Looking back at Harlee and Brant, I said. "Update Tac after each interview. He'll pass that intel onto us and vice versa. Let's not all turn up at another May Tree again, huh? We've had one wild goose chase, we need to manage our time better."

  "You think we'll get more false tip-offs?" Brant asked.

  "I think it's likely, don't you?"

  Brant studied me. "I never had a case quite like this one," he admitted. " But one false lead don't make a serial killer, Cat."

  "Just keep it in mind."

  "Will do, ma'am."

  "All right. Let's do this," I said. "Rafe, I'll meet you outside. Harl, hop to it."

  She bit her bottom lip as Brant sauntered out, dragging a reluctant-looking Rafe along with him.

  "Are you really not mad?" she asked me.

  I let out another sigh. "I know you were worried about me, Harlee. Thank you. But how about you talk to me first next time, eh? Don't just run straight to Harry."

  "Okay. You got it, Cat. Still battle buddies?"

  I chuckled. "Yeah, we're still battle buddies."

  She punched the air and skipped out of the office.

  "I bet she shits rainbows," Tac muttered.

  I looked out of the door, across the curved hallway, and through the grimy windows. Brant was unlocking the rental, pointing to the passenger side as Harlee waved her hand toward the MX-5. I wished the special agent luck.

  "Hey, Tac," I said, coming alongside him. I bent over so he could hear me better. I wasn't sure how good vampires' hearing was.

  He pulled his headphones off and looked at me, waiting.

  "I don't know fully what's going on yet," I whispered, "but I do know it goes to deep, dark places."

  "Who is he, Cat?"

  Not who, I thought, but what. I couldn't tell him that. He'd never trust me again.

  "Step lightly," I warned him, nodding toward the computer.

  Then I remembered Gio saying those exact same words.

  "The night harbours more than you think," I muttered and then walked out the door.

  Rafe

  She was amazing. Not a thought I'd ever had about a witch before. It threw me. I wanted to lash out at her because she made me feel things I had never felt before. Those emotions scared me.

  This witchling who had only just been introduced to our world was still very much in charge of her own world. I didn't doubt for a moment that Catalin Aguirre would transition to The Involition without issue.

  Could she rule there too?

  Would it be wise to let her?

  I was no more in charge of my world than I was in charge of The Involition. What I had planned did not include a change of leadership; swapping one witch overlord for another. Gods no! But I am capable of adjusting my tactics when needed. I've had to on many occasions.

  But to do so now would mean winning over Catalin completely. And there was only one way to do that. Thankfully, I was intimately acquainted with the one thing I knew all witches needed that I had to offer. Well, two things, but one led to the other, so I wasn't going to be picky.

  First, I had to seduce her. Offer her my body to satiate the hunger every witch has for carnal pleasures with my kind. Second, I would gift her my blood; providing her with eternal life and the power she would need to survive in our world.

  And then I would seal our bond with a vampire's kiss.

  The thought both thrilled and horrified me. A bond like that was irreversible. The witches knew that. They were very careful to contain us when they supped at the fountain of youth and spent their desires upon our bodies.

  I felt ill just thinking about doing this with one of them: Tying myself unequivocally to a witch for all life. But if I had any hope of escaping this pitiful existence, I had to do this before The Involition subsumed her. Once they had her in their clutches, she would be lost to me.

  Right now, Catalin was ripe for the picking.

  Oh, how the All-Mother would fume if I succeeded in usurping her. How much fury would she bring down on me? Too much? Or just enough to force a mistake?

  This was a very dangerous game I played. The risk excited me. The reward intoxicated me. The prize…

  I watched Catalin walk out of the curved building that was her workplace. She had an innate grace to her, that called to every nerve-ending in my body. Her long, glossy, dark hair shone in the morning sunlight. Her skin was pale and unblemished. Her eyes, a bright sapphire blue that seemed as extraordinary and unforgiving as the gem they resembled.

