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  “It’s done. We’re ready.” Not batting an eye, Mortimer strolled over to Veronique, his cold brown eyes instantly warming. He leaned down to whisper, “I’ll be back before you even know I’m gone.” His light touch on her shoulder earned him a growl and a sideways glare, and I caught a glimpse of those hideous eyes for the first time. I cringed. It was ironic that vampires were designed to be such irresistible creatures to their prey, and yet their weakness—their lack of control around human blood—revealed their true hideousness so noticeably.

  Mortimer chuckled, his eyes still on Veronique. “You’re going to be awfully embarrassed when I tell you that you growled at me.” Murmuring in French, Mortimer leaned down to place a quick kiss on her head before stepping away, a nostalgic look on his face. He’d waited so long for a chance to see her again, with the hope that she would choose him over Viggo. And she had. Despite our tumultuous past, I was happy for him.

  Finally, Mortimer’s attention shifted to me. “Why aren’t you feeding?”

  That is the question of the day, isn’t it? Max said from behind me, having slinked in.

  “I already have,” I responded evenly, tired of this line of questioning. There was a war coming. There were more important things to focus on.

  Mortimer glared at Sofie, his thick, dark brow furrowed with accusation. “Why isn’t she like them?”

  “I don’t know, Mortimer,” she bit back crisply, taking several steps toward the end of the exit tunnel. “You can ask the Fates if you’d like, but I’m not going anywhere near them again. Besides, we have a war to deal with and we’re wasting precious time.”

  I turned to follow them out.

  Sofie stopped abruptly and spun around on her heels. “I knew it!” she hissed. Now it was Caden’s turn to receive an accusatory glare. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”

  I eyed him guardedly. “Tell me what?”

  With a heavy sigh, Caden averted his eyes. “You’re not coming with us, Evie.”

  What? “You’re not leaving me here!” After all we’d been through, I wasn’t going to sit in this mine while the rest of them put themselves in danger. I wasn’t going to be separated from Caden. Again!

  “We need you to stay here, with Julian and Veronique, and we don’t have time to argue,” Sofie cut in. “Plus, now we need someone to make sure that Celine and Brian have a bag of blood in their hands the moment they awaken.”

  “Who are Celine and Brian?”

  “Kait’s and Galen’s humans.”

  Right. The deal. Turning their humans for them. That’s what they’d been fighting over earlier. “Kiril can do that,” I objected. “Right, Kiril?”

  Kiril’s bushy brow arched.

  “No, he can’t. They may get confused and bite him,” Sofie said.

  But … “I’m not fragile anymore!” I was running out of arguments, my voice sounding whiny. I hated whiny. I also had no interest in being a babysitter.

  Sofie grabbed my hands, her hard mask softening for just a second. “We cannot bring fledglings in to fight fledglings. We can’t watch over any sitting ducks. You’ll be fine here. Safe. And we will see you soon.”

  Sofie was impossible to sway, so I didn’t bother. I simply whispered, “Keep them safe. Please.”

  “We’ll all be fine. Fledglings are easy to kill. It’s just as matter of finding them,” she assured me. With a pursed lip, she vanished, followed by Mortimer.

  “She’s right,” Caden whispered, pulling me into his taut body. Amelie strolled over to Julian, presumably to say her goodbyes. She got the same savage growl, along with a hand swat.

  I made my last attempt on Caden. “I understand why they can’t go but I’m not like them, Caden! I haven’t lost control.”

  “Not yet,” he corrected, shaking his head. “I hate leaving you here but I can’t worry about you out there, Evie, and that’s all I’d be doing. Plus, do you really think you’re ready to go into New York City and hunt down a hundred fledglings and kill them? Do you even know how to kill someone?”

  I buried my face in his collarbone, absorbing the feel and smell of him one last time before he left me, the very thought a hollow ache in my core. He was right. Though it was apparently now part of my DNA, I didn’t know the first thing about killing. Truth be told, I had no desire to exterminate anything. Except perhaps Viggo, and even then, I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to actually pull the trigger, so to speak.

