better when you betray them? Does it?”

“No!” she exclaimed in distress. “Rachel, I—”

“You lied to me!” I shouted. “He bespelled me. You said a living vamp couldn’t do that unless I wanted him to. And I sure as hell didn’t!”

She said nothing, her tall shadow framed by the hallway. I could hear her breath and smell the sweet-sour tang of wet ash and redwood: our scents dangerously mingling. Her stance was tense, her very stillness sending a shock through me. Mouth dry, I backed up as I realized I was screaming at a vampire. The adrenaline spent itself. I felt nauseous and cold. “You lied to me,” I whispered, retreating into the kitchen. She had lied to me. Dad was right. Don’t trust anyone. I was getting my things and leaving.

Ivy’s steps were overly loud behind me. It was obvious she was making an effort to hit the floor hard enough to make a sound. I was too angry to care.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I opened a cupboard and pulled a handful of charms off a hook, to put them in my bag.