“He’s been trying to find me all this time.” I took out the piece of Sunny’s jacket sleeve from my pocket and placed it on top of the words on the table. “I’m the one he wants. He believes I’m immortal, that I’m this Queen of Cats, and that I’m the only one who can finish his transformation.”

No one said anything, and after a few uncomfortable moments the sheriff put his hand on my shoulder. “You did the right thing, young lady. Patrick, I’ll put out an alert on your missing horse. Merry Christmas.”

“I’d better put this food away.” Gray got up and started unloading the box.

Trick took out his keys. “I’m going over to the clinic to check on Jupiter. I’ll see you two in the morning.” On a grim note, he added, “Merry Christmas.”

“That’s it?” I shoved my chair back and got to my feet. “That’s all you have to say? Merry Christmas? What about ‘How could you, Catlyn?’ or ‘You’re grounded for the rest of your life’?” I waited, but my brothers just stood there. “Oh, that’s right. I won’t remember any of this after you brain-wipe again, will I? So why waste the oxygen?”

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Trick said.

I stepped in front of him and pointed to the table. “Before or after the vampire does that?”

“It’s not your concern,” he snapped.

“He took them because he thought they were me,” I shouted. “If it wasn’t for me none of this would have happened.”

“What do you expect me to do, Catlyn?” Trick said. “Deliver you to the park tomorrow night? Hand you over to another vampire? I feel terrible about those girls, but you’re my sister. I’m not trading your life for theirs, so just forget whatever stupid idea—”

Gray closed the fridge with a slam. “Shut up, Patrick.” He never used our brother’s full name, and we both stared at him. “She’s right. We can’t stand by and let the vamp kill those girls. We’re the only ones who can stop him.”

Trick got up and grabbed the front of Gray’s shirt. “Our parents sacrificed everything so we could be free of the Van Helsings,” he said through his clenched teeth. “I swore to them that I would do the same. So we are not hunting this vampire or any other.” He let go of Gray. “We’re going to live like normal people.”

“Normal.” Gray nodded. “Yeah, that’s what we are. I dream of the future, you erase people’s memories and then, there’s Cat.” He faced me. “You’re the family killer.”

“Gray.”

He ignored Trick. “You don’t do it yourself. You make the cats do it.”

I took a step back. “I’ve never killed anyone.” I looked at Trick, who wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Patrick?”

He sat down and dropped his keys on the table, and buried his face in his hands.

“Vampires are drawn to us,” Gray said. “We don’t know why, they just are. That’s the reason we’ve had to keep moving around so much. A few times we stayed too long in one place, and they found us.”

“Are you telling me that I’ve killed vampires?” I demanded. “What, in my sleep?”

“You were awake. You even saved our lives a couple of times.” Trick looked up at me. “You don’t remember because I made you forget.”

“How many times?” When he didn’t reply I hit the table with my fist. “How many?”

“Eight,” Trick said.

Now I had to sit down. “I’ve killed eight people?”

“They were vampires, and they were trying to kill us,” Trick said. “The first time it happened, the vamp got into the house while Gray and I were sleeping.”

“It was the sound of the cats attacking him that woke us up,” Gray added. “By the time we got to you it was all over.”

“When did this happen?”

Gray ducked his head. “It was when we were living in Wyoming. We thought we were okay there because it was pretty remote.”

“I killed a vampire in Wyoming,” I said, just to be sure. When he nodded, I said, “I was in the first grade when we lived in Wyoming.”

“Yeah.” Gray looked uneasy. “You kind of started young.”

“I’m a serial killer.” I stared blankly at the words the vampire had written on the table. “I’ve been a serial killer since I was six years old.”

“You never harmed anyone in your life.” Trick glared at Gray before he said in a softer voice, “We never went looking for those vampires; they came after us. You saved us, Cat. If not for you, they would have gotten to me and Gray.”

I suddenly remembered something I’d once found in Trick’s desk. “Those articles about the wild animal attacks you’ve been saving. It wasn’t wild animals, was it? It was me.”

“No,” Trick said quickly. “Those people were the victims of vampire attacks. I’ve been tracking vampire activity for years. It’s the only way I could avoid moving into an area infested with them.”

