“Uh, if I could butt in here,” I butted in there, “your boy kidnapped me after committing five serious felonies, so I’m not sure I can get more freaked.”

I didn’t know if it was a felony to kill a wolf with your bare hands, but if I were a lawmaker, it would be.

After I said this, something changed in the woman’s face that made me brace, and considering I was already alert and ready for attack, this meant every muscle in my body strung tight.

“Qīn ài de,” she said quietly. “Perhaps you should sit down.”

“I don’t want to sit down,” I returned. “I want to leave.”

“That cannot happen and I think you know why,” she replied gently.

“All I know is,” I retorted, “I’m in a basement room that does look like a safe house for terrorists. I’m here not of my own accord. I’m covered in blood. And I watched one guy murder three men and two wolves not an hour ago. I should be at a police station. I shouldn’t be talking to two Chinese folks who seem nice, but who are somehow connected with that man, and that man scares the absolute pants off me.”

“Abel would never hurt you,” the woman stated.

“Maybe not,” I replied, “but he has no problem hurting other people…like a lot. Like until they’re dead.”

“Those other people were vampires,” she announced and I stared, feeling my mouth drop open. “And, of course, werewolves.”

Slowly I closed my mouth and whispered, still staring at her, “Brilliant. Awesome. Fucking fabulous. You’re crazier than he is.”

“I know it’s hard to believe, but she’s telling the truth,” Chen put in.

“Great, and you’re crazy too,” I muttered, turning my stare to him.

He grinned again, shook his head, and declared, “Abel will just have to transform in front of you.”

Transform?

“What?” I asked.

“He’s a werewolf too,” Chen told me.

I blinked.

“And a vampire,” Chen finished.

I said nothing.

They didn’t either, both watching me, assessing my reaction.

Eventually, I gave it to them.

“You’re both totally insane.”

“We’re not, we’re—” the woman started but stopped when it happened to me.

She didn’t miss it, but then again, it would’ve been impossible to miss. As the pain sliced through my innards, I sucked my cheeks in, lurched back, bent double, and dropped the knife so I could wrap my arms around my stomach in a futile effort to contain the pain.

“What is it?” Jian-Li asked the same time Chen asked, “Hey, you okay?”

My mouth filled with saliva and the pain twisted, taking me down to a knee.

Chen was close in a flash, kneeling next to me, hand to my back. “Hey, hey, hey,” he crooned. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”