“Because you’re becoming more like Devina by the day.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” I hissed with frustration. Why was Anya always so jealous of Devina? I cared for them both, but it was very clear to me who I wanted to be. “You’re a good Sister, but when Devina’s around you behave differently. What’s the problem between you two?”

  “We often want different things.”

  “Different things for me too?”

  “Especially for you,” she admitted, making me furious.

  “Well, don’t worry yourselves about it. I can manage all on my own!”

  “I know,” Anya replied with conviction. “You’re very strong. You always have been. I just want to make sure you’re always in charge of your own decisions.”

  Our eyes met and I suddenly felt like a willful child. Anya, instead, was mature, and her affection for me was sincere.

  “Forgive me,” I told her. “Sometimes I get carried away.”

  “That’s all right. You still have a lot to learn.”

  “How do you manage to resist the power? Evil never takes control of you—you’re the one to control it.”

  “I’m the second Witch that awakened for Sophìa. I’ve had a long time to learn to control myself.”

  “But Devina transformed before you did. She’s the first Witch, but there’s so much darkness in her. She doesn’t have your wisdom. Why not?”

  “Because I listen to my heart.”

  “The first thing Devina taught me was to listen only to my instinct.”

  “You’re a Witch, Gemma. Your instinct will always lead you toward evil, toward what you are.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing,” she assured me, “but sometimes you need to listen to both to be sure you’re making the right decision. Don’t let the darkness blind you, Gemma.”

  “I’ll try,” I promised. She hugged me. I closed my eyes, overwhelmed by my love for her.

  “I see you’ve received your Dreide,” she said with a smile.

  I stroked the medallion I wore around my neck, a small black serpent in the center of it. “Yours is nice, with those shades of green.”

  “It’s the medallion that creates its colors for us.”

  “I know.” When I had held mine in my hand for the first time, the serpent had stirred, coloring itself black. “I haven’t discovered all its powers yet.”

  “Oh, they’re limitless. You’ll use some more than others.”

  “Tell me about some of them,” I asked, curious.

  “As you saw today on Reconnaissance, the Dreide stores the purest essence of the Subterraneans we claim. The moment they succumb to us, their souls are trapped within it and as of then they belong to us. But the Dreide is also their only key to get out of Hell. A real paradox, don’t you think?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Dreide controls the door to the underworld—the only way in, the only way out—on Mount Nhubii, the Devil’s Plane. The Damned can’t cross through the passageway between the two worlds. The Souls who try remain trapped there forever. However, Subterraneans can, once the medallion has opened the portal for them.”

  “Why should they do that? I don’t understand.”

  “Not alone, obviously, but with one of us. Some Sisters have fun taking their Champions to Earth from time to time.”

  “But why?”

  Anya smiled. “For us they’re trophies. Or maybe it’s simply to spite the Màsala. Don’t bother thinking about it.”

  “Speaking of our Champions . . .”

  “I heard what you said at the Ring of Sisterhood.” Anya turned, hiding her face. “Are you sure he’s the one you want to claim?”

  “Do you think I’m not strong enough, like Devina does?”

  “No, just the opposite. And she knows it.”

  “All she does is tell me I should stay away from him, that’s he’s dangerous.”

  “Because she’s afraid. The challenge you proposed is more dangerous for her than it is for you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She knows she might lose.”

  “So why do you think I shouldn’t claim him?” I asked, having read her mind.

  “Are you still convinced your past doesn’t matter to you at all?”

  “What does my past have to do with it?”

  “He was part of it.”

  I gaped at her in shock. “What does that mean?”

  “Dig deep within you, Gemma. Maybe there’s still hope.”

  I locked eyes with Anya’s, offended. “This is how I am now, whether you like it or not. I have no connection to the past. All that matters is the future, and there’s one thing I can see clearly: he’s going to be my slave.”

  THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL

  Gemma leapt up to the window of the cathedral and turned to look at me, her eyes snapping with malice. Until next time, she mouthed. She blew me a kiss and hurled herself against the glass, which shattered in a shower of colorful prisms. The crowd screamed in panic and swarmed outside as I continued to stare at the spot where she’d disappeared.

  We were in Rome . . . and she’d escaped me yet again. I growled in frustration. I’d followed her to Thailand, Singapore, through Africa, to the farthest reaches of Earth. Each time I came closer and closer. She and her Sisters destroyed sacred sites to diminish faith among believers, spread terror, and stained mortal Souls with their poisonous whispers. Then I would show up and our game would burst into flames. She battled to kill. I tried not to harm her.

  Gemma had changed since I’d protected her from the Hunter’s arrow. At first I’d deluded myself that she remembered me, but then I’d realized her true intentions. Ours had become a sensual hunt in which neither of us had any intention of giving up. I wanted Gemma back by my side on Earth. She wanted me with her in Hell. She’d decided she liked my tenacity and wanted to claim me. She was both bolder and more elusive, and this made everything more difficult. It seemed like each time we met she was sexier and more dangerous, and I was more in danger of losing my mind. Every time we encountered each other I managed to pin her down, but she was the one leading the game. She would brush her lips against mine to absorb my energy, and for a moment I would lose myself in her, because that closeness was everything I wanted. Many times I was on the verge of giving in to her beguiling power, overcome by desire for her, by the overwhelming attraction she exerted on me, but then I would think of Liam, think of my Jamie, and everything I would lose if I gave up. That was when I would rebel. At times I was brutal, but I had no choice.

  Our encounters were increasingly fleeting—a matter of seconds or, at most, minutes, during which each battled to gain control over the other. I wanted to make her remember. She made me forget myself.

  Anya told me there was no hope. Their Empress had even given Gemma her blessing to claim me. She no longer feared I might steal her away because she was certain the old Gemma had been obliterated. I, however, refused to give up. As long as I lived, I would fight for us. All it took was for her to set foot on Earth and I rushed to her. I would follow her to the ends of the Earth.

  I materialized in the garden where Simon, Anya, and Ginevra were sitting on the lawn, playing with Irony and little Liam. It was already April and spring had sprung all around us. Liam loved all the colors.

  “News?” Simon asked. I shook my head, frustrated.

  “Evan, maybe you should—”

  “No!” I growled at Anya. “Don’t even say it.”

  “You’ve been trying for nine months,” Simon agreed.

  “And I’m going to keep on trying. I’m never giving up.”

  “This whole time, nothing has changed. Maybe Anya’s right,” Simon urged. “Maybe Sophìa’s venom irremediably obliterated her. She would never let Gemma return to Earth if she risked losing her to you.”

  “She doesn’t care about the past. She doesn’t want to remember,” Anya admitted to me with sorrow. “Nothing can bring her back unless she’s the one who wants it to happen.”

  “What if we let her see Liam?” Simon proposed.

  “Out of the question. It’s too dangerous,” I answered.

  “You’re right. She might decide on a whim she wants him for herself.”

  I clenched my fists, making up my mind. “Simon’s right. It’s been too long. We need to do something, try another approach.”

  “No!” Ginevra protested, reading the plan in my mind.

  I ignored her, staring hard at my brother. “Simon, you need to use your power on Gemma.”

  Ginevra stood up. “We’ve already tried that. You don’t know what happened the first time. It’s too dangerous!”

  “I would risk my life to do it, but my power only works on mortal Souls,” Simon replied. “It doesn’t work with Witches because their souls are corrupt. We’ve already talked about this.”

  “That’s true,” Anya said. “Centuries ago they tried to use it on Devina to make her forget she’d seen Simon and Ginevra together, but it was useless . . . and dangerous.”

  “We need to at least try!” I shouted in exasperation.

  Liam babbled something and we all turned to look at him. He smiled and took a few steps toward me. I sighed and tears stung my eyes. Only he could calm me. “Come here,” I said softly. He laughed in contentment. I knelt down and opened my arms to him, smiling at his awkward attempt to reach me. He toddled over to me and then clapped for himself, making us all smile.