  Having me there could endanger everyone. Including Caden.

  “Promise me that you’ll stay here?” he whispered.

  I nodded in silence, knowing the fight was lost.

  He lifted my face to meet his jade eyes. “We’ll be back before you know it,” he assured softly. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. Bored, maybe. But fine.”

  “What if an unsuspecting human comes out here and I accidently kill them?”

  Caden gave me a one-shoulder shrug. “Then we’ll know you’re normal.” My flat glare made him chuckle. “No one’s going to wander into these mines in the dead of winter and if they do, Max and the wolves will scare them away.” Pressing his lips to my cheek, I felt a cool, hard object placed within my grasp. A cell phone. “Galen may be an ass, but he’s a smart one. He’s got us all set up. The guy thinks he’s a Navy Seal.” Caden’s smirk fell from his mouth after a moment. “If you need to call me for anything, then call. And if I don’t answer, don’t worry. We’re just busy, is all.”

  I wrapped my arms tightly around his shoulders. We’d waited so long, been through so much to be able to stand here like this, and now that we could, I was afraid it would be taken away from me. Would that be the finale to the Fates’ sick game? Would they take Caden away from me? Would it be at Viggo’s hands, as Mortimer predicted? I didn’t want the world to fall apart but living in a world without Caden, forever, felt even more unbearable.

  Chapter Two – Sofie

  “How long before the snow turns crimson?” Mage mused, overlooking the crime scene. Investigators and police sifted through a city block’s worth of still-smoldering rubble under countless temporary spotlights. They’d easily be here through the night and into tomorrow.

  The others in our little task force lined the edge of the rooftop at the other corner, a row of solemn soldiers, watching. The grim view held even Bishop’s tongue. Not that long ago, we’d been confined to the walls that once stood there.

  It was only yesterday that I’d used up every last ounce of my magic to incinerate Viggo and Mortimer’s building, intent on burning all evidence that would give witnesses watching in horror from the gates credence to their stories. They would probably still find remains, though. Human and witch. Perhaps some of the Ratheus vampires. The place was too big to engulf completely and I doubted that the underground levels had been fully destroyed. That’s where they’d find the blood vault and, if that hadn’t been destroyed, many more questions would be raised.

  “I don’t know if this is the right plan, Mage,” I admitted, softly enough that the words would not carry over to the others.

  “You already know what my thoughts are, Sofie. But you made your call and there can be no waffling, especially in front of others. You asked them to believe in you, to give you their loyalty. They need to see you as a leader or this will never work.”

  “Why can’t we make the decision together? Why must there be one leader?” I muttered, more to myself.

  Of course, Mage provided an answer. She always had an answer. “Because you can’t. It never works.” I’ve learned not to question Mage. The vampiress had lived for five thousand years—the original vampire in her world. She’d already survived one human apocalypse in her own world of Ratheus. And she’d been right about everything so far.

  If the call needed to be made, it would need to be made by me. I could not dither, I could not doubt.

  New York City would need to burn.

  It seemed so … drastic.

  “We could still turn around. We could head back to the min
es. You could make the call. This entire mess would be gone within two hours, if all proceeds as planned with Isaac.”

  My head shook as I watched the hundreds of innocent people below, doing their jobs, trying to make sense of what had happened at this Fifth Avenue address. I could not so simply extinguish their lives, along with eight million other innocents. All because of what … a few hundred fledglings, maybe?

  If we could find them, my witch fire could consume them quickly, as long as they were contained. After that, we’d have the media footage to deal with, but we’d somehow figure that out. We always have. “No, let’s fix this now.”

  “And Viggo?” Mage’s black eyes flashed with fire. “You know he’s out there, somewhere, waiting for us.”

  My eyes skittered over to the others, looking for signs that the name was caught on one of their ears. When satisfied that it had not, I murmured, “Yes. I’m sure he is.” Perhaps it was my own paranoia but I could feel his presence even now. I’d always been able to, like a strange sixth sense, the hairs on the back of my neck spiking whenever the psychopath was near.