  One false move and she would gut me.

  Oh, yes. The prize was worth it.

  I pushed off from my lean against her vehicle. She scowled at me and I smiled. The things I could do with this witch in my thrall.

  The things I could do to her body under mine.

  I was almost giddy at the prospect.

  "What's wrong with you?" Catalin demanded, staring with narrowed eyes across the roof of her tiny car.

  "Why would you ask that?" I replied.

  "You're looking at me as if I'm a juicy cut of steak."

  My nose wrinkled involuntarily.

  "Hardly," I said, opening the door to the car as she had unlocked it. "More like a fine glass of wine."

  It took Catalin a moment longer to get herself under control, and then she opened the door and slipped behind the wheel.

  "You bring those fangs of yours out again and I'll knock them right out of your mouth," she promised.

  Such fire.

  "Can you cast?" I asked mildly.

  "Cast what?"

  "Spells."

  She said nothing. We both knew she was untrained.

  "I can teach you to defend yourself."

  "You know spells?" she asked warily.

  "I have lived a long time surrounded by sorgina, Catalin. I am not blind nor am I deaf, although they would like it if I were. So, I can tell you what is required to cast protective and defensive spells. It is up to your innate magic to do the rest."

  She stared at me and then started the car.

  "I don't get you," she said as she navigated the driveway. "Why haven't you told The Involution that I wield magia?"

  So smart. Part of me liked that. Part of me lamented she wasn't just a bimbo with a nice rack.

  "I'm having too much fun to cut our time together short," I said.

  "Uh-huh," she muttered. She didn't believe a word I said. I admired that. She should trust no one from our world. "You've been assigned to watch me," she surprised me by adding. "You said yourself, The Involution want to know whether I'm a danger to them by being able to wield magic. I clearly do. You've called me a sorgina. You think I'm a witch. Ergo, I wield magic. Am I a threat to them, Raphael?"

  I hesitated, Catalin filled in the silence.

  "Okay, how about this? You want something from me. Something more than just knowing if I wield magic. So, that would mean, this something has nothing to do with your assignment. The Involition have no idea what you're up to. My guess is you don't want them to. Are you rebelling, Raphael?" She glanced over at me briefly, and then returned her astute gaze to the road. "Are you planning a coup?"

  Gods above, how does she do that?

  "Are you using magia, sorgina?" I asked.

  "Right now? Not that I know of." She flexed her fingers on the steering wheel and grunted a breath that sounded chagrined. "Perhaps," she added under her breath.

  I let out a huff of laughter. "You don't even know when you do it, Catalin. You have no idea what you're capable of. What you could achieve."

  "Well, world domination isn't exactly my style. I don't like the limelight."

  "And if the world needs fixing?"

  "I'm quite happy with the way the world currently is."

  "My world. The world you are about to be sucked into."

  "I'm not already sucked into it?"

  "You're aware of it. You're part of it even. But until The Involition claims you, you are still separate from it."

  "And that's a good thing," she said. A statement, not a question.

  So quick. So clever. So dangerous.

  "That is a very good thing, sorgina," I murmured.

  "What do you want from me, Raphael?"

  Everything.

  "I'm not sure I'm ready to share that," I admitted.

  She snorted. "Then you and I have a problem, buddy."

  "Oh, Catalin, we have so many problems, and so little time."

  She said nothing, her fingers tightening and then loosening on the steering wheel.

  "Part of me wants to confide in you," I said, surprising myself as much as her, I was certain. "It is not easy, however, for a banpiro to do so with a sorgina."

  "Banpiro? Vampire?"

  "Yes." I stared through the window at the passing streets. We were driving north, out of the city. I didn't care where our next interviewee was located. All I cared about was enthralling this woman.

  "Are we mortal enemies or something?" she asked.

  "It didn't start out that way," I told the glass beside me.

  "You're actually being pretty chatty all of a sudden, Rafe. I gotta wonder why?"

