I sighed.Let’s just nip this in the bud, shall we?

I closed the remaining distance between us, reached forward, and grabbed the cross to show him that it didn’t hurt me at all. It was quite pretty, actually. And shiny. His eyes widened in fear.

Then I grabbed his shirt and pulled him up to his feet—easy to do since he was like a rag doll now—then brought him close enough that our eyeballs were only inches from each other.

“I will let you live . . .today ,” I said, calmly and dangerously. I used to aspire to become a world-famous, well-paid actress, so I just called on that questionable ability to give my words a little

“But if you or your friends come near me again, I shall bathe in your blood.”

Ew. Did I just say that? How disgusting.

But it seemed to get my point across.Chad was now the one scrambling backward, nodding like a lunatic, saying, “Yes, yes, I promise,” over and over again. Then he got shakily to his feet, and with a last look of fear—the intense kind one might have just before losing total bladder control—he turned and ran from the park like the proverbial bat out of hell.

I leaned over and picked the stake up from whereChad the Vampire Slayer had dropped it and studied it for a moment. I had to go find Thierry, tell him what had happened here, and ask him what I should do about it. If anybody would know, he would. He just wasn’t going to be too happy about it.

Slayer of Slayers, huh?

I threw the stake into a nearby garbage can.

That new little nickname wasso going to come back to bite me in the ass.

I first tried calling Thierry’s cell phone, but it immediately took me into voicemail, which was frustrating at the best of times. He wasn’t at his townhome, either. So I’d gone back to my apartment to change,