“Call off your friends.”
“I can’t.”
“Life is about choices, Decker. Choose wisely.”
Glass shattered behind me and adrenaline pulsed through my body. I grabbed an umbrella next to the door and stabbed the tip into Decker, anchoring him to the ground before jumping off.
I wasn’t going to let anything happen to Ivy.
Two male vampires I didn’t recognize came charging toward me.
“Where are the girls?” one of them growled.
“Not here.” I stood firm, towering over the two.
They looked at each other before charging at me. I quickly spun to the left, grabbing the one closest to me while the other one darted up the stairs.
Damn it. He got away.
The other vampire took advantage of the distraction.
The pressure of his palm crushed me into the wall.
He was a strong one.
But not strong enough.
I ripped a wooden spindle from the staircase and speared it through his chest. His eyes froze on me. I knew this phase wouldn’t last long, but it would buy me time.
I glanced at Decker who was still anchored to the floor as I bounded up the stairs two at a time. I spotted the intruder opening a closet door when I jumped onto his back. He fell backward, and we fell to the ground as the closet door opened.
No Ivy.
They were hiding better than I thought.
Relief spread through me as I looped my arms around the predator’s neck and squeezed tightly, crushing his vertebrae. It wasn’t until I felt the final pop that I rolled his head away from his body. I scanned the hallway and didn’t see any sign of Ivy or Christy, thankfully.
But I did see a vampire climbing near the bedroom window down the hall from me just as his feet shattered the glass.
His gaze caught mine as his lip curled slightly.
“The Carter Voss.” He nodded. “Nice.”
He charged toward me but came to a dead stop when he saw the vampire on the floor next to me.
“What?” I asked, glaring at the vampire in front of me.
“Where’s Decker? And Lloyd?” the vampire growled.
I laughed as my fists curled, ready for more. It had been a long time since I’d had to fight. “Do you really have to ask?”
The vampire started to walk backward, and my smile grew as his eyes widened.
I wasn’t sure why this one decapitated vampire next to me was spooking this guy. It would usually take a pile of vampires to scare off one who’d had specific orders from Lux.
“I—” the vampire stuttered, still backing up as his shoes crunched on the glass. “I’m out.”
I straightened my shoulders, smiling.
I knew it was only a matter of time before they’d be back. I had to get Ivy and Christy to safety and come up with a way to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled.
“Nice to know my reputation precedes me.” I smiled as the vampire shook his head and pointed over my shoulder.
“Not you, man. Her.” The vampire jumped out the window right as I turned to see something I hadn’t seen in years.
Chapter Nine
Ivy
The glass shattered downstairs, and Christy’s gaze fell to mine.
“Second floor,” she whispered, and I nodded.
I could hear them right below us. The only thing between the vampires and us was a staircase and one Carter Voss.
My heart raced with fear. I didn’t know what to expect. How would I die? If I’d understood my powers more, would I even be in this situation?
Now wasn’t the time to get mad at myself for shunning magic, but it really became apparent that I’d made a mistake.
The footsteps hastened below, and my pulse quickened even more, blood rushing through my head as I looked over at Christy for some sign.
Christy shook her head. “I need to help.”
I straightened. “What? You can’t leave—”
Christy smiled. “I’ll be fine. There are more outside. Carter needs me. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
I nodded slowly, unsure why Christy knew.
My stomach coiled into a large knot at the thought of something happening to Carter Voss.
A vampire.
The one thing in this world I’d actually hated.
And now I was worried . . .
About him.
Christy made her way to the stairs and turned. “And if you see anything, Ivy . . . don’t hold it against me. I’m a nice person, really.” She winked at me and sped down the stairs as I stared around the messy attic.
I didn’t like being up here alone.
Not because I was alone but because I didn’t need to be sheltered. I didn’t want to be hiding.
I could help.
Somehow.
I drew a slow breath and stood, grabbing a bat that was tucked in the corner before making my way down the stairs.
When I got to the hall, my jaw dropped at what I witnessed unfolding in front of me.
A brilliant green haze filled the entire space as Christy hovered behind Carter. She’d grown to three times her normal size, magnificent gold wings spread across the ceiling, and her now fire-red eyes glowed in the direction of the vampire. Her tiny teeth looked razor sharp as she hovered over Carter, who seemed oblivious as he toyed with the vampire in front of him.
I’d never seen Christy’s pixie form before, but I was in complete awe. Her long, slender fingers began sparkling as she pointed at the skittish vampire who was suddenly walking backward. Her red eyes narrowed as he jumped out the window.
Carter slowly spun around and shook his head. “I should have known. You know, I could have handled the vamp myself.”
I snickered as Christy lowered herself onto the ground, her body diminishing in seconds, her wings vanishing, her red eyes softening.
“I wasn’t worried about that one, Carter. I was worried about the twenty or so outside. We needed to send a message.” Christy folded her arms over her chest as Carter turned to look at me.
“Why aren’t you upstairs? I told you to hide.”
