Author: Kalayna Price

We stared at each other, neither moving forward, both waiting, looking for an advantage. If I didn’t think of something, she was going to decide she had it.

“Why are you killing vampires?” I asked.

“I hate vampires.” She spat the words, like vampire tasted bad in her mouth. “I would rid world of them. But the vampire I hate most, she lives. If I killed, I kill her first.”

“The victims have been poisoned.”

She flashed teeth at me. It was almost a smile. “I know. I smell the blood.”

“You poisoned them.”

“No.” She stepped forward, testing me. I splayed my clawed fingers and she hesitated. “Not my poison. My sister’s.”

Her sister’s? The Collector had mentioned the fact Akane had a sister—she’d also said the sister had died horribly when her transition to vampire failed.

“She’s dead.”

Akane nodded. “Murdered.” No sorrow in her voice. Just anger.

Is this about revenge? Was she killing to avenge her sister? But she was right, the one vampire who she would have truly wished dead, the one who ordered her sister changed, was still alive. The Collector.

Whatever Akane saw in my face made her tip her head back and laugh, but there was no mirth in the sound. “You made deal with Collector. Agreed to betray your own for your freedom. You have no honor. My sister had honor.” Akane slid forward another step. “She also made deal, but she sacrificed self. She agreed to become vampire in exchange for my freedom. She die. Collector keep me. Now, my sister return. Seek vengeance.”

“A ghost?” I rocked back on my heels.

A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have believed in ghosts, but now? I’d met vampires, mages, necromancers, demons, and skinwalkers—who was I to dispute the existence of a vengeful ghost?

But I’d fought the snake, and it sure as hell had felt real to me.

Akane’s muscles bunched, her center of balance changing, and suddenly she was moving. She leapt forward, her sword swinging in an arc toward my neck.

I dove to the side.

“Gil!”

The scholar popped out of the bathroom as I dodged a second attack. The tingle of her magic washed over the room.

I hit the ground, rolling from Akane. I didn’t know what spell Gil planned to use, but her magic didn’t always work as intended.

Akane whirled around just as the purple light of Gil’s barrier spell lit the room. The spell promptly imploded, and the backlash slammed into the skinwalker. She was hurled into the air, right over my ducked head. Then she crashed into the wall with a hard thud.

Once the purple light died, I looked up. Akane slumped on the floor, breathing, but dazed. Her sword was halfway across the room.

Gil gave me a sheepish look. I could have laughed. “You did that on purpose?”

She shrugged, her smile breaking through. “That stupid spell never works quite right. Always explodes on me.”

Akane stirred, and I pushed off the floor. “Let’s get out of here.”

With a nod, Gil tossed me into the void.

* * * *

The moment the dim light in the bathroom broke through the void, I knew something was wrong. The stench of blood coating the air was a big hint.

“Don’t go anywhere,” I told Gil as I pushed off the tile.

Ignoring my twisting stomach, I shoved the door open a crack. The scent of blood grew stronger. Whatever had happened, someone had been hurt, bad. And there was a sour stink in the blood.

The skinwalker?

I shoved the door open an inch at a time and scanned the room from the vantage point of my low crouch. Nothing moved. I crept out of the bathroom, staying low, making myself a small target. The thwup of Gil’s rain boots on the carpet followed me.

“Get back,” I mouthed at Gil. Something moved in my peripheral.

I whirled back around, my eyes searching. Nothing. Then it moved again. A dark drop of liquid dripped from the bed’s sodden coverlet, landed in an expanding pool of blood on the carpet.

Oh no. Forgetting caution, I ran to the edge of the bed.

Jomar’s mangled body had been tossed in the center. His severed head sat on the pillows, staring down at the long gashes that had torn open his belly. Dark organs spilled out of the four long gashes. It looks like an animal attacked him.

I froze, that thought catching in my chest. His body was in my bed, and it looked like someone had eviscerated him with claws.

“Oh crap.” This looked bad. Really, really bad. And majorly incriminating.

“What’s going on?” a voice yelled.

I jumped and whirled toward the doors. Ronco and the twins were there. Their eyes moved from me to the corpse and gore spread over the bed.

“I, uh—” I could not explain this.

Magic surged through the air, and the scene vanished.

“Take me back, Gil!” I yelled into the darkness.

