“No,” I said firmly. “We don’t.”
“Kate—”
“No.” I drew a breath. “I get that you want me to face reality. But I can’t face that. As far as I’m concerned that willnever be reality. If that’s a problem for you, you can leave right now. I need you on your A-game, Eric. I need you to know we can win. If you don’t know it, how can it happen?”
I could hear the fear and frustration in my voice, but I didn’t care. Iwasfrustrated. And Iwasscared. But I was determined, too. We would win this. Failing—losing Allie—was not something I would let into my head.
“We’ll win,” he said. “We’ll win even if I have to sacrifice myself to do it.”
I closed my eyes. I wanted to tell him that would never be a possibility. I wanted to tell him that he couldn’t do that.
But the truth was, of course he could. For Allie or for me, I knew I couldn’t stop him. He would sacrifice himself if that’s what it took. I might not want to lose him, but he wouldn’t care. He would do whatever it took to protect Allie. To protect me. Even to save the world.
And that was just one of the reasons that I still loved him … and always would.
“You won’t have to,” I whispered as I took his hand, knowing he understood.
For a moment, he said nothing. Then he nodded toward the cemetery. “They’re good.”
“They are. I’m especially impressed with how well Mindy’s doing.”
“Not that Allie’s noticing. Her eyes are on that boy.” I hear both humor and worry in his voice
I sighed. “She’s fifteen. I expect there to be crushes. But I’d really prefer the crush wasn’t a vampire.”
“Yeah, that’s what all the moms say,” he said, making me laugh.
I was about to say something else, when I saw a burst of something fast and white leap from behind a tall grave marker. It tackled Mindy, and I saw a flash of metal as the creature—I assumed it was a demon in some sort of white jogging suit—started to drive the knife home.
In an instant, Jared flew forward with such speed I almost wondered if he really had flown. He knocked the demon aside, and the two went tumbling as Allie rushed forward to grab Mindy by the arms and help her to her feet.
A second later, Jared had stabbed the demon’s own knife into its eye. I saw the familiar shimmer as the demonic essence left the body, leaving the corpse behind, and empty shell.
I realized my hand was numb because Eric was squeezing it so tight.
Jared went over to where Mindy and Allie stood and spoke to Mindy. I couldn’t hear, but she nodded, looking more than a little shaken even from this distance.
Allie threw herself at him and hugged him, and he hugged her back, a reaction that made me tense, but under the circumstances made perfect sense.
A moment later, they all three looked our direction, apparently only now realizing we’d been watching.
“Hey, Daddy! Did you see our knife work?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she winced. “Um, I mean Uncle David. Sorry.”
Eric rubbed his temples. “I guess Jared knows the truth now,” he muttered to me.
“He knew your name, remember? He knows a lot. I want to know why.”
“Can we go patrolling?” Mindy called. “We’ll be safe. You saw. Jared will make sure of it.”
I looked at Eric. “What do you think?”
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “I think it’s okay.”
“Really? Are you sure? I’m going back-and-forth.”
He glanced back to the cemetery before returning his gaze to me. “Does Mindy know? About Allie, I mean?”
I shook my head. “I told Laura, but we both think that it’s Allie’s decision as to whether or not Mindy knows. As far as I know, she hasn’t told her yet.”
