A familiar scene.

"All right. I believe we're all here. Word travels fast, so you know there's been an attack. Myself, Mikar, and Alexius have all examined the bodies, but it's Jack's area of expertise, so let's hear it."

Cat frowned, confused. But Levi had sat back down, letting Jack take the stage.

“Was it a shadowclaw?” Alexius asked.

Jack shook his head. “No, there’s no venom in the wound.”

“A nightfang, then.”

“With your permission, sir, I’ll speak now.”

Cat’s respect for Jack went up a notch; he managed to shut up Alexius Helsing. Not a small feat.

“My huntsmen know the drill—not sure about you guys, so to make it simple: ‘demon’ is a general term that encompasses too many creatures. Some were made by the gods to fight their battles and guard their homes, yes. But some weren't made at all; they were brought here.”

"From the gods' world?" Chloe asked.

Jack nodded.

"Yes. Dragons, selkies, chimera. Whether as pets or just because the gods liked having a living zoo in their transports, those creatures traveled from another realm. The monsters from the old world are considerably more powerful than your average hellhound. I'm by no means a demon expert, but I have one on speed dial. According to my father, the speed of the creature and the marks left on the remains suggest it might have been the work of a greater demon. A manticore, specifically. If he's right, and Rakiel usually is, capturing it will be extremely difficult, and killing it, impossible for us. It's fast, tonight proved as much, but manticores are also extremely clever. There's a reason behind the legends of ingenious sphinxes. Whatever trap we can think of, it will have anticipated it."

"I think," Cat said, as Jack paused in his demonology lesson, "that we should focus less on the manticore itself and more on what it could want here. If it's as clever as you say, why hunt here, with dozens of immortals behind the gate? Unless it likes a challenge, it was probably sent here."

The entire room was listening intently.

Cat wasn't used to being listened to. Especially not in a conclave. Actually, this didn't feel like a conclave at all. More like her weekly naughty book club with her cousins, despite the severity of the situation. Just a discussion between…perhaps not friends, but allies. Equals.

"Good point, but the answer is obvious," Levi said. "As there have been no attacks on our borders for centuries, and in the space of a handful of months, we suffer two, we can only deduce that they're related. Those who got through our gates in March are trying to test the borders now that we've made it harder for them to get in."

"Harder? How so?" Tris asked.

Levi exchanged a glance with his peers, Alexius and Anika. This wasn't a point they'd wanted to discuss here, with so many ears. And her presence was probably the reason why.

Cat understood that. She was a Stormhale. And that made her their enemy. Potentially. Probably.

She shifted uncomfortably.

To her surprise, he answered after a beat.

"We've reworked the way our wards work." Levi smiled. "Well, those we haven't killed. Before March, any resident of Oldcrest could invite someone through the gates. Now, the invitation must come from a current resident of Night Hill. A traitor among us let in those ferals and vampires, and we couldn't afford a repeat of that. The access to our territory of anyone, except Institute students and current residents of Oldcrest, has been revoked. We have a blank state, and security in place to avoid another breach."

Cat stilled. She opened her mouth, but no words would come.

That won’t be enough.

That’s what she should have said. Now was the time to reveal what she could do, what her entire clan could do.

But it was a family secret. She’d be betraying not only her intimidating, all-powerful aunt but also everyone else. Her little sister and her big brother. All those who relied on secrecy to defend themselves. If the world knew how the Stormhales operated, they’d be prepared for it.

However, if she said nothing, her friends could suffer. Her friends could die.

But only if her family attacked them.

Cat’s heart ached. Her brain throbbed. Her throat tightened.

Say it. Keep your mouth shut.

Her mind couldn’t settle on an answer. There was no right one.

“Hang on," said a huntsman Cat didn't recognize. "You reworked wards made thousands of years ago? Just like that."

She was grateful for the interruption to her messy train of thoughts. Also, the huntsman made a good point. How the hell had they achieved that feat?

Levi's expression changed, and before he said a word, Cat knew he was done sharing sensitive information.

“Anything is possible with the right tool.”

Could his reply have been any vaguer?

“The point is, they can't get in anymore, and they've worked that out. So, they're throwing what they can at us to see what sticks, so to speak. This is the start. They wanted to see if the manticore could pass through once a student opened the gate.”

