Looking up at her red-streaked, skeletal face as she sucked blood from the fabric of her dress, I felt real fear. Palpable, bone-chilling fear. The kind that comes when you think you’ve seen it all but something comes along that far exceeds your worst nightmare. Because when the blood-crazed female finally opened her eyes, I didn’t see my sister in there. The earthy, generous, kind-hearted Maisie had checked out, and this blood-starved beast had taken up residence in her body.
“More.” The gravelly voice hinted at destroyed vocal cords. From starvation or from days spent screaming for help that never came, I didn’t know.
Adam held up his hands. “We’ll get you more soon. But first we need to get out of here.”
“More!” the wraith that used to be my sister screamed.
I stepped forward, slowly. “Maisie, sweetheart, Adam needs to take you home now. He’ll get you blood as soon as you get there, okay?”
Maisie threw back her head and howled. “Blood!”
“Maisie, stop!” I jumped at her, grabbing the frayed hem of her chiton and yanking. “We have to get you to out of here.”
Her body swayed and she cackled. Her knees creaked as she lowered herself to look into my face. “Shh.” A single dirty finger ran down my cheek. “The black dog howls at the crossroads.” She threw back her head and howled like a wolf at the moon.
Every hair on my body stood at attention. I grabbed her arms with suddenly frigid hands. Keeping my voice steady, I said, “Time to go.”
She cocked her head like a bird. “The skeleton clock is ticking, ticking, ticking.”
A chill ran down my spine, like someone walked over my grave. The words she’d spoken? They were straight out of the vision quest I had back in New York. I had no idea what they meant, but hearing them come from my sister’s mouth felt like a seriously bad omen. “Adam, grab her. You two have to get out of here.”
“But—”
I jerked my head around to glare at him over my shoulder. “Now!”
He jumped into motion then, wrapping his arms around Maisie. She cackled again as he held her tight to his chest like a baby. “What about you?”
I pulled a second gun from my belt, my eyes already searching for whatever was coming. “Dammit, mancy, just go!”
He hesitated. And in that split second, Maisie’s screeching laughter cut off abruptly. The sudden silence was heavy. In the next instant, my sister, looking like Carrie after the prom, whispered, “Too late.”
Before I could react to the downright creepiness of her hushed words, a gate on a nearby crypt slammed open. Red-hooded figures swarmed into the clearing. An instant later, magic crackled through the clearing as several Caste members flashed in.
Driven by instinct and adrenaline, I spun and started shooting. “Go!” I shouted over my shoulder at the mage.
Bullets flew thick through the air. I tried to pick off as many of the enemy as possible. My goal was to distract them long enough for Adam to get the hell out of Dodge. But when no signs of magic tightened the air, I chanced a look over my shoulder.
My heart stuttered and my breath whooshed out like I’d been sucker punched.
My grandmother tilted her head and smiled at me. She wore a low-cut scarlet silk number— like this was a fucking formal ball instead of an ambush. Standing next to her was a familiar Avenger demon whose presence chilled my bones. But it was the brass garrote wrapped around Adam’s throat that made my heart stop.
“We are so thrilled you decided to join us for the party,” Granny Dearest said. “Now, why don’t you drop those weapons before my friend here removes the mancy’s head. You remember Eurynome, don’t you, dear?”
29
I gripped the guns tighter in my clammy palms. “I’m the one you want. Let them go.”
Lavinia smirked and crossed her arms. The entire audience of her flunkies had gone silent, waiting for her command. “You still believe this is all just about you? I suppose that’s to be expected from an only child.”
“I’m not an only child.” I nodded toward Maisie, who struggled against the hold of two Caste vamps. “But if I tend to act like one, you have no one else to blame but yourself.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Actually, if it’d been up to me, neither of you would have existed at all.” She waved a ringed hand through the air. “But that mistake will be rectified soon enough. Now do as Grandmother asked and drop the weapons.”
My heart galloped and cold sweat bloomed on my back. Funny thing about playing the hero— no one ever tells you how hard it is to be brave when you’re scared shitless. But if I dropped my weapons, I’d lose my chance to end this. I knew that as sure as I knew this was the only way to save Adam and Maisie.
Instead of lowering the guns, I raised them— one filled with vampire-killing bullets and the other mundane. Time slowed. Adam shouted something. Movement from my left. The hair on my neck prickled, warning of an impending magic attack. No more time to hesitate.
Exhale.
Squeeze.
Explosion.
Chaos.