  "Just making conversation," I offered.

  "'I can't say,'" she said in a poor imitation of my voice, I think.

  I wanted to smile but didn't.

  "You appear to have come into some knowledge that has allowed me some leeway." I turned to look at her. "Where? Who have you been talking to?" When? I wondered. Last night, after she left the hotel?

  I would have to keep a closer eye on her.

  "Never you mind," she drawled. "I like the new chatty you, Rafe. Keep it up. But if you ever enter my home without my permission again, I will make you regret it."

  Ah. She figured that out, too. I wasn't used to having my magia noticed. I wasn't used to such a skilled interrogator. And I certainly wasn't used to admiring a witch to such a degree.

  Catalin Aguirre was a dangerous creature.

  I wanted to keep her.

  I wanted to enthral her.

  I wanted, right then, very much to fuck her.

  And part of me — a deep-seated, well-trained, and extremely pissed-off part of me — wanted to eliminate her from the playing field.

  If Catalin was dead, the All-Mother would have no hope of fortifying her position. If she were dead, I would not be tempted to undertake such a perilous scheme. Life would be simpler if Catalin Aguirre no longer existed.

  But life would be a bleak existence once more.

  I was so fucking conflicted.

  "So noted," I said. "It is in my making," I added, unsure why I was explaining myself. "I am a jagole. I watch. And you seemed to need the sleep."

  "So you admit it," she growled. Had she just called my bluff?

  I started laughing. At her impertinence. At my gullibility. At everything.

  "What's funny?" she demanded.

  I slowly stopped laughing and stared out the window again.

  "Fate," I said, some seconds later. "Fate is funny."

  "You walking into my life and turning it upside down is fate, is it?"

  "What would you call it?"

  "A disaster."

  "Fate can be disastrous, Catalin. It is how we meet our fate that determines our survival of it. You can survive this disaster if you are prepared."

  "Then I need to know everything."

  "I will tell you as much as I am able to tell you."

  She shook her head, lips pressed in a thin line. "You've changed your tune."

  "Someone opened the floodgates, and it was not me," I told her.

  She sighed. "Giordano," she said.

  Ah, so the barrandari removed the seal. At least I would not be blamed for that. I pitied the old vampire. He played a dangerous game too, it seemed. We all chafed at the binds the All-Mother chained us with. Some more than others. But I had not seen this coming. What was Catalin to one such as he?

  "You want something from me, Rafe," Catalin said, a repeat of her earlier assessment. "I want something from you in return."

  "Are we striking a deal, sorgina?"

  "Why not?"

  "You do not even know what it is I want."

  "Oh, you don't get what you want by striking a deal with me," she pointed out. "You get me not outing your rebellion to the — what did you call her? — All-Mother when I meet her."

  There were ways I could make her forget. But I had to admit, a pact could prove worthwhile. Trust — even trust that is misplaced — has to be earned.

  I would earn her trust, empower her, and then use her to get what I wanted.

  "Very well," I said. "A deal."

  "Is there a magical way to ensure it's met?"

  My lips quirked and my fangs throbbed with need.

  "It is called ituna."

  "Explain it to me."

  And there went any desire I had for her body. Witches, no matter the breed, were bitches. Catalin was coming into her inner bitch quite nicely, I thought, and it left me feeling sickened.

  "We use our magia to bind the pact," I said. "It's all in the intent and willing the words true."

  "As easy as that, huh?" she said doubtfully.

  "It's the best explanation I have."

  She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. When had she stopped opening and closing them? I hadn't noticed. Did that mean she had relaxed?

  It would be ironic that the moment I am repelled by her, she is attracted to me. Well, maybe not so ironic as more a representation of her kind as a whole.

  Think of the endgame, Rafe, I scolded myself. Without her, you have nothing. With her, you can change the world.

