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The week before the attack. Sonya and I got dinner, and we were stopped by some random
guy who claimed he knew her from Kentucky. She was pretty freaked out because she
was a Strigoi the whole time she was there, and obviously, she didn t hang out with humans a
lot back then.
Adrian took a few moments to turn this over in his mind. So& you re saying they ve been
checking into her for a while.
Actually, you re saying that.
Right. Because I m a genius. More silence as we both considered the implications of
Sonya s situation. When Adrian spoke again, his tone wasn t nearly so light. Sage& last
night. You never acknowledged my comment about vampire hunters.
The Alchemists have no records of modern vampire hunters, I said automatically. My
dad once said that occasionally, some random human discovers the truth. I d figured her attack
was something like that not some huge organized group or conspiracy.
Is it remotely possible that somehow, somewhere, the Alchemists might have missed
something? And what do you mean by modern exactly?
Alchemist history had been drilled into me nearly as much as the philosophies that governed
our actions. A long time ago like, back in the Middle Ages when the Alchemists
were forming, a lot of factions had different ideas on how to deal with vampires. Nobody
thought humans should associate with them. Those who eventually formed my group decided
the best way was to work with Moroi just enough to keep them separate from humans. But
there were others who didn t take that approach. They thought the best way to keep humans
free was to eradicate vampires through any means. I was relying on facts again, my old armor.
If I reasoned away this argument, then I wouldn t have to acknowledge what it would
mean if there were people actively hunting Moroi.
Sounds like vampire hunters to me, Adrian pointed out.
Yes, but they weren t successful. There were just too many vampires, Moroi and Strigoi,
for a group like this to take out. The last records we have of them are from, oh, I d say the
Renaissance. Those hunters eventually faded away. Even I heard the uncertainty in my
voice.
You said that sword had alchemy symbols on it.
Old ones.
Old enough to be from the time that splinter group was breaking away?
I sighed. Yes. That old.
I wanted to close my eyes and sink into my seat. Cracks were appearing in my armor. I
still wasn t entirely sure I could accept the idea of vampire hunters, but I could no longer rule
out their possibility.
I could see Adrian studying me out of the corner of my eye. Why the sigh?
Because this is all stuff I should have put together sooner.
He seemed very pleased at the acknowledgment. Well, you don t believe in vampire
hunters. Makes it hard to really consider them an actual threat when you operate in a world of
facts and data, huh? But then& how would they have stayed under your radar for so long?
Now that Adrian had given me the seeds, my mind was already working out the idea.
Because they re only killing Strigoi if these hunters exist. If some group were taking out
Moroi, your people would notice. The Strigoi aren t organized the same way, and even if they
noticed, it s not like they re going to report killings to us. Plus, Strigoi are killed all the time by
Moroi and dhampirs. A few dead ones would just be written off to you guys if anyone even
found them. Toss a Strigoi out in the sun, and you d never even know they d been there. Relief
poured through me at my conclusion. If a group like this did exist, they couldn t be killing
Moroi. Strigoi-hunting was still dangerous, however. Only Alchemists could be trusted to deal
with those fiends deaths and keep them secret from average humans.
Could you ask other Alchemists about hunters? Adrian asked.
No, not yet. I might be able to dig through some records, but I could never bring this up
officially. They d stick to my dad s theory that it was just some random, weird group of humans.
Then they d laugh me away.
You know who wouldn t laugh you away?
Clarence, we both said in unison.
Not a conversation I look forward to, I said wearily. But he might really know something
after all. And all his paranoia might pay off. All that home security? If this group really has it in
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