Jessica’s expression had softened a bit. “Hang onto that state of mind, girl,” she said, tipping her glass toward Dara, “’cause who knows what we might have to do over the next few days?”
The three of them moved to the breakfast table, where an earnest discussion began over what each of them thought they should do next. Lucy brought up something she’d been contemplating for over a day already, ever since the first time Kiefer hadn’t answered his cell phone.
“Why don’t you try talking to Nathan again, Jessica? Tell him Kiefer’s not picking up and we need to know if there’s anyone else he can recommend to help us.”
Jessica shifted in her seat. “I don’t know, Luce. I’d rather not. He basically told me he’d be risking his family members’ lives if he got too involved with us and our problems. If anything happened to his relatives…well, I wouldn’t want that on my conscience, would you?”
“We could try hunting the vampire ourselves,” Dara suggested, and the other two turned to gape at her. Dara shrugged. “What? You mean to tell me neither of you had thought of that yet?”
Jessica smirked. “No, I’d definitely thought of it. I just wouldn’t have expected you to be the one to bring it up first.”
Dara touched her glass, turning it around and around on the table in a nervous gesture. “I won’t pretend the idea doesn’t scare me to death, but…this thing is out there. Hurting people. We can’t just let that go on. Not to mention that if—when—Jason and Aaron wake up, they’ll probably both be bloodsucking freaks. Nathan said the only way he knew to break a vampire’s curse was by killing its maker. Unless Lucy and I want our guys to be monsters forever, what choice do we have but to take out this thing that attacked them?” She paused, biting her lip. “Like I said, I’ll do anything.”
Lucy and Jessica were silent for a moment, contemplating. Finally, Lucy said, “How would we even do it, though? I mean, first we’d have to find it. And then what? We put a stake through its heart? Chop off its head? Set it on fire?” It seemed there were dozens of theories on how to kill a vampire clogging the internet, but they had no way of knowing which ones contained even a kernel of truth.
“Yes, yes, and yes.” Jessica tapped her fingers on the table. “That ought to do it, right? Nothing could survive all that.” She hopped up and went into the living room. She came back with her backpack, settled it on a chair, and unzipped it. “I’d had a gut feeling the conversation might eventually head this way, so I went over to my parents’ house while they weren’t around and raided one of their sheds. I grabbed a few of my dad’s hunting knives. A machete would’ve probably been better, but I couldn’t find one.” She pulled three leather sheathes from the backpack, slipping a shiny blade out of each of them. “We can each carry one of these bad boys,” she said, laying the weapons out on the table. The knives looked enormous and wickedly dangerous to Lucy, but she couldn’t help reaching for one.
“What about your dad’s guns?” she asked, sliding the blade toward herself.
“I figured he’d be more likely to miss one of those,” Jessica said. “And anyway, I doubt a gun would be much help against a vampire. It’s not a werewolf that we could maybe take out with silver bullets. Although I guess we should be glad about that, because where would we even get silver bullets?”
Dara’s face brightened. “This is good, Jessica. Nice thinking.” She selected one of the other knives for herself and turned it over in her hands. She looked intently at Jessica, her eyes swimming with emotion. “Thank you for being here,” she said. “For helping us. I know Lucy and Aaron are your friends, but you don’t know Jason at all, and you and I—”
“Oh, cut it out, Fuentes,” Jessica snapped, cutting her off. “I mean, Donovan. Now’s not the time to be getting sappy on me.” She paused, and her expression mellowed. “And of course I’m helping you. Like you said, this thing is out there, sucking people’s blood and acting like it can just turn whatever hot guys it runs across in our city into monsters.” Offense crimped her forehead and turned her mouth into a stern line. “What are we supposed to do? Just sit back and take it?”
“No,” Dara’s lips twitched like she was trying not to laugh. “No, I guess not.” She turned the knife over in her hands again, watching the light play along the lethal blade. “Alright,” she sighed. “So, now what?”
Jessica answered, “I say we go out and gather some more supplies—whatever else we think we might need. And then we start looking for this thing. Tonight.”
“Where do we look?” Lucy wondered. But then she remembered what Aaron had told her. “Wait. Aaron said this woman who attacked him approached him while he was at the Red Palm. That’s the bar across from that new Vintage Holmwood Hotel.”
Dara’s eyes widened. “Jason’s corporate party was in one of the banquet rooms at the Vintage Holmwood.”
Jessica brought her hands together in a single clap, rubbing her palms together. “Great! Then we have an idea of where this wench likes to hang out. Let’s go find her—and end her.”
Lucy stared at her friend. Jessica’s pretty
