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felt a vibration in her second back pocket, where she’d tucked her cell phone. She ignored it. No way was she going to take a call now, even if it was from Kiko and Natalia, team members who’d told Dawn last night that one of them had gotten a vision about the shadow things— custode s, as she’d just learned—and the psychics intended to go over to Eva’s flat first thing in the morning to investigate the site where Dawn had tangled with one of the keepers. Kik and Nat had the idea that, maybe, he could use his psychometric powers to conjure more visions and, thus, produce leads to the Underground. If Claudius had been more cooperative, further detective work wouldn’t have been so necessary.
    Casually, Jonah folded his arms over his chest. “It was easy to read him,” he said about Claudius. “His will is weaker because of the damage you did last night, and I think he’s even more tired now, after having to fend you off this morning.” He loosened his collar. “It’s time for Costin to wake up out of his snooze. A catnap should’ve bucked him right up.”
    “You’re letting him out?”
    “I’m a team player. I do what I have to do.” He used his grin again. “Just like you’ve always done.”
    There it was again—Jonah’s odd support of her. And the fact that it made her feel like she wasn’t such a monster after last night lent her some solace. Jonah truly wanted to do his part in saving the world; he just tried to do it in his own warped way. He loved using his vampiric powers and did it when Costin, who detested the monsters he’d always hunted before Dawn had turned him into one, refused to resort to it.
    Dawn could only watch as Jonah winked at her. Then he reared back his head, and after a few seconds, righted it, revealing burning topaz eyes while he slowly dropped his hands to his sides and straightened his posture.
    Dawn’s skin buzzed, the sensation drilling through flesh to bone, heating her.
    He was back—Costin.
    He didn’t look at her, and she knew she’d earned that.
    “Dawn,” he said, and his tone held that exotic, world-weary drag of vibration that only made her want him all the more. “Please gently encourage our guest to open his eyes.”
    Huh?
    Was he asking her to assist? He trusted her?
    When he didn’t say anything else, she moved toward Claudius. But just as she was thinking about how to be gentle about forcing someone’s eyelids open, the vamp did the favor for her.
    “I can intuit,” Claudius said through clenched teeth, “that I shall be wide-eyed no matter the situation. I’d prefer to handle this myself, thank you.”
    “Have at it,” Dawn said. “But if you don’t keep your peepers peeping, it’s A Clockwork Orange time for you.”
    She shouldn’t have said that, even if she needed to sound like she meant business. Nonetheless, one of the Friends broke her silence and tittered with that wind-tunnel laugh they had.
    Costin frowned, cutting off the Friend’s giggle.
    Dawn cleared her throat and waited to see what she needed to do next to help out.
    Claudius said, “Just so you know, Costin, I’ll be doing my best to block you.”
    “I would expect nothing less from a warrior brother,” Costin said.
    “I—”
    Claudius jerked, falling back in his chair and smacking the ground as Costin pounced toward him, keeping eye contact by poising himself above his blood brother—the fellow creature who’d also taken the oath to follow the dragon through the centuries in exchange for the glories of vampirism.
    The master vamp’s legs were frozen in midkick, his eyes saucered, and Dawn stood there, feeling an electric vibration eating at her skin.
    Costin was putting his all into this—more than even last night when he’d tried to get into Claudius’s mind via their Awareness. He was shaking so badly that she really thought he was going to implode, but she knew that if she interrupted him, he’d be angrier than ever, so she backed off,