I think you can trust this man. His energy reads clear. Ulean flurried around me, her breath tickling my neck.

“You should know, we have one of the vampires in our midst, but I doubt if he was among those seeking to kill you. He does, however, have his own agenda.” I pointed to a chair. “Sit down?”

Rex swung it around, straddling it. “Why do you let him stay?”

“Believe it or not, he’s an ally, though a hedonist and all-around pervert as well.” I went back to the last of my breakfast.

Luna slipped over to the counter and returned with a plate of donuts. “Would you like some coffee, Mr. Moon Runner?”

Rex grinned at her. “That would be Rex, my dear, and I’d love some. Black, with one sugar if you have it.”

“Lannan Altos doesn’t just have an agenda,” Peyton said. “His agenda is Cicely.” She glanced at me. “Should I tell him everything?”

“We probably should. While you’re filling him in, I’m going to go call Ysandra and see if she is willing to meet with us.” I walked to the other side of the room, away from the conversation. Pulling out my phone, I hunted through my purse and found the card Ysandra had left with me. After a moment’s hesitation, I punched in her number.

Ysandra answered on the second ring.

“Hi, this is Cicely Waters. Remember me?” I wasn’t sure what to say—should I just spill out all the information at once and chance sounding like a raving idiot? Or play the mysterious card and hope she wouldn’t hang up on me?

“Cicely—of course I remember you! I’m so glad you called. Have you filled out the paperwork yet? We’re looking forward to meeting you and your new Society.” She sounded pleasant enough, almost like she really was looking forward to seeing us again.

I closed my eyes and plunged in. “Ysandra, we really need to talk to you. It’s an emergency. Is there any way you could meet us in Monroe today? There’s a diner there—Penny’s Pit Stop. Please, will you meet us there this afternoon? There’s so much I need to tell you and I can’t do it over the phone.”

She paused, I could almost hear the thoughts running through her head. Then, “Yes, I’ll meet you there at three P.M.”

“Please, be very careful on your way. And tell someone where you’re going. New Forest is a dangerous town now. Marta and Heather found out the hard way. We’re in trouble. And we need the help of the Consortium.” My voice cracked and I realized just how scared I was. The fact that Ysandra agreeing to meet us made the tears well up was proof of the stress.

She paused again, and then simply said, “Three P.M. I will be there.” And then silence.

I flipped my phone shut, a sense of relief flooding over me. There were so many things that could go wrong, but she was coming. I had a sudden flashback to childhood, to so many nights when I prayed for the cavalry to come riding in to rescue Krystal and me. But no one ever came.

As I returned to the others, Chatter entered the room. He was watching Rex intently. The look on his face was thoughtful and for once, I thought maybe, just maybe, our luck was turning. I let out my breath, forced a smile to my lips, and rejoined my friends.

Chapter 5

“I was high on the mountain when she found me,” Rex was saying. “Stretched out, almost dead, but I knew my name, and I knew my place in life. I’d walked through the fire, and so earned my place as one of the elders of the Northwest Puma Pride. Even though I left for a long time, they kept my place open for me. They told me, ‘We knew you would be coming home. It was meant to be.’ And it’s time for you, Peyton. Your time to undergo the vision quest is overdue.”

Curious, I glanced over at Peyton. Listening rapt to her father, her eyes glistened with tears.

“I can’t go now—I’m needed here. But afterward, if we get through this, I’ll be ready. Will the pride accept me, though? I’m half-magic-born.” Her lower lip trembled and I thought of the Lupa clan and how much the werewolves hated the magic-born.

“There is a big difference between wolves and cats,” Rex said, glancing over at me as if he could read my mind. “We are magical in nature, the wolves not as much. They fear magic, where the puma clans revel in it. As do all the big-cat-shifters. That’s one of the things that attracted me to your mother to begin with. I’ve told my people about you, and the Elders have offered you a place in the pride. But first, you must go through your vision quest. Pass through the fire and you will forever be one with my people. Your people.” He leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed across his chest. “But you need to know there’s a chance of dying. There’s always a dance with death when you go in search of the fire.”