  I knew that the chaos Viggo was creating was not just his retaliation against Veronique’s choice. It was a marker, letting me know where he was. That I shouldn’t forget about him. He assumed that Evangeline was dead and I was crushed. He assumed I would come looking for him, ready to incinerate him. In fact, if we were to go visit the scene of the city mayor’s death, he would probably be there, waiting. Expecting me.

  It was best to stay away from Viggo, though, and keep Caden out of sight as well. As long as Viggo believed Evangeline to be dead, then he’d keep us alive to suffer. I would bet my existence on that.

  “If anyone were to catch wind of Viggo, they’d be running back to the mines faster than the fledglings will flee upon attack,” Mage pressed. “I wish you would’ve let me kill him back in France.”

  I snorted. “So do I.” I would have had to lie to Veronique, tell her that the witches had killed him. Looking at the situation now, I would have swallowed the guilt of that lie happily. Six of us standing on this roof had someone back in that mine—protected by wolves and werebeasts, none of them a match for a vengeful Viggo—who he would gladly take from us. Part of me was desperate to run. Grab Evangeline and run to the most remote rainforest in the world, where we would be sheltered from him.

  But that wasn’t an option, and I could read between the lines with Mage’s warning—keep everyone in the dark about Viggo, at all costs.

  Her brow pinched together for a second before smoothing to that placid mask of indifference. “What do you make of Evangeline’s transformation? Something is not quite … right, wouldn’t you agree?”

  I exhaled heavily. “I don’t know what to think of that. I couldn’t find a thing within her that was off. She felt exactly like any of us do.” That I hadn’t left her hovering over a bag of human blood like a mongrel was more than surprising. A relief, to be honest. To not be consumed so completely, to not lose all humanity … that would be a gift from the Fates. But I had never known the Fates to be generous with their grants and so I could not focus on anything but my concern. “We’ll have to figure it out after we’ve done what we came here to do.”

  Mage’s head bobbed. “Good. That’s best, not to be distracted right now.”

  “I appreciate your counsel, Mage. As always,” I said truthfully, “but we’d better get going.” We made our way back to the others, who were deep in conversation.

  “Bloody media, all over the place.” Kait sneered at the CNN crew below.

  “It doesn’t help that the ground outside was littered with evidence,” Mortimer answered. Countless markers sat on the snow-covered ground, indicating where the dozens of bodies with snapped necks had been discovered after the blast.

  “We didn’t have time to compel witnesses,” she threw back.

  “Did you even try?” From what I’d heard of Kait and what I had myself witnessed, she wouldn’t be the type to even try. Unlike me, human life meant nothing but a meal and lifestyle security to her.

  “It doesn’t matter. It had already gone viral,” Lilly said, ending the back-and-forth in her childlike voice. She shook her head. “The humans are stupid. They see a massacre and instead of running for their lives, they pull their cameras out and begin recording. Look at them.” She gestured toward the crowd outside the police tape. “Even now, they’re eager to catch a glimpse.”

  Early reports were fast to label it a terrorist bombing, but the eyewitness accounts of those who escaped, coupled with images and videos circulating the Internet, quickly connected the dots into a terrifying picture that no reputable journalist would give credibility to without first investigating.

  “They’ll be finished with analyzing the images soon,” Mage said softly. “And then the president will make a speech, declaring that everyone must remain in their homes for safety. No one will label us for what we are yet. Look, there.” Her long, slender finger aimed to a single military vehicle rolling down the street, past the police barricades. “By this time tomorrow, those trucks will be all over the streets.”

  “What’s the body count at now?” I asked.

  “NYPD reports say two hundred and six, but my inside source revealed it’s double that,” Lilly replied, earning my groan. “The last reports of an attack were at a college campus residence not far from here.” So they were staying relatively close. That was good. “Thirty bodies, found an hour ago. The attack style sounds like fledglings.” Lilly’s voice hinted at nothing. Was anyone else afraid? No one seemed to be. Not sufficiently, anyway. Well, except for Mage.

