Since becoming a Vampire, there were times I didn't like Kaniji. She persecuted me out of jealousy and was the epitome of the mean girl. But seeing her broken like a cartoon caricature was a terrible sight. Despite being my sworn enemy, Kaniji had come to my aid every time I needed her.I knelt beside her. "Is she…going to make it?""These are not mortal wounds," Tony said."We need to feed her," I said. "She's going to need our blood."Tony sliced through his wrist and bled into her parted lips. Frank and Cyrene quickly did the same. Some of Kaniji's pain seemed to recede, and she began to moan in agony. I raised my wrist to feed her, but Tony stopped me."You've lost too much already," Tony said. "You both need to feed and rest."I gnawed my lip. "We'll get her home. We did well today, but we need to do better. I knew the Elders didn't know how to fight, but what they throw at us and how they bend us could wipe us out in seconds.""No shit," Frank said while looking at Kaniji
I'm not sure if the Bolivian Council understood what had happened. They obviously felt the absence of the Rectors—but it was a certainty that Ignacio got it."Please don't, Ignacio," I said softly. "Please." What stopped Ignacio from killing first and asking questions later was most likely the knowledge that he could only focus on killing one of us at a time, and that would have left him open to attack from the rest of us. He seemed to know we knew this, and we still hadn't killed him, which we could have done the same way we had taken out the Rectors."You killed the Rectors?" Ignacio's eyes weren't red. He was angry, but he was under control."Indirectly," I replied. "But yes."Tony helped me to my feet and undid my cuffs."What the hell is going on here!" a male Elder asked. Ignacio raised his hand without taking his focus from us. The Council behind him quieted."Each of us have a secret that is so huge that to know it would be instant death, Ignacio," I said. "You unders
Ignacio, King, the rest of my Council, and I were sitting outside. No one else in the Bolivian Council had been able to get up off the floor.Frank, Tony, and Cyrene tried to be involved in the conversation that Ignacio and I were having, but they were too preoccupied with the sun and their own return to being human—or nearly being human—to pay much attention.King had never seen the desert and was examining the packed sandy dirt and digging up small rocks."I take it that your Elder Council have all met their final deaths," Ignacio said.I met his eyes. "Yes. But they had already proven that they couldn't be trusted.""And their deaths had nothing to do with them decreeing your punishment by metal or that they imprisoned you for so many years in Limbo?""Would my answer change what you intend to do next?" I asked."No.""Will you fight with us?""How do you intend to fight?" he asked.He wasn't committing one way or another. I took a chance and told him about the Wolfpack, b
"Is it okay if I visit with BJ again?" I asked Paul while we talked on the phone. "I know I've already seen her a couple times this week, and I—""You're fine," Paul interrupted."Okay, because it's time for the Were's to do their thing.""I see," Paul said."Second thoughts?" I asked."Nope," he said. "You can meet her in two hours at the Children's Museum."Two hours later I flashed to the Children's Museum, walking out of a restricted area as if I had every right to be there.I smelled the Wolves set as sentries to protect BJ. That was good. I no longer thought they were only protecting her from me but from anyone who might be working for the Vampires against the Wolves.I only had to wait a few seconds before Paul walked toward me holding BJ's hand. She broke free and ran to me, leaping into my arms happily. I lifted her, propping her on my good hip.Paul's eyes locked onto mine. "You've been hurt."Oh, right. Werewolves had an amazing sense of smell. "It's nothing," I to
Yes, tomorrow will be the beginning or the end.When we rose the next morning, I contacted my Council. They were playing it cool, and there were no new developments."Any messages from Monica," I asked Alexis."None." Alexis looked calm and serene while Ran and I were nervous wrecks. "I've tried to locate Athena, but there has been no answer.""Why?" I asked. "You don't think you and Ran might have accidentally…""No," Alexis said. "She hasn't met her final death. Besides, she wouldn't come to me masquerading as a Rector. She despises them, probably even more since being imprisoned. I want to locate her body so that I can free her.""I don't know if I can handle Athena and Epic Cu all at once," I said."You're not still afraid of her, are you, my love? Athena fully approves of you.""She approves of my power," I said. "It's funny how she knew even before I did that there was something more to me…"No one had heard from Athena since her one hundred-year exile to some tomb. I wo
"Oh?" Sebastian's eyebrows lifted."When you summoned us," I said."I see," Sebastian said."So," Alexis said. "Shall we begin?"Sebastian squinted. "Begin?""You want to know why we came to Barcelona," Alexis said. "We came because we wanted to call for a gathering of the Neratomay in Epic Cu."Several people in the audience began to talk, speculating about Alexis' statement."Quiet!" Sebastian shouted, and the crowd quieted."I do apologize that our announcement was meant to take place at Epic Cu," Alexis said. "Which means that many of you in attendance would not be privy. But it is…delicate."Alexis reached for my hand then kissed the back of it. I smiled at him as if we weren't afraid of them or anything that they could say or do to us. It seemed to throw off everyone in the room, including the Elders.A female Elder stepped forward. "Alexis, what game are you playing?""Valentina." Alexis bowed."Alexis," Valentina said tightly. "We know that you are behind the deaths
This room put the banquet room at the Spanish Council to shame. It was three times as big and decorated in gold and red. It was nearly as ornate as the inside of the Vatican, and dark paintings hung on the walls over even darker sculptures.On several paintings I saw Wraiths similar to those I had seen on the dark path leading to the Mother's hut, but a massive mural teeming with devil dogs, dark smoky spirits, Centaurs, horned figures, and more Wraiths chilled me to the bone.Alexis examined the mural. "It is the dark path…"I focused on the image of a terrified woman, her mouth a gaping maw as she silently screamed. An uprooted stalagmite tree had snatched her from the path, and something slimy gnawed on her foot."This is what you saw?" Ran asked while staring in horror at the mural."Yes," I said, shivering. Alexis rubbed my arms. "Follow me."He led us down an immense corridor decorated with murals, statues of winged demons, and a ceiling that depicted a beautiful represen
"You're behind this, aren't you? Somehow—"His head exploded. I flinched at the spray of gore. When it turned to ash, I brushed it off me."Which one of you did that?" I asked."He searched my head," Alexis replied."Well, warn a sister next time," I said.Then I felt a loud buzz in my head, and across the room another Elder's head exploded.This created more bedlam and screaming from Council members who flashed themselves away or who sought the aid of another Elder."Do you feel that?" Ran asked."I don't feel anything because these people are screaming and hollering so loudly," I said.They were the most cowardly individuals I had ever seen. These powerful Vampires sat here crying like wusses! The very Council members and Elders who had tortured and murdered other lower level Neratomay could only hide and cry when they met a foe they couldn't overpower. They were the very definition of bullies!Ran turned to me. "It's Paul.""Paul? How…?""I can still hear him from my tim