Peyton nodded, staring at the floor. “I will try. I want to know more about your people—my people.”

I happened to glance up at the clock on the wall. It was barely nine thirty. “Today, I’m meeting Ysandra at three P.M. Kaylin and Rhiannon—you come with me. Chatter, would you and Peyton and Rex help Luna do whatever you need to in order to make us more secure in this place?”

“What do you want me to do, my love?” Grieve stood at the doorway. As he joined us, sitting on the table next to me, I reached for his hand but he shook his head.

“Before you continue, I’d like to have things out in the open.” He looked at the others. “I touched on this before but let’s talk about it. None of you really trust me. Not even you, my loyal Chatter. And you have every right to feel that way. After all, I belong to Myst—she turned me. But please know, I’m doing everything I can to keep control of my darker nature. I was not born this way…” He hung his head, wincing. “I was not born to this. I love Cicely. She is my all. I’ll do anything to keep her safe.”

Rex tilted his head, frowning. “I’m still kind of fuzzy on the facts surrounding the Indigo Court. Fill me in?”

I sighed. “Long story short: Geoffrey—you know who he is?”

Rex nodded, a somber cast across his face. “I’ve had several run-ins with him long time back before I left New Forest. He’s dangerous. I believe he was a warlord before he was turned?”

“Yes, and he is still a warlord at heart. A thousand or so years ago, Geoffrey got it into his head to turn Myst—who was one of the Unseelie. They were lovers, and they hatched a mad scheme to turn her into a vampire and then the two of them would conquer the land. Typical delusions-of-grandeur crap, except for one little problem. When he drank her down and then gave her his blood, she didn’t die.”

“Let me guess—something to do with her Fae nature?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah. Myst recovered insanely fast, able to use both her Unseelie powers and the vampire powers she gained from Geoffrey. And as an added bonus, she was able to breed children with her dual nature. When she realized how strong she was, she turned on Geoffrey and tried to destroy him. The vampires managed to drive the Vampiric Fae into obscurity, but the Indigo Court spent the following centuries breeding and waiting. A great war between the two factions was prophesized by their freak-show Blood Oracle—Crawl—and apparently Grieve and I were to be the catalysts in it. And it seems we were.”

I paused, glancing at Grieve. His eyes were the black of the void, shining with stars. He cleared his throat. “In another life, Cicely was Myst’s daughter—her name was Cherish. I was one of the Cambyra Fae, named Shy. I wasn’t a wolf-shifter then, but instead I belonged to the Ursiasidhe, the bear-shifters.”

“I didn’t know that you were a bear-shifter then.” I stared at him.

“It’s never come up. Anyway, against all odds, we fell in love and, betraying both our peoples, ran away together.”

“I bet that went over really well.” Rex gave me a sad smile.

Frowning, I narrowed my eyes. “They chased us down. We ravaged a swath through the countryside in our attempts to escape. Or…I ravaged. Somehow I have a feeling I caused most of the damage.”

Grieve took my hand. “We both did, love.” He lifted my palm to his lips and kissed it gently. “In the end, we were cornered. I had a potion I’d bought from a sorceress. The drink was deadly, but fashioned to bind our souls together into the afterlife. We drank it knowing that although we would die, we’d find each other again in a new life. And so we have.”

“Romeo and Juliet.” Peyton said, her voice sad.

“Yes…only this time around, I’m also part Cambyra Fae. And Grieve…though he was born a Prince of the Summer Court, is now one of the Vampiric Fae. And once again, we’re on the run.” My words drifted away and I turned to my love. “This time, I want to end the cycle. I want to live my life with you…for you.”

My lip trembled as Grieve pulled me into his arms. My heart pounded, a drum in the night, echoing my love for him as we stood there. I rested my head on his shoulder, his lips pressed against the top of my head. The warmth of his body made me want to cry.

After a few moments, Rex broke the silence. “So, does Geoffrey know you are Myst’s daughter?”

“Yes. And he wanted to use me to get back at her—to turn me like he turned her.” I pulled away from Grieve, but as I did so Ulean came sweeping up beside me. Trouble. There is trouble brewing outside. Hurry. Enemies. Wrath says they are whispering about Rhiannon.