  “Why don’t you make yourself useful and hit this place with another blast of your magic, Sofie?” Mortimer suggested as we watched the forensics team struggle to scale a heap of stone, evidence cases in hand.

  “My magic is not endless, Mortimer.” I would love to level the rest of Viggo and Mortimer’s home with another explosion but I needed all of my power for what we were about to face—it was far more threatening than a few army trucks and a forensics team. “I also want something that may still be inside.” A small canvas bag that held the only natural substance toxic to vampires. There was a very small chance—but still, a chance—that it remained intact.

  “I’ll come with you,” Caden offered.

  My mouth opened to refuse him. I probably would be better off going alone, but this ensured that Caden was not out of my sight. I’d promised Evangeline that I would protect them. I knew that Caden was at the top of her list. “Fine, the rest of you, stay here. If it looks like we’re in trouble, provide some sort of distraction. If we separate, you all know where to meet.”

  Though Galen was a thorn in our heel every step of the way, he had prepared us well, arming us with programmed cell phones and two-way radios, blow torches and lighters for effectively killing fledglings where my magic might not be available, and a rendezvous location in front of the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park should we find ourselves dislocated. The last thing we wanted to do was lose track of our small team, especially when sunrise—and my difficult decision—would come quickly.

  Caden and I scaled down the fire exit, leaping from one platform to the next with the ease of ghosts and without regard for spectators, though I doubted anyone would notice. They were too focused on the mayhem across the street.

  “How do you want to do this?” Caden murmured as we ducked under the police tape.

  “As quickly and quietly as possible,” I hissed back as several police officers raised their hands to stop us. “Starting now.” I ran, sensing Caden’s presence beside me as we sprinted past the officers, forensics, and firefighters, leaving them scratching their heads.

  As I’d hoped, the blast of fire had demolished everything above street level, but the underground remained passable. Several of the entrances were still open for passage, propped up by constructed wooden supports. Even in utter darkness, I could see numerous dusty footprints. The humans had already
been down here, likely scouring for survivors.

  But the small crowd of investigators hovering around the blood cellar had discovered something more. Judging by the frowns and low hum of voices and flashes of a camera, it was very concerning.

  I couldn’t blame them. The room resembled a morgue—Viggo did design it after all. Stainless steel panels stretched from floor to ceiling, and behind each one was a refrigerated drawer. The supply had been almost drained, leaving perhaps one or two drawers with evidence.

  I’d destroy those before we left here tonight.

  “Excuse me, gentlemen,” I crooned, stepping into a beam from the temporarily erected light. “And madam,” I added, nodding to the single female with a camera in hand and an FBI badge around her neck. Heads slowly turned toward my voice, unrushed, likely expecting another officer or specialist, there to feed them important information. “You shouldn’t be down here. It’s very unstable.”

  When their eyes scanned over my black attire, my wild red hair, my oddly casual smile, I saw the flickers of suspicion ignite.

  Quickly penetrating each gaze with my own, I pulled all five minds into mine, watching the swirl of cloudiness take over their irises. “Forget you ever saw the contents of this room,” I droned. “Turn around, walk to the end of the hall, and take the stairs up. Do not come back down. Report that you have found nothing of interest.”

  Like drones, the five began moving past us in single file, in the direction we’d just come. Caden edged past the last person to step into the very familiar cellar. He and his friends had spent many hours in here, trying to curb the uncontrollable urge that came with tasting human blood again.

  That’s when the tall, dark-haired man bringing up the rear raised a gun and shot Caden three times in quick succession. The sound of the blasts ricocheted through the hall, no doubt reaching the ears of those above.

  With the handgun a mere foot away, the bullets exploded into Caden’s back. Two of them exited his chest. The third did not.

  The shuffle of feet behind me stalled, the loud bang interfering with my compulsion. “Exit, now!” I commanded, my eyes wide as Caden dropped to his knees with a growl, his face grimaced with pain.