“Next time, lock the damn door,” Cass said.

Alexia elbowed her brother. “What she said.”

“Why do you need Jeff?” Cian asked, his Irish accent more pronounced than usual. It irked him that he couldn’t stop staring at his daughter’s face. Her subtle expressions ghosted his own.

“Shit is going down in an epic way and we need Jeff. He’s not at the shop and he’s not answering his phone. We’re tracking someone and we need information from Jeff.”

“Who are you tracking?”

“His name is Ethan Logan. He’s a bounty hunter,” Cass answered. “He’s been hired by some vampires to recover an item of great occult power.”

Aimee yanked a photo out of her pocket and handed it to Cian. It was the shot of a ring resting on a velvet pad. Amaliya leaned forward to see it as the others gathered around, too.

“The Summoner wore a ring just like that,” Amaliya said in a strangled voice. Her eyes had returned to normal and Cian saw the fear blooming in them.

“Recognize it, Dad?” Cassandra was obviously needling Cian.

“No, I don’t. He didn’t wear a ring like this when I was with him,” Cian said somberly.

“We’re not sure how many there are, but these rings are bad news,” Aimee explained. “We were hired to lift one off a vampire in Dallas a month ago. It got messy.”

“He bled a lot,” Cassandra admitted.

“You’re thieves?” Cian flicked his gaze back and forth between the two women. The night was full of surprises.

“I only rob the bad guys,” Cassandra said defensively.

“They’re thieves and vampire hunters,” Benchley explained.

Aimee leaned against Cassandra, who wrapped a protective arm around her waist. “We do what we have to.”

“So it got messy…” Amaliya prompted.

“Yeah, it got really bloody. And the ring...” Cass took a deep breath. “The ring touched the blood of a mortal who was in the room when I kind of took the head off the vampire master of Dallas.”

“So you killed him. Not Courtney who took his place.” Eduardo looked impressed.

“Yep. And his stupid blood minion got in the way. When the human’s blood touched the ring...weird shit started to happen.” Cass shifted on her feet uncomfortably. “It started tearing the veil between our world and the other one. I snagged the ring and threw it into an ice bucket to get the blood off. Once it was clean, the rip healed. But something big and nasty came through.”

“It took a whole lot of firepower and magic to take it down,” Aimee added.

“We escaped in the chaos. We didn’t turn the ring over to the person who hired us. A ring like this in the hands of the wrong person is bad news. So we bailed and went into hiding,” Cassandra admitted. “A few days later the guy who hired us was dead.”

“So we investigated it and figured out that the guy who hired us had been a front for another vampire.” Aimee’s eyes swept over the faces of those gathered around them. “It took some time, but we found out that guy was hired by a Professor Sumner. Which is weird, because he died four months ago after the satanic killings in East Texas.”

“Jeff had told us about you, Amaliya. We knew that The Summoner made you and used that poor sap as a cover. Just like him to play off the similarity in the names.” Cass tilted her head and regarded Amaliya thoughtfully. “We found one of The Summoner’s peeps and after a few hours of me beating on him, he admitted that The Summoner had one ring already and was looking for more.”

“So there are more than the two rings?” Cian arched his eyebrows at the same time his daughter did.

Cassandra took back the picture of the ring from Cian and handed it back to Aimee. “Yep. We were shocked to find out about ring number two, though Amaliya here just confirmed its existence. We were coming here to talk to Jeff about the ring when one of our people got a lead about the ring and Ethan Logan. They said he was tracking down Amaliya and that there had been the mention of a ring.”

“How do you know we don’t have the ring?” Cian asked.

“Neither one of you is wearing it,” Cass answered. “And if you possessed this ring, you’d be wearing it. Its power is addicting. When I held it in my hand…” She shivered. “Aimee felt it, too. That ring has some major mojo infused into it.”

“The Summoner is dead. I killed him. The ring is somewhere in a graveyard, buried forever,” Amaliya said confidently.

