“We have to,” Kaylin said. “We have to learn to weather the battles because there will be far more to come before things get back to normal. If there even is such a thing as ‘normal’ anymore.”

I nodded and looked at Rhiannon. “You saved the day.” The thank you was implied.

She slipped her arm around my waist and leaned down to kiss my forehead. “I just got home and saw the commotion from the car. Leo’s still in town and I don’t know where Chatter is.”

“In the basement, working with the charms.”

“Ah. Good. We’ll need them.”

“I guess we’d better get back on our land, before anything else comes out of the woods. We need to tend to our wounds and make sure they don’t get infected.” I wearily turned back to the house.

As we crossed the demarcation line that magically divided the Golden Wood from the Veil House, I couldn’t help but shudder. Like it or not, we were pawns in a war between two powerful enemies—Geoffrey and Myst—and we were doing our best just to stay alive.

Chapter 2

“Cicely? Are you ready? It’s time.” Leo’s voice echoed up the stairs. My cousin’s fiancé, and a day-runner for the vampires, he’d gotten home shortly after our encounter with the goblin.

After a long shower to wash away my aches and pains, I’d dressed in a cobalt sweater and black jeans, making sure I was neat and tidy. Geoffrey and Regina owned my services—quite literally—and they demanded that their employees appear before them nicely dressed.

My wolf growled as I ran my hand over the tattoo of the beautiful silverish beast that spread across my body, over my stomach.

“Sshh . . . ” I whispered. “Hush. I know, I know you’re out there hurting, but I can’t do anything about it right now.”

The wolf growled again and I pressed my lips tight, my heart sore. The memory of Grieve’s face, of his hands on my body, his needle-sharp teeth nipping at my skin, swept over me and I dashed my hand across my eyes, careful not to mar the mascara and liner I’d put on. Grieve was lost to the enemy. Myst had claimed him for her own. I was determined to win him back, but in the depths of my heart I was afraid that none of us would come out of this alive.

“Cicely! Get a move on!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” I hurried into my favorite boots—a pair of Icon Bombshells—and slung my purse over my shoulder. Polishing a smudge off my left boot, I decided that I was as good as I was going to get, especially after a tussle with a goblin and a Shadow Hunter.

My hair hung free, smooth and ink-black to my shoulders, and I pulled it back into a sleek ponytail, then slipped on a pair of driving gloves and my leather jacket. I slid my moonstone pendant over my neck and secreted it beneath my sweater, then clattered down the stairs.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” I said.

Rhiannon was waiting, freshly showered herself, in a pair of khakis she’d paired with a plaid button-down shirt, and a camel wool coat.

My cousin was as bright as I was dark. Heather, her mother, used to call us Amber and Jet—fire and ice. Her hair was flame red, my own jet-black. We were both twenty-six, both born on the summer solstice—she in the waxing hours, me in the waning. I was short and sturdy, Rhiannon tall and willowy. Opposites, yet we had referred to ourselves as twins when we were little.

Leo looked snazzy as usual. Geoffrey insisted he dress well for work, and most day-runners had extensive—and expensive—wardrobes. Leo was lucky. In his case, Geoffrey financed his expenses. Leo’s tawny hair was a mass of curls barely skimming his neck and he towered over me, more lean than gangly.

“Be careful,” Kaylin said, looking up from his spot on the sofa, where he was reading while petting a half dozen cats who sprawled around him, including Bart, Leo’s Maine Coon familiar. “You go off half-cocked and try to stake Lannan and you’ll be in a world of hurt.”

Lannan. My face flushed and I let out a low growl. Lannan Altos was near the top of my wish-you-were-dead list, only slightly lower than Myst. He was a vampire—one of the Vein Lords—and I was bound to him by an ironclad contract. He’d mind-fucked me once already while drinking the monthly blood tithe I owed him. Next time it would be worse.

Lannan wants to break you, Ulean whispered on a light current of air.

I know, trust me. I know. He can try all he likes, he won’t do it.

