control for the Vida matriarch. He couldn’t have said what it was about her expression that made him certain she was watching him with frustration.
He just knew she was. He had always been able to sense her moods, ever since she had taken him in. He had always been able to recognize the times when she’d looked at him and seen his mother, or his sister, and wondered why he alone had survived and when the fatal flaw that had ended each of their lives would manifest in him.
He had hoped she would be sleeping, as she had said to Adia, but perhaps like the rest of them she was too restless. She must have stayed up to see what they would discover at SingleEarth.
“What’s this?” Dominique asked as they approached.
“Kaleo’s favorite bloodbond, I believe,” Zachary answered. His voice was too loud, but he held himself from flinching or whispering. “Heather. We found Nissa, but then this one attacked us, and the vampire got away.” Dominique’s expression shifted; there was just the barest tightening between her brows. Zachary added, “She should be able to tell us a good deal. Kaleo is a major player in Nikolas’s and Kristopher’s circuit, and she will also probably be easier to persuade than a full-blooded vampire would be.”
Reluctantly, Dominique nodded, as if his defensive babbling had in any way been new information to her.
“Bring her in. We should bind her before she wakes.”
Fortunately, Dominique turned around too early to see him stumble on the steps. Adia caught his arm, steadying him.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
He nodded, regretting the sharpness of the motion the instant he made it.
“Who else is here?” Adia asked as they followed Dominique to the kitchen. Zachary wondered at the question for a moment until Adia added, “I don’t know all the cars in the driveway.”
Zachary hadn’t even looked. His senses were so dull at that moment he could probably have been run over by a truck without noticing.
“Jay Marinitch arrived a few minutes ago,” Dominique answered. “Robert is also here.”
Jay. Oh, joy
. Zachary had known he would have to work with that hunter once the Rights were called, but he had hopedJay’s flighty tendencies would keep him from showing up so promptly.
And then there was Robert Richards, the human would-be hunter. He lacked any recognizable discipline and had no formal training and was only of interest to Dominique because of his sister’s connection to Nikolas. Christine Richards had been abducted by Nikolas the day before.
Neither Jay nor Robert would be much help in this hunt, and either could prove a hindrance. Robert’s loyalties were downright questionable; Nikolas had apparently told him that Kaleo had tortured his sister and driven her mad, and had claimed he was taking Christine with him for her own good. Robert was just gullible enough to believe it.
“Zachary Vida goes out looking for a vampire, and comes back with a date.”
The clear, almost musical voice belonged to Jay. His wit had never been to Zachary’s taste, and now was no exception. Jay had the sense not to bait Michael, because he knew that the Arun witch would swing a punch at him, but Zachary didn’t have that freedom.
Zachary set Heather down in one of the sturdy armchairs. Dominique had already gone to get rope and duct tape to bind her. Alone, the rope and tape together could not hold a bloodbond with Heather’s strength, but they could be used as a base for magic that could dampen Heather’s natural power and make the bonds more effective.
“Look here,” Adia said, slipping something out of Heather’s pocket as she helped arrange the bloodbond in the chair. “Cellphone!” She flipped open the phone and started hitting buttons. “Nothing in the address book … and it looks like she had the sense to clear incoming and outgoing calls before she attacked us … but there’s one missed call.”
“Anything familiar?” Zachary asked, though he