  “He’s modest! Just like his Aunt Ginevra,” Simon remarked, earning himself a glare from her.

  “We’ll bring your mommy home,” I whispered to Liam. I rubbed my nose against his and he tried to bite it. “I hope you didn’t get her appetite too.” I lay down and held Liam above me to make him fly like an airplane. He loved that game. Time had flown by in the blink of an eye and Liam was already nine months old. He was a good-natured little boy and incredibly curious. But most importantly, he was human. There was no trace of supernatural power or energy in him.

  “Here.” Ginevra handed me a baby bottle full of milk. “It’s feeding time.” I leaned back against a tree and cradled him in my arms. He looked at me as he gulped down the warm liquid and his eyelids slowly grew heavy. I spent all my free time with him. I played with him, took him with me while I worked out. Watching me do handstand pushups gave him fits of giggles, especially when I pretended to fall and hurt myself. Often I would read him the old copy of White Fang I’d found in Gemma’s storage boxes in the attic. It was the first book she’d ever read, and I hoped that by reading it to Liam, he could in some way feel more connected to his mother.

  Some time ago he’d started to babble “dada,” filling my heart with emotions I hadn’t thought I would ever experience. I played the violin for him, fed him, and a few times even took him for a ride on my bike in the driveway. Then there were Ginevra and Simon, on whom I knew I could count. When I was carrying out orders or chasing after Gemma, one of them stayed there to protect him. The house was well defended, but you could never be too sure, which was why we never took him outside the walls of our fortress.

  As far as Gemma’s parents knew, we’d moved to London be with my relatives. I sent them photos of Liam and once in a while Ginevra would talk on the phone with them, simulating Gemma’s voice. It would have been different if Drake had still been around to go visit them. But then I thought it might be harder for me to be face to face with her ghost, knowing I’d lost her.

  I looked at Liam and Gemma’s voice filled my head: I wanted us to be a family. “We will be,” I murmured, stroking Liam’s sweet face as he slept. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes.” I was going to keep my promise. I got up and went into the house, opening the sliding windows in the kitchen before putting Liam into the playpen we’d set up in the living room and going back out to my brother and sister.

  “I was serious before,” I told Simon, looking at him resolutely. “I want you to use your power on Gemma. Only you can probe deep inside her and reach her memories.”

  “Not if they’ve been wiped out.”

  “You’ve got to try!” I shouted, pleading. “She’s still there. Somewhere in her heart she’ll hear you. She can’t have vanished forever. No magic can take her away from me. Part of her still loves me, I know it. I just have to help her remember.”

  Now that Gemma had transformed, I could no longer take her to Heaven to have her drink Ambrosia, but if she managed to remember, nothing would separate us ever again. Now that she was immortal we could live together for all eternity, like Simon and Ginevra.

  “All right.” Simon gave in. “We’ll give it a shot as soon as Gemma returns to Earth.”

  “She’s already here,” Anya told us.

  Simon and Ginevra looked at each other for a long moment. She still didn’t agree with letting him do it, but she wasn’t going to stand in his way. Simon looked at me and nodded. I held my hand out to Anya and she guided me to Gemma. A moment later she was in front of me, at her feet a young mother who was smothering her baby.

  My eyes went wide in shock. “Don’t do it,” I begged her.

  Gemma peered at me and smiled. “I’m not doing anything,” she replied, dark sensuality in her voice. The baby boy cried, squirming beneath the pillow his mother was pressing over his face. He was younger than Liam. Simon had also frozen at the sight, but we could do nothing—it was the woman who had to decide not to follow evil. Now she began to weep and shout: “Enough! Stop crying! Stop it! Stop it!”

  But Gemma was there to strengthen the woman’s resolve, instilling her venom in her: “He’ll never stop,” she whispered, staring at me. “He’ll ruin everything. George can’t stand him. He knows. He knows it isn’t his baby. He’ll leave you.”