I stiffened. “I’m not fragile. I could have helped. And who are you to tell me what to do? If I remember correctly, you’re the one who got me into this mess in the first place.”
Why did merely looking at Carter drive me nuts? Eighty percent of the time, I wanted to scream with frustration, and the other twenty percent, I wanted to stare in awe, which only made me want to scream louder.
Carter’s eyes darkened. “Have you ever fought a vampire before?”
Humiliation bubbled through me. “No. I tend to keep my nose out of business it doesn’t belong in. Until I met you, of course. Now, I’m running for my life and suddenly starting to feel very inadequate.”
Carter’s expression softened slightly, but he muttered something under his breath I couldn’t hear.
Christy scowled at him and rushed over to me right when I spotted the decapitated vampire.
She squeezed me. “It’s not safe to stay here right now.”
“It’s not safe to go to the Bureau, either.” I shook my head. “I think we can safely say it doesn’t matter what I find out there. Lux is coming after us.”
Carter nodded. “True. I think we’ve passed the point of no return.”
Violet flashed into my mind. “My sister.”
Carter nodded. “I know. We need to get to her.”
Christy traded a glance with Carter, and I hated that they had some sort of silent communication that I wasn’t privy to.
“I’ll go round up Violet and meet you in the Nightfall Realm.” Carter’s gaze stayed on me as if he thought I’d protest or run screaming.
But my choices were limited.
“You can’t let anything happen to her.” I glanced at the vampire on the floor. “And who’s going to clean this thing up?”
Carter took a step toward me. “I’ll get your sister to safety. You have my word.” He pointed t
o the vampire. “This might have to wait.”
I nodded slowly, feeling a lump form in the back of my throat. “She’s all I have.”
Carter nodded. “I understand.”
I narrowed my eyes on the vampire. “Do you?”
Carter’s gaze darkened. “More than you could ever imagine.”
I found it hard to believe that Carter Voss worried about losing anyone or anything or he wouldn’t have trusted Lux. He didn’t get to his position in power because he had a kind heart.
“Fine.” I nodded. “Just keep her safe.”
“Do you think there’ll be any trouble getting Violet to go with Carter?” Christy asked.
I laughed. “Seriously? It’s like my sister’s dream date picking her up for prom.”
Carter smiled and shook his head. “Too bad she’s the sister who feels that way.”
My stomach flip-flopped, but I dropped my gaze to the floor.
“Just tell me one thing,” Carter’s voice teased.
“What?” I asked, my gaze connecting with his.
An unexpected thrill shot through me when he smiled.
“Did you actually think that bat would do you any good?”
I pulled my brows into a scowl and clutched it tighter. “You’d be surprised.”
My heart stopped the moment I thought about Glinda.
“Where’s my dog?” I tore down the stairs, searching frantically for my sheltie.
Carter was right behind me. “I didn’t want anything to happen to her. I let her out back.”
It felt like I could finally breathe again as relief flooded through me. “Besides my sister, she’s all I have.”
My sudden admission made me feel even lonelier.
Carter shook his head, and I realized he wasn’t even listening. “Decker left wounded and took his cohort with him. Christy’s little fireworks show upstairs really must have scared them off.”
Christy bounded down the steps. “Good. I thought it would do the trick. It feels nice to be useful. It’s hard being a cop for the mundanes and keeping my gifts to myself.”
Glinda barked out back, and I took off through the kitchen, kind of annoyed that Carter didn’t even pause to hear about how I felt about Glinda.
But it proved my point about vampires. They don’t care about much.
The moment Glinda came bounding toward me, happiness filled my soul until I thought about having to leave her again.
Who would I get to watch over her?
The moment I asked myself the question, Lydia and Gary appeared, frantically fluttering into a spectacle of anger.
“How could you invite those things to our land?” Lydia’s tiny little hands fisted into a ball while Gary scowled at me.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” I explained, bending down to make sure Glinda wasn’t harmed.
“Ever since you moved up here, you’ve brought trouble with you.”
“I can’t argue with that.” I thought back to that fateful night I went to the bar with my sister. Had I stood my ground and not gone, none of this would have happened. “I’ll do better in the future.” I bit my lip, dreading what I was about to ask. “However, I have to tend to some stuff in the Nightfall Realm. Can you watch Glinda for me?”
Lydia looked horrified. “You’ve never had any interest. Why now?”
I took a deep breath as Christy came outside, grateful for her presence. Lydia and Gary didn’t seem to mind Christy.
“It’s my fault,” Christy explained. “I witnessed something that has put her in grave danger. Her sister too.”
Lydia scowled. “Does it have to do with that thing inside?”
Christy drew a slow breath. “Carter Voss is his name, and it does.”
Gary groaned. “Vampires are nothing but trouble.”
“Some could say that about sprites, fae, and witches,” Christy reminded them. “Just depends which side you’re on, I suppose.”
Lydia shook her head. “Nope. If there’s trouble to be had, you can bet a vampire is involved.”
