The officer frowned but didn’t take his eyes off the road. He was six-feet-tall, heavily muscled, with blonde hair that looked like it had recently grown out of a buzzcut. I’d have thought he was handsome if I didn’t have Lorcan to compare him to. Regardless, he had a white-knuckled grip on the wheel.

  “This thing goes to one-hundred-thirty, ma’am, but I can’t take corners at that speed unless you want to end up in an accident.”

  “How much longer until we’re there?” Tabitha asked, sounding put-out.

  “We’ve got two minutes tops.”

  Tabitha’s face was a mass of worried lines. She didn’t have to say why—Maverick and Astrid could die in those two minutes. Once Janeth had drunk her fill and forced blood into them, she could slit their throats and there would be nothing any of us could do at that point. A severed carotid could kill in under fifteen seconds.

  But Officer Greer didn’t need to know that. As far as he was aware, we were enforcers for Guy Velardi’s outfit, albeit very strange enforcers. I caught him glancing in his rearview mirror occasionally, sizing us up. We didn’t seem like much at first glance. A brunette and redhead who looked like they were getting on in years, and two others who were verging on elderly.

  I could almost see him trying to do the math in his head. What did we have that the admittedly more dangerous looking men didn’t? He didn’t ask, though. He was paid not to ask questions. If Guy Velardi sent us to a scene and ordered him not to interfere, he stayed in the car, blasted the radio, and did a crossword. That suited me just fine.

  We screamed into an empty lot two minutes later, as promised. Greer had to cut the lights and sirens two blocks away, just in case the ‘problem’ Guy sent us to deal with got antsy and decided to choose early-morning homicide. Given the neighborhood, I was sure the sound of sirens were commonplace. Just outside the meat-packing’s door though? Not so much.

  Greer had to step out of the car to open the back doors and by the time we piled out and had our things arranged, Tabitha had already broken into a dead sprint, completely ignoring the plan. We were supposed to stay together, damn it! If she went in halfcocked, she was going to get herself killed. Then where would Maverick and Astrid be?

  I clutched my satchel tighter to my body and took off after her. Someone had to have her back, and I was stronger and faster than your average witch. It was one of the few advantages of the blooding. Some of Lorcan’s vaunted strength had been passed down to me. I could see, smell, and taste more in the dark, too. But strength wasn’t everything. Training helped too.

  I was panting by the time I caught up with Tabitha. If we survived, I’d have to take Fifi up on her offer to start jogging every morning before work. I’d largely avoided it because the succubus looked too damned perfect in her athleisure wear. And I’d never liked feeling like I was in second place—call it a character flaw.

  The warehouse sat alone in the lot, a hulking shape with cracked windows and peeling paint. It was a wonder the city had allowed an eyesore like this to stand. Then again, someone might have been paid to ignore it. In Newark, money did seem to buy silence.

  The building was listing to one side. If we weren’t careful, we could bring the entire thing down on our heads. On the other hand, loose boards made for excellent stakes...

  I tugged Tabitha to a stop just shy of the entrance and pulled her close. At this distance, even a day-addled vampire would hear us if we spoke at normal volume. Once we stepped inside, Janeth would probably hear our hammering hearts. Yes, better to have this talk out here.

  “You have to wait for us, Tabitha. Charging in on your own won’t help them and will most likely just get them killed.”

  “They’re my children,” she whispered back, and just those three words were choked with emotion. “If that bitch killed my son, she’ll pay for it.”

  I actually wasn’t sure if the bitch in question was Janeth or Mother. Probably both. After all, Mother’s unholy partnership had killed five warlocks already.

  “We don’t know if he’s dead, Tabitha,” I reminded her. “And if we’re too late… Maverick could become like me. Half-turned. We can still save him, but you have to be patient.”

  The implication of that statement really hit home a second later. Even if Maverick was alive, he was still fundamentally altered. His magic, already dark, would begin to morph into something deadly. He was young, and still growing in power. Blood Witches were bad enough, but a Blood Warlock? It was unheard of. I wasn’t sure if my experience could help him temper his new abilities. No, if that happened and Maverick was blooded, we’d have to kill Janeth to release him. The alternative was too scary to contemplate.

