Her sister scoffed. “That’s the grandfather? He’s younger than Braxton.”
Isaac rolled his eyes. “He’s not your real grandfather.”
“I know that.” Maggie grinned. “If we were all related to each other, you and I would go to hell.” She pinched his butt. “Brother!”
He grabbed her and kissed her head.
Lexi glanced at the unhealing scar on his arm. The deep crevice was filled with a white swirling pool of magical energy. Being able to see the scar was one thing her slight legacy ability was capable of. If she’d been fully human, it would look like a thin, healed scar, barely noticeable. She wondered if she would ever be blood matched like Isaac and Maggie. It was a joining so intimate as to allow the sharing of the mage’s magic, along with some level of psychic connection. She couldn’t imagine a mage wanting to waste their magic on her but still, she wished their family had another brother or sister. Three was such an odd number.
“Zac!” Braxton called from the house. They looked up to see him signaling Isaac to join him.
The young man hurried to put his case in the trunk.
“Bring that.” Braxton turned and went in as the young grandfather came out and returned to his waiting car.
In silence, she watched the car drive away. She felt disquieted and moved her fingers, as she always did in such moments, to her gold ring and twisted it around her finger.
When she turned to the two men in the doorway, they seemed to be arguing, then Isaac stormed into the building. “What do you think that’s about?”
Maggie shrugged but she looked troubled. She would have felt Isaac’s mood through their empathetic link.
The older man walked to the car. “Get in. We have another job.”
“Isn’t Zac coming?” Maggie sounded nervous as they climbed into the car.
Braxton started the engine. “He’ll be along in a moment.” He revved the engine loudly but it didn’t obscure the scream from the building. Her gaze darted to meet his in the rearview mirror.
Seconds passed. The passenger door opened and Isaac climbed in and slammed it behind him.
Lexi wanted to ask him what had happened but Braxton began to speak. “A couple of kids have been taken by a vampire in Dallas. Several units have been called in from across the state. You know what the rules are. If you meet another unit, no communication unrelated to the current case is allowed. That way, we all stay safe.”
She almost guffawed. The man had a strange idea of the word safe.
“All I’m saying is that the propellers seem to be an important part of the plane. Why do they leave them unprotected on the outside like that?” Lexi looked out of the tiny window on the private airplane.
“Lexi, leave your sister alone.” Braxton’s voice came from the seat behind them.
“Can you please stop talking about it? Planes have been flying fine with propellers for years. Leave them alone and don’t jinx them.” Maggie kept her eyes on her book.
Lexi felt bad. She knew the other girl was afraid of flying but didn’t seem able to stop herself. “But what if something hit a propeller and knocked it off?”
Her Kindred sister dropped the book in her lap and turned to her. “What’ll hit it up here?”
“A block of frozen shit from the space station.”
With an exaggerated sigh, she picked her book up and fixed an exasperated glance on her. “Sleep.”
Isaac shook her. “We’re here and you’ve drooled on yourself.”
Lexi opened her eyes, straightened, and wiped her face. The seat beside her was empty.
She followed the others from the plane and approached Maggie. “I can’t believe you did that.”
The girl frowned. “I shouldn’t have needed to. You’re a grown woman, for God’s sake.”
“I was kidding.” She folded her arms. “You spelled me. That’s assault, and you made me miss most of my first flight on a plane.”
Braxton joined them. “Right, the car’s ready. Put your work heads on. Don’t embarrass me.”
Four hours later, they arrived at their fifth possible sighting at an abandoned pool hall in Dallas.
Lexi passed the datasheet to Maggie as she’d already memorized the details. They were looking for a vampire in his early twenties with long black hair and who went by the name Dimitri.
The other girl climbed out of the car and leaned against the door. Her eyes closed and she held a hand out, muttered softly, and turned to face the vehicle. “No one is alive in there.”
“Isaac, you’re up. I’ll knock on the front and you check the back. This is a known vamp nest, so be careful.”
“What will you go in as?” Lexi asked.
He thought for a moment. “Bible Joe. Pass the bag.”
Lexi passed the bagful of Bibles to him and leaned back with her gaze fixed on the building as Isaac headed around it and Braxton knocked on the door with a Bible in his hand. He stood there for a couple of minutes. Finally, the door was opened by Isaac, who stepped out and they returned to the car.
Braxton opened the back door and passed the bag to Maggie, while the young man climbed into the front. Braxton took his cell phone out and dialed as he climbed in. “The pool hall was empty. We’re heading to the next one on our list.” He listened for a moment. “He what? Okay, thanks. We’ll head back.”
He pulled the device away from his ear and disconnected it. “One of the kids has been found.”
“Is he okay?” Isaac asked.
A curt shake of his head was his only response.
Maggie leaned forward and rested her hand on the top of his seat. “He wasn’t turned, was he? I couldn’t bear to have to finish a vamp kid.”
He shook his head and patted her hand. “No, he wasn’t turned. Only drained.”
Lexi leaned forward between the seats from
