“This is so stupid,” Amelia said. “A baby? You think Vadim chose a little baby to rush outside when we were all supposed to stay inside. Where was Genevieve? She always watches Bella.”

“I believe the last time you wanted to go flying you sent Genevieve to sleep,” Tariq answered. “That’s enough, Amelia. We’re going to get to the bottom of this tonight.”

Amelia fell silent, but clearly she was still angry. Dragomir would bet his last dollar from the considerable fortune he’d amassed in his lifetime that the girl was the one Vadim had used to take over the lightning whip used to try to kill him.

Gary emerged almost immediately. “There are parasites in this child’s blood.”

Tariq closed his eyes. Dragomir shook his head. “It isn’t her.”

“No, it can’t be her,” Gary confirmed. “I found a fresh entry wound on her thigh. It was up high and cleverly concealed, but someone pushed a needle into her and shot her full of parasites. It is so new, they haven’t had time to take root in her bloodstream. I have to clean them, though, or she’ll suffer. He could kill her. Direct the parasites to clog her heart as he did with Emeline’s unborn child.” He addressed his statement to Amelia.

The teenager looked horrified. Dragomir watched her closely. Either she was the best actress on the planet, or her reaction was genuine.

“Get them out of her. Right now. Get those things out of her. They’re horrible little wiggly worms with teeth.” She tried to go to her sister, but Dragomir refused to allow her to take a step.

“Who do you think could have done this, Amelia?” Tariq asked gently. “There was only you, your brother and Liv.”

She shook her head. “Genevieve was there. The vampires were all over her last night. Dragomir, you saw them. When you were helping Danny and me, you had to have seen them.”

Dragomir replayed the images in his mind. Amelia’s orange dragon had been wounded and was spinning out of control. Danny’s brown had been in real trouble as well, not able to stop its plunge to earth. Had he not interfered, both dragons and both teens would have been lost. He’d directed Danny to aid Genevieve, to get her out of the play yard to safety. In his mind, he slowed down the replay so that he saw everyone. Genevieve was slumped over on the stone bench, her head on her book, hair blowing in the wind. She was oblivious to the danger, the vampires following their chosen leader – Vadim.

Vadim had Emeline a distance from the stone bench where Genevieve lay sleeping. Danny had started to wake Genevieve, shaking her repeatedly. Amelia aided him. Dragomir had turned his attention to Vadim, his ultimate challenge. Out of the corner of his eye, he continued to observe the drama unfolding by the bench.

Genevieve didn’t seem able to wake up. She didn’t respond at all. Danny seemed to be directing Amelia to pick up Genevieve’s legs, which she did, but she dropped them, tripping over a tuft of grass in the yard. It was then that Vadim directed a couple of lesser vampires toward the children, not Genevieve. He remembered that distinctly. He told Emeline he was going to kill all the children because she hadn’t cooperated. He had not included Genevieve in the threat.

“I do not recall vampires going after the woman. They chose you and Danny as their targets,” he said, his voice betraying his thoughts.

“They did. She was on the ground and Danny kept trying to wake her.”

“You told Danny to run,” Dragomir persisted. “But you didn’t run. You turned to face the vampires, and both followed Danny. Neither came after you.”

“That’s crazy. You were fighting Vadim. You couldn’t possibly have seen what took place,” she objected.

“We are taught from the time we were children to record every battle so we can replay it and improve for the next fight. I have the recording in my mind.”

“Well, your recording is flawed. I tried to help Genevieve and then I gave up and ran to the safety of the underground chamber where the dragons were being held. That was the drill, Tariq’s orders. Outnumbered, we get to the safety room. That’s the rule.” She sounded just a little smug.

“That’s convenient for you.”

As he spoke, a tired-looking Gary returned to his body. He was pale and weak. He actually staggered and almost went down, but Lojos eased him to the ground and then extended his wrist to him. Dragomir noticed that this time Amelia stared at the mouth over the laceration. Clearly the sight fascinated her. A single drop of blood ran down the back of Lojos’s hand and dropped almost in slow motion to the ground. Amelia’s gaze followed it.

“Amelia.” Tariq’s voice was soft. Gentle. But it held a command.

Amelia seemed mesmerized by the drop of blood, staring at it as it lay in a perfect circle on the ground. Dragomir subtly enlarged it. Not much, but the ruby drop was nestled in the nearly black dirt, rich loam Tariq had on the property to grow his plants and trees – to heal his people.

“Amelia.” Tariq’s voice sharpened.

She licked her lips and reluctantly tore her gaze from the crimson drop of blood showcased by the rich dirt.

“Did one of the vampires touch you?”

She blinked rapidly, her face closing down. “You know they did. Blaze examined me. I’m not pregnant like Emeline. I didn’t let them put their disgusting child in me. That baby is vampire, just like its father. Dragomir can pretend all he wants that he’s the baby’s father, but he’ll never be. How do we know it wasn’t the baby attacking him? The baby could have tried to kill him. Did you ever once think about that?”

There was a long silence. Amelia looked around her. “I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking. You accused me, so my entire family has to be searched, but we can’t even speculate that the baby did this?” There was pure defiance in her voice. She looked to Lojos. “What about you? Do you worry that the baby is a Malinov? I’ve heard all of you use that name. You know she’s his baby, yet you all act like it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t,” Gary said before Dragomir could respond. “Vadim targeted the baby for death. He can’t turn a female child, and he knows that. He might use one as his tool, but if the baby was unborn, he’d have to force the mother to carry out orders.”

Amelia changed the subject the moment he spoke. “How is Bella? Did you get them all?”

Gary nodded. “I did. They hadn’t had time to burrow deep or hide themselves, so in comparison to Emeline and the baby, this was relatively easy. She has no memory of Vadim or any other vampire.”

“You looked in her memories?” Amelia’s tone was accusatory.

“Yes,” Gary said. “I looked back over the last few hours. She was playing in her room when you came in, Amelia. You walked right past Genevieve, who once more had succumbed to a sleeping spell. I know it was a spell because every use of magic has a signature. The spell surrounding her was Vadim’s.”

“I just thought she was asleep,” Amelia defended. “How would I know what Vadim’s signature looks like?”

“You picked her up and swung her around. She laughed and snuggled into you.” Gary stood up and walked right over to her. “That’s when you did it. You injected her thigh. All the while you were laughing and joking. If she felt anything, it was a tiny pinch. You kept playing with her so she wouldn’t get suspicious.”

Amelia shook her head. “I wouldn’t do that. I would never harm my own sisters.” Both hands curled into fists. “You can’t possibly think I would inject parasites into a toddler. Into Bella.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared in a kind of horror at Tariq. “I didn’t, Tariq. I don’t talk to Vadim. I really don’t. I would never let evil into our home. I love it here. Danny and the others are happy. So am I. I don’t want to leave.” Words tumbled out, running into one another as she denied all charges.

Her voice rings with truth, Tariq sent to Dragomir.

There is more than Vadim in this. We face multiple vampires, not just one. She opened the earth enough to allow Vadim to send his dark magic. Vadim has a sliver of Xavier, the high mage, in him. With that sliver come his darkest spells. It was Vadim directing the lightning strikes at me. He did it through this girl.