  Betanya and Olga caught up to us a minute later, both panting. It looked like I wasn’t the only one who needed to hit the gym. Our physical shape wasn’t something we, as witches, tended to worry about. A fulsome figure was desirable, and usually a mark you’d had several children. But with the Hollow growing more dangerous by the year, taking up a running habit seemed practical.

  “You remember the plan?” I asked, and gave Tabitha a very pointed look. She didn’t meet my eyes.

  “Ve split up,” Olga said. “One in each corner. Ve come at zem from all sides.”

  “Right,” I said. “William texted me on the way over and said there should be emergency exits aplenty. I’ll hit Janeth first. Even if she gets her teeth into me, she can’t turn me.”

  “But she can still kill you,” Betanya pointed out.

  I tried to keep my expression neutral. I’d been hoping no one would point that little wrinkle out. It was definitely something to worry about. Another vampire, Genevieve, had all but drained me during our mission to save Olga. It would have made me feel better to have Lorcan at my back now. I’d never admit it aloud, but the assurance I’d come back, even if I had to take on a liquid diet and avoid daylight, was immensely comforting. But we couldn’t wait until evening and that meant I’d just have to take my chances.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said finally. “Astrid and Maverick are our priority.”

  Tabitha nodded. “If we have to die to stop this, so be it.”

  We exchanged looks. Every face was set in determination. We’d save them, or die trying.

  We had one shot at this.

  Time to make it count.

  I called forth my power with my other hand, crooking my fingers as if to invite the trouble that lay within. Crackling red light gathered in my palm.

  The door, already hanging on its hinges, splintered into toothpick-sized shrapnel when the blood bolt hit it. The padlock that had been holding the door shut went zinging off into the darkness while the chain clattered to the floor. Golden sunshine poured into the warehouse, banishing a small slice of the darkness.

  I weighed another bolt in my hand and stepped inside, wood crunching beneath my feet.

  “Come and get us, bitches!”

  Chapter Twenty

  There was a frozen second where no one moved.

  The darkness beyond my square of sunshine was dotted with small circles of white light, presumably for the merely human members of this little splinter group. A vampire would only need a bare minimum to navigate the place, but with Mother’s magic on the place, I imagined they could move around no matter what. Of course, the sunlight I’d just let in was exempt to Mother’s magic because it bore my own magical signature.

  The element of surprise gave me a moment to take stock of my surroundings. The warehouse was surprisingly crowded, piled high with wooden pallets in a few rows, making a sort of rudimentary maze. It was probably designed this way in order to stall an attacker.

  I was damn sure the coffins clustered near the front door were just decoys. Why? Because Lorcan employed the same decoy. He had trunks, coffins, and other sundry containers to sleep in during the day, and he rarely slept in the same place twice. Usually, he slept in the back of Marty’s hearse.

  As I walked in further, I noticed a woman crouched before me on the ground. Janeth. She was bent over Maverick’s thigh. She’d torn a ragged hole in his pant leg to get to his femoral artery. Blood smeared her dainty mouth like paint when she lifted her face from his groin. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have assumed she was doing something a lot more… intimate with him.

  Maverick’s neck and arms were dotted with bites.

  Blood pooled in his collarbone, splattered his shirt and pants, and ran over his skin in small rivulets. If I hadn’t made out the subtle rise and fall of his chest, I would have assumed he was dead. Not that his death wasn’t out of the question.

  Was it only a matter of time before Maverick nodded off, stopped breathing, and began to turn? If Janeth had only bitten him, he had a chance. If she’d fed him her blood, he was as good as undead.

  Janeth stood, smoothing her now stained gown.

  She licked her lips clean, shivering delicately as though each drop tasted exquisite. She looked even younger up close, like a porcelain doll had woken one morning and decided to feast on the living. She didn’t have a hair out of place, despite mauling my cousin.