Instantly, I jumped aside. “Ulean says there’s trouble outside. Wrath warned her. Rhia—you stay in here. Grieve and Luna, guard her with your life. Don’t ask questions, either of you.”

I pulled on my jacket—my blade and fan still in the pockets—and headed for the door. Kaylin, Chatter, Peyton, and Rex followed me into the blinding snows.

Ulean guided us out one of the side exits, where we found my father, leaning against the building, waiting.

I ran up to him. “What’s going on? Who is it?”

“Day-runners. And no, I didn’t see Leo among them, but they look well armed and out for trouble.” He brushed a swath of snowflakes off his hair. “They’re around front, looking for a way in.”

“Split up, then. Peyton, you take Chatter and Rex and head that way. Kaylin, come with me and my father.” I pulled out my fan, getting it ready. I preferred working with the wind rather than with a blade. It felt more comfortable.

“What do we do when we find them?” Peyton began to shimmer, and I knew she was about to transform.

“Catch them if you can—we need to know what the fuck they want. If they put up a fight and we can’t take them down without harming them…kill them.” I shivered at the cold streak in my voice, but we were at war.

They nodded and headed off to the left. We swiftly crept along the building to the right, crouching as we went. My father pulled out a wicked-looking dagger—brilliant silver flashing in the eternal whiteness that shrouded us. Kaylin held his shurikens, and I readied my fan.

The warehouse was a long, gray metal skeleton stretching out under the silvery sky. With the snow on the ground, it blended, a blur that reminded me of staring out over the ocean on one of those days when the sky was the same color as the water. The snow mimicked cresting waves on the surface.

As we came to the end, I called Ulean. Is there anything directly around the corner?

No, but they are close around the other side. Be cautious when you reach the next turn. They are waiting and they know you are coming. There are four. Two waiting on your end, two on the other.

How did they find out? And can you possibly get word to the others? Chatter can hear you if you want him to.

I do not know how they were warned, but I can tell by their stance, they are waiting to ambush you. She swirled around me, a shroud of caution. I will take word to Chatter now.

I sucked in a deep breath and turned to Kaylin and Wrath. “Ulean says they know we’re coming. They’re not around this corner but around the next. Ulean’s taking word to Chatter now. There are two on the other end, waiting down there, and two on our end.”

“I suppose since they know we’re here, we might as well…Hold on.” Kaylin stood back, looking up. “We can still get the drop on them.”

I followed his gaze. There was enough junk nearby to create a pile that would allow us to reach the roof. We could go up and over. Wrath caught our plan and shimmered into owl form, smoothly gliding up to land on the roof and transform back. He leaned over, his hand out, to help us scramble up from the junk to the roof.

As silently as we could, we crawled up the A-line roof. The snow was cold under our bellies as we forged a silent path. The gentle flaking of fresh snow landed on our shoulders, our hair, our backs. My hands were freezing, but I didn’t want to put on gloves. They interfered with using my fan, and I couldn’t afford the time spent yanking off a pair of gloves in order to unfurl the weapon.

As we reached the top of the roof, I cautiously slithered over the apex and edged my way down to just before the edge, peeking over. There they were. Day-runners. They wore the same style of clothing Leo had worn, and I could feel vampire written all over them. Wrath and Kaylin joined me.

The drop to the ground was daunting—we’d crawled up a fifteen-foot pile of crap in order to get on the roof in back. But the snow was knee-deep, so maybe the landing wouldn’t be so hard. The men were still waiting and I was surprised to see that the others hadn’t already engaged their pair, but as I looked down to their end, I saw that they’d had the same idea. They were on the roof, in approximately the same place we were.

I can make others hear me when I choose to, and it seemed a good idea to tell them what you were doing. They chose to approach in the same manner. Ulean sounded almost giddy. The wind was picking up and I could feel her responding to it, even as my own body did. It coaxed us to come, to play, to dive in. My owl self beckoned me to shift and fly out on the gusting currents, but I pushed the urge away.