I gathered my Light, wishing I could warn both Gregor and Samson. But with this number of opponents, over such a large area, I couldn’t waste the time nor energy on being precise. I waited for the right moment. For the Taniwha to show their hand. And then they did. Offering up a war cry to the moon, a howl of defiance and anger that rattled my bones, they charged. Silver glinting as they brandished their makeshift weapons.

  They’d still hurt, I was sure, but being challenged with a candlestick made the moment seem a little surreal. And then my Light went out in a single blast.

  Taniwha fell to the ground, writhing in agony. Samson made a sound of distress, but Gregor washed the pain induced Light off as if it meant nothing. Some of the shapeshifters managed to recover quicker than others. But I’d culled the number sufficiently for this to be a fair fight.

  Four powerful vampires, two of which were still recovering, against a dozen pissed off Taniwha.

  I couldn’t touch my knife, so my hands became my weapons. My fangs joined in the fun when a creature got too close to my lips. I spun and danced, as only a Nosferatin could, surprised to see Gregor doing something similar. I kept close to Samson until he gave me a nod of his head, indicating he had recovered enough to watch his own back.

  And then the real fun began. Bones snapped. Scales cracked. Blood spurted over the dirt. A Taniwha got close enough to draw their claws down my side. I felt the skin split, and the heat of blood as it quickly soaked my shirt. I spun around and kicked him in the muzzle, then followed that up with a punch to the side of his head. He crumpled before me, but then there was another.

  I lost count of the blows I delivered and the scratches I received in return. Blood scented the air; Taniwha and Nosferatu. Samson staggered. Where the hell was Gregor’s backup? But it had taken us well over an hour to drive out here, and unless they could fly or use a handy nearby Ley line for faster than normal travel, they’d have to run or drive. Both of which would take time, even if they were racing.

  For now, we were on our own, and those Taniwha who had been affected by my Light had recovered.

  We’d incapacitated some. Maybe half a dozen. But now another ten were joining the fight, and we were tiring. We closed ranks. Putting our backs together and facing the mob of raging, moon called shapeshifters. Silver flashed, a knife was thrown at my head. I ducked. Something rattled. A chain flew through the air, wrapping itself around the leg of Gregor’s driver. He gritted his teeth and tried to stand his ground, but several of the Taniwha added their strength to the one holding the chain, and they all pulled together.

  It was a tug-of-war the vampire could not win.

  Gregor shouted. A sound of warning or a curse at the Taniwha. His vampire jerked and then fell hard to the ground. In seconds they’d dragged him away from us.

  We were losing this fight.

  I gathered my Light again, but one more blast and I’d feel the effects. It wasn’t a limitless supply. I was exhausted already; if I used my Light, my reaction times would falter, and there were more silver chains in the crowd that surrounded us.

  But then the Taniwha stilled as one as if they knew they had us outnumbered, surrounded, done. Samson looked at me. I saw so much in his gaze. So much I had wanted to deny but could no longer find the strength to. So much that made me want to do it all over again. To make better decisions. To do it right this time.

  The female Taniwha stepped forward.

  “Submit, and we will spare a life.”

  Why one? So that one could warn others? Or did she want to play games and make us fight amongst ourselves for the right to live? We were vampyre. Survive at all costs was our motto.

  But I was a Nothus and Samson was only a level four Sanguis Vitam Master. I looked at Gregor. His fangs were down; his eyes were pure platinum. He growled low in his chest and stared the female Taniwha down. Not giving her an inch. Not submitting in this or any lifetime.

  Fuck this, I thought. If I was going to die anyway, I was going to go out in a flash of blinding light. Or Light, as the case may be.

  Ready? I asked the Dark Shadow.

  She didn’t reply immediately. I could sense her need to fight, to survive, to find an alternate solution.

  And then she growled, Ready. And joined her strength to mine.

  For the first time ever, I felt complete. I felt as one. Not half of this and half of that and mixed up beyond measure. I felt as one being, one creature, Dark and Light, good and bad, strength and power.