  “Ah, the cavalry has arrived,” she purred as she faced each of us in turn. “I didn’t expect you’d be this fast on the draw, or I’d have moved more quickly.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” I ground out.

  She gave me a smile that wouldn’t have been out of place in the middle of a tea party. “It really is a shame, you know. I love redheads. They taste like spiced rum. And with all that magic in her veins, well…”

  She trailed off, her eyes bright as she settled them on Astrid.

  The anticipation in Janeth’s voice was almost obscene.

  Astrid flinched away from her gaze, and the motion drew my attention to her. I’d been too horrified by what Janeth had done to Maverick to take stock of Astrid. But now that I did, I wished I hadn’t. Her hair was mussed, she was bruised, and looked utterly terrified…

  But, luckily, she didn’t appear otherwise hurt. No blood showed against the ivory blouse she wore. She wasn’t in danger of turning.

  Yet.

  “I’m giving you one chance to walk away,” I said as I faced Janeth again, trying to keep my voice calm when I felt anything but. “Park your frilly ass in one of your coffins and have your lackeys load you into a pickup. Then you get the spell out of this city.”

  “Or what?” she asked me with that grin that made me want to lob an axe through her skull.

  I reigned in my temper. “Or I’m coming for you. Along with Tabitha and Scarlett.”

  “Scarlett?” Janeth asked, trilling a laugh. “That trollop won’t stand a chance against my benefactor. Scarlett can’t even speak about it, let alone make a move against me.”

  A grim little smile played at my lips. “So careful not to say your benefactor’s name. I bet she bound you as well.” It was my turn to smile. “But… if you won’t say her goddess-forsaken-name, I’ll say it for you.” Janeth’s eyes grew slightly wider and I could tell she was hanging on my every word. “Celestine Depraysie has been paying you to kill or turn warlocks in order to keep witch lines ‘pure.’”

  Janeth’s smile slipped. “You can’t know that.”

  “Oh, but I do,” I answered as my own grin emerged. “The truth of the matter is that if you’d just killed them, rather than turning them into vampires, I’d still be ignorant. But since you’re a sadistic piece of work, you couldn’t just kill them. You had to leave your mark on them, didn’t you?” I didn’t wait for her to respond. “William, Amos, and Scarlett orchestrated this entire assembly to lure both you and Mother out of hiding so they could deliver you both your just desserts. And guess what? I’m the waitress.”

  I felt the energy of my blood magic manifesting in my hand as another blood bolt. Then I bounced the bolt once, as if testing its weight. Winding my arm back, I hurled it toward Janeth like a major league pitch.

  Only Janeth’s incredible speed kept the blow from landing.

  If she’d been stationary, the bolt would have blown a hole the size of my fist in her chest. As it was, she twisted enough that only her hair took the brunt. It began to blaze immediately, and she shrieked, dropping to the ground to put the flames out.

  I heard distant shouts and the chatter of gunfire.

  At least one of the human hopefuls was armed.

  If he’d been smart, he’d have brought something less noisy. The sound of gunshots would bring the human police down on this place in ten minutes or less. Then the humans would be forced to pile their vampire bosses into a truck or hearse and book it to another of their hideouts. We could make a clean getaway once we heard the boys in blue coming.

  The trick was staying alive until the cops arrived. I prayed to the goddess that my friends and family would pull through this. So many things could go wrong…

  I felt rather than heard one of Janeth’s people approaching.

  I couldn’t quite explain why or how, but I just knew on an instinctual level that he was near. Maybe it was Lorcan’s blood that allowed me this level of understanding. I wasn’t sure. Regardless, something in this man brushed against me, his heartbeat pounding like a drum in my head.

  He’d been blooded recently. Janeth’s blood.

  I hugged the wall, delving into shadow to avoid his gaze.

  It wouldn’t work for long.

  A magical fireworks display had begun behind the maze of pallets. Tabitha’s voice rose above the din, the furious shout of an avenging angel. One of the towers shook and then toppled out. A human lay atop the pile, arms and legs splayed, eyes rolled into his head.

