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treacherous part of her had started to believe that Cal might be different.
     Snow piled at the windows while she berated herself for being such an idiot. She knew
     better. Her dead sister knew better.
    Aggie’s heart rate suddenly increased, thumping like the hooves of a startled deer.
    Cal was home.
    She barreled out of her room, just as he exploded into the hallway, ripping off the
     T-shirt he slept in. Judging by the welts on his bare chest and shoulders, it was
     soaked with UV holy water. His skin was seared raw and bloody over the tattoo of crows
     flying over his left shoulder. His fangs were sharp and the whites of his eyes were
     veined with red. Pain and fury mixed a cocktail that looked a lot like bloodlust.
     Two out of those three emotions, Aggie could understand. Intimately.
    “What’s going on?” Paige mumbled sleepily from the doorway. “Om!” she added suddenly,
     as if meditation would stop Aggie propelling herself at Cal.
    This time he was ready. Eager, in fact.
    They were a summer tornado, cold vampiric fury and hot human rage crashing together.
     Magic ignited between them. Blue sparks exploded, leaving scorch marks on the ceiling.
    “Om, Om, Om!” Paige shouted.
    The house shook right down to its foundations as Aggie and Cal fought the magic and
     each other with equally intensity. Doors slammed open all along the hallway. Fletcher
     tried to intervene and Aggie broke his nose. The world had narrowed to Cal’s burning
     blue eyes, to the thump of her heartbeat almost loud enough to drown out the memory
     of her sister’s voice.
    He blocked her strikes with maddening ease, faster and stronger than she was. She’d
     learned to fight dirty for that very reason. He had her pinned to the wall, his cold
     fingers clamped around her throat. Aggie’s breaths were ragged and dry in her lungs,
     scraping like rusty needles. She released the stake in her sleeve and it grazed his
     ribs, leaving a bloody trail.
    She managed to get a punch in, slamming his head back. He stumbled against the opposite
     wall. Catelyn leaped into the fight in her plaid flannel pajamas. Noah grabbed her
     by the hair and tossed her aside. She crashed into a lamp. The dogs barreled through,
     growling and barking. Teeth clamped around Cal’s leg. Blood stung the air, further
     maddening the vampires.
    Nicholas was a pale blade cutting through the complicated web that had caught them
     up. He knocked Cal into the wall, cracking the plaster. With his other arm, he gripped
     Aggie’s sweater, holding her off the ground.
    Pink light touched the windowsills in the living room.
    Kali and Noah went limp and slid down the wall. Cal pushed through, refusing to give
     into the dawn. Nicholas dropped Aggie, but only because Lucy wedged a broom between
     her and Cal. Cal finally slumped to the ground at Aggie’s feet. He was vulnerable.
     Wounded. The welts on his chest were raw and wouldn’t heal properly until he fed again.
    “Go ahead,” Lucy said to her quietly. “He’s unconscious. Now’s your chance.”
    Aggie hesitated, knowing Lucy didn’t mean it. Yen wouldn’t have hesitated. “He attacked
     a girl. That’s where he got all those cuts and bruises.”
    “Not unless he can be in two places at once,” Nicholas said, forcing the words out
     as he fought the heavy drug of morning. “I found Cal fighting a gang of yahoos at
     the side of the road. They took off, but judging by his broken wrist and shoulder
     and the amount of blood on him, they were winning.”
    “That’s convenient, don’t you think?”
    “Not as convenient as the fact that you were the last one seen with him at the coffeehouse.
     Fighting again, of course,” Nicholas added.
    Aggie scowled. “Did he tell you that?”
    Lucy shook her head. “No. He very specifically didn’t mention you, actually.”
    “Oh.” Her fury turned to confusion. It was just as uncomfortable. “Well, I saw this
     photo,” she said, grabbing her laptop. “And this