Ira’s whole body seized as the energy thundered through him. Unky’s special design was less a taser, and more an internal EMP. The entire charge flashed through him in an instant, not even enough time to open his eyes, and then his body crumpled.

Quickly, I stepped up and pushed his body sideways as he fell so he landed in the car. Then it took some shuffling to get his long legs inside enough to slam the door. A quick glance around, but there was no one to notice us.

Humming to myself, I slipped in the driver’s side. We always kept a spare burner phone somewhere, and after some rummaging I found one slid between the driver’s seat and the middle console. I swiped Evan’s number.

He answered on the first ring. “Are you okay?”

“Well, hello to you, too,” I laughed.

“I take it your date went fine,” came his sour voice.

“Better than fine,” I said. “I have a hostage.”

“You…”

“...Have a hostage,” I confirmed.

“Who?” He demanded.

“St. Elena the Pacifier,” I snarked. “Ira, who else?”

“So you confirmed his status, I presume?”

“Either that or I just tased some random beefcake,” I said. “That would be awkward.”

“...Beefcake?” That pissy tone again.

“Evan, lighten up.” Despite his displeasure, I was beaming. “I know this wasn’t exactly the plan, but trust me. This is better.”

“Fail to see how.”

“I’ll explain it all when I get there.” I rolled my eyes to Josh. “Just tell Espy we need Yahoel’s Entrapment, okay?”

Evan sighed. “Guess there’s no choice now, is there?”

“That’s the spirit!” I chirped. “See you in thirty.”

***

I made it back to the safehouse with no incidents. Every couple seconds I’d check Ira out in the rearview. He never moved, looking for all the world like a dead body crumpled in my backseat. That’s exactly what he was, I suppose.

As I drove, I kept an eye out for our sheriff friend, but he declined to put in an appearance. Probably for the best since I’m not sure how I’d explain the corpse in my car.

Despite using every drop of voltage, I half expected Ira to pop up at any moment. There was so much unexplained about his power levels.

I’d never met a leech who could mask his eyes and walk in the sun. Usually, only baby vamps could bear the touch of sunlight, and gaining their eye color back came with the maturity of age. Was Ira an old vampire somehow strong enough to survive the sun, or a young vampire who learned the tricks of the trade quickly?

Skilled or strong, that was the question.

Evan was standing on the front steps, arm crossed, as I rattled up the gravel. There was a part of me that wondered if he’d been standing there for the whole thirty minutes. As I parked, I noticed the bag of chains at his feet. (Just like our swords, the chains were tempered with vanadium to make them resistant to vampire powers.)

Picking up the bag, Evan stalked down the steps. I wouldn’t let his glower deter me. I knew this had been the right move.

I got out and threw the backdoor open with a flourish. “Voila!”

He leaned in to give Ira’s prone form the once-over. Then he just shook his head. “Grab the other leg.”

Together we pulled Ira out onto the ground, wrapped his body with the chains, and hauled him in the house. I had my hands under Ira’s shoulders, and Evan took the feet.

“Esperanza prepared the circle downstairs,” Evan said.

Going down the stairs took some doing with Ira’s dead weight. Evan chose to be the one going down backward, which was fine with me, and eventually we got him in there.

“Set him there.” Espy waved to a chair she had placed in the center of the sparing circle.

We propped him up in it, and Beni appeared with another length of chain to secure him.

“Perfect,” I declared, surveying our handiwork.

Out of curiosity, I summoned my Spark. As the Spirit swam through my eyes, Beni started to say, “I wouldn’t.”

I yelped, stumbling backward. In the true sight, the basement blazed with light. Espy had performed the blessing known as Yahoel’s Entrapment over the circles already etched into the floor. I’d seen my dad use the technique before, but she had taken it to another level by blessing each layer of the sacred circles. The result was not the wispy, haunted blue of most Saint’s Spark, but a sphere glowing like a blue sun.

Rubbing my eyes, I muttered, “I don’t think he’s getting out of that.”

“That’s the idea,” Espy drawled.

“So,” Evan bit off. “Care to explain why you deviated from the plan?”

I launched into a quick rundown of my morning, culminating with the events at the cliff.

“...and then I tased him,” I finished.

Evan was pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You’ll need a new phone, then.” Espy sighed.

I grinned. “Right. Sorry.”

“We’ll call your uncle when we’re through here.”

“Who cares about the phone?” Snapped Evan. “You could have died, Seth.”

“I knew Ira would catch me,” I said.

“You did not--”

“Yes,” I said. “I did. Maybe you’re not familiar with big macho types, but I am. His ego would never allow any harm to come to me once he had pledged his protection, especially if he was considering me for one of his pets. I'm an infiltrator by trade, remember? This is what I do.”

He just stared at me, thunderous. “That’s an awfully big risk to take.”

“You’re not listening.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “It wasn’t a risk. Vampires may be murderous blood-suckers, but they do have their own twisted form of honor. I knew he would intervene if I was in ‘danger’, there was never any real chance of him doing anything but.” Before Evan could chide me again, I went, “Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the best part.”

He groaned. “There’s more?”

“I’m not sure Ira’s cult is the only group of vampires in the area.”

There was a full beat of silence.

“What makes you say that?” asked Espy, drawing closer.

“There was...someone else there.” I described the spectral eyes peering through the mist.

“Maybe Ira had back up,” Evan said. “Just in case.”

“You’re thinking like a Saint,” I said, “but leeches don’t really work together. Even in a nest. They may group for safety but they hunt alone. Besides, if they were affiliated, why not show themself after Ira used his powers? Why not intervene when I took him? Whoever was in the mist wasn’t there for Ira. They were watching me.”

Slowly, Evan said, “Your theory is that there is a cult of unusually powerful young vampires, and a second cult that can maintain a half-evaporated form?”

“I’m not saying all of them can do those things,” I said. “But we’ve never even heard of one who can before, at least not in the Americas, and now we have two demonstrations of unusual power. I’d say that merits some looking into.”

“Only one,” Evan said. “There’s no proof of the second--”

“That’s what you said about Ira, too,” I shot back.

His face darkened.

“Hey, guys,” Beni broke in. “Wanna stick a pin in this? I think he’s waking up.”