His eyes rolled, rabid with fear and denial. "No. You won't kill me. I'm worth too much."
"You're worth nothing. Only your death is worth something to me."
"No! You won't do it, Elena. I know you won't. You want to scare me, but you'd never-"
"Never?"
"You don't have it in you."
"Option one, two, or three. Pick now."
"You're torturing me. That's all. You only want to see me squirm. You don't have it-"
I grabbed him by the throat and hauled him off his feet. Then I pressed my face against his.
"Don't tell me what I don't have in me."
I growled. Saw the terror in his eyes and drank it in. Then I let him go. Clay ripped out his throat before his body hit the ground.
CLEANUP
After killing Winsloe, Clay Changed, and we returned to our clothing. No time for lingering. There was still work to be done at the compound. Every bit of evidence had to be found and destroyed. Then we had to remove all traces of our presence. Eventually someone would find the compound and the bodies within. To decrease the likelihood of a large-scale police investigation, Paige had hacked into the computer system early this morning and transferred the property deed to a Colombian drug cartel. Don't ask me how she even knew the name of a South American dope lord. Some questions are better left unanswered. As for Winsloe, we'd disposed of his body in a way that ensured he'd never be found. How? Well, that's another one of those questions. The point was that no one would ever find Winsloe or link him to the compound, which would avoid the media blitz that would surround his death.
"Did Savannah look okay to you?" I asked as we finished dressing. "She hit that wall pretty hard."
"She seemed fine. Jeremy will look after her."
"Do you think Paige will be able to handle her?"
"If Paige could handle that sorcerer, she can handle a twelve-year-old kid. She'll be fine, darling. They both will."
"I hope so."
Clay pushed aside a branch for me. "Watching you with Savannah, I was thinking-"
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"Good. Don't."
"I was just thinking-"
"No kids."
He laughed and put his arm around me. "That sounds definite."
"It is. Me as a mother?" I shuddered. "I can only imagine one thing worse. You as a father."
"Thanks a hell of a lot. I'd make a… fairly good father. And if not, there's Jeremy. He's a great parent. He'd compensate for my shortcomings."
"Great idea. We have the kids and dump the responsibility on him. He'd love that."
"He wouldn't mind."
I groaned. "No kids."
Clay walked a few more feet, then grinned. "Hey, you know what else? If we had children, you couldn't leave. You'd be stuck with me. Now there's a thought."
"You-that's-oh!"
I threw up my hands and stomped off. Clay's laugh echoed through the forest. He jogged up, swung me off the ground, and tickled me.
"I'm hiding my birth control pills," I said, gasping for breath.
"We'll discuss it later."
"Nev-"
He cut me off with a kiss. A few minutes later, there came a rustling in the bushes.
"They're kissing." A young voice. Savannah.
I twisted to see Jeremy yank Savannah back. Then he peered through the bushes.
"Oh, you're dressed," he said, and released Savannah.
I wriggled out of Clay's grasp. "Of course we're dressed. Since when have we ever stopped in the middle of a dangerous situation to have"-I glanced at Savannah-"a rest."
Jeremy rolled his eyes.
"Did you kill Winsloe?" Savannah asked.
"Kill-" I choked. "Um, no, we-uh-"
"He's been taken care of," Jeremy said. "Now I think we should get you back to Paige before-"
"There you are!" Paige said, bursting through the bushes, face glistening with sweat. "I told you to stay close."
"I did stay close," Savannah said. "You didn't say who I had to stay close to."
"I was out here trying to pick up Leah's trail," Jeremy explained to us. "There's no trace of her. Perhaps you two can do a better job.""I'll go with Elena," Savannah said. "If we find Leah, I can use my binding spell again."
Paige and I both opened our mouths to protest, but Jeremy beat us to it.
"Why don't we go find Adam?" he said. "Perhaps we can help him."
Savannah's eyes sparked at the mention of Adam, but she only shrugged and allowed that she supposed that would be an acceptable alternative. When Jeremy headed toward the compound, Savannah trailed behind him.
Paige sighed. "I may have finally met a challenge I'm not ready for. Thank God I have my Coven sisters. They'll probably die of shock when I actually admit I need help."
"Do you want to come with us and look for Leah?" I asked. "Take a break?"
"No, you two go on. Be careful."
I grinned. "Now, what would be the fun in that?"
Paige laughed and jogged after Jeremy and Savannah.
***
When we left the compound at dawn there was no evidence to suggest anything out of the ordinary had happened there. Okay, a building filled with dead bodies isn't exactly commonplace, but there was no evidence of anything supernatural. Before leaving, Adam started a series of small fires, not enough to be seen by passing planes, but enough to fill the building with thick smoke, further damaging anything that remained.
Oh, and Leah? We never did find her. I spent two hours scouring the grounds outside the compound. If she'd left, I should have found a trail. Since I didn't, we had to assume she'd holed up somewhere in the compound, where she would have eventually been overcome by smoke. And if she did manage to escape? Well, let's just say none of us planned to visit her home state of Wisconsin anytime soon.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my agent, Helen Heller, my miracle worker. To Sarah Manges at Penguin Putnam, for always going the extra mile. To Anne Collins at Random House Canada, for all her wonderful advice. To Antonia Hodgson at Little, Brown and Co, UK, for her early and ongoing support. To Bev Irwin for her professional advice on the medical segments. Finally, to my family, for usually letting me retreat undisturbed to my writing dungeon and for forgiving the snarling that erupts when they trespass.
***
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