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“I’m going to stake the Savinos tonight,” Hugo said.

He stood before the bathroom mirror. His arms were crossed and his lips pulled in. He waited for the reaction of his fellow vampire hunting consultants.

“That’s the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard,” Alice’s reflection yelled toward Hugo. “Do you know how utterly . . . You want to take on two vampires at once?”

“To be fair,” Hugo’s reflection said. “I agree with him.”

She snapped her attention to Hugo’s reflection, her eyes filled with a fiery glare as if she were ready to rip him apart. “You stay out of this.” With a single motion, she backhanded him across his chest, folded her arms, and turned away from the mirror. “I’m done talking with both of you.”

Hugo rubbed the sides of his head. “I need your help,” he said. “You’re the only one who can help me. I’m begging you. Please. Help.”

“I don’t want to be a part of this,” Alice’s reflection said.

“Babe, we need your help.” Hugo’s reflection rubbed his chest over his tight-fitting, long-sleeve, black T-shirt. “You know how todeal with them. We don’t. Please.”

“Why should I help?” She turned around to stare Hugo directly in the eyes. “Why should I help you storm off and get yourself killed? Gethimkilled.” She pointed to Hugo’s reflection.

Alice’s reflection glared at Hugo with the eyes of a scorned lover. Without breaking her gaze, she raised her left hand and pointed to her ring finger. “What about this?”

“What about it?” Hugo asked.

“When are you going to ask her?” Alice’s reflection asked. “I want my ring. He can’t give me my ring without you giving it to her first.”

“It didn’t seem like a very appropriate thing to do the past couple of days,” Hugo replied.

“So what?” Alice’s reflection said. “I want my ring. Give it to her.”

“This is all playing out entirely how I envisioned it in my head. ‘Oh, hey. While we’re fighting off this vampire attack that could destroy everything, here’s a ring. Let’s get married,’” Hugo said with a sarcastic tone.

Alice’s reflection stood in silence with her still unrelenting gaze. “Then why are you running off to get yourself killed?”

“I have to do this,” Hugo yelled.

“Why?” Alice’s reflection yelled back as she furled her eyebrows.

Hugo lowered his head and placed a hand on his hip. He slumped forward, bracing himself with one arm against the wall.

“Because this is all my fault,” he said in a hushed tone. He raised his head to meet Alice’s reflection. “If I didn’t lose . . . If I didn’t lose my temper, none of this would have happened.”

“It’s not your fault,” Alice’s reflection said. Her eyes finally broke his gaze. “Don’t take responsibility for her past.”

“How is it not my fault?” Hugo asked, standing up. He pointed to himself. “I was the one who lost control of my temper. I was the one who yelled at her. I was the one who almost got her killed.”

“And she was the one who lost control of her emotions and blew her cover,” Alice’s reflection answered.

“But I was on the broomstick . . . on Galahad. I wasthe one in the news article. I was the one who brought the vampires here,” Hugo responded, as tears formed in his eyes. “I’m the reason the Raskins could lose their store. I’m the reason Alice has to move again. I’m the reason all of this happened. Please. Please help me fix this.”

Alice’s reflection buried her face into her hands, muffling growls as she screamed into clenched teeth and an unseen void. As they subsided, she reemerged from behind her temporary sanctum. She locked eyes with Hugo. Her eyes weren’t full of rage or contempt or scorn, but a single emotion Hugo had known many times before. The same emotion he experienced every time Elizabeth went for treatments or doctor visits or when exhaustion engulfed her—fear.

“Babe,” Hugo’s reflection said in a soothing tone as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “It’s not an ideal situation. And you know you wouldn’t allow it. Sometimes we have to play the hand we’re dealt. It’s a really shitty hand, but I think it could work.Wethink it could work, but we need your help.”

Alice’s reflection closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She held it for a moment before finally releasing it—a sign she accepted Hugo’s decision. She opened her eyes once again; they turned bloodshot as she held back tears. “What’s your plan, lover boy?”

Lover boy? The first name she called Hugo when they met.

He stood upright. “Okay, here’s the play. We get them alone, just them and me. It has to be in a familiar setting. Some place I know like the back of my hand in case anything goes wrong.”

“It can’t be the old house. Too many unknowns,” Hugo’s reflection added.