The only sign of his surprise was his widening eyes as his body collapsed beneath him in a single moment. Paralysis was a beautiful thing—you could survive it, and it made you completely vulnerable. Vampires had superb healing, though, so Nita didn’t take the knife out as he collapsed. She left it in to prevent his body from naturally healing the damage.

He grunted when he hit the ground, and Nita drove the knife in deeper.

He glared up at her, his eyes so pale they seemed almost white. “Who are you?”

Nita smiled at him, reached down, and shoved a gag in his mouth. “We’ll talk soon.”

The elevator dinged on the sixth floor, and Kovit was waiting with the plastic tarp. They rolled Zebra-stripes onto the tarp quickly, seconds ticking by, eyes wide, hoping no one turned onto the corner and saw them.

Blood dripped off the plastic tarp from the wound, not a lot, but some. Kovit had some cleaning supplies, and he darted into the elevator while Nita dragged the body across the hall to the room she’d rented under one of her mother’s aliases.

Kovit held the elevator doors open and looked at the stains with concern. “Really, Nita?”

“I did my best.”

He gave her a look. “You’ll be okay while I deal with this?”

She nodded, edging the door open and tugging the body into the room.

Inside, the room looked like a serial killer’s playhouse. She and Kovit had draped everything in plastic and taped it there so that all the evidence could be bundled away and destroyed afterward. She dragged Zebra-stripes across the room and hauled him onto the bed with her enhanced strength. He grunted but couldn’t say anything through the gag.

She used industrial-strength chains to bind him to the bed by his hands and feet, even though he was paralyzed. Then, as an extra precaution, she shoved a needle in his jugular. The needle was connected to a long plastic tube that led into a massive cooler.

Vampires could self-heal, but it took a lot of energy. Eventually, his body might find a way to heal around the knife in his back. She didn’t want that. So she drained his blood out, knowing his body would divert energy to replenishing his blood to keep him alive and delaying his healing time and reducing his physical abilities if he did escape.

He glared at her, and she let out a breath. It was done. She had caught him.

The monster who had murdered her father. Who had somehow managed to con the DUL and escape justice for it.

It was time for answers.

She stared down at the pale vampire, his deceptively youthful face twisted in anger. But she could see the fear that lurked underneath the anger, because Nita had made a vampire’s worst nightmare out of this room.