Yeah, and I didn’t fucking like that he’d been the one to rush to her rescue. Or that he seemed to think we were some kind of team. But my anger wasn’t focused on him right then. Keeping my arm tight around Imani, her back pressed against my front, I glowered at Lazarus. “It was you. You did this to Imani, and you caused this war tonight.” Caused the pain and the deaths. “You’re Beau Irons.”

Lazarus sniffed and flicked his hand, dismissive. “You cannot understand our cause, so I will not bother explaining it to you.”

“I understand that you betrayed Imani and used her as a lab rat,” I spat. “I understand that she didn’t do a single thing to deserve any of what you’ve done. And I understand that I won’t be happy until you’re a pile of ashes at my feet.”

“A pile of ashes?” echoed Imani, a bloodthirsty smile in her voice. “That sounds awesome.” It did.

“Take her through the portal!” Marco told me.

I blinked. “Are you fucking insane?”

“It will take you both to The Hollow. Get her away from here.”

Call me strange, but I wasn’t going to trust a word that asshole said.

“No, Imani, you must come with us,” said Lazarus. “You hold all the answers.”

“He thinks I’m half-human and he can use my blood to create a cure,” she explained to me. “In other words, he’s warped.”

I whispered into her ear, “Who created the force-field?”

“Lazarus,” she quietly replied.

“We need it down, baby.”

“I know, but my gift has been overused tonight.”

“You don’t need your psychic hand for this.”

Lazarus again spoke to Imani. “If you agree to come with us, I will tell my vampires to stand down. We will leave here, and all those left alive can return to The Hollow.”

I snickered. He couldn’t honestly expect us to believe that. “You want them all dead. You want our whole race dead.”

“I want a cure more.”

“But not enough to perform any tests on yourself, right?” I needed to keep him talking; to distract him while Imani worked. “You have all these vampires willing to die for you and your cause. But you’ve never been willing to do that for them.”

He held his arms out wide. “Without me alive and leading them, there would be no one to ensure the survival and success of our cause.”

Noticing Eleanor, I snarled. “You betrayed her too.”

She licked her lips, her eyes sad. “I didn’t know that Lazarus planned to use her like this.”

“I could not tell you, Eleanor, because I could not risk that you would try to stop me,” Lazarus told her. “But now that you see it worked, you can understand.” He turned back to me. “I knew Imani would survive it.”

“You didn’t know anything,” Marco said through gritted teeth. “You risked her life.”

Lazarus tilted his head. “You really do care for her, don’t you, Marco? I thought so, but I was never entirely sure. You are very manipulative, after all. But I see it now.”

Marco’s fists clenched. “She’s good.”

“She is,” Lazarus agreed. “She’s good through and through. But that did not stop you from taking her human life from her, did it? As I see it, you are in no position to judge me.”

“Yeah? Well I…” Trailing off, Marco grimaced. “Your nose is bleeding.”

Eleanor stepped forward to take a look. “There’s blood coming out of your ears too.”

The vein in Lazarus’ temple pulsed and more blood flowed from his nose. His gaze darted around before coming to rest on me. “Whatever you are doing, stop!”

“That’s not me calling your blood,” I told him. “That’s Imani. You didn’t make her half-human, Lazarus. Not even close.”

He shook his head in denial.

“Look at her irises. She didn’t partly heal. She just evolved, and her abilities evolved right along with her.” I didn’t bother explaining it any further—no way would I feed his hungry scientific mind.

Blood trickled out of the corners of his mouth. “Stop, Imani.” But she didn’t. “Do not make me kill you.”

I growled. “As if I’d let that happen. You wouldn’t see your lab rat dead anyway—not after all you’ve done to get this far.”

He winced, putting a hand to his head. More blood gushed out of his nose. “Shoot her, but do not shoot to kill,” he told his vampires.

“No!” screamed Eleanor. But no one listened. Bullets zoomed our way…and each one crashed into my shield and fell to the ground.

Marco smirked at Lazarus. “Didn’t you know that was his gift? Or did you just forget?”

Sneering at him, Lazarus opened his mouth to speak. Instead, he let out a cry of agony as his face reddened and the veins in his head looked close to popping. The force-field flickered.

My heart jumped in my chest. “Keep going, baby.”

It flickered again. And again. And again. Then it fell. I smiled.

Four things abruptly happened at once.

I heard vampires crying out as energy balls, lightning bolts, lethal darts, a jaguar, and psychic attacks slammed into them.

Marco lunged at Lazarus, moving too fast for Eleanor or the males flanking the Master Vampire to act.

Marco’s vampires launched themselves at Lazarus’ group, snatching the guns and crushing the weapons before attacking the group.

Imani’s knees buckled a moment before she passed out in my arms.

Cursing, I scooped her up and held her tight as mayhem ensued for a second time that night. She was pale, even for a vampire. And I knew she’d be seriously pissed when she woke up to realise that she’d lost consciousness.

Paige rushed to us and slapped a hand on my shield. “Drop it.”

I did. “There’s nothing to heal. She just exhausted herself.”

Slipping two hands underneath Imani, she said, “I’ve got her; get to Lazarus before he has someone teleport his ass out of here.”

Shaking my head, I tightened my grip on Imani. I badly wanted to get my hands on that motherfucker but… “Lazarus won’t be the only one here convinced that she can help create a cure. Others might try to take her.”