Something in me shriveled and died. Those girls were dead because of me and their families would never know what happened to them. “All of this to catch Madeline Croix?”

Eli laughed softly, his chest rumbling against my back. “Ah, Madeline. There was a beauty. I almost had her once, but she has evaded me all these years. My Master has not been happy about that.” His arms squeezed me lightly. “But you are the greater prize I think.”

“Are-are you going to take me to your master?” I didn’t know what prospect frightened me more: being at the mercy of Eli or his master.

“Eli, we should go,” said one of the other vampires. “This town is swarming with wolves and hunters. And the sky will start to clear soon.”

“We leave when I am ready,” Eli barked. He spun me to face him and I placed my hands against his chest as a small barrier between us. “You are mine. My Master promised you to me if I found you.”

I stared at his chest to avoid the hunger in his eyes as I pressed him for answers. “Why is Madeline so important to your Master? I don’t even know my mother. If you think I can help you find her, you’re mistaken.”

“The why is between my Master and Madeline. And our search for Madeline revealed a few things about her life that were of great interest to my Master.”

“I don’t understand. What is so special about her being a Mohiri except for the fact that you all hate each other?”

He laughed. “You are right. There is nothing special about her but her daughter is an entirely different story. Do you know it wasn’t until a few months ago that we learned Madeline had a daughter? That little tidbit she and your dearly departed father kept hidden from us. By the time we learned of your existence you were nowhere to be found. It was like you had disappeared into thin air.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. “My father?”

He lifted my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “Oh yes, I was well acquainted with Daniel Grey – well, as acquainted as you can be with anyone on the last day of their life.”

The world faded around us. I couldn’t feel the wind or hear the ocean or see the vampires surrounding me. In that moment, there was only me and Eli.

“You… you killed him.”

His cruel beautiful eyes gleamed as he watched my face closely. “I was following Madeline and her trail led me to him. He said he didn’t know where she was. Of course, I had to make sure he was telling the truth.” He sighed as if he was reliving a happy memory. “I believe he was.”

I couldn’t breathe as the image of my dad’s mutilated body swam before my eyes. For ten years I’d carried that gruesome memory while trying to accept that I would never find his killer. Yet, here he stood. All the nightmares, the grief and the loneliness I had suffered were because of the monster smiling at me right now.

“He actually held out longer than most –”

Heat blossomed in my chest. My body trembled as electricity danced through me and rippled across my skin like heat waves off pavement. Static crackled and my scalp tingled as some of my hair lifted into the air.

Eli’s eyes widened and he dropped his hands from my shoulders as if he had been shocked. I sensed the others moving closer, forming a half circle around us.

The strange electricity surging through me fizzled like a used match. I reached for it but it was gone before I could grasp it and figure out how to use it to destroy Eli. Impotent rage flooded me.

Eli laughed once he recovered from his surprise. “A charming little display but hardly enough to hurt me. You have no idea what that is, do you? What you are?”

“Does it matter?” I asked, glad for the fury that swallowed some of my fear.

“Not to me,” he replied, smiling. “I think we have dallied here long enough. We’ll have plenty of time later to get to know each other.”

My heart thudded painfully as his words sank in. This was it. If he took me away from here I was dead – or I’d soon wish I was. I felt the wind at my back. The edge of the cliff was less than two feet away; one jump and this would all be over. It was the only way out for me now. If there really was a God then this wasn’t the end and I’d be with my dad again. If there wasn’t a God – well I’d never know. But nothingness was better than the fate awaiting me with Eli.

Watching my face, Eli suddenly grabbed one of my wrists, his eyes flashing. “You would not be thinking about robbing me of our time together, would you my sweet?”

My heart sank. “No I was just –”

Something brushed against my mind.

A vampire gasped. Another let out a small cry. Eli’s eyes widened – with fear.

My breath caught. I whirled around and there he was, standing like a vengeful angel between us and the woods. His leather jacket was gone and in its place was his warrior harness. His hands gripped the hilts of two long slender swords.

Our eyes met and the look in his took my breath away. I’d seen Nikolas angry plenty of times but that was nothing to the unbridled fury I saw in him now. I knew Nikolas the man, but it was the demon warrior who stood before me now and the demon was raging.

“He is only one,” Eli growled after his initial shock had passed. “Risa, Heath, Lorne – take care of this.”

“No!” I cried but the three vampires reached Nikolas before the word even left my lips. My stomach clenched and a sour taste flooded my mouth as I watched the vampires circle their quarry like lions surrounding a gazelle. He’s a warrior. This is what he does. I tried to find comfort in those thoughts but it was three against one. Nikolas was as fast as them but how could he fight all of them at once? He’d always been so strong, so invincible that the idea of him falling now was unthinkable.