“The restraints are made of silver,” Andrei remarked. “It renders them powerless.”
The vampires paid him no attention. As one, they stared, unblinking, at Tessa. One of the males hissed at her and she took an involuntary step backward. They all appeared to be in their early twenties or thirties. Just looking at them, so close, was frightening. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that, if it were possible, they would attack her without mercy. And yet she couldn’t help feeling sorry for them. They had been turned in the prime of life, all hope of a normal future—of home and family—forever lost.
“Are you ready, Tess?” Andrei asked, pulling a syringe from his coat pocket.
“Not really.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
She lifted her head defiantly. “Yes, I do.” If this would stop these creatures from hunting her, it would be worth it. She removed her jacket, tried to roll up her shirtsleeve, but her hand was shaking so badly, she couldn’t manage it.
Andrei did it for her. “Look at me,” he said.
She felt his power move over her, a pleasant tingle; a moment later, the needle was filled with her blood. She hadn’t felt a thing.
Andrei filled three shot glasses—pulled from another coat pocket—and offered them to two of the men and one of the women. “Drink.”
They didn’t hesitate.
The two who hadn’t been given anything watched with blatant envy as the other three drained the glasses and licked the drops that were left.
“Why didn’t you give it to all of them?” Tessa asked.
“We need witnesses.”
“Oh, right. You mentioned that before. What if nothing . . . ?”
“Happens? I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Andrei said as all three of the vampires went limp, held upright only by their restraints.
The other two vampires stared at them in horror.
“What happened?” the male demanded, face dark with anger. “You poisoned her blood, didn’t you?”
Andrei shook his head. “You saw me draw it from the woman. I didn’t alter it in any way. If you don’t believe me, I’ll let you drink from her directly.”
Tessa stared at Andrei. Was he serious?
The vampire shook his head. “No way, man.”
“What are you going to do with us?” the female asked.
“I’m going to let you go,” Andrei said. “And you’re going to spread the word that this woman’s blood is deadly to all but the ancients. And I want you to tell the vampires here in town to leave. Tonight. If I find any of them here tomorrow, I’ll destroy them. That includes the two of you.” He glanced from one to the other. “Understood?”
Eyes wide and scared, they nodded.
“Tessa, go back to the house and lock the door. I’ll join you in a moment.”
She tried to walk away slowly, with dignity, but her feet wouldn’t cooperate. She ran the whole way. And slammed the door behind her.
In the living room, she paced the floor while she tried to process what had just happened. She had killed three people. Instead of enhancing the fledglings’ power, as she’d expected, her blood had killed them. She had killed them.
“Tessa?”
She whirled around to face him. “How could you?” she exclaimed. “How could you do that? You killed them. I killed them.”
“We didn’t know it would happen,” he said quietly. “There was no other way to find out. On the bright side, Cutter’s Corner should be vampire-free by tomorrow night.”
“Except for you,” Tessa said. “And Katerina.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
She met his gaze. And then shook her head. Heaven help her, whatever he was, whatever he’d done, she didn’t want to live without him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Over the course of the next two days, Tessa scoured every page of the Cutter’s Corner Gazette, and every newspaper from the surrounding towns. To her relief, there were no reports of mysterious deaths. No missing persons. No bodies drained of blood.
Luke and Andrei had gone through the town street by street, checking all the known vampire hangouts and possible lairs.
“No sign of vamps, living or dead. It’s time to celebrate!” Luke had declared when they returned. And then he frowned. “Hey, I’m out of a job! At least in this town.”
Andrei had brought the most welcome news of all. There was no trace of Katerina.
As guilty as Tessa felt for causing the destruction of three vampires, she also experienced a profound surge of relief that Andrei’s experiment appeared to have been a success.
Thrusting worries about vampires from their minds, Tessa and Jilly got together Wednesday evening to plan Thanksgiving dinner. They had the kitchen all to themselves since Luke had decided to go out and wander through the town, just to make sure there were no new vampires skulking about. Andrei had gone hunting. Bailey was in her bedroom, reading a book.