Page 66 of Bad Medicine

“Hey pal,” Joe said. “Thefucking council just called her in and told her about the daywalkers. Put youranger and blame on them, not Kait.”

“I have enough anger,” Bastienreplied, “to go around.” He put his stare back on me and even though I didn’tlook at him, I could feel Joe’s relief that he was no longer being pinned bythe vampire master’s dark stare. “I will be on this team our council demands.”

“And Farrow, I suppose?” Iglanced around. “You two are usually attached at the hip. Where is she?”

He went completely still, andthough vampires were almost always eerily motionless, he took it to a wholeother level. If I hadn’t known he was there, I might not have seen him—that’show completely…dead he went. Then I understood why.

“Farrow is no more,” he said.“I was forced to give her to the council to kill. She is now navigating theafterlife she so violently feared.”

And there was such pain in hisvoice that I flinched. I actually reached across the table to touch his hand beforeI understood that was a touch neither of us really wanted and withdrew. “God,Bastien. I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“Kait,” he said. “Kait.”

I put my fingers to my lips. “Thecouncil told me one of yours was turned and had to be destroyed,” I whispered.“Fuck.” I couldn’t possibly know exactly what Farrow had meant to Bastien, butI knew that when he’d had to end her, even if he hadn’t done it personally,it’d taken what was left of his heart to do it. And I saw the chasm ofnothingness in his stare. Would he bounce back?

I doubted it. He would do whatvampires did. He would take the hit and let the darkness swallow him. Maybethere really were no good vampires, but Bastien might have been as close to oneas I would ever get.

Living forever was hard fuckingwork.

ChapterThirty-One

“This team you’re assembling,”Joe said, after we left Scarlett’s. “How many people are we going to need?”

“It’s assembling itself,” Igrumbled, “and I have no idea.”

“A team of daywalker hunters,”he said. “Has a different ring to it than “vampire hunters,” doesn’t it?”

“It really does.”

“What about Jared?”

I shook my head, then inhaleddeeply, pulling in the fresh night air to dispel the dense gloom and despair ofBastien Martel. “He’s got his hands full with the new wolves and trying tocombine the two packs. But I could use Remy Simon.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Neverthought I’d hear you say that.”

I shrugged. “He might be anasshole and a human but he’s a damn good hunter. I think he wants to be faraway from me, though. He’s not exactly a fan of supernaturals.”

“Fuck him,” he said, then,“Zach?”

“Absolutely.”

“Have you told him?”

“Yes.” I hesitated. “I haven’tseen him since you both went looking for Lennon.”

“We’ll find her, Kait.”

“Yeah.” We reached my car and Igave it a pat before opening my door. “Just another bad guy to hunt down andkill.”

“The shapeshifter,” he said,fastening his seatbelt.

“Sam is…” I shook my head. “Hishead is messed up.”

“I meant for the team.” He squintedat me, gauging me for a reaction he knew he was going to get. “We could usehim.”

I looked at him. “He torturesand murders human women, Joe. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that itdoesn’t bother you.”

He didn’t look away, didn’tfidget, just met my accusing stare calmly. “Let me ask you something. If Samwere killing fathers who horrifically abused their young daughters, would youstill be as eager to stop him? If he were hunting and killing men who torturedlittle girls, would you still see him as the bad guy, or as the supernaturalhunter who rids the world of evil? If he were taking out nonhumans whobrutalized innocent kids, would you condemn him, or would you help him?”Finally, he faced forward. “Think about it, Kait.”