I only had one question left to ask. “Why did you make me forget all that?”

“You were just a little girl the first time it happened,” my brother said. “You didn’t understand. You kept asking me why the bad man wanted to hurt us. You cried for days, and then you stopped talking. I knew the shock was too much. So I made you forget, and then you were fine again.”

I looked at Gray. “You didn’t make him forget.”

“Oh, he tried,” Gray said. “His ability doesn’t work on me.”

Trick studied my face. “I can give you back all your memories, Catlyn. You can relive every one of those vampire attacks if you want. But what do you think that will do to your mind? To your soul?”

“You think you’ve done me some kind of huge favor?” I was shouting again, but I didn’t care. “Patrick, you’ve stolen my life away from me, eight times. Add a few more for all the things you’ve tried to make me forget since we came here.”

“And what did I make you forget?” he demanded. “That you’d fallen in love with a vampire?”

I gritted my teeth. “Jesse is not a vampire.”

“He’s six pints of human blood away from becoming one.” He uttered a bitter sound. “Oh, I know, he only feeds on animal blood, and he’s kind, and he’s promised he’ll never hurt you. But you have no idea how dangerous that boy is. How little it would take for him to lose control, attack a human and turn into one of those monsters.”

“You don’t know Jesse, or how strong he is.” I couldn’t shout at him anymore, not with all the cats yowling at the back door. I didn’t want to, either. I felt sorry for him and the way he saw everything, just in shades of black and white. “You’re not God, Patrick. You don’t have the right to decide what’s okay for me to remember. You can’t choose who I love. You aren’t going to control me like this anymore, and if you try, I’ll leave.”

“You are forgetting something very important now.” He leaned forward. “You’re not the only one who can kill vampires, Catlyn.”

“Cut it out, both of you,” Gray said, his voice so stern he sounded like Trick. “We’ve got twenty-four hours left to find that vampire and those girls. That’s what we’re going to do. When it’s over, then we’ll deal with the rest of it.”

I gazed at Trick. “Well, big brother? What’s it going to be?”

Trick sat back and ran his hand over his face. “All right. We’ll start tracking in the morning.” He eyed me. “The three of us, together.”

Eighteen

Christmas morning brought brittle sunshine and a light frost, which perfectly reflected my mood. I got down to the kitchen before anyone else, and decided to throw together a quick ham and egg scramble. I didn’t want to feed my idiot brothers as much as I wanted to choke them, but I couldn’t stomach another of Trick’s half-done or partly burnt meals.

Trick came in to silently set the table, and as soon as Gray returned from the barn I put the food on the table and sat down with them to eat. None of us spoke a word, which was fine with me.

I finished first, and after rinsing my dishes grabbed my jacket and headed outside.

“Cat, wait,” Trick said, halting me in mid-stride. “It’s Christmas morning. We have to open gifts.”

I took a deep, calming breath. “I left yours under the tree.”

“What about yours?” Gray asked carefully.

“Thanks, but I’ve had enough from both of you.” I stalked out.

In the barn I got Sali ready to take a ride in the trailer Trick had borrowed from Dr. Marks. According to my brothers, we could start tracking the vampire from the cemetery; as the family finder, Gray would be able to track him from there. Sali and I would follow Gray and Flash, and once we cornered the vamp I’d summon my cats to hold him at bay while my brothers retrieved the girls. Since Jupe was injured, and none of the other horses had his stamina, Trick would pace us on his Harley.

Trick had also told us how important it was to find the vampire’s hideout during daylight hours, when he would be at his weakest. After the sun set, he would be too dangerous to confront, and we’d have to call off the search and go to Plan B.

No one had talked about what Plan B was, but in my version, I went to the park and traded myself for the three girls.

Gray came out to deal with Flash, who hated being put in the trailer. He glanced at me a few times, but I ignored him.

“The silent treatment won’t work,” he finally said to me. “We’ll have to talk to each other while we’re tracking. Trick is bringing walkies for all three of us.”

“Whatever.” I retrieved my saddle from the tack room and carried it out to his truck. I stopped as soon as I saw the little red convertible parked behind it. On the roof was an enormous white ribbon and an oversize tag that read “Merry Christmas Cat from your brothers.”