“I understand,” Bobby said, and we started walking again.

“What did you tell Jane’s parents when you left?” I asked.

“Nothing. They were too busy yelling to notice me, so I just ran out the front door. And then I ran all the way down here, and I couldn’t find you for a minute.” He took a deep breath. “That’s why I’m so short of breath.”

“We should hurry home before Jack and Milo realize we’re gone,” I said. “Then we’ll both be in deep shit.”

Neither of us said much on the car ride home. I think Bobby was still trying to catch his breath, and I told him he needed to start training with me if he wanted to keep going out like this. I didn’t want him getting hurt or killed.

The rest of the time, I was lost in thought. Jane knew her killer. But that didn’t mean that much. She’d been running around with all sorts of vampires, and while Jonathan had been her main squeeze, that didn’t mean she didn’t know other vampires. And if she relapsed and wanted to get bitten again, she would’ve been desperate to get in contact with anyone.

Or maybe it was something else entirely. Maybe it wasn’t even a vampire, like Jonathan said. A human is just as capable of murder.

“Have you decided if you believe Jonathan yet?” Bobby asked as I pulled into the garage at the house.

“No. I don’t know if I ever will,” I sighed and shut off the car. “I might never know what really happened to her.”

“We’ll find out who did it,” he reassured me, looking at me seriously. “We can do this.”

“I hope you’re right.” I got out of the car and noticed the Jetta was in the garage too. “Milo’s home from school. What are you gonna tell him we were doing?”

“What are you gonna tell Jack?” Bobby countered.

“It’s a crappy day. I picked you up from school, so you didn’t have to take the bus,” I said as we walked to the house. “How does that sound?”

“You’ve done it before, so sure,” he shrugged.

“Good.”

Bobby was in front of me, and he opened the garage door to walk into the house. Jack was home, so he wasn’t worried about deflecting Matilda. Unfortunately, he had a much larger problem waiting for him.

He’d only made it two steps into the house before Daisy flew at Bobby, knocking him backwards before he could even scream.

14

I lunged at Daisy, burying my fingers in soft blond hair and yanking her head back before she could sink her teeth into his neck. She screamed as I lifted her up, but I didn’t care. I wanted to make sure Bobby was safe before dealing with her.

“Whoa! Alice! Easy!” Jack yelled. He rushed over and took Daisy from me, so I let go of her. She buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing, and he held her to him.

I stood there in shock as he rubbed her back, comforting her. Milo helped Bobby to his feet, and he didn’t have a scratch on him. Other than scaring the hell out of him, Daisy hadn’t hurt Bobby at all.

“Is everything okay?” Mae called from another room.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Peter told her, and I looked over, noticing him for the first time. He stood off to the side, watching Jack and Daisy to make sure everything was okay. “How is she?”

“She’s fine,” Jack said, stroking Daisy’s hair. He tilted his head, trying to get a look at her face. “You’re okay, aren’t you, Daisy?” She nodded, sniffling.

“Okay. Seriously. What the hell is going on here?” I asked, gaping at them all.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked, pulling his gaze from Daisy to me. “Peter’s here.” He pointed his thumb back at Peter, who glanced over at me but didn’t let his eyes linger. “Mae and Ezra are talking in the other room. We don’t wanna disturb them.”

“She almost killed Bobby, and you’re comforting her?” I gestured to Daisy, who only snuggled deeper to him when I shouted. “You were just as against her as I was!”

“Alice, she can hear,” Jack glared at me.

“She wasn’t attacking Bobby,” Peter said, almost apologetic. “She was just excited, and you… scared her.”

“I scared her?” I snapped.

“She had a long flight,” Peter said and stepped towards Jack. “Why don’t I take her to lie down?”

Jack carefully untangled her from him and handed her over to Peter. Neither one of them glared at each other or showed an animosity. Jack just handed her off, and cradling her in his arms, Peter carried her upstairs.

“What the hell, Jack?” I asked. “I was gone with Bobby, and it’s like stepping into the Twilight Zone.”

“Where were you, by the way?” Milo asked. He had an arm wrapped protectively around Bobby, and he’d been giving Daisy a wary look, which made me feel a bit better about all of this.

“Alice gave me a ride home from school.” Bobby rolled his neck. “I hurt my neck when Daisy knocked me back. I think I should go lie down too.”

“I hate that kid,” Milo grumbled, leading Bobby away by the hand.

Wisdom

“So what’s going on?” I crossed my arms and stared up at Jack. “They’ve been here for an hour, and now you’re all buddy-buddy with Peter and the demon spawn?”

“I thought you’d be happy I was getting along with Peter,” Jack muttered. “And she’s not a demon spawn. She’s just a little kid, Alice.”