“It depends on how greedy he gets.” Temple turned the page. “Did you ever do that thing where a mosquito bites you and you pull your skin tight so it can’t get loose?”
“Yeah. The mosquito can’t stop taking in blood, and eventually it explodes.” Ronnie’s eyes narrowed. “Oh...”
“Alex won’t stop,” I said. “He’ll want more. Annette hurt him.”
“Not as much as he hurt me.” Annette rubbed her neck and shoulder.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “In his eyes, he failed. He’ll be angry and humiliated. He’ll do whatever he can to make himself strong enough to win next time.”
Alex had always been sensitive. When Dawn Genzer turned him down for prom, he’d punched a dent into his locker, then proclaimed he was going to hand himself over to the nearest vampire nest to be, in his words, “their blood bitch.”
“His big sacrifice,” said Ronnie. “He’s going to feed one of you to Ringo.”
“Only, Annette showed him that he can’t beat us yet.” I paced the kitchen. “And we found the spells on Morgan’s shelf cards he was using to weaken the house’s protections, so he’ll have a harder time getting to us. He’ll need a backup sacrifice.”
“You think he’ll kill the kids?” asked Ronnie.
If drops of blood were enough for Alex to go head-to-head with Annette and survive, murdering children would certainly level him up. I shook my head. “I can’t believe he’d do that. I don’t care how angry and corrupted he’s become.”
“You think he’s like Darth Vader,” said Ronnie. “Fallen, but there’s still good in him? And you want to be Luke and save him?”
“If I can,” I said quietly. I owed him that much.
“Didn’t Darth Vader kill a whole mess of kids?” asked Annette.
“The whiny little titsuckers deserved it, if you ask me,” said Hob. “The whole Jedi order was a corrupt clusterfuck.”
I reached across the table and grabbed a yellow flyer for the Gauntlet. Alex had scrawled two words at the top:Salem’s Saverio’s?
“What in hell’s septic tank is that supposed to mean?” asked Hob.
I felt sick to my stomach. “Saverio’s was a bar in Oakland that catered to the supernatural. The owner, Willy Saverio, was human. The Slay Team raided the place three times.”
Hob snickered. “The Slay Team?”
“We were kids,” I snapped. “Temple, how much of R’gngyk’s power could Alex tap in to if he sacrificed an entire bar’s worth of magical creatures?”
“Depends on who’s there at this time of day, but it wouldn’t be good.”
Annette grabbed her phone. “I’ll call Duke and give him a heads-up.”
Ronnie stood up and slapped his hands on the table. “Let’s go kick Alex’s ass.”
“You’re not coming,” I said.
“What are you talking about?” He looked at me like a kid who’d just been told Santa wasn’t real. “This is why I’m here! I’m the one who had the prophetic dreams. This is the whole purpose of being a Kensington.”
“Your purpose is to protect people,” I said firmly. “We have two sick children who can’t be left alone. I need you here with them.”
“Can’t the hearth devil do it?” He looked at Hob and sighed. “Yeah, all right.”
He was making progress. A few days ago, he’d have fought to go after Alex with us. “Thank you, Ronnie.”
“Be careful,” he said. “The stuff I saw in my dreams...I know you were friends with this guy, but you need to end this.”
“We will,” I promised.
Hob hopped from his chair and headed for the door. He stopped to peek into the gifts area. “Hey, how much do these little skull pins cost?”
