Page 68 of How to Stake a Vampire

Daria ignored him. “Abstaining?”

Ellie’s hand shot up.

“I think this is too much responsibility for a new vampire,” my best friend said bravely in the faces of everyone’s leaden stare.

Oscar’s territory of darkness expanded by a couple of feet. Wendall’s nostrils sparked like the Fourth of July.

I grabbed Ellie’s hand and put it down quickly.

Daria sighed. “Motion carries, eight to two.”

“This is a mistake,” Wendall muttered.

“The only mistake would be doing nothing,” Gregory said firmly.

The meeting ended after everyone was assigned their roles. Hawthorne & Associates was left in charge of coordinating the search for Ludvik with Barney and Gregory’s assistance, while the rest of the Alliance was tasked with getting their communities ready for a possible battle.

Gregory and Constantia pulled Virgil to the side when the Alliance members began to file out. Constantia hugged her son and spoke to him in a low voice. Virgil nodded, his expression softening. Gregory patted his back awkwardly.

“Come on, we should give them some space,” I told Ellie quietly.

Bo whined. I realized my best friend was still sitting in her chair.

Her eyes had taken on a distant, unfocused quality.

The hairs rose on the back of my neck. “Ellie?”

Samuel tensed at my tone. He and Barney approached from where they were talking with Daria, Victoria and Pearl trailing in their wake.

Ellie blinked, seeming to come back to herself. Confusion clouded her face as she looked at me.

“Abby?”

My pulse quickened. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I just had a…vision,” she mumbled.

21

PREMIUM RESERVE

“This is worsethan watching paint dry,” Bo grumbled from his position near the van’s back doors.

“No one told you to come,” Samuel said pointedly.

“What, and leave Abby alone with you?” Bo huffed indignantly. “You should thank your lucky stars I’m here, protecting your wolfy virtue.”

Detective Johnson snickered. My mouth pressed to a thin line.

“Pearl put you up to this, didn’t she?” I asked my dog coolly.

“Don’t involve the cat,” Bo sniffed. “Or her jerky bribe.”

“Tell me again why we’re sitting outside a blood bank at seven in the morning on a Saturday?” Didi groaned. “I haven’t had enough coffee yet for this level of suffering.”

“Because Ellie’s vision showed Ludvik was looking at a notebook with this address in it,” I explained patiently for what felt like the hundredth time. “Since Hemoglobin Haven caters to vampire aristocracy, he’s probably planning to hit it today.”

We’d been watching Amberford’s most exclusive boutique blood bank since dawn. The upscale establishment was located in the ritzy Maple Park district, next to Temple Heights. It had valet parking and an ice sculpture of a bat in the waiting room.