  I gathered my Light, stroked it one last time, and then let it out with as much rage and frustration and fury at my fucked up life as I could manage.

  The clearing exploded. Trees went up in flames. Every single being around me fell to the ground; some managing to resist for a moment, but they all eventually caved to our combined power.

  Including Gregor Morel, the Master of Wellington City, the Enforcer for the Iunctio.

  I took a step. My knees gave out. The ground hit with a jarring force that sent sparks of pain up into my spine. All around me lay moaning or unconscious forms. But I had to keep going. I had to get us out of here. I pushed up off the dirt and crawled toward Samson first.

  He wasn’t breathing. But he was still alive. Undead. Whatever.

  I looked between where he lay and the limousine and let out a whimpered curse. Then started to drag him closer to the vehicle. I’d managed to stuff Samson inside, sweating and swearing and swaying while I’d done it, and had returned for Gregor when the first Taniwha recovered. I had nothing left to give. I was so close to getting us out of there. The injustice of it all made me scream, wasting more precious resources.

  My voice echoed off the tall trees that stood sentinel at the edge of the clearing. It bounced back and then echoed for a while. The Taniwha growled; lowered his muzzle; dark eyes narrowed.

  I pushed Gregor behind me and whispered, “Bring it.”

  I was born fighting. I’d die fighting. And all the fighting I’d done in-between would mean nothing.

  The Tanwiha charged.

  And met the tempered steel edge of a silver sword. His head flew off in one direction while his body took one step farther. And then dropped.

  Aliath, Prince of Dökkálfa, Herra of the Hár Lords, turned to look at me and said, “Your time is up.”

  I sat back on my butt and laughed.

  My Dark Shadow pointed out that this wasn’t funny.

  And then Aliath stepped forward, hand raised, green eyes vibrant, and the world faded to black at last.

  15

  Agreement

  I heard my best friend calling my name.

  “Get up!” Kara shouted. “Get up! They’re coming!”

  My eyes flicked open; adrenaline made my skin prickle. Light leaked out from my fingertips. The Dark Shadow prowled inside, relief at my consciousness only dulling the sharp sting of her claws as she paced inside. She said nothing, but retreated somewhat, taking my Light with her.

  I looked around where I was lying. A cave. Cold stone floor at my back. Torches in wall sconces on two sides. An opening shedding some strangely coloured light into the edge of the room. And Aliath.

  “We are close to the Ljósálfar border,” he said.

  I licked my lips and tried to swallow; my throat barely moved it was so dry.

  “Water,” I rasped.

  He ignored me.

  “This is where I believe they entered our lands.”

  He stared down at me as if I was a filthy bug he didn’t want to get too close to.

  I ignored the rebuke and tested my arms, my legs, my head. Nothing broken. My body ached, I thought my throat would burst into fire, but otherwise, I was in one piece.

  And then I thought of how I’d left Samson and Gregor back with the Taniwha.

  I sat up, fighting the dizziness, and growled, “You! You left them there. Unconscious.”

  “They split up once they crossed into Dökkálfa,” he said. “We have caught one of their number, but others exist.”

  Damn the sanctimonious fairy fucker.

  “Samson and Gregor were compromised!” I yelled at him. “The Taniwha could have killed them by now.”

  “The hunt continues, Hundr.”

  “Would you damn well answer me!” I shouted. “I don’t give a flying fuck about your spies! We left two vampires in enemy territory, compromised!”

  Aliath’s eyes bled all other colour but chartreuse. It was blinding. Mesmerising. He started to chime. I swayed toward him. And then gritted my teeth and reached for my Dark Shadow.

  She rose up at my calling. Sanguis Vitam melding with my Light. The cave began to glow. Aliath chimed faster. It was a battle of wills, and right then, I was prepared to go all the way to hell to fight the bastard. His magic met mine. The room burst apart, stones falling, the ground rumbling, the mountain we must have been in shaking all around us.

  “Stop!” he commanded.

