Page 12 of Beautiful Madness

“Aaron will come for the blade.Give it to him, and he will bring it to me.”

My excitement fadedimmediately. “No fucking way.”

“After I have embedded themagic,” he continued, ignoring my refusal, “Aaron will return it to you.”

“No, Saul. There has to beanother way. Let me come to you. I’ll watch as you spell it and then I’ll takeit and be on my way.”

“Kaitlyn,” he said, almostgently, “this will solve two issues. I will help you protect your blade, andyou will discover that you can trust me.”

“Why can’t I come to you?” Iasked, frustrated. “Just tell me that.”

“You cannot see me,” he said.“And I will say no more. Where are you?”

“I can’t, Saul,” I murmured.

“If you don’t, you will losethe blade anyway. Even now, the angel Lucas is discovering your deception. He willreturn, and this time, he will take the demon blade. Trusting me is your onlyway to save it. Give me your location.”

It was like sending a baby intohell and hoping the demons wouldn’t hurt it. I closed my eyes. This weapon I’dstolen was part of me. I would not only have to trust Saul with the blade, butwith myself.

I’d have to trust a man I’dnever seen. A man who was part of the council. A man I did not know.

“Son of a bitch,” I whispered,then, “If you don’t return my blade, Saul, I will tear the council apartlooking for you—and Iwillfind you.”

“I’m aware, Kaitlyn,” he said,somewhat dryly. “I hope you will learn you can trust me. You areourweapon, and we will do whatever we can to keep you working. The demon bladehelps you fight. We will not take it from you.”

Really, I had no choice. Iwould either give the blade to Saul, or I would give it to Lucas. And though itscared the hell out of me to do it, I acquiesced. “Pull over, Joe.”

Then I told Saul where I was,and I gave up my blade.

For now.

Chapter Seven

Aaron showed up in exactly sixminutes, but it took me longer than that to finally hand over my weapon. Once Idid, thesecondI did, I was afraid I’d made a mistake. I felt exposed,somehow, and diminished.

On top of that was Saul’s insistencethat biting a vampire girl was the only way I could pick up the daywalkers’scent. I believed him. I wasn’t doing it, but I believed him. There had to beanother way. If the scent of the magic was inside her, I could get at itanother way. I could cut her and rub the blood into my palms. Something.Anything.

I wanted to believe Saul wasjust an asshole on a power trip who bossed me around because he thought hecould. I wanted to believe it—but I didn’t. Not really.

He called me a few minutes afterI’d turned over my knife and Joe was once again driving us down the crowdedcity streets. “I have the blade, Kaitlyn. I wanted to reassure you. It’s safein my possession.”

I laughed, sort of. “Thatdoesn’t really reassure me, Saul. I won’t be reassured until it’s back inmypossession.”

“I know. And there is one otherthing.”

Crap. “What?”

“If you don’t want to biteFarrow, you can let her bite you, instead. The scent will be transferred,either way. It may be weaker, but it will be there.”

“Are you out of your mind? I’mnot letting a vampire bite me.”

He was quiet for a few seconds.“You’re not going to track the daywalkers otherwise. You’ve tried. You have toput your worries and squeamishness aside and do it for the humans. For theworld, Kaitlyn. The daywalkers will grow so powerful that no one—not thecouncil, not even you—can stop them.”

“I’m not letting Farrow biteme, and I am not biting her.” I gave a full-body shudder, glad he couldn’t seeme.

Joe saw, though, and sighed.But then Joe had wanted to be bitten and turned into a vampire, so he wasn’tgoing to be sympathetic to me.

“The county master then,” Saulsaid, and finally, a note of frustration crept into his voice. “He will feedfrom Farrow after which he will bite you and transfer the scent. It may be toodiluted. Maybe nothing I suggest will work. But—”