Ulean brushed me with her impatience. Don’t be too cocky. Lannan has thousands of years of experience. He is a master of head games. Just be careful.

I will. Have no fear. I’ve already made too many mistakes. I’ll watch my back.

“Cicely? Promise us you won’t go off on Lannan? We can’t afford to alienate him.” Kaylin caught my gaze and would not let go.

“Because he’s helped us so much already?” I shot him a nasty look. “Lannan knew he was infecting me and that I’d infect Grieve, and now look at the whole mess. The Indigo Court is far more dangerous than they were, even if they can no longer walk under the sun. They were bad enough before; now they’re like a pack of rabid dogs. With nasty big teeth and soul-sucking abilities.”

Geoffrey and Regina, agents for the Crimson Queen—the queen of true vampires—had come up with a hunkydory plan to stop the Vampiric Fae. Only it hadn’t worked right. It prevented the Indigo Court Fae from walking abroad during the day all right, but now light sent them into a feeding frenzy—a rage from which they could not extricate themselves until the darkness once again hit. I’d been the weapon, unknowingly passing a plague to them when I’d kissed Grieve, thanks to Lannan’s infecting me with his bite, and I’d never forgive them for that.

“He was doing his job,” Leo said, grimly. “Remember, when Regina and Geoffrey decide something, everybody jumps. Even Lannan.”

“Right. Doing his job, just like the SS during World War Two. Goddamn, I’d like to dust that pervert. He hurt Grieve! And he . . .” I stopped, not wanting to think about what he’d done to me. “You just know Lannan’s going to sit there, looking so smug and self-satisfied—”

At Kaylin’s raised eyebrows, I stopped, catching my breath. My fury surprised even me. I knew I wanted to dust Lannan, but I didn’t expect to be quite so explosive about it. After a moment, I added, “Okay, okay. I promise. I’ll keep my mouth shut. But I don’t have to like it.”

The phone rang and Rhiannon answered while we went on talking.

“Actually, I doubt Lannan had much to do with producing the virus,” Leo said, sliding on his gloves. “And he’s one of the true vampires—why would he care about Grieve? He cares about no one except his sister and himself. Lannan’s not interested in politics, and my bet is he’d rather ignore Myst and her Court. He’s too self-centered to really give a fuck about whether the Shadow Hunters take over the town, as long as they leave him and his stable alone.”

That was the longest speech I’d heard out of Leo and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear another. He seemed too willing to take Lannan’s side. But I had to admit, he was probably right. Lannan wouldn’t have been the engineer on this plan. He wasn’t that ambitious. It was probably all Regina could do to force him to play his part in carrying it out.

“If Myst gains control of New Forest, his stable will end up as mangled as that goblin did,” I muttered.

“Crap, that was Anadey. There’s been another attack,” Rhiannon said as she replaced the receiver on the cradle. She paled, shaking her head.

“Another? Where? Who?” The past five days had been hell. The attack on a movie theater the other night pretty much outed the fact that a pack of hunters was on the loose. The majority of people didn’t know exactly who was behind the attacks, but they knew that anybody was fair game and that people were dying.

“Two. A mother and a child. Eaten down to the bone. Cops found them two hours ago and are circulating the rumor that there are wild dogs in the area.”

“That makes ten victims, including two children.” I stopped, giving her a bewildered look. “Did you say wild dogs? They really expect people to believe that?”

Kaylin bookmarked his novel and put it on the table. He frowned. “It’s amazing what people will accept when they don’t want to believe something worse.”

“Oh, I don’t think people are that dense. They know something’s out there. They also must realize by now that the cops aren’t going to protect them. I can understand why the magic-born aren’t all leaving—we’re connected to this land by the energy. But why aren’t the yummanii leaving?”

Yummanii was the term the magic-born used among themselves for those born fully human. The yummanii possessed their own kind of magic—not as obvious or flamboyant as the magic-born, but a psychic energy . . . call it instinct, if you will, and the power had grown more noticeable among the yummanii children of the past few generations. Whether the yummanii realized they were growing strong, we did not know. But it wasn’t our place to tell them or we risked altering their natural evolution.