The theory made sense: the creature had hunted its victims down so very close to the border, and the girls had, of course, tried to get back in.

Cruel and insensitive as the feeling was, Cat was glad they hadn't made it across. Because if the manticore had managed to get in, they might have had to bury a hell of a lot more than two bodies.

"Would it have worked?" Chloe asked.

Greer, sitting next to Alexius, nodded. "If it was touching the girl as she passed through, more than likely. But tricks like that can only get one creature in at a time. It's not a viable option if they want to flood our gates with an army again."

"Still, we won't let them pick off our students," Anika stated.

There was a unanimous nod of assent, Cat included. Confused and conflicted as she was, one thing was certain: she didn't want to see other girls torn the same way.

"I propose we reinstate a sentinel patrol, day and night,” Levi said. “I will not hire outsiders, not in the current climate. That means that each of you—each of us—will need to do our part. For that reason, let's put it to a vote."

By this point, Cat shouldn't have been surprised, but she was. A patrol made sense. Everything they'd said led to that conclusion. Except Levi could have just told them what they were going to do. Ordered them. Not Alexius or Anika, perhaps, and not the huntsmen, either. But twenty-nine vampires were gathered in the room, nine of whom were his employees. He was their lord by every law their race obeyed.

And instead of commanding them, he made them vote.

So that was what freedom tasted like.

No voice spoke against the arrangement, and Cat signed up for the first shift of the day—or the last one of the night, depending on how one looked at it. Half past midnight to six. Most of her lessons ran from afternoon to late evening, and, in any case, she'd never needed much sleep.

Only when she'd written her name down did she notice the first person who'd scribbled his name on that timeline.

Bash.

She looked up, frowning.

Something about him annoyed her. Not because he was a turned vampire—though to the Stormhales, that was a sin in itself. They believed that only the born vamps were worthy of note. Cat had always found that position rather stupid and outdated. There were stronger and weaker vamps in every founding family, the Stormhales included, and the turned were the same. At the end of the day, the blood in their veins might be a different color, but that was the end of their differences.

It wasn't even because he was—had been—a huntsman. His kind had killed hundreds of Stormhales, some without much of a motive.

No, the reason Cat disliked him was because he was a waste. A waste of power. With so much strength at his fingertips, all he did was mope around about being changed.

She got it; he wasn't born like her. He hadn't been prepared. But the change had been months ago. He should have started to adapt, and embraced the fact that he was a greater warrior now than ever before.

Cat remembered when her brother had turned. He’d barely undergone any change. He'd been a powerful mage before, with eyes that already turned as stormy as the night when he called his power. Becoming a vampire had done very little other than increasing his speed.

Her? Well, she hadn't been much before. Weaker than her little sister in hand-to-hand combat. Not even in the same realm as her brother when it came to magic. She was the typical middle child. Turning last year had also been inconsequential.

But Sebastian…

Cat, like most vampires, had an eidetic memory, which was the only reason she could recall Bash before his change. He'd been unmemorable. Pretty enough to look at, but, given their exercise regimen, most huntsmen were rather delectable. He'd been kind—that, she remembered. When he'd seen Chloe feeling uncomfortable—partially thanks to Cat—Sebastian had intervened. But that was it.

After the change, being in his presence was like standing in front of a bomb ready to explode.

He was faster than her, stronger than her—if he hadn't relented earlier tonight, she would have been in trouble, but the moment she'd snapped him out of his blood haze, he'd stopped fighting.

And he had magic.

Did he even realize how rare it was for a turned vamp to develop actual magic so damn early on?

Cat would have killed to have his strength. And frequently wanted to kill him for not using it.

A Taste of Insanity

The girl woke up at five that afternoon. Jack called right away, and this time, Bash answered.

Her name was Maddy, an undergrad earning her bachelor’s in witchcraft.

Maddy described the creature that had attacked her as a thing hiding in gray mist and black shadow, but when it stayed still long enough for her to have a good look, she'd seen a human face with sharp, long fangs, the body of a lion, and a snake’s tail.

"I was high, right?" she asked.

Jack smiled tentatively. "I wish. Get some sleep, Maddy. We got this."