Page 117 of You’re So Vein

“But it’s late and I neeeeed my blood chocolate, and you make it so much better than me.”

I wrap my hands around the attacker’s leg, but they kick out, slamming their shoe into my face. Surprised, I let go. They yank the machine free and take off into the woods, leaving only a trail of cloying scent behind them. I’m torn between whether to chase them or not. But I have to make sure Hannah’s okay.

I race back to the house, slamming through the front door. Hannah’s on the couch, wrapped in blankets, reading a textbook about marketing for retail stores.

“Augie, what’s wrong?” Her eyes widen as she takes in my dishevelled state.

I throw my arms around her. “Nothing, now that I know you’re safe.”

“You’re squeezing me hard.”

“I know.” I don’t stop. “Do you want to see me do some magic?”

“Yes!”

I move through the room, quickly gathering the things I need. I place a large, deep bowl on the table and fill it with water. From my pocket, I pull a flower – an identical bloom to the one Komal still wears tucked behind her ear. I drop the flower into the water and mutter the words I still remember too well.

For a few moments, nothing happens. Then the surface ripples, becoming like the petals of a flower. I search the petals, my eyes darting frantically. It’s like being inside a spider, looking out at the world through a thousand tiny eyes, and finding the one with exactly the right vision—

There she is.

I lean in closer, twisting and caressing the leaves to enlarge the vision. Komal has emerged from the path and is crossing the village green, heading to her parents’ house. The shadow is nowhere in sight. I can’t sense its presence nor smell that distinctive sickly scent. I watch, hopping to the view from a small patch of flowers at the end of her driveway, and then to a potted begonia beside her door, until I see Komal enter her home. Only then do I let out a breath. She’s safe.

“Are you okay here for a few minutes?” I ask Hannah. “I need to go look at something.”

“If something bad is out there, we should go together.”

“Why do you think something bad is out there?”

“Because you’re suddenly worried Komal didn’t get home, and you’ve got a big scratch down your cheek. I’m going with you. You need my protection.”

I can move faster by myself, but one look into Hannah’s wide eyes and I can’t leave her alone again. “Okay, but stay close to me. And bring along a blade.”

Hannah tucks a tiny dagger into the waist of her pyjamas. I sling a scabbard over my back, but keep the sword in my hand. My sword isn’t as beautiful as the blades Alaric makes, but it serves its purpose.

We walk along our woodland path. I sweep my gaze around us, searching the forest for any sign of the shadow.

“What’s this?” Hannah holds something out to me. “I found it under that tree.”

It’s a broken glass vial. I sniff. That’s the sugary scent I was smelling. I turn over the vial to look at the label. “Enlightenment Elixir” by Zen and Tonic. That’s Beth Duncan’s health store.

Clever. The killer knows I’m a vampire and would be able to recognise them by smell. They doused themselves in this sickly tincture to disguise their own scent.

With my hand firmly grasped on the hilt of my sword, we follow the scent trail, but it’s rapidly fading. A vampire’s sense of smell isn’t as good as a werewolf’s.

We draw closer to the village before I lose the scent at the stream. Hannah and I traipse back to the cottage, where she sets up a board game and demands to know what we were searching for.

“Just a shadow,” I say. “It’s nothing. I was scaring myself.”

But it’s not nothing. That machine was a di Sangro Siphon. Which means my attacker is the husker, and I’m their next victim. Somehow, all of this is connected.

Hannah and Komal are in even more danger than I thought.

And although it makes me as cold as the grave, I know what I must do.

44The Killer

SHE’S DHAMPIR.