Chapter 3

“I listen to you,” she said calmly. “When you’re not talking shit.”

Jesse gently took the dagger away from her and held it up to the streetlight. It was a prized part of Oliver’s collection—an antique. Jesse smiled despite himself, wondering how Dominique knew exactly which piece would make his father hit the roof.

“Don’t do that anymore, Dominique. If anything happened to you, Michelle would murder me. And I…I just don’t want anything happening to you.”

“Don’t sneak out anymore then. Problem solved.”

“I wasn’t sneaking out. I was hunting demons.” The protest sounded weak to his ears. Neither Michelle nor his father encouraged him to leave the house. They especially didn’t want him to search for vampires and demons. “There was a whole nest of them on the East End. Somebody’s got to take them out.”

“A nest. And one of you.” Even in the darkness, there was no mistaking the roll of her eyes. “Yeah. That’s sane.”

“What was I supposed to do? Take a fifteen-year-old with me?”