  “Take me back!” I ordered.

  Both demands were laced with our powers. Both hit with the force of a two-tonne truck. Both shattered.

  We fell back; panting.

  Aliath slowly cocked his head to the side and stared at me and then he started to laugh.

  “Oh my,” he said. “How wrong she was. How deliciously, perfectly wrong she was.”

  “The vampires,” I growled, ignoring his rambling.

  “Assistance arrived as we departed,” he said with a wave of his hand as if that bit of info was irrelevant.

  I let out a breath of air I didn’t need to release and almost cried with the relief it gave me.

  “Why didn’t you say that earlier?” I said, trying for a neutral tone and failing miserably.

  “I did not think it was important.”

  No, to the fairy, only the hunt for Isoleth’s spies was important. Only those things that directly affected him.

  “I need to get back to my realm,” I announced, pushing up off the cold floor and working hard not to show how weak I felt.

  “We have an agreement.”

  How could I forget?

  I winced as I stood to full height. My hand automatically went to my side. It came away wet. I glanced down and saw blood. I hadn’t healed yet; that definitely wasn’t right.

  Showing any weakness in front of this creature was not wise, but I couldn’t hunt like this.

  “I need to feed,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “There are no humans nearby.”

  “Then take me back.”

  He stared at me. He hadn’t downshifted on the bright eyes mumbo-jumbo yet, but I found I could resist it if my Dark Shadow kept her Sanguis Vitam entwined with my Light.

  Yes, she said in agreement.

  I guessed that was a Yes for sticking around and fighting the fairy’s influence with me. Of course, she needed me to feed too. Without blood, we couldn’t heal. And right now any excess Sanguis Vitam we had was working hard to combat Aliath’s power. We couldn’t keep this up much longer.

  “Fairy,” I said, and my voice was melodic; half mine and half hers. “I need blood. I cannot hunt your spies unless I feed. Now.”

  He slowly nodded his head. And then the world shifted, and we were somewhere else.

  Heat seeped into my pores and sand swirled around my ankles. It was nighttime, but the ambient light made it feel like it was the middle of the day. I glanced around, taking in the tall sky rise buildings, the palm trees, and the Arabic writing on a billboard sign.

  I closed my eyes briefly and then glanced at Aliath.

  “I don’t know my way around Dubai,” I said.

  “What is there to know? Humans are humans everywhere.”

  But I didn’t just pick any old human to feed from. I needed them to be the dregs of society. It felt wrong to feed off innocents. I’d done it, of course. I’d fed off the young and the beguiled. But they’d come to me, entered my domain. Seen what I had to offer and gladly accepted the price. Here would be different. Here I couldn’t lay a trap for the hungry. And here I had no idea where to search for the depraved.

  But telling any of that to the fairy before me would have been a waste of my time. Even vampires didn’t understand my need for justifying what I was. So, how could Aliath?

  “Take me somewhere else,” I said. What was near Dubai that I could use? India? Egypt?

  “Enough!” Aliath snapped, the force of his will overpowering my Dark Shadow instantly.

  Had he been hiding his strength? Had he let us think we could fight him on equal ground? Or had he simply reached his limit and dug deep?

  This was becoming a clusterfuck to rival all clusterfucks. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t hide. And I couldn’t fight. Damn the Dark Fairy.

  I picked my Dark Shadow up off the metaphorical ground and patted her on the back. She snapped her teeth at me. I growled.

  Aliath walked off, heading Nut knows where, and I reluctantly followed. What choice did I have? Maybe that was what he intended; to prove to me that I had no choice in any of this. That I was at his beck and call and subject to his whims. Like everyone else, he wanted to use me. And like everyone else, he wanted to control me while he did it.

  We passed groups of people dressed in white. Dark-skinned and dark-eyed, but I didn’t sense any Dark in them. Well, not enough Dark for my liking. Aliath kept glancing at me, waiting for me to pick my dinner from the buffet he was supplying. I took perverse pleasure in denying him.

