“Great thing. Now…” Belial turned to Diana. “Now, about that little favor I owe you. Name it.”

That seemed obvious enough. “Can you get rid of these people? Everyone who invaded,” she quickly quantified. “Down at the borders, too.”

She was owed a favor from a king of the underworld, she might as well make it count.

“Hm. What would you have me do with them? Send them to hell?”

That didn’t sound like the worst of ideas.

Diana looked downhill, to the plain that had become a blood-soaked battlefield.

There were countless vampires. Many more had already perished. The bulk of their race was right here in Oldcrest. If she had them killed, there would be almost no one left, leaving their kind weak, in danger of extinction.

And she’d be the villain who had destroyed so many existences, so many families, with a carless word. A monster.

She closed her eyes. “Send everyone home. Wherever they belong.”

Belial tilted his head, considering the request. Then he shrugged. “Fine. Done.”

Again, he clapped his hands.

Every enemy around them was fading away, dissolving into nothing. Diana barely took the time to squeeze Belial’s hand in thanks before rushing into Skyhall.

An arrow was planted inside an old man’s throat. A young boy and two women—one ancient, one Beaufort she’d met in the past—were rushing toward the center of the room, where one woman stood, mouth gaping. She was dressed in fineries, her hair braided around her sweetheart face like a crown. Her resemblance to Eirikr was undeniable.

It had to be Aveka.

Her arms were pinned over her head by Chloe’s right hand, and her left fist was buried in the cavity of Aveka’s chest.

But just when she moved to rip it out, the self-appointed queen disappeared.

“No!” Chloe screamed.

Too late.

Second Breath

Mikar joined Diana and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She leaned into it. They remained inside the empty hall, numb to everything else for a long moment.

When Mikar let himself be distracted by something other than Diana, he saw that Alexius and Avani were licking each other’s muzzles, still in wolf form. Chloe was holding Ruby’s broken corpse up on a bench, placing her leather jacket over the wound. Like that, she looked like she might just have been sleeping. Levi joined her, wrapping his arm around her. Eirikr squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, before striding to Greer. He checked her pulse, and looked her over, fingertips stopping at the slash on her forearm.

“Aveka took some of her blood,” Chloe said. Her voice sounded wrong. “She needed it for a spell to subjugate all vampires. With Ruby’s liver, Ariadne’s hair, and…”

“Your heart,” Eirikr gleaned.

She nodded.

“You know the spell?” None of it was familiar to Mikar.

“I know most of Titania’s magic. She created the hex toward the end of her life, but never managed to perform it.” His eyes flashed. “I saw to that.”

“So, it would work? She could turn us into robots following her every whim?”

Eirikr stood up, Greer’s sleeping form in his arms. “Not quite. No vampire would have the power to go against anything she orders. But say she forgets to order us not to kill her…” He shrugged. “There’s always a loophole. Still, I’m glad she didn’t manage to perform it. She won’t be able to try again till next Samhain. Are the bedrooms set up?”

Chloe nodded. Without another word, he carried Greer upstairs.

“What happened? I was fighting Aveka, and then, she just…”

“Belial,” Diana explained.

Mikar wasn’t shocked; he’d felt the demon’s presence, his scent, although he hadn’t seen him.

“He owed me a favor. I had him send everyone on their merry way.”

“Good job,” Mikar told her, kissing her forehead as though it was the most natural of gestures.

Which, he realized, it was.

Diana didn’t seem sure. She frowned up at Chloe. “You were winning. You had Aveka, and now…”

“I wasn’t winning,” Chloe replied. “I would have died. I would have died three times. Her guards would have been on me. I had to take the chance, though, for everyone else.”

How could someone be so entirely selfless? Focused on the good of others rather than hers.

This. This was why Chloe needed protecting. And why she was worth following.

“I owe you my life again.” Chloe closed her eyes. “How’s everyone else?” She was suddenly panicking. “Is anyone…”

“Bash was hurt when we left,” Mikar said. “Cat took him to the Institute. He should be fine. It was too crazy to see much of what was going on, but I think some vampires did manage to squeeze past us. But the Institute was defended by the huntsmen. Moments ago, everyone was pretty banged up, but in one piece, more or less.” He shook his head, incredulous. “The wolves came. They’ve never helped us before, but they came tonight.”

