“But how will you manage that? Cain can’t be killed.”

“Which is why I’m trying to locate the mage who calls himself Abel.” I conveniently left out the part about Abel maybe being my father. No sense delving into that quagmire when things were complex enough as it was. “I’m hoping his knowledge of Cain will give me the key to stopping him.”

“A mage named Abel?” Persephone said, frowning.

I realized the source of her confusion. “Not the same Abel as in the mortal mythology—the brother Cain killed. This mage I’m looking for apparently adopted the name when he decided to make Cain his enemy. Maybe he sees himself as the original Abel’s avenger or something.”

Which begged the question again of why my father hated Cain so badly. But that was an issue for another time and definitely not one to analyze with Persephone.

The Domina blew out a breath. “I wish you luck, but I’m afraid I don’t share your optimism. This does nothing but confirm my decision to get out of dark race politics.” She turned to Chiara. “Tell the servants to start packing up. We’re leaving Rome.”

My mouth fell open. “So that’s it? You’re going to just run away?”

Persephone speared me with a glare. “Sabina, I am two thousand years old. Do you think I reached this advanced age by being a coward?”

“No, Domina.”

“I reached this age by being smart and choosing my battles. For whatever reason, Cain is determined to kill anyone who attempts to make peace a reality for the dark races. You said it yourself: The Queen and Rhea need me to bring the vampires back to the table. That means I am a threat to Cain’s plans. I’d be a fool to return. Just as I’d be a fool to stay in this house when the man who wants me dead is loose in Rome.”

As much as I hated to admit it, she made a good point. But I wasn’t ready to surrender. “Who will rule the race, then?”

Persephone’s lips spread into a calculating smile. “If you want peace so badly, why don’t you volunteer? You’re a descendant of a Domina.”

A harsh laugh escaped my lips. “Don’t be ridiculous. The vampires would never follow a mixed-blood.” Not to mention, I didn’t want to rule the vampires or any race.

“They would if they believed you were the only leader who could guarantee peace. Your blood may be mixed, but it’s noble. Plus, your connection to the Hekate Council means you’d be able to negotiate favorable terms for all parties.”

I shook my head so hard my brain rattled in my skull. “Impossible. There has to be someone else.”

Some emotion flickered in her eyes, but it disappeared as soon as I saw it. “It is only impossible if you believe it to be. Regardless, it’s no longer my business. Please give the Queen and Rhea my regards when you deliver my decision.”

I crossed my arms and glared at her. “You can tell them yourself. I’m not your messenger.”

“I don’t believe for a moment you won’t report our conversation. If the Queen and Rhea want to hear it from me, they’ll have to find me first.”

I raised a brow in challenge. “I found you.”

“Oh, child,” she laughed. “Please don’t fool yourself. I found you.”

She had me there. If Chiara’s vampires hadn’t approached me, I would have had no idea Persephone was in Rome.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have plans to make.”

“This isn’t over,” I said.

“Yes,” she said, “it is. Except, I have one parting bit of advice to offer you, if I may?”

I pursed my lips but nodded. This should be good.

“I watched you fight your whole life, Sabina. First for respect among the race that rejected you. Then against your grandmother. Now you’re fighting for revenge against Cain. All this fighting and what has it gotten you?”

“What? I should be like you? Run when things get tough? Sorry, Persephone, but that’s not my style.”

“You must get your stubbornness from your mage blood.”

I could be wrong, but I thought I detected a hint of respect in her voice.

“Damn straight, I do.”

“I’m just saying maybe instead of trying to force the world to be as you want it to be, maybe you should stop and accept reality. Fighting isn’t always the answer.”

I snorted. That was rich coming from a Domina. “I fight because surrender is never an option. Not to you, not to Cain, and certainly not to fate.”

Persephone’s expression was unreadable, but I sensed her sadness and disappointment. “So be it. I just pray that while you’re off fighting dragons, everyone else doesn’t get burned.” She pulled something from the pocket of her gown. A golden circlet of some sort. She held it out to me. “Take this.”

I frowned and moved forward to take it. “What is it?” The metal was warm to the touch. It looked like a crown of sorts made of thick filigree work with a large lotus on the center.

