“The dad I grew up with left at fifteen when my mom was killed. He never really came back from that kitchen after he went in. I escaped as soon as I could. Southern California was as far away as I could handle.”

“And you’d never consider going back?”ackescaped a

“To Oakland?” She shook her head, remembering the streets of her hometown like she’d been there yesterday. “No, I don’t want to. I don’t want to live with ghosts. Dad moved back, eventually. But I couldn’t.”

“What about somewhere else? Somewhere north?”

She paused, trying to measure his intent. “What are you saying?”

“I promised to keep you safe, Natalie.”

“So I’m just supposed to follow you?” Her heart rate began to pick up again. Was it fear? Excitement? A combination of both? “I’m just supposed to leave my whole life here and follow—”

“Who said you would follow me?” he offered casually. His voice was drowsy as dawn approached. “I could follow you. There’s a possibility that a move to Northern California or the Pacific Northwest would be an option for me. Even welcome.”

“But—”

“I’m just asking you to think about it.”

Think about it. She could do that. Sure, she’d only known him for a few weeks, so why didn’t that seem insane?

“I’ll think about it.” She settled down at his side as he squeezed her shoulders, her eyes already feeling heavy. “But if I can’t—”

“Natalie, when I offered my loyalty, it was not with conditions. Now sleep.”

“But—”

“Sleep.”

The events of the night started to ambush her, and she felt her eyes droop. “Bossy.”

“You love it.”

Natalie sighed and closed her eyes. “Yeah, George. I think I might.”

The girl was named Rosa and she was frightened, looking to Cirilda for reassurance as Baojia and Natalie questioned her. Baojia’s Spanish was better than hers, but with over a hundred years to practice, she’d be kind of annoyed if it wasn’t.

“Where did you come from?” he asked.

“It’s a small town near Ensenada,” Rosa said. “No one has ever heard of it.”

Natalie saw his nose twitch and knew he was scenting the girl’s blood, even though he’d taken hers at nightfall.

“Do you remember what happened?”

She shook her head, then frowned. “Maybe a little? I remember walking at night to my grandmother’s house. I was taking her and my mother food because my grandmother has been sick. So I cooked dinner for my brothers and then took some food to my mother and grandmother.”

“But you didn’t get there?”

“I woke up in a room. I could hear very loud music, like the radio, but much louder. And it was coming from above me.”

“The club in Ensenada,” Natalie murmured in English. “There had to have been a basement of some kind where they kept the girls.”

Baojia nodded, then turned back to the girl. “Did they feed you, Rosa?”

“Yes. They didn’t beat me or hurt me. I was fed twice a day, along with the others.”

Natalie and Baojia exchanged a look. “How many others?”

“Six. They were all in the truck with me when we went out to the desert last night. Along with some others.” Tears filled her eyes. “What happened to them? It sounded like there were animals. Are they dead?” The girl began to sniff.

“Yes, they are probably dead,” Baojia replied as Natalie slapped his arm. “What? arre w” He switched to English. “They are. I’m not going to lie to her.”

“She’s crying!”

“I will not give her some kind of false hope.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “And if she’s taken Elixir, then she is probably dying, too. Just more slowly.”

Natalie wanted to throw up. This girl, this innocent girl walking to her grandmother’s house, had been taken, held captive and fed poison. Solely to make her blood more intoxicating to the vampires who wanted to hunt her. These monsters had to be stopped. And they had to find some kind of help for her.

Baojia continued while Cirilda comforted Rosa. “So, they took you and held you somewhere with loud music. Did you see anyone else? Anyone besides the other girls?”

“Well, there was one man who came in at night, but he never spoke. And…” Her forehead furrowed in concentration. “I don’t remember him clearly, but I think he came in every night. I can’t remember him now. How strange.”

A vampire. Was it Ivan? Carlos? One of the other, nameless monsters that Ivan employed? It didn’t even matter. They weren’t getting her back, that was for sure.

“Then I remember waking up in the truck heading out to the desert. It was like a delivery truck. And it dropped us off. Some of the girls were crying, trying to ask the driver to take them back, but I could tell he wouldn’t, so I didn’t bother. Then you found me.” She smiled at Natalie.

“We’re going to make sure you’re safe, Rosa,” Natalie said. “We’ll get you back to your family.”

Baojia’s hand darted out to Rosa’s and the girl’s eyes swirled, then winked shut before he turned to Natalie. “What are you saying? Don’t say that.”

She frowned. “We’re going to get rid of these guys and then send her back, right? I mean, she’s innocent. She doesn’t even know anything about vampires.”