Dead If I Do by Tate Hallaway

glare. “It seemed to me that Teréza was slinking off to hide this morning. Given that she’s your progeny, shouldn’t she be able to daywalk?”
    Sebastian’s frown deepened. “What are you suggesting?”
    “Well, you always told me that the change didn’t work, and Mátyás is pretty desperate to have his mom back. Vampires have that mutant healing factor. Maybe he thought if someone else turned her, you know, more-or-less ‘all the way,’ she’d get better, you know, faster.”
    “So you think the pope healed her illness, but some other vampire got her up and walking, as it were?” His knuckles flexed on the steering wheel.
    “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
    Sebastian’s jaw clenched. Clearly, he didn’t like the idea. “I suppose it does.”
    “I’m just saying it’s not unlike Mátyás to hedge his bets.”
    “She responded to my spell well enough,” Sebastian muttered under his breath.
    “What do you mean?” I asked. “What difference does that make?”
    “I was just thinking that if Teréza has another Blood Sire, then my power over her would be diluted. That would explain why she could try to kill me at all, I suppose.”
    “I don’t know anything about this whole Blood Sire thing. Parrish would hardly talk about his.”
    “Well, I don’t have one,” Sebastian reminded me. “I’m just making guesses.”
    “But you knew a spell over her would work. How did you know?”
    Sebastian gave me a sidelong glance through his sunglasses. “I’ve been around for a thousand years. You think I never met another vampire in all that time?”
    “So you do know something,” I said. A stand of oak trees that had firmly held on to bronzed leaves blocked the sunlight momentarily.
    “Not really. The vampire I met was very . . . cagey about her traditions. Plus it turns out vampires are very territorial. She saw me as a threat.”
    “She?” I asked. I knew Parrish’s Sire was actually a lady, but I had no idea Sebastian had ever met one. I was feeling a little jealous.
    Sebastian nodded; not picking up on the subtext, he stared at the road. “I learned, though, that one thing Hollywood got right was that a vampire increases in power the more progeny they have. It ’s because they have power over the other person—the power of life and death.”
    “So, what are you saying? A Blood Sire can kill their progeny, what, with a stern glance?”
    Sebastian laughed. “No, by breaking the bond with a spell.”
    “Can you break with Teréza?”
    “Didn’t you hear what I said?” he asked sharply. “If I did that, it’d kill her.”
    “Oh.” And that would be bad because? “But there’s another vampire’s mark on her,” I pointed out. Sebastian glared at me. “It’s too risky.”
    I nodded. I was right about Sebastian. He still cared enough about her not to want to hurt her. Perhaps I should try Mátyás’s tack. “Well, maybe if we can find this other Sire, we can enlist their help. Mátyás seems to think all she needs is some direction.”
    “If that’s even the case.” Sebastian reminded me, as he adjusted his sunglasses. “No, Teréza’s problem is that she’s been buried too long.”
    “Still, maybe this other Sire could, you know, take her under his wing.”

    “His?” Sebastian asked. “You have a reason to think it’s a man?”
    Unfortunately, I could think of one likely suspect right away, one that was known to trade his bites for hard, cold cash. It didn’t take long for Sebastian to come to the same conclusion. “If it’s that Daniel Parrish, he’s going to wish he’d stayed dead.”
    Fifth Aspect: Semiquintile

    KEY WORDS: Difficult, Blocked

    At the curb, I gave my dark and brooding vampire a quick kiss good-bye. He hardly noticed me for the bloody murder in his eyes. I suspected he was going to spend the morning hunting down people who might know where Parrish slept during the day. My only comfort was that I knew the type that Parrish attracted as ghouls;