As for the yummanii, they had always known about the magic-born, and they accepted us. Just like they knew about the Weres and the vampires and Fae.

“Perhaps they can’t leave. It costs money to pull up stakes, to head out of town and start a new life. And if you have a good job, or children, then it’s that much harder. Unemployment is low here in New Forest and—until Myst came—life was relatively safe. Geoffrey keeps a watch on the vampires and doesn’t allow many rogues. All sound reasons to stay put.” Kaylin shrugged. “It’s easier to take a few precautions and hope for the best.”

I nodded. The dreamwalker made a lot of sense.

“We need to get moving. Geoffrey will have us by the neck if we’re late.” Leo shuffled, glancing at the door as if it might burst open to reveal the Regent.

I shook my head. “If he’s so all fired up to talk to me, why the hell has he kept me waiting this long?”

“Calm down, Cicely.” Chatter’s voice whispered softly from behind me. I whirled to see the Fae leaning against the arch leading into the dining room and kitchen. “You cannot help Grieve if you lose the support of the vampires. Myst cannot be defeated without them and you know it.”

“I know. Trust me, I know. I can’t get away from them no matter how much I might want to. They own me for the rest of my life. How can I ever forget that?” With a snort, I added, “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Leo, Rhiannon, and I headed out, leaving Chatter and Kaylin to watch over the house. As we stepped into the icy night, a lazy shower of snow drifted down. Myst had brought with her a long winter to blanket the town, a cold and chill premonition of what life under her rule would be like.

The Queen of Winter, a tainted Fae Queen whom the vampires had once tried to turn as if she were human, Myst had risen from her deathbed before she could die, fully alive and far more dangerous than the vampires ever dreamed possible, and from her descended the Vampiric Fae. They could breed, and they were ruthless killing machines who lived to feed and spread across the land.

And now she had traced down her maker and looked to wipe out Geoffrey and his people. She aspired to take over the land, one town at a time.

I climbed into the driver’s seat of Favonis, my Pontiac GTO, and, making sure our doors were locked, we headed over to Geoffrey’s to plan out a war.

Geoffrey’s mansion sat on two acres, and it was truly a manor, three stories high. Who knew how far it extended underground? As it glittered white with gold trim, a dizzying array of lights sparkled from inside the building and armed guards—all vampires since we were into the night—wandered the grounds.

Last time I’d been here, I’d unwittingly signed away my freedom, but there was nothing I could do about it, so I decided to let it go and move on. We drove up to the valet, who took one look at Leo and nodded us toward the entrance.

At the door, a tall, broad-shouldered guard stopped us. Like all of the true vampires, his eyes were jet-black, gleaming like obsidian with no patches of white or other color marring their surface. That alone spooked me about the Vein Lords: How could they see through those inky orbs?

He searched all of us, including Leo, and then opened the door. A maid—a bloodwhore by the look of her outfit and the fact that she wasn’t a vampire—motioned for us to follow her.

I’d thought we might be heading into Geoffrey’s office, but instead she led us to a room to the right of the grand staircase and opened the door, all without a word. Peering in, I saw Geoffrey—he motioned for us to enter, and the maid closed the door behind us.

A glance around the room told me that the parlor was really a royal hall in disguise. The room was geared for an audience, and the chair in which Geoffrey sat might as well be a throne, with its crimson velvet and placement.

The Vein Lord wasn’t very tall, but the power he wielded hit me over the head like a brick. He reeked of authority. He wore his long black hair smoothed back in a French braid; a royal purple jacket with ruffled sleeves, open to show his bare chest; and leather pants.

As he leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs, a faint smile flickered across his lips. One thing I had to say about Geoffrey: Of all the vampires we’d met, he was the most polite and deliberate of action. Sure, he could rip your head off in a second, but he’d think it through first and say “Pardon me” afterward.

“Please, sit and be comfortable.” He motioned to the semicircle of chairs, all facing his own. “Welcome. Our other guests should be here shortly.”