“Listen, I happen to agree with you, but I need your help. I don’t want anything to happen to my sister, and I need you to look after Glinda.”
“Fine. Of course, we will.” Lydia waved her tiny hand in the air. “You know, Agatha had planned on taking you there for your thirtieth birthday.”
My gaze darted to Lydia’s. “What?”
Lydia nodded. “She felt bad that you hadn’t . . .” She shrugged. “She wanted to be the one to expose you to your—” She stopped. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Would you please finish your thoughts?”
Lydia hissed and flew backward with Gary right along with her.
It wasn’t until Carter spoke that I realized what did it.
“We really need to get going.” His voice sounded soothing, which was confusing considering everything we’d just experienced in the last hour.
And considering he was the reason it was happening to me.
“Should I text my sister?” I asked.
Both Christy and Carter shook their heads.
“I want to believe she’s safe and they don’t have her, but if they do, we need the element of surprise on our side,” Carter explained.
I nodded as apprehension filled my veins. I’d never ventured in, near, or around the Nightfall Realm, so I had no idea what to expect or even how to get there. I only knew I’d spent my entire life avoiding the place.
Oh, fate had a sense of humor.
Carter’s gaze met mine. “I’ll bring your sister with me. I’ll meet you in the Juniper Ward. I don’t think anyone there would suspect a thing.”
“Or care to carry out a bounty on our heads,” Christy added.
“Basically, we have several issues. The first is that I’d like to live to see my next birthday, which isn’t very far away. The second is that we need to find a way to stop the prophecy from unfolding. Right? And if we can buy time by smoothing over whatever’s got Lux pissed off, we have a better chance of surviving. Maybe I do need to go to the Bureau. Maybe it’s not too late to change Lux’s mind.”
Carter nodded. “I understand, but we need to keep you safe, and we have to stop Lux from spreading anything that may be infecting him. Vampire strains are nothing to be trifled with. Keeping you safe is my priority, and that is in the Juniper Ward.”
Carter’s gaze connected with mine, and it felt like worlds had passed between us. The stormy glint hidden behind his expression sent a charge through me.
“The Juniper Ward?” I asked, shaking my head.
Christy rolled her eyes and sighed. “You have so much to catch up on.”
She grabbed my hand. “But no time like the present.”
Before I could ask what she was talking about, the world spun around me, my body turned icy, and I went limp as shrill screams wrapped around me, carrying me to another place.
Chapter Ten
Carter
I knocked on Violet’s apartment door.
“Who is it?” she asked slowly, sounding like I’d woken her up.
I had a real knack for waking everyone up.
“It’s Carter.”
A few seconds of silence sat between us before I heard her chain scraping the door.
A sweatsuit draped her small body, and her hair was snarled on top of her head. I strolled into her apartment and turned to look at her.
“Rough night?” I asked.
She smiled and ran her fingers over her sweats. “Yeah. You could say that.”
I spotted a red mark at the base of her neck, and she quickly moved her hand up to cover it.
“So, you like vampires,” I said flatly.
“You got a problem with that?” she asked, playing coy.
“Nope, but you should be more careful.”
She frowned. “What do you know about it?”
I glanced around the apartment. “Well, I am one.”
She laughed.
“And you shouldn’t just let stra
ngers into your apartment.”
Violet shook her head. “You’re not a stranger.” She folded her arms across her chest. “But why are you here?”
“We need to meet your sister in the Realm.”
Violet’s brows shot up. “The Realm? Now, I know you’re lying. She’s never been and will never set foot there.”
“Times change.”
“Nope. Now I know you’re full of it.” She drew a breath and took a step back. “I wanted her to go there with me this weekend. She wasn’t budging.”
I didn’t know how to put this delicately. “She’s in hiding. The sprites are watching after her dog. She’s with Christy. You need to come with me.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would my innocent sister ever be in hiding?”
“Lux sent some people after us. They came to the house.”
“Grammy’s house?” Violet looked slightly more convinced.
I nodded. “Yeah, and we managed to chase them off, but they’ll come back. They’re coming for you too.”
Violet’s brows furrowed. “Why me? I didn’t do anything.”
“Guilt by association.” I glanced around her apartment and couldn’t help but notice how cold it was.
Sparse furniture filled the living and dining rooms. The kitchen had stacks of paper and cereal boxes tipped over. It didn’t look like a home, didn’t feel like a home, just seemed like a place that she used in between outings.
She caught my gaze. “Don’t judge. I’ve been busy.”
My hands flew up. “What? I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.” She scowled. “How long are we going to be away?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could you give me some sort of idea?”
I shook my head and smiled. “Not really.”
She walked over to the couch and sat down. My patience was starting to wear thin.
“You’re telling me I need to come with you because my life is in danger, you can’t tell me why, and you don’t know how long I’ll be gone?”
I nodded. “That’s right, but we really need to get going.”
She scowled at me. “Fine, but I’m not very happy about this. I had a date with someone tonight that I really wanted to see.”
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