  I swallowed down my distaste and said, "It won't work unless we both agree to the words being said. You cannot be forced into an ituna against your will. The magia doesn't like that."

  "The magia has feelings?"

  "Everything has feelings, Catalin. Some of us are just better at ignoring them."

  "If you say so," she muttered and turned the car into a rest stop I hadn't seen coming. Did this witch have a way to make the world bend to her whim? I wondered bemusedly.

  The timing seemed too perfect. An isolated, parklike spot on the side of the highway, empty of observers and quiet enough to suit our purposes. I was either going to rue this day for the rest of my life or remember this moment for the deliverance it brought me.

  Catalin Aguirre was either my salvation or my damnation. I wasn't sure which.

  Cat

  Iparked the car and listened to the engine cooling. Neither Rafe nor I got out of the vehicle.

  Was I making a mistake bringing a magically binding pact into this? I didn't know what magia could do. From the little I'd learned already, it was more than what my fingers did when I used it. For all I knew, there were different levels of magic, more powerful witches than others. I might be a weakling on the totem pole of witchcraft wielders.

  My fingers tingled and my gut clenched when I needed to change course, or when I'd missed something important, and often just as a warning to duck my head. It was useful in my line of work, but was it spectacular?

  I needed an ally. I didn't think Raphael was a trustworthy ally, but he was all I had. I could have gone back to Gio, but he'd warned me off returning too quickly. And Rafe had called him a spy. Would he be magically compelled to report our conversations to the All-Mother?

  Rafe was a watcher. Was he under the same constraints or did he have some leeway? It certainly looked like he had some freedom from that conversation he shared with the werewolf. But how much? Would a magical pact circumvent any of that?

  "Alright," I said. "Where do you want to do this?"

  "Nature is best. The metal in the car hinders the flow of magia."

  I looked out at the rest stop I'd pulled into. It was surprisingly picturesque. There was a lookout with a breathtaking view back toward the city, a couple of prettily painted picnic tables under leafy trees, and wildflowers dotted throughout the lush foliage. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make this place lovely, but you had to wonder how many people actually stopped here to see it.

  "I doubt it usually looks like this," Rafe said from beside me.

  "What?" I demanded.

  "You needed a suitable place to complete the ituna." He shrugged his big shoulders. "This is it."

  "Are you saying I created this rest stop?"

  "Altered it, maybe. I am unsure of the extent of your powers."

  "That's not possible." I shook my head. Staring at the parklike surroundings, I said, "Will it stay this way after we're gone?"

  "That depends on what you did to create it. It is possible, but unlikely."

  My hand tightened around the door handle, my knuckles whitening.

  "Will you really help me?" I asked. "No bullshit, Rafe. Tell me the truth." If you even can.

  "The pact will be binding. If I am able to tell you what you need to know, I will."

  "What will stop you from telling me what I need to know?"

  "The curse."

  I turned my head and looked at him. The sharp angles of his face seemed more pronounced.

  "Gio mentioned a curse," I whispered.

  "That is the only reason I can speak of it now."

  "How could he, if you couldn't before?"

  "Gio, as you call him, is an old vampire. He also sacrificed much, I should think, to break the seal."

  "The seal?"

  "Catalin, it would be easier — safer — to discuss this once the ituna has been created."

  "Why?" I'm not sure why I was pushing this. I'd already decided a pact was the only way forward. I was at a disadvantage here. A severe disadvantage. I knew practically nothing of this world, and it was clear I was in danger. Of what, I wasn't yet certain. But my fingers warned me and my gut urged me down this path.

  I had to do this. Secure an ally in the only way I could think of that would stick. I didn't know for sure if it would, but I trusted my fingers — my magia — in this. I had to.

  Rafe shifted uncomfortably in his seat. I waited for him to answer me. Gio had looked as uncomfortable as Rafe now did. And Gio had said he had wounds that needed attention after he'd answered my questions. I'm not sure why, but I didn't want Rafe to hurt like that.