Page 117 of Sinner's Secret

“Go away,” he said quietly. “Just go.”

His mother sighed. “I will give you some time to come to terms with this idea, but the Ruiz brothers weren’t careful with their information. Others might try to take her.”

“Those fucking assholes,” he muttered as he rubbed his face with one hand.

His mother looked at Nika. “That gun won’t be much help.”

Nika shrugged. “I’ve disabled several of your type with it. It will help long enough for Baz to rip their heads off.”

“Fine.” His mother rolled her eyes. “Your problems won’t go away, but if you don’t want to come home, I can’t force you. My door is open to you both, however.” She turned and walked out, closing the door behind her.

For several seconds neither he or Nika spoke.

Finally, he said, “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Making her leave?” she snorted. “Thank you very much. Your mom is scary.”

“She was like that before she became a vampire.”

Nika looked at him with her brows low over her eyes. “She’s afraid of you, you know.”

He shook his head.

“She is. She was very careful not to order you to do anything. She made suggestions, offered advice, but left it up to us to choose what we do next.”

“Fucking vampire politics,” he muttered.

“Yeah,” Nika breathed.

“We are going to have a serious asshole problem.”

“I don’t know, Baz,” Nika said, putting her arms around his neck and kissing him. “You’re pretty good at getting rid of assholes.”

He kissed her back. “I’m an asshole.”

“A very lovable one.”

He didn’t say anything, just breathed in her scent and held her.

“I love you,” she whispered to him. “We are a team.”

“I will protect you with everything I am.”

She pulled back far enough so she could meet his gaze. “Let’s not plan the war until we know the whole situation.” She yawned. “Until then, I think I need another nap.”

“Sleep, my lady. I’ll watch over your rest.”

Epilogue

Yvgeny Breznik stood on the sidewalk outside of Nika Johansen’s house listening to his cousin and the cop whisper to each other before she fell asleep. If Baz knew he’d bugged the entire house, he’d probably tear Yvgeny’s head off his shoulders, but it was worth the risk.

He needed to know what Nika and Baz were planning so he could convince his aunt to return to Europe, stay there, and keep the rest of the vampire council from coming to New York City. If they did, a lot of humans would die. That was always their preferred way of handling most problems. Kill it, bury it, and forget it.

But Baz was right. That tactic wouldn’t work anymore, humanity had devised too many ways of sharing information immediately. By the time you hunted down all the people who might know something dangerous, they’d already shared it with others. There was just no way to stop the transfer of information fast enough.

Now that his cousin was no longer pretending the rest of the world didn’t exist, maybe he could help Yvgeny change a few very stubborn minds. Maybe change would finally come to all those cursed with the eternal life the Sweating Sickness had given them.

Baz had always been the strongest of them all. Yvgeny had a bloodhound’s nose, while his aunt, Baz’s mother, had a tactical mind with no equal. She’d kept the family, and the wider vampire community, from destroying themselves several times.

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