you be back?” Victoria shook her head. “I don’t know. We’re going to try to bring Katie back. Along with the vampire she awoke from the tomb.” Her hazel eyes fixed on Michael in a dangerous stare. “It may take a while.” “I need to go with you,” Michael said. “No. You need to stay here to protect Sarah in case they come back.” She settled another dark look on him before turning away. We watched them pull away and head down the gravel driveway. Michael’s face was set in stone, his features hard with anger and frustration. As far as I knew, he was probably to blame for the majority of the things that had gone wrong out there. Which put him in the number one spot on my shit list. But getting into any confrontation with him wasn’t going to help Sarah. I needed answers. “Michael, are you positive that Katie was involved in the murder?” He glanced over at me dismissively. “No. But I do know that she was close to the edge last night and was probably angry enough to kill.” “Because of me? You want to pin this on me?” His arm snaked out and hard fingers curled around my throat, cutting off my air supply almost instantly. I struggled to pull his hand away, using all the strength I had available. It was impossible. He was immovable. When the edges of my vision began to grow dark, I vaguely heard the screen door open. “What the fuck are you doing? Let him go!” I was released and fell, landing hard on my right side against the boards of the porch. I struggled to drag in a breath of air somehow. Sarah’s gentle hands were on my shoulders, and I heard her verbal assault on Michael clearly. “What is wrong with you? Don’t we have enough problems already without you attacking Jackson?” “Your sister would still be human if it weren’t for him.” “So it was his fault that Isaiah brought him out here and compelled him to rape me?” There was a brief silence before his reply. When it came, it was said with undisguised revulsion. “Maybe rape isn’t necessary with you.” I wanted to hit him, but she did it first. I heard the smack of her hand against his face like a strike of lightning through the night air. She took a hard breath and I looked up to see her cupping her hand in pain. He was as still and dark as the shadows beyond the house. “Get the hell out of here, Michael. I want you off my property.” He hesitated, conflicting emotions passing over his face like storm clouds. “ Now .” Whether it was the power of the Warden’s words or his own desire to flee, Michael disappeared. There was only a quick gust of wind across my face and then he was gone. Just as if he had never been there. I was sure that the bruises on my throat would remind me in the morning, though. Silently, Sarah helped me to my feet. She looked shell-shocked and pale, so I took her hand and brought her inside the house. I knew we hadn’t seen the last of Michael, but I was hoping that he would at least give her some time to recover from everything. She was safe for the moment. That was really all that mattered to me.
CHAPTER 11 – Sarah “What happened between you and Michael?” Nelly and I were in the den, watching the mid-season finale of our favorite primetime crime show. It was one of the few TV shows that we agreed on. Most of the time she watched old episodes of Little House on the Prairie and Matlock and that crap bored the hell out of me. I shook my head. “Not now. The episode is almost over.” The screen went black and I looked over at her in surprise. She was holding the TV remote and giving me a chastising look that I remembered well from when I was little. “No way, young lady.” I tossed the pillow from my lap back onto the sofa and stood up. “You really want to know? Jackson didn’t say anything about it?” “He told me that I should ask you.” She patted the wide armrest of her chair. “Sit down and tell me.” She wrapped an arm around me when I