  He said nothing and walked straight into the foyer of a hotel. There were a few white-clothed men inside, but this time we’d found the jackpot. Tourists in bright colours, some of which were in the hotel’s bar and lounge.

  “This is more like it,” I said and began to prowl.

  It didn’t take long to find my quarry. A businessman who was chatting up an air hostess. I overheard enough of their conversation to know that much about them, and the way he stared at her breasts and not her eyes told me the rest. When the woman excused herself to go to the bathroom, and the man stood up thirty seconds later to follow her uninvited, I pounced.

  Like the lioness we were, the Dark Shadow and I cornered our prey and took him down.

  I was aware Aliath had stood back, allowing us the moment in private. His consideration was no doubt due to his sensibilities and not some misplaced use of manners. I glazed the human, confirmed his intentions had not been sound and then fed.

  The Dark Shadow purred; sending waves of pleasure through me for a hunt done well. She didn’t care that the man had been about to do something nefarious. She only cared that we had out-stalked a stalker.

  Good hunt, she said.

  I didn’t argue.

  She allowed me to pull back before we took too much, but only because we could sense someone coming. I stared down at the slightly dazed businessman and said, “Go to bed. Sleep this off. And don’t follow any more women.”

  That last command would only take for a while. Long enough for him to finish his business in Dubai and for the air hostess to fly out. It was all I could do without the Dark Shadow lending more of her Sanguis Vitam, and she didn’t see what the benefit would be for doing that right now.

  We had a long way to go before she and I were on the same page, but at least we were reading from the same book at last.

  I walked out of the hallway, the slice in my side already healed, Sanguis Vitam hiding my ripped clothes and blood splattered body from Norm sight. Aliath looked at me and nodded his head, and then we were back in the cave, the torches spluttering, the smell of Álfheimr surrounding, a low-level hum on the air as if the combined chimes of fairies made a permanent background sound.

  Perhaps I could have tried to run. But to where? And how far would he have let me? I was acutely aware now that I couldn’t overpower the Herra of the Hár Lords. Royal blood ran through his veins and Darkness consumed his soul. And he’d taken great lengths to show me exactly where I sat on the totem pole of power.

  I thought I might have just hated him a little.

  Hell, who was I kidding? I despised the fairy fucker.

  I studied him. He let me. I could see it; that Darkness. He was Dökkálfa. Dark Fey. He had Light, but he chose not to use it. Aliath was content to be what he was and had no desire to be any better.

  I had been blinded by my rage; by my change in circumstances. I’d blamed Samson and Lucinda. I’d told myself that he meant nothing to me now and she wanted more than I could give her. I’d been wrong on both counts.

  There were others I should have been warier of. One of which was standing right in front of me; had made a point to show me just how trapped I actually was. I had no way of getting back to my realm, to Mark and the case. To Samson.

  Without obliging Aliath.

  And I had no way of fighting him and coming out on top. I might succeed for a while. I might even do some damage. But if I used Sanguis Vitam, I’d need to feed sooner rather than later.

  And there were no humans in Álfheimr.

  I had no choice. I was here now. Even if we hadn’t had an agreement, I had no choice but to find Aliath’s spies.

  “Are we doing this?” I demanded.

  He smiled. It was almost too much to watch. Everything he did, he did with the intention of testing me; pushing me to my limits; seeing how much I could resist his allure.

  My Dark Shadow released my Light.

  It is better here, she explained. Better than her Sanguis Vitam, I thought. Using Light taxed me, but it did not make the need to feed increase. I could do this. I didn’t think I could win, but I could fight back the only way I knew how.

  Because let’s face it; I was born fighting.

  So, I wrapped my Light around me and pulled it in tight. And the power of Aliath’s visage diminished.

  I smiled at the fairy and received a bark of laughter in response.

  “She has no idea,” he murmured.

  “Who?”

  “Sofiq.” The Dark Fey Queen. “She thought to contain you; control you. Instead, she has made you more powerful.”