“Well, that explains it,” I realize. “When I called Teifert to find out what the hell was going on, he told me he knew nothing about her being on the case.”
Jareth frowns. “That means Pyrus must already be suspicious of your true intentions, meaning you could be in danger.”
I glare at Bertha’s photo. “Well, Slayer Inc. isn’t even close to being ready to make a charge against Pyrus. I mean, they’re working on it, but they’re going to need more time.” I look up at Jareth worriedly. “What if Bertha is able to track them down beforehand? What if she really goes and slays my sister?”
Jareth shakes his head. “I don’t know, Rayne. I just don’t know.” He pulls me into a hug but I find I can’t relax in his arms this time. I try to close my eyes, but all I can see are visions of Sunny’s pale, frightened face. Of Bertha, chasing her with a stake.
The door bursts open and we reluctantly break apart. I turn around to see Marcia standing smugly in the doorway.
“So sorry to interrupt,” she says in a voice that tells me she’s totally not. “I just wanted to deliver the dry cleaning.”
I sink back down onto the couch as Jareth takes the bags from her and starts hanging them in his closet. She looks at me, a patronizing smile on her face. “Oh, Raynie,” she coos. “Trouble in slayerland?”
I halfheartedly flick her off, but my mind stays on Sunny. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t gotten involved with vampires last spring, none of this would be happening. We’d be living normal, everyday lives. Sunny could be starring in the latest school play, my friend Spider and I could have reached level eighty on World of Warcraft. The whole point of our parents running away from Fairyland long ago was to give us a chance to live safe, carefree, mortal lives.
But what do I do instead? Oh well, I choose to seek out the most dangerous creatures around and actually sign up to become one of then, putting not only my own life—but also my innocent sister’s at risk. Let’s face it—from that very first night at Club Fang, my decision to become a vampire nearly cost Sunny her mortality. Not exactly the stuff Sister of the Year trophies are made of.
And that was only the beginning. Time after time in the last year, the vampire world has placed her in danger. In Vegas, in England, in Japan. Hell, the only reason Sunny went against the Consortium’s orders to begin with was to save me from the Alphas. If I hadn’t put her in that position—by stupidly getting myself kidnapped—she’d be here with me now. And her biggest fear would be Mom finding out about the C she scored on her math test.
Instead, she’s out there, somewhere, unprotected and vulnerable, with a crazy, deadly vampire slayer with something to prove determined to hunt her down. Ready to actually kill her—if she gets half the chance.
I cannot let that happen.
“We have to warn her,” I say as Jareth escorts Marcia out and closes the door behind her. “Her and Magnus. We have to let them know there’s a vengeful slayer on the loose.”
Jareth turns back to me, biting at his lower lip, looking worried. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he says at last.
“Why not?” I demand. “We can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
“Well, for one thing, we don’t know yet if Bertha’s truly a danger,” he reminds me. “Just because she wants to go after Sunny and Magnus doesn’t mean she knows where to look. And if we make an overt move to find them—and get caught—well, we’ve already talked about the consequences of something like that.”
Right. He loses the Blood Coven forever and I get nano’ed. Not good. But still…
“Can’t we… I don’t know, call them or something?” I ask. “I mean, you’ve got to know where they are, right?”
Jareth sighs. “I do have some idea,” he confesses. “But they’ve gone deep underground. Under the streets of New York, where there is no Internet, no cell service, no connection to the outside world. It would be impossible to reach them unless we traveled there ourselves and gained admittance to the secret world below.”
“Well, we need to be ready to do that,” I reply. “If push comes to shove.”
“I don’t know Rayne. Like I said… if we get caught…”
“Fine. You don’t have to come,” I reply quickly. “But don’t expect me to stay home and sit around, wondering if my sister has been butchered by the winning contestant of Bridalplasty.”
“Of course not,” he mutters. “That just wouldn’t be you.”
I can’t help a small grin at that. “You know me very well.”
He shakes his head. “Fine,” he says at last. “I’ll have a chartered jet standing by. We can’t use the Blood Coven ones—it’ll arouse too much suspicion.” He reaches into his drawer and hands me a small metal device. “In the meantime, take this,” he says. “It’s a bug,” he adds, at my confused look. “I want you to leave it somewhere in Bertha’s room where she won’t find it. This way we can listen in on her conversations. Try to determine whether or not she knows anything about their whereabouts.”
I take the bug and put it in my pocket, throwing my arms around Jareth and hugging him to me, relief washing over in me in waves. “Thank you!” I murmur over and over again. “Thank you so much. I promise you we’ll make this work. We’ll keep them safe and no one will be any the wiser.”