The spell slammed into me like a freight train. Vertigo as it knocked me off my feet. Crushing pain as my body slammed into stone. An inevitable slide followed by the crunch of bone against earth. On some level, I knew the spell came from Eurynome. I’d been subjected to his particular form of magical torture before on a New York subway platform. Luckily, Giguhl had been there that night to intervene while the spell ravaged my body. Now, however, familiarity didn’t lessen the spell’s impact. The magic spread beneath my skin like thousands of fire ants trying to consume me from the inside.
Lost in a haze of pain, I was only vaguely aware of scattering bodies and frantic shouts. A flash of light illuminated the red capillaries in my eyelids. Somehow I managed to pry one lid open. Sure enough, a plume of smoke rose from the area where Lavinia had stood only moments earlier. Frantic bodies swarmed the spot, blocking a better view.
Eurynome bore down on me like an avenging angel. And just behind, Adam struggled to remove the brass wire from his neck. The mouth that kissed me just hours ago now opened wide in agonized shouts I couldn’t hear.
“Go!” I tried to yell, but the words came out in a weak croak. Tears sprang to my eyes. Bittersweet. Pain, yes. Regret. But also, relief. Finally, my bullet found its target. Two months too late. But finally.
A shadow fell across me. Blocking my view of Adam. Not long now. I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.
“Bring her to me!”
My eyes popped back open. The screech cut through the pain like a knife. Made my heart lock up in my chest. I couldn’t see past Eurynome’s hooves, but I’d know that banshee cry anywhere. After all, I’d grown up hearing it every time I displeased the Alpha Domina.
“No!” My tongue felt too large for my mouth. Rough claws grabbed at my arms. Weak and dizzy, I fought the demon as best I could. Which was not nearly good enough. Never good enough.
The Avenger demon dragged my limp body toward the clump of Brotherhood robes. Tears stung my eyes, blurring my vision. The Brothers parted to reveal the enraged countenance of Lavinia Kane bearing down on me.
Pain from Eurynome’s attack dampened the heat of her palm against my face. But my head whipped back from the impact. The severe planes of Lavinia’s pale face came back into focus. As did the harsh red circle that spat blood from her chest.
The wrong bullet had hit the right target.
My eyes shifted to the charred, smoking remains of the Caste vampire who’d taken the right bullet. And fate whispered in my ear, “Who’s the bitch now?”
Lavinia leaned in as the icy realization of failure spread through my limbs. “You’re going to scream before I send you to Irkalla.”
Her threat didn’t touch me. The moment I realized she survived, I detached. Retreated into myself, totally removed from the promise of future pain. Nothing could hurt more than the knowledge that my mistake had signed both Adam and Maisie’s death warrants. That it signed my own didn’t matter.
“Do your best,” I slurred.
Sharp fingers dug into my jaw, forcing me to meet eyes glittering with a mixture of rage and madness. “But first, I’m going to make you watch me drain that mongrel lover of yours dry.”
That did it. As much as I struggled to remain separate from this horrible reality, the tears started to run freely.
What is it they say? Pride goeth before the fall? Well, mine went the second I realized the cider bullet missed her. “Let him go.”
Lavinia scooted closer, squeezed my chin tighter. “What was that?”
I swallowed the bile and taste of copper coating my tongue. “Spare him.”
“Ah-ah-ah, ask nicely.”
“Please.”
“If you’re going to beg, do it properly. Please, who?”
I closed my eyes. “Please spare him, Domina.”
She released me as if she couldn’t stand to touch me. “Pathetic.” She spat on the ground at my feet. “No blood of mine begs for the life of a mage!” She turned her back to me, dismissing me like an abomination.
Just beyond her, I finally spied Adam again. Despite the new gashes on his lip and forehead and the hands bound in front of him in brass shackles, he looked so brave with his shoulders thrown back and his head held high. His eyes burned at me with strong emotion. I knew better than to hope love made his eyes shine. Everything he’d predicted— and worse— had come to pass. Shame and regret washed over me like acid. That I begged for his life wouldn’t matter. If it weren’t for my stupidity, his life wouldn’t be in danger at all.
Near the vampires holding Adam, a burly male with a copper-colored buzz cut backhanded Maisie. Her body slumped instantly, and the vamp hefted her easily over his shoulder. Eurynome wrenched me from the ground. My feet struggled to hold my weight and I stumbled. My clumsiness earned me a cuff to the back of the head.
The same claw that hit me grabbed a handful of hair to lift me off the ground. Eurynome’s gravelly voice sounded next to my ear. “Where’s your pet now, bitch?” He raised a claw to hit me again, but Lavinia’s voice stilled his hand.