“Because they asked for the bond to be broken,” Madame Crystal said simply. She must have noticed all the blank stares, and she went on explaining, “By accessing your magic, the magic from the first coven, they in a way accessed Mother Nature’s magic. Mother Nature is the first witch, and you are her descendant, which means your magic flows as one.”

As soon as they had gotten in the car, Cole had planted himself in the front seat beside Tyler. He kept his eyes glued to the side window, with his bow and arrow ready, which seemed pointless to Amelia. What was he going to do? Shoot through the glass? “Why couldn’t I kill that bloodsucker?” he asked, scanning the shadowy edge of the street.

Amelia gaped at him. The caustic tone that coated his words was corrosive, offending even. The way he said bloodsucker, it was as if the word made him sick even thinking it. She wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed, angry, or compassionate, because really, she figured it was her fault he was like this.

Tyler, she guessed, didn’t feel the same. He slammed on the brakes, and spun around in his seat towards Cole. He moved so close that they were nose to nose. “Dude, keep it up,” he growled, shoving Cole back against the window.

Josh was up and in between them, wedging himself between the front seats, faster than Amelia’s eyes could process the movement. He gave Tyler a hard look, and after a second, Tyler backed down and put the car in drive again. Josh then turned to face Cole square on. “Because she gave you an order not to,” he answered. Cole grunted in response, and focused his stare back out the window.

The air grew heavy and thick with silence. The SUV began to roll forwards, and Tyler turned off the street, making a left out of the subdivision. Josh squeezed in on the seat between Amelia and Madame Crystal, keeping a close eye on Tyler and Cole, and Amelia wiggled over trying to put some space between them.

Out of everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, Amelia found that part the hardest to swallow. She could see the memory. She knew she had created the vampire hunters in the lifetime after she had been burned alive, but still, it just didn’t feel right. She couldn’t imagine hating Mitchell so much, that she would actually create a breed of hunters to track him down and kill him. It just seemed so … cold.

But not only had Amelia created them, she had ensured that they would obey her every command. She had weaved that piece into the spell as a failsafe to make sure that when the time came to kill Mitchell, they wouldn’t hesitate, even if she couldn’t do it herself. The hunters would march into battle on command with no regard for their own safety.

Amelia remembered asking Mitchell last week why he had tracked and killed every hunter he could find. Because, they were hunting me, he had told her simply. When she had questioned it, he had said, You don’t understand. They were hunting only me.

And then she had made sure the hybrids were made. There was only supposed to be one. Josh. And he had been meant for her. Amelia could see it all. She knew it was true, but it was hard to accept. She wasn’t about to say that she didn’t have problems with Mitchell because she did. What couple didn’t? It was just that she couldn’t believe that she had ever really hated him. Even now, even with his retarded temper, and everything that he had put her through, she didn’t hate him, and she certainly did not want him dead. But the thing was, she remembered it. She remembered the hatred. It was hot, and suffocating. It had taken her over—consumed her.

Maybe it was guilt, because really, Amelia felt as if she had in a sense cheated on Mitchell by creating a new mate for herself, or maybe it was regret for trying to have him killed, but whatever it was, the only thing she could think about was that if Mitchell was still alive, he was alone with Tristan. And if Tristan had lost his soul just like Luke and Eric had… A chill rushed over her, prickling her skin as if a bunch of spiders had been dropped down her back. “I need to find Mitchell,” she said.

Amelia regretted saying it out loud instantly. Josh tensed beside her; Cole yelled at her, telling her she was crazy. Tyler shook his head and rolled his eyes at her in the rearview mirror. Even Megan objected to running out to find him. Amelia could see their point, although she wasn’t about to admit it. Mitchell was old, he was strong, and he had no humanity. But the idea of a demented Tristan holding Mitchell, torturing him…Amelia knew she had to do something.

As Tyler pulled up to a stop sign, Amelia caught a movement, something slinking along the shadows. Up ahead, there was a group of teens standing underneath a streetlight outside a coffee shop.

Amelia strained her eyes through the tinted windows, looking into the night. It was dark, really dark. The moon was covered by thick clouds; the only light came from the few streetlights and the headlights of the car. She pressed her face against the window, and another shadowy figure passed by them.

“Guys,” she said, just as Tyler started forwards. Her heart was racing, jumping into her throat. “I think the hunting has started.” And as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she unlocked the door, and before anyone could stop her, she jumped out of the moving car. She didn’t think, or maybe it was that she couldn’t think. All she knew was that she needed to stop whatever was about to happen.

