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power? I’ll tell you.” She felt all three of them staring at her as if she were a bomb about to go off. And she could certainly oblige them.
    “Gabriel,” she said. “He’s still inside of me. And he’s taught me everything I know about what I am and what I’m capable of, right from the beginning. Including how to keep my soul after being turned into a vampire.”
    No one spoke.
    Another wolf howled, closer now.
    The police sirens had also gained volume. The others should have been able to hear them now.
    Jessie didn’t know what to expect for a reaction after telling them about Gabriel. The usual shouting and bickering. Stunned silence. An attempt from Teresa to lodge a stake through her heart. Anything except for what came next.
    Craig wrenched the supernatural Taser out of Teresa’s hand, marched up to Jessie, and jammed the business end up under her chin. Jessie had a second to gasp.
    Then her dad hit the switch.
    An instant of terrible pain.
    Then darkness.

Chapter Six
    Kate could still feel that strange tingle under her chin that had awakened her in the middle of the night. At the time, she thought she might have strained a muscle in her neck or something. She’d been in the middle of a nightmare at the time, though she couldn’t recall any details except for one strange phrase she had spoken in the dream herself.
    This is how it starts.
    What was starting and what was causing the start, she hadn’t the foggiest.
    A couple years ago, she would have thought nothing of it. She never gave dreams any thought because she assumed they amounted to little more than the flotsam of the subconscious mind. But once she had been introduced to the supernatural world, she took nothing for granted, from the smallest coincidence to the warped visions in her dreams. It could all mean something more.
    She scratched at the spot under her chin while trying to pay attention to what the woman across the table was saying to her. She found it hard to concentrate on the lady’s spiel because Kate had heard it so many times before.
    How many boutiques with burning incense and some variation of sitar music had she sat in just like this one? The collection of statues on shelves—everything from Buddha to demonic cats. Even the creaky voice of the shop’s proprietor sounded similar to all the others.
    This particular woman—Gala, she had introduced herself as, which made Kate think of the apple—reached across the table and held one of Kate’s hands in both of hers. Her skin felt softer than the wrinkles had promised. A nice variation to the leather and papyrus the many others offered. Kate could have done without the “natural” body odor from Ms. Gala, however.
    “…almost as if you fear finding her.”
    Kate blinked her way out of her reverie. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
    Gala smiled. She had a single dimple that creased her left cheek and almost looked like a wound. “Your thoughts are elsewhere.”
    Kate wasn’t sure if Gala meant that as part of her “reading,” or if she had stated the obvious to embarrass Kate into paying better attention. “I’ve a lot on my mind.”
    “I know.”
    Kate stifled a yawn. Why had she wasted her time on another place like Mystic Tree , the name of Gala’s supposed psychic boutique? It would end the same as all the others—with vague predictions as helpful as the fortune in a fortune cookie.
    “I’m sorry,” Kate said. “I don’t think you can help me.”
    The woman’s smile broadened. Her lone dimple grew deeper. “You really weren’t listening, were you?”
    Kate pulled back the hand that Gala held, intending to get up, thank the woman for her time, and be on her way.
    Gala gripped Kate’s hand tightly and refused to let go. “You need to hear what I have to say.”
    “With all due respect, I have been to twenty or more places just like this one, and I’ve yet to hear anything that has brought me any closer to finding my daughter.”
    The woman’s eyes