“It belonged to Tanith. She had it made as a symbol of her new role as Despina. When she died, it came to me. You should make sure whoever takes over the race gets it.”

I tried to hand it back to her. “But I don’t—”

With that, Persephone, former Domina of the Lilim, shook her head and walked away, leaving me holding the crown.

Chapter 10

By the time Giguhl and I got into a cab to go back to our hotel, I was exhausted and frustrated. Our simple mission to find Abel had gotten complicated very quickly. First the Asclepius bullshit and now Persephone was being a pain in my ass. I just prayed Adam and Erron had some good news from their trek to visit Pasquino.

In the cab, Giguhl was quiet. Too quiet. After about ten minutes with no sarcasm, I started to get worried. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Oh, come on,” I said. “Surely you have something to say about what just happened.”

The cat sighed. “Are you really going to take over the vampire race?”

I stilled. The driver couldn’t hear us through the closed partition, but occasionally he’d eye me in the rearview. I kept my reaction to Giguhl’s question subdued despite the fact that my cat just shocked the hell out of me. Luckily, the driver spent most of the drive talking at breakneck pace into a cell phone while simultaneously almost clipping several pedestrians and narrowly avoiding multicar pileups.

I looked down at the cat with a dead-serious expression. “Of course I’m not going to lead the vamps. How can you even ask that?”

The cat shrugged. “It’s not completely crazy.”

“Yes, it is,” I whisper-yelled. “It’s one hundred percent batshit insane.”

“I’m just saying. There’s a certain poetic justice to it all.”

“Giguhl, listen to me,” I said, lowering my voice so he’d pay attention. “My only goal right now is to find Cain. Rhea, the Queen, and the Undercouncil will have to find someone else to lead the vamps.”

“And if they don’t? Find anyone else, I mean.”

“Not my problem.” I set my lips into a tight line and leaned back against the seat. Giguhl figured out this meant the subject was closed. I simply refused to even consider the idea anymore. It was too preposterous for words.

Erron was staring at the laptop when we walked in.

“Hey, guys.” His gaze stayed on the screen. I scanned the room for signs of Adam but found none.

“Where’s the mancy?”

Erron shrugged. “He’s up on the terrace. Said he was calling his aunt.”

I nodded and told Giguhl to go fetch Adam. Then I plopped into a club chair with a sigh. I wanted blood and a stiff drink, but first we needed to figure out what the hell to do about Persephone.

A couple seconds later, the cat and the mage ran down the spiral staircase to join us. Judging from the deep frown on Adam’s face, he’d been impatient for my return and wasn’t happy it took so long.

“Oh thank the gods you’re back.” He pulled me into a hard hug.

I waved a hand to dismiss his concerns for my safety. “I’m fine.”

He eyed me for a moment as if he was looking for signs I was fudging the truth. “Please tell me you have good news.”

I grimaced. “Afraid not. Persephone’s officially refusing to return as leader of the Lilim.”

“Shit,” Adam said. “I just called Rhea with a preliminary report. She said once you got back, she’d want to conference in the Queen for a postmortem.”

I sighed, but he was right. A meeting was long overdue. It had been a few nights since we’d spoken to the leaders, and they were no doubt anxious for a report. I just wished we had some positive news to give along with all the problems. But before we called them, I wanted to hear how the Pasquino mission went. “Please tell me the statue turned up something useful.”

Adam raised a brow at Erron. “I hope so. We took pictures of every message on the statue, but I left to call Rhea before we had a chance to look them over on the computer.” He glanced at Erron.

The Recreant waved us over to the laptop. “Most of the messages were in Italian, so I’ve been busy using translation software to translate them all while I waited for you to return.”

“And?” I prodded.

The Recreant smiled. “And I think I’ve found something.” He pulled up an image and zoomed in. The message was written in thick black marker in bold masculine script.

“It’s laminated,” I said. “Someone didn’t want the elements ruining their message.”

Erron nodded. “It stuck out for me because of this.” He pointed to a word on the first line: “Hekate.”

My pulse picked up pace as my eyes scanned the rest of the message for clues. “Shit, it’s all in Italian.”

Erron smirked. “Not anymore.” He clicked the mouse a couple of times and an English translation popped up on the screen. “Anyone recognize this?”