“Oh, fuck,” Alexia gasped. “That’s why they’re digging up his remains! To get the ring! Not to turn Amaliya back to mortal!”

“This isn’t good,” Benchley said nervously. “This isn’t good at all.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Amaliya said sharply.

“Ethan Logan is with Pete Talbert, Sergio, and Innocente out in Fenton digging up the pieces of The Summoner,” Benchley blurted out. “Cynthia called Jeff today when she couldn’t get a hold of Sergio. Jeff and Samantha drove out there earlier to see what was really going on. Ethan told all of them he has a ritual to restore Amaliya to mortal, but that he needed The Summoner’s remains!”

“The distraction!” Cian roared the words, anger flooding him. “Rachon is after the ring! She hired Ethan Logan! She never wanted us to begin with. She just wanted us distracted while they used Amaliya’s family to get to the ring!”

Amaliya shoved past the group and broke into a sprint.

“Amaliya!” Cian called after her.

“I have to get to my family!” Amaliya disappeared into the trees.

“They’re in Fenton! You can’t run there!” Benchley shouted after her.

“Who does she think she is? Wonder Woman?” Cass scoffed.

“If they’re in the cemetery right now digging up his remains, they’ll have the ring soon, if they don’t already. Those rings are dangerous,” Aimee exclaimed, gripping Cassandra’s arm.

“It’ll take a couple of hours to get there,” Benchley exclaimed.

“So why don’t you fly!” Cassandra flung up her hands at Cian.

“I can fly, but not that far,” he answered defensively.

“I can get us there,” Aimee said in somber tone.

“Babe,” Cass said, worried.

“I can do it. It’ll severely drain me, but I can do it.” The witch raised her chin confidently.

“We need to get Amaliya back here.” Cian wondered how far she had gotten and just what she was planning on doing. Running there? Stealing a car?

“I’ll go get her,” Eduardo volunteered.

“Do it,” Cian ordered.

The coyote dashed after the female vampire, looking a little too gleeful.

“Get my stuff, Cass” Aimee said to Cassandra.

Cass squeezed her hand, then dashed off.

“We are parked near here,” Aimee explained. She rubbed her hands together nervously.

“What happened to the ring you stole?” Cian asked.

“We hid it when we realized what it could do. We didn’t want to hold onto it any longer than we had to.” Aimee pulled her bronze colored hair back from her face, wrapping it into a bun and tucking the ends under to secure it. “A ring that can rip the veil is dangerous, but now there appears to be more than one.”

Cassandra rushed up with two big bags and handed one off to the witch. “I got the energy bars, too.”

“I’ll need them,” Aimee said glumly. “Sorry I won’t be much help when we get there.”

“Just do it. We’ll handle the rest,” Cass assured her.

Aimee smiled as Cass kissed her lips lightly, then stepped away to let her do her task. The witch immediately started digging through her bag for the items she needed. “I’ll open a portal between here and the cemetery. I’ll need someone to help me focus the spell. Someone who has been there.”

“I can do it,” Cian assured her, squatting down to watch her work.

“Once the portal opens, everyone needs to get through as fast as possible. Cass, you need to drag my ass through. I’ll only be able to stay conscious around five seconds,” Aimee instructed.

“I’ll get you through,” Cassandra promised.

“I think we shouldn’t go straight to the cemetery, but the hotel nearby,” Cian suggested. “They probably shouldn’t see us coming.”

“Agreed.” Cass opened up the second bag and started to strap on weapons. “Need some, Dad?”

Cian narrowed his eyes at her and she gave him a delighted grin. “I have what I need, Cassandra.”

“He already sounds like a dad,” Aimee noted with a slight smile.

Cassandra lifted her eyes. “Great.”

“Got her!” Eduardo said triumphantly, dragging Amaliya behind him.

“I need to get a car and get out there!” Amaliya protested angrily. “Cian, I have to go!”

“We have it covered, Amaliya. The witch—”