“At the end of the day, they’re part of Oldcrest.” Chloe was attempting a smile.

“And you,” Diana snarled at Levi. “How dare you not let anyone know you had backup on its way! I thought we were going to die, dammit!”

The vampire shrugged. “And you fought your damnedest to survive, rather than wait to be rescued. I wasn’t even sure when Luke would make it back with our friends.”

“We have friends?” Chloe asked.

“Sure. Charles from NOLA is one of yours, for example.” He smiled at his mate. “Luke spent the last few weeks informing everyone who would listen that we aren’t the problem—Aveka is the one assembling armies to take power. Most people weren’t buying it. One side was saying one thing, the other side, something else. So, when we did get attacked, I had Luke contact everyone with proof. Vampires may not enjoy taking care of someone else’s problem, but we do like our freedom. If there’s an army moving against us, any of them could be targets next.”

All of that was news to Mikar. He was with Diana: Levi deserved a kick in the balls for hiding what he’d been up to.

“We should go, see if everyone’s okay,” Chloe said, still looking at Ruby. She was unwilling to leave her, Mikar guessed. Levi gently herded her toward the doors.

Outside, there was a girl standing, looking lost. She had a piece of paper in her hand.

“This is Cee,” Diana said. “Belial brought her with him.”

The witch held her free hand up in a wave. “Hi. Are you always bloody around here?” she asked with a grimace.

Diana laughed. “Not even close. We’re boring. We have afternoon tea every Sunday.”

Cee pondered her words. “I like tea.” She handed Diana her piece of paper. “That’s my application. Belial says you normally ask for two references, but I only have one because everyone else wants to kill me.” She sounded blasé about it all.

“Welcome to the club,” Chloe said. “I’ll sign as the second recommendation. If the guy who saved us wants you in, you’re in.”

“Great, because you need me.” The witch beamed. “I have a thing with fire.”

A red dawn was rising in the distance, and in the burning light, it was easy to see that most of the flames had been put out…but they’d left Oldcrest destroyed. Like all the houses on the hill.

Cee turned away from them, palms stretched out in front of her. She kicked her shoes off and dug her toes into the ground. Eyes closed, she concentrated.

At first, there was nothing, though Diana could feel a potent wave of magic wash over them, gathering from deep under the hill.

Then she started to see the burned trees, the scorched moss, and the blackened ground come to life, leaves bursting out despite the season. The Skyhall lawn flowered like it did in spring, with primroses and daisies.

As if it had all been a bad dream, Oldcrest was restored to all its glory, except for the ruins of the four houses, and the multitude of bodies stacked at the borders.

Everyone walked down the hill, and gathered within the bounds of the Institute’s courtyard, even though it was also littered with corpses. The huntsmen and witches had been proficient at dispatching those who’d made it past the first line of defense. All the same, they’d lost a kid, Ward. Mikar remembered the somewhat sullen guy from his guard duty around Chloe. He didn’t know him well, but the loss was felt.

After gathering almost two hundred allies for them, Luke had died in the few minutes it had taken for them to run up the hill. That loss wasn’t only felt. It was a festering wound on his soul. Mikar mourned a friend, a companion of centuries.

Sylvan’s left arm was crushed in several places, but the smug bastard would live.

Unlike Ruby.

She’d died protecting Greer and Oldcrest.

Their losses weren’t numerous, but each was a wound that wouldn’t ever heal.

“The wolves fought on their front.” Avani was back to her human form. “But they figured out that if we lost, they were screwed. The alpha got them to torch their borders and join us.” She shook her head. “I can hardly believe it. It would never have happened with Draiden, the old alpha.”

“The new alpha is better, then?” Chloe asked, hopeful. “Maybe we could talk about having an alliance with them.”

Avani sat on the sandy ground next to them, wincing. “I mean, Draiden was a psycho, so sure, Ludvic is better. Knox killed most of those who’d followed Draiden. He knows he can’t step out of line like Ludvic did.” She paused.

“But?” Alexius prompted.

“But, he’s still a wolf of the Elder Pack. I don’t know him well, he was always quiet, stayed out of the mass, you know. That doesn’t change the fact that they’re a few centuries behind on most notions.”

Mikar had known the pack long enough to agree.

“It might still be worth speaking to them.” Chloe, ever the optimist, eyed the members of the pack who’d consented to follow them.