I sat on the floor with my legs in a W-shape feeling tousled and looking at my blood-sprayed shirt while Dudley went to get the maid.

Pierce took off his coat and wrapped it around Schroder’s head. “Don’t be so disturbed. After the surgery, he’ll be a completely different person. Right now, he’s brain-damaged. After the operation, I’ll make sure he can’t harm you anymore,” he said with a friendly gleam in his eye. “And we’ll get your sister back.”

“How can you be so sure? We don’t know anything about Garth. Dudley said they might not even be planning to come back here.”

“Tate Dudley? In the flesh? Is that who your friend is?  If it’s him then it’ll be okay. I’ve heard tales about him. He’s the resourceful type. He should be able to find her.”

I put my hand to my forehead in fatigue. I couldn’t look on the bright side at a moment like this.

Dudley came back with the maid. She wasn’t remotely surprised or disturbed by the sight before her, but looked to Pierce for an explanation, which he seemed happy to supply. “We had a little accident. Do you mind if I take him to my place for a while just to get him sorted?”

“Are you taking him to see The Scissor Man?” she asked, placing an impatient hand on her hip.

“Yes.”

“My salary has been prepaid for the next six months, so if he doesn’t come back—I’ll be coming to see you.”

Pierce returned her gaze calmly and said, “You don’t need to threaten me, Jan. I know how these things work and you know where to find me.”

“Then I’ll get something to clean the blood,” she said before slipping out of the room.

“Don’t spend all your money bribing her,” Dudley said, going to Schroder’s feet and helping Pierce lift him off the floor. “I have some news,” he said, looking at me. “While you were coming in here without my permission, I ran into a couple of humans prowling around the back. They were discussing how they were going to keep something a secret from Schroder/Roan… whatever this guy’s name is.”

“What?” I said, pulling myself together and getting up.

Dudley and Pierce grasped Schroder’s body and carried him to the door and down the hall while Dudley talked. “I think it’s good news. Apparently, Garth ran off with London when he took her out of the shed last night.”

“Why did he do that?” I asked, hurrying after them.

“Why?” Dudley clicked his tongue on the roof of this mouth. “Probably because he fell in love with her and he was just pretending to be comfortable with it when they were draining her last night.”

“But won’t he just kill her himself after he transforms into a vampire?”

At that, Dudley frowned. “I thought you’d be relieved, but I guess you wanted a happy ending for this story. It’s just that,” Dudley said as they eased Schroder through the front door and down the steps to the car, “it’s a miracle she’s survived this long.” He paused as Pierce opened the back door to his sedan and together they crammed Schroder’s unconscious frame into the backseat. Dudley slammed the door and leaned against it with ease. “This means she can take the natural course all vampires must take with Garth instead of being tortured to death.”

“Are you saying you’re going to give up on her?” I accused.

“No. Not at all. I only mean the desperation of the situation has eased considerably. I got a couple more license plate numbers, so we’ll be able to round up the rest of the humans who were in league with Schroder and question them about Garth. From there, we might be able to find a clue as to where Garth has taken her.”

I shook my head. “And that means?”

He put his arm around my shoulder. “It means I’ll take you to my place tonight and then tomorrow you can go back to work like everything is fine. Tomorrow night, you and I will question the owners of the vehicles and find out what we can—like Garth’s address. But seriously, Sweeper, if it turns out that she’s lost forever, that’s the path London chose and there’s nothing to regret. This is the path all vampires eventually take. It’s just a matter of whether or not she has the strength to kill Garth in the end.”

I knew she didn’t have the strength, but who was I to criticize? I didn’t have the strength to argue with Dudley now. I was angry with him, but at that moment, all I wanted to do was rest and get my head on straight.

Pierce gave me a grim smile and gently smacked Dudley on the shoulder to stop him from leaning against his shiny car.

“I’m going to go back inside and talk to Jan about how to handle any ‘visitors’ that happen to pop by tonight. Collecting their license plate numbers is all well and good, but unlike Dudley, I have the authority to take care of those humans tonight, so I’ll stay until dawn and round everyone up. But first, I want you to show me where they were draining London.”

“All right,” Dudley said, looking slightly perturbed. He clearly didn’t like being outmaneuvered like that. However, he quickly teamed up with the vampire policeman and started walking toward the back of the house.

I stopped them. “Are you guys just going to leave Schroder in the car?”

“What?”

“Well, if any of those humans come through the front door instead of the back and they see Schroder all mangled in the backseat of your car, won’t they get spooked and take off?”

“He’s got a jacket wrapped around his head,” Dudley pointed out.

“Maybe so, but I think she’s got a point,” Pierce said, ruefully stroking his chin. “Besides, he needs to be taken to a secure location. I really jammed myself in a tight place tonight. I want to stay and round up those humans, but I also need to take Schroder away before he wakes up. Hey, Sweeper, why don’t you drive him to my place? It’s better to take him there rather than the police station.  One of my servants will know what to do with him and when you’re done dropping him off, you can drive back here.”

I glanced at Schroder in the back of the car and wasn’t sure I felt all that comfortable, but when I thought of the chance we could be missing to catch those humans who had been planning to drain London—I gave way.

“Sure, I can do it,” I said easily.

Pierce pulled out his car keys and got into the front seat. From there, he punched up a map on his GPS and showed me the way to his house.

“You can follow this, right?”

“I’m not a moron,” I replied.

He smiled and got out of the driver’s seat.

Just then, I heard the click of the back door opening. Dudley was standing over Schroder with his gun to his head.

Pierce jumped on his gun hand before he could pull the trigger. “What are you doing?”

“I just want to make sure he doesn’t wake up while Sweeper is driving him,” Dudley protested.

“Don’t shoot off a firearm in the middle of the street! I don’t care if it’s one in the morning, it’ll draw unwanted attention. As if we aren’t gathering enough of that just standing here. We can best help Sweeper by sending her off as quickly as possible. He won’t wake up. Trust me. We just need to get her moving.”

Dudley’s expression was doubtful, but I was resolute. “You guys are the ones who need to get moving,” I fumed. “If you let even one of those bastards go because of this pathetic quarrel, I’ll see you both in hell.”

“At my house, ask for Kilmeny. He’ll know what to do,” Pierce advised.

With that, I got in the car and slammed the door shut. Getting to Pierce’s house would be easy. Except that the expression on Dudley’s face in the side-view mirror as I pulled away looked distinctly uneasy. Whatever. I could do this.

I started driving.