Amelia hit the ground running. Tires squealed as Tyler slammed on the brakes. Josh yelled her name, but she didn’t stop. The shadows were closing in around the teens quickly.

“Get inside,” Amelia hollered, as she ran towards them.

The kids didn’t even look up. A figure emerged from the shadows; the blazing red eyes seemed brighter than Amelia was used to, and for a moment that was all she could see. She stopped running, not even ten feet from the group, mesmerized. The eyes sparkled like gems under a light at a jewelry store, and they were breathtakingly beautiful.

“Hey, Erin,” one of the kids said, pulling Amelia out of the trance. Erin smiled meekly at him, keeping her lips closed, concealing her fangs which Amelia was certain were fully extended.

“Don’t be afraid,” Erin lilted. “Don’t run.” When they didn’t move, her smile widened, showing off her fangs. She looked over her shoulder and called, “Lucy, dinner is served.”

The words confused Amelia until Lucy stepped out into the light. No! No, no, no! Amelia’s subconscious screamed. Not Lucy! She was just a child. When she had shown up in town a few months ago with a fresh mark, and asking far too many questions, Erin had taken the girl under her wing. She had run away from home, running from the dreams, scared and confused at only fifteen.

“Thanks, Erin,” Lucy purred, and Amelia’s heart raced as she caught a glint of fangs. Lucy slowly turned, her nostrils flared, and she locked onto Amelia. “But I want that one,” she said, raising her hand and pointing lazily at Amelia.

Erin spun and glanced at Amelia. For a second, her eyes began to fade, and Amelia was certain she saw recognition pass across Erin’s face. But then she blanched. She reached out, grabbed Lucy, and shoved the girl behind her and began backing away, her eyes focused somewhere behind Amelia. From the corner of her eye, Amelia caught sight of shimmery energy. Erin snarled, her eyes widened, and then she screamed, “Run!” And in a blink, they were gone.

Amelia pivoted on her heels, scanning the street for any sign of them. Nothing. Megan rushed past her, shooting her a flustered, and more than a little panicked, look before she ushered the shaken kids into the coffee shop. “Was Erin going to eat us?” one of them asked in disbelief, as if it was crazy to think a vampire could do such a thing.

Amelia’s chest constricted. “Josh, give me your phone,” she demanded, as she turned to find him just behind her, his bow in his grip. He lowered it, dug in his pocket, and pulled out her shiny pink iPhone.

****

The dungeon was cold and dark, and the air tasted stale. This had been the longest night of her life, and ending it locked away in the creepiest place she could imagine only seemed to make it worse. The stone walls still had dirty brown stains, but at least all of the torture devices had been destroyed and were no longer crudely displayed.

As soon as Erin had taken off, Amelia had called Officer McLean. With his help, they had been able to broadcast a lock-down over the emergency radio and television station. After that, Amelia split up the town with McLean, each taking half, and they had spent the rest of the night, going door to door, stressing that all residents were not to leave their houses. McLean had concocted an elaborate story about a massive chemical spill, explaining that until it was cleaned up, everyone needed to stay off the streets.

Amelia had sent Megan, Cole, Madame Crystal, and Tyler back to the house with Eric and Luke. For reasons she couldn’t explain, and really didn’t want to explore, she asked Josh to stay with her. He readily agreed, telling her he wasn’t planning to leave her side anyway, and it made her sick when she realized that she was just a tiny, little bit glad that he was there.

Maybe it was because the townspeople were so used to farfetched explanations, especially when a vampire was involved, but no one questioned the lock-down. In fact, no one even seemed surprised. At the first few houses, Amelia had assured the people that she would personally bring supplies to them to last them through the crisis. She was actually blown over when she found that they all had emergency stashes, until McLean had bluntly told her that this was not the first, and probably wouldn’t be the last, lock-down for Willowberg.

The sun was high in the sky when Amelia and Josh left the officers and headed to her house. McLean had arranged to have his officers patrol the streets, switching shifts every twelve hours, and Josh—against Amelia’s better judgment—had loaded them up with charmed bullets that would ignite on contact with a vampire’s flesh. She hated it, but she also knew she couldn’t let them run around with no means to protect themselves.

Now, Amelia was sitting on a hard, and extremely uncomfortable, wooden bench in the cold dungeon, listening to Tyler and Megan argue about how to fix the spell, but all Amelia could think about was Erin. Something just wasn’t right. If Erin had no soul, no humanity, then why had she changed Lucy? It would have made more sense if Erin had killed her or just bitten her. That thought led Amelia to her next question, why was she helping Lucy hunt? And why had Erin looked at her with recognition? It was as if she remembered, or at least wanted to remember, their friendship.