Will locked on her like a pit bull might lock on something that moved too fast. His rage was evident through our link. “It was you, wasn’t it? You did it.”

“You’ll have to be more specific,” she said acerbically.

“It was you! You killed Gina!”

Ava snorted. “I wish.”

“It was me.”

Will gaped at me. “You?” Distress rippled along our link, and I understood why. It was natural for Sires to be distressed when their vampires fought amongst themselves – it was a little like a parent might be distraught if their children turned on each other. People took shit from their siblings that they wouldn’t take from others, and the same often applied to vampires and those within their lines. But Gina had pushed too many buttons, and we all knew it.

“Me,” I confirmed, sighing when I saw that the neighbours – all of whom were members of the legion – were gathering around the wide open front door.

Blythe put a hand to her chest. “You killed Gina?”

“I killed the vampire who put me under her thrall and tried forcing me to kill Ava.” When Blythe shook her head in denial, I arched an impatient brow. “Are you really going to pretend she didn’t have the nerve to do that?”

“I’ll admit that it wouldn’t have surprised me to hear that Gina tried to put you under her thrall in the hope of making you betray Ava. But to make you kill Ava?” Blythe shook her head again. “And if she had, surely Ava wouldn’t be standing here now!”

“Ava snapped me out of the thrall, in a roundabout way.”

“That isn’t possible,” claimed Will.

“Obviously it is. And now I’m done talking.” I stalked over to him, grabbed him by his collar, and dragged him to the door. He struggled against my grip, hurling profanities. The vampires at the door parted for me, and I threw Will against the hallway wall. “Get the fuck out of here. And don’t even think of barging inside my home again – unless of course you want to be as dead as that stupid bitch.”

He righted himself, ignoring Blythe’s fussing. “How dare you speak of her that way! Gina was my vampire! My firstborn! She was –”

“A spiteful bitch with a sense of entitlement that always got her in shit. This wasn’t the first time she did something stupid because her ego got thrashed. You know that, just like you knew Gina would eventually do something. And you knew through your link that she was seething, plotting. Maybe you didn’t know exactly what she was plotting, but you’d have sensed her frame of mind. Yet, you did nothing.”

“One could go as far as to say it’s partly your fault that she’s dead,” mused Ava, leaning against the doorjamb.

Confused and sad, Blythe spoke. “Gina tried putting you under her thrall countless times, Salem, but it never worked. I don’t see how it could have worked now.”

“My guess is that she” – Will snarled at Ava, who smiled brightly – “killed Gina in a jealous rage, and you’re covering for her. Or maybe it really was you, Salem; maybe you set a trap for Gina because you wanted vengeance after she baited Ava.”

I looked at him curiously. “You don’t see it at all, do you? Gina saw it, and that was part of why she couldn’t let it go.”

“See what?” asked Blythe.

“I’m fucking happy,” I said simply, not caring that I had an audience. “I have Ava. I have my position in the legion. I have the loyalty of good people.” None of which I would ever take for granted. “The last thing on my mind was vengeance.” My mind hadn’t been preoccupied with thoughts of hurting someone, but of keeping someone safe. “The only way Gina could have been more than an irritating blip on my radar was if she did something huge. She realised that, and she acted on it.”

Blythe went to speak, but then made a startled ‘gah’ sound as Sam and Jared suddenly appeared next to her. Neither of the pair looked surprised by the tension or the presence of Will and Blythe, so I had to conclude that someone from the small audience had called them.

“If someone could tell me what the bloody hell is going on, that’d be great,” said Sam impatiently.

It was Ava who explained, fingers flying over the keypad of her cell phone. “Short version: Gina put Salem under her thrall, tried to make him kill me, but it didn’t work and now she’s sobbing in hell.” I went to ask Ava who she was texting, but then Sam and Jared were speaking to me at once.

Jared growled, “She did what?”

Sam’s eyebrows flew up. “She tried to make you kill Ava?” The mercury glint to her irises flared.

“I refuse to accept it,” snarled Will. “They set Gina up. They wanted her dead, and they made it happen.” He jabbed a finger at Ava. “She hated Gina –”

Ava gasped, returning her cell to her pocket. “How long have you been sitting on this information?”

“– so she got rid of her. And now they’re trying to justify her actions by falsely accusing Gina of this.”

Rolling her eyes, Ava pushed away from the doorjamb. “Why do you keep trying to pit us all against one another? This isn’t one of your fight clubs. You’re not going to turn Sam and Jared against me or Salem, which means you won’t manage to turn us against them. Just the same, you won’t make Salem lose his position.”

“Lose his position?” repeated Jared.

“Will doesn’t like that one of his vampires has succeeded in achieving more than he ever has. When he couldn’t match Salem’s success –”

“He tried to take Salem’s success away from him,” deduced Sam, clenching her fists.

Will sneered. “He wouldn’t have his position if it wasn’t for me! I’m the one who Turned him and trained him.”

“No, we trained him,” objected Sam, gesturing to both her and Jared. “You laid the foundations, but it was us who helped him earn the strengths he has now. I say ‘helped’, because he could never have the control and skills he can now boast of without his own determination and focus.”

Jared nodded. “Salem earned his position. You didn’t earn it for him.”

“And now I really am tired of listening to your grievances,” said Sam with a sigh. “In fact, even the sound of your voice pisses me off at this stage, Will. As for your insistence on making life hard for two members of the legion…that’s not something that can be overlooked. It’s not something we’ll allow, which means you’re no longer welcome here. But Jared and I gave our word that you could stay, and we don’t break our promises.”