  The man’s face was thrown into sharp relief when the azure glow of Betanya’s air spell lit her corner of the warehouse. The man was a generic human man. White, with mousy brown hair, small eyes, and a weak chin. He’d grown a soul patch, which really clinched it for me.

  Honestly, I was doing him a favor. Who wanted to spend eternity with a soul patch?

  When the blooded human turned toward the lightshow and thunderous sound, I struck. I’d united the two halves of my power, that of the vampire and that of the witch, a while ago—for just a fleeting moment. And now I did the same again—I beckoned that insidious power from the ether, shaping it into an inky snake, twisting it savagely around the man’s throat. He flailed and tried to claw at the snake’s scales, but the snake never let up.

  I released him at the last second.

  He was a human, albeit one who’d made bad choices. The snake slithered into the light and swung its head toward me. It almost seemed to be asking permission.

  “You can go after you take out the rest. Take care of any humans stupid enough to shoot.”

  It dipped its head in silent acknowledgement and slithered into the dark. I heard another startled cry a few seconds later. Just how many humans had Janeth collected?

  The answer to that question didn’t ultimately matter. We hadn’t come to save the willfully stupid. We’d come for Astrid and Maverick.

  I turned my gaze back to Janeth and found her inching across the floor, squinting against the sunlight. She was moving towards the darkness and away from us, though her eyes were fixed on Maverick, who was stirring fitfully. His eyes were open, though spinning wildly. It loosened a tight knot of worry in my chest. If he was coming to, Janeth couldn’t have taken as much blood as I’d feared. There might be a chance he’d live through this.

  Seeing as how Tabitha was cooing down at Astrid as she held Astrid in her arms, I figured Maverick needed my help first. I dropped to my knees beside him, pulling him half onto my lap. He smiled faintly when I clasped his face in my hands.

  “Going to give me a goodbye kiss?” he slurred. “Because then I could die a happy man.”

  I frowned at him. “I’m here to save you, you dolt.” I took a deep breath as I doubted my own words. He looked pretty bad… “She didn’t get her blood into you, did she?”

  His lip curled in disgust. “She did, though it wasn’t… much.”

  Panic almost knocked the air out of my lungs. I knew from my experience with Lorcan that a little blood here or there couldn’t turn a witch or warlock into a vampire—that it would require more than that, but just enough could mean he’d become a Blood Warlock.

  His eyes flew open wide as a thought occurred to him. “Astrid!”

  “I’m okay,” Astrid called out from where she sat a few feet away. Her voice was muffled, smothered by her mother, who was holding her tightly.

  “Hang on,” I muttered as I realized Maverick had quite a few wounds I needed to treat. “I’ve got something in my satchel.”

  It took another half minute of dedicated sawing, but the ropes around Maverick’s arms and legs eventually gave. Maverick let out a sound that was halfway between a groan and a sigh of relief. He clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to work blood back into his fingertips. He rose up onto his knees, wobbling a little. His legs appeared even more unsteady than his arms. Though that might have had more to do with the bite on his thigh than the bondage.

  Suddenly, a clammy hand clamped around my ankle and I was yanked to the side, into the dark. Astrid screamed my name, but it was no use.

  Janeth had me.

  “Wanda!” Maverick shouted.

  “Get Astrid into the sun!” I screamed back even as I fought against Janeth’s hands that seemed to be clawing me from all over—as if there were eight of them.

  A heavy blow snapped my head to the side.

  Blood burst into my mouth, and I heard a faint ringing in my ears.

  Maverick wasn’t kidding about the bitch’s slap. The last time I’d seen stars like this, I’d been dying.

  Janeth let out another trilling laugh and rubbed her thumb over my lower lip. It stung, which meant it had probably split when she slapped me. There was enough light diffusing through the open door that I could just make out her profile.

  She lifted her thumb to her lips and flicked a tongue over the digit, sucking my blood from it like melted chocolate.

  Holding me in place with her vicelike grip, she cocked her head to the side so she could bite the shell of my ear. I bucked in surprise, which made her laugh again.