Page 36 of Dark Victory

And Tabby heard the locks turning.

“CLOSE THE DOOR,” Nick said.

Sam did so.

“How’s your sister?” he asked.

“Upset. Can you blame her?”

“She’s a lucky lady,” Nick said. “Imagine that, a Highlander showing up just in the nick of time.”

Sam scowled unhappily at him.

He knew why she was upset. “Jumping to conclusions?”

“What do you think?”

He stared. In September when he’d gone back in time with Sam, they’d bumped into her sister and her husband. Tabitha had been living in the past for over two hundred years. It was her Destiny to go back, and it would be very easy to conclude that the man she was meant to go back with had finally come to the city for her. That would explain his sudden appearance, both in the Big Apple and at school. “If Mr. Tabitha is our Highlander, there’s no stopping either one of them.”

“I know. I’m cool.”

“You look like you’re losing your best friend.”

Sam’s face tightened so impossibly he expected her skin to crack. “If it’s Macleod, I am losing my best friend.” Then she shrugged, forcing a smile. “I fight better alone. I won’t have to worry about Tabby and her spells going awry.”

“Bullshit. And, kiddo? You’re not alone.”

She met his gaze. “Don’t bother feeling sorry for me. I like being alone.”

He liked the lip; it was better than her mourning her sister, who was going back in time sooner or later. “Why not? You’re feeling sorry as all hell for yourself.”

“Fuck you, Forrester,” she said. She turned and seized the doorknob.

“What do you make of Kristin Lafarge?” he said to her broad shoulders.

She opened the door, closed it and faced him. “Evil. But so is half of this city, and she’s not demonic.”

“Really? Because I’m not sure she’s human.”

“It’s one or the other.”

“Is it? I’ve been at HCU for a long time, Sam, and I’ve seen my share of twisted, strange entities…and things.”

Sam absorbed that. “What do you want to do? Today was Lafarge’s first day at school. The fire alarms were dismantled before the boys took Tabby and the kids hostage. They knew her by name. This was planned. The burnings are never planned.”

He’d already reached the same conclusion. “Why would some demon-run subs hunt your sister?”

“I don’t know. You think they’re hunting her?”

“Mr. Tabitha will protect her—if he is Mr. Tabitha. And I think there’s a big fat chance she is being hunted, but not by brainless subs.”

Sam stared. “You know, because of what we learned about my sister, almost anything from any time might be after her.”

“Yeah. She’s a bit of a sitting duck. Because she has no idea that her life teaching little kiddies in Manhattan is about to change…drastically.”

“Why don’t I bring Lafarge in?” Sam said furiously. As she spoke, there was a knock on Nick’s door. “I don’t mind grilling her a bit.”

He felt Kit outside and told her to enter. As she did, he said to Sam, “Let’s play this out, see if we can use her. But let’s play gentle. We’ll tail her twenty-four/seven,” he said. “Leave her be, see where she leads.”