  A man materialized at the back of the room. It was a Subterranean. He’d come for the baby. “Simon, do something!” I ordered.

  Despite his horror, Simon reacted instantly. Though the woman couldn’t see him, he cupped her face in his hands. Beneath her skin, her veins moved like little snakes as Simon evoked memories of her and her baby in her mind. She stopped, her eyes going wide, and for a second I almost had the impression she looked Simon right in the eye. Finally realizing what she was doing, she let out a scream, flinging the pillow away. She took the little boy in her arms, trying to revive him, and called 911. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me . . .” she said. “I heard a voice . . .” She wept, but now they were tears of desperation.

  The Subterranean in the back of the room disappeared and I heaved a sigh of relief. The child was no longer in danger, nor was the young woman’s soul. Gemma looked at me with hatred in her eyes. She seemed to be deciding whether to attack or leave. Before she could escape us I rushed up behind her and pinned her hands behind her back. “Simon!” I shouted.

  Gemma tilted her head toward me and smiled. “If you wanted to have a threesome, you could’ve told me so right from the start.” Simon materialized in front of her and grabbed her face, pressing his thumbs against her temples.

  “Do it! Now!” I ordered. Gemma fell to her knees and I let her go as Simon held her tight. Her face became a black spider web as Simon’s power flowed through her veins. Suddenly her Dakor hissed somewhere inside her and Gemma’s eyes transformed.

  “What’s going on? You’re hurting her!” I shouted.

  “She’s fighting me!” Simon growled. “I can’t, I’m sorry.”

  “Keep going! Dig deeper!” Blood trickled from my brother’s ear, but he didn’t stop. “Simon!” I shouted, a second before a dark force hurled him away from Gemma. I ran to him and helped him to his feet.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I dug deep but found nothing.”

  Gemma stood up and shot me an icy glare. She pulled out her curved daggers and spun them around in her hands, ready to fling them, but I was faster; I materialized in front of her and held her wrists against the wall. I couldn’t accept that even the last trace of hope had vanished.

  Weakened by Simon’s spell, Gemma dropped the knives and looked at me, still short of breath. Maybe it was my only chance to talk to her before she could escape. “Gemma, they’re tricking you.”

  She wormed her hands free, her gaze hard. “How dare you? They’re my Sisters. They’re all I have.”

  “That’s not true. You have me,” I said. “You have Liam. Do you remember him?” I asked desperately, hoping Simon’s power had had some effect on her.

  Gemma seemed to think about it, her brow knit, but then her ice-cold eyes returned to mine. “I don’t know any Liam. And I don’t know you either.”

  “Your Sisters did this to you.”

  “They made me strong and invincible.”

  “They tore you away from us,” I contradicted her.

  “I chose to join them. There’s no other way to enter the Bond.”

  “That’s not true. They had to kill you to have you with them.”

  “Sophìa saved me!”

  “I begged her to!” I shouted in desperation, squeezing her wrists against the wall.

  Gemma stared at me, confusion in her eyes. “What do you want from me?” she asked, studying me carefully.

  I loosened my grip on her wrists and opened my hand in hers. Palm to palm. “I want you,” I whispered, stroking her thumb with mine. “Just you.” My gesture drew her gaze to our joined hands, to the tattoos that completed each other, the symbol for infinity that formed only when we were together. She studied it for a moment, surprised, and her big black eyes fixed on mine, digging inside me, leaving a deep furrow. I clasped her hands tighter, not wanting to let her go, but she vanished, her gaze still on mine, leaving me on the verge of tears, brimming with rage, vain hopes, and frustration. I hung my head and rested it against the wall, balling my fists against the stone as the emotions mushroomed inside me to the point of devastation, then struck the wall, which shattered from the impact. The anger was too great for me to contain. Each time Gemma ran away from me it was like losing her all over again.

  “Hey.” Simon rested his hands on my shoulders. “I’m sorry.” Once again, Simon had risked his life to help me, but despite his best efforts he’d failed.