The void didn’t answer.

I flailed in the nothingness and light pierced the darkness, making the world spin.

“Take me back,” I gasped again, pushing away from the dirty snow of some city alley. My limbs shook, but I climbed to my feet. “You have to take me back to the mansion. Now.”

“Kita, that was a dead body. In your bed.” Gil crossed her arms over her chest. “And those vampires looked none too happy about it. I’ve officially deemed this situation too dangerous for you.”

“And who are you to decide that for me?”

Her head snapped up, her chin jutting out. “You might remember that I am charged with keeping you from dying inconveniently while you bear the Judge’s mark? Besides, if they kill you, I won’t be able to finish my study.”

Oh, of course. I stormed across the alley, pacing through the slush. I didn’t know where we were—I didn’t care. Only one thing was important. “They still have Nathanial. What do you think they’ll do to him now that I’ve disappeared?”

She dropped her gaze. “Just stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Here? While stars-knew-what the Collector and her vamps could be doing to Nathanial? I paced faster, minutes ticking by.

Gil didn’t return.

I can’t wait any longer. I headed for the mouth of the alley and glanced down the street. I didn’t recognize the location. I almost called Gil back, again. But if she’d gone to help Nathanial… I turned away from the street.

A hulking, misshaped form stepped around the corner at the back of the alley. “Babe, you stood me up.”

Avin. Oh, crap.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“I’ve been patient, babe. Where’s my body?”

Avin lifted his mangled hand, the globe holding a drop of my blood appearing over his palm, and I flashed my fangs at him.

“So, what’s your plan?” I asked, bracing my hands on my hips and tapping my claws on the steel boning in the corset.

“Are you actually going to kill me or just threaten and torture me?”

His hand paused. Then he pushed back his hood. “Are you goading me? Not smart, babe.”

I saw the flash of lightning, knew the pain was coming, but my knees still buckled as it crashed over me. Fire melted my flesh. A scream tore through me. My stomach twisted inside out. The pain dug deeper.

Then it was over.

I blinked. Either I was dead—which, since I considered the option, probably wasn’t true—or I’d been right. He had no intention of killing me. I wiped a hand over my mouth and regretted the action immediately. I still had sour snake blood clinging to my skin.

Avin stared at my claws. “What are you?”

“You want the long list, or the short one?” I pushed off the sidewalk and summoned all the bravado in me so he wouldn’t know my insides shook at the idea of another flash of pain.

“Now, if we’re done, I have to go see some vamps who do intend to kill me, and if I have time, I have to track down a poisonous, shape-shifting snake who may be a vengeful spirit.”

Avin blinked at me, and the still-attached side of his mouth turned down. “What the hell are you messed up in?” Then he shook his head. “Never mind. That doesn’t matter to me. What matters is—”

“—finding you a new body. I know. I got the message. I can’t find you one if I’m dead, now can I?”

“You aren’t the only vamp in the world, you know.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “You think you’re going to be able to trick anyone else into bargaining with you while you look like that?” I swept a hand to encompass his destroyed appearance.

His lopsided shoulders hitched. “You don’t seem so inclined to complete our bargain. Here’s the way I see it. I need a body, and you’re dragging your undead feet.” He twisted his hand, letting the globe-o’-pain float over his knuckles. “So, babe, we just became best buds. I’m not letting you out of my sight until I’m wearing a new suit of skin.”

“But—”

He cut me off. “Now where would we find a nice-looking sap you can sink your fangs into? Way too late for the local mall. Hell, even most the clubs are shut at this hour.”

“I can’t just—”

“Yeah, the vamps. You told me.” He shook his head. “Do you really think I’m gonna let you run off to a face a bunch of vampires who want to kill you?” A smile tugged across his face, exposing broken teeth. “Like you said, babe, I need you.”

“And I need to go. You can’t—”

Pain tore through my body. I gritted my teeth, trying to ride out the wave of fire as black dots filled my vision. My claws bit into my palms.

“You’re always in such a hurry,” Avin said, letting the globe float between his hands. It traveled up his finger and hovered, spinning. “Now, we were talking about where we’ll find my body.”

I glared at him as I clawed my hair out of my face. It stuck to the moisture on my cheeks.

Avin leaned closer. “What is the crap all over your arms?”

“Ghost-snake blood.”