“So you’re telling me this jerk is going to get away?” And get to keep killing?

He shook his head. “I’m telling you, the boys and girls in the suits are going to lock you up for the next few weeks—”

“What?” She was the victim, not—

“Sam isn’t as clueless as he appears. I think he was right about the killings, and the FBI will, too. Hell, there have probably been more murders, scattered around the country. No way has our vamp been playing nice the last few years. The agents, they’ll want to keep you safe until they’re sure Paul isn’t coming after you again.”

Now that gave her pause. “Will he?”

He didn’t answer, but Miranda supposed his silence actually was an answer. Oh, damn.

“Go with them. They’ll keep you safe, and Paul—”

“Will what? Move on to another victim?” She’d be all safe and protected by the Bureau while some other poor woman had her throat ripped open by razor-sharp fangs. No, that didn’t sound fair. Not at all.

Her chin lifted. “Why can’t they catch him?”

“Because vampires are damn strong, far stronger than humans. And bullets, well, they can wound vamps—not kill ’em—and usually they only serve to piss off his kind.”

Cain sure seemed to know what he was talking about. Both with the vampire and with the FBI.

“I can’t let him hurt anyone else,” she whispered.

His eyes narrowed. “You might not have a choice on that, baby.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“Don’t be too—Shit.” He stiffened. “They’re here.”

How did he know? What was—

His lips hitched into a half-smile. “Stop applying human rules to me, Miranda. I heard ’em when they entered the building.”

Superhearing, check. She’d have to remember that little perk.

And she’d have to find out just what, exactly, Cain was. Not a vampire, there was too much hate in his voice when he talked about the undead.

Cain didn’t particularly seem the self-hating type.

“They’ll take care of you,” he said, “just—”

“I’m not going with them.” No way was she going to disappear with a bunch of strangers. Her summer vacation had just started last week, and she wasn’t about to lose her carefully ordered life because of one nightmarish evening.

“Choices, remember?” she said softly. She was about to make hers, but she needed him. “Help me, Cain. I know you can. You know about vampires. How they’re strong, how they’re weak.” They had to have some kind of weakness, right? “We can do something, I don’t know, go after him. Stop that bastard fromhurting anyone else.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’d risk yourself?”

“I—”

The door was pushed open.

“Look, dammit, I said you can’t go in there! I don’t care who you are—” Sam’s voice blared angrily.

Two men in immaculate black suits stepped over the threshold. One was darkly tanned, short, and stocky, with a long scar bisecting his left eyebrow and sliding down his cheek. The other guy was about average height, pale, with a thin, slightly haggard face.

When he caught sight of Cain, the scarred fellow seemed to stiffen. But his partner directed all of his attention to Miranda, saying, “Ms. Shaw, I’m Donovan Delaney from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It’s come to our attention that you’ve been the victim of—”

“Cut it, Donovan Delaney,” Cain said, rolling his shoulders. “She’s not in the mood to hide.”

The scarred guy cursed softly. “One of yours, is she, Lawson?”

This guy knew Cain?

That same twisted smile was on his lips as he glanced her way and said, “Miranda, baby, did I happen to mention that I just recently, ah, retired from the good old FBI?”

Uh, no, he’d forgotten that lovely little tidbit. “You retired? What are you, thirty-five?”

Cain’s lips twisted in a brief glimmer of amusement. “Just about, and it wasn’t your typical retirement.” His stare returned to the men and the amusement vanished. “And yeah, for the record, she’s most definitely mine. She’s not your bait. Not your hostage. If we work this case, we work with my rules, and we make Miranda’s life the priority.”

Okay. So he was talking like he was the boss and damn if the scarred agent wasn’t nodding his head in agreement while Sam stared at Cain with widening eyes.

“We’re gonna have to get the okay from above,” the shorter guy stopped nodding long enough to say. “It’s gonna be shit with paperwork because you pulled out already—”

“Make the calls, Santiago. This case is mine.”

Delaney swallowed a few times, glanced back and forth between the guy identified as Santiago and Cain, then muttered, “Look, buddy, you might have worked the crimes before but—”

“You’re not point on this one,” Santiago said softly. “And trust me, kid, you’re playing out of your league if Lawson’s already involved.”

Delaney flushed.

“You’ll be backup here,” Santiago told the guy. “Cain and I will be lead.”

Ah, so he was the senior agent. Miranda was trying to follow things but she still felt like she’d stepped into the Twilight Zone.