I sat up. An eerie silence followed. Nothing moved for a few beats. There were no whispers of energy urging me on, no currents of air moving. The ghosts hadn’t stuck around to say goodbye and that was fine with me. “Naomi,” I called, tossing the saber to the side. “Are you okay?”

There was a rumble in the corner and one of the tarps moved. “Oui. I am alive.”

“We have to get—”

Jessica! Rourke roared into my mind with a ferocity I hadn’t heard before. The sound was massive, his voice aching with emotion. Where the fuck are you?

The barrier was indeed down and the lines of communication were now open.

I’m here, Rourke. I’m in the Reliquary behind the house. I just broke the Queen’s ward. I motioned to Naomi and pointed upward. After all that noise, the guards and whoever Eudoxia had protecting her would be on us. It was almost dusk and we needed to move.

Naomi nodded. She shot up and I followed, springing off the wall, my hands grabbing the edge of the open skylight. I swung my body and hoisted myself out onto the roof in one motion.

Tell me you’re okay, Rourke continued. That explosion was huge. It rocked the entire area.

I’m fine. Just leaving now. Where are you?

I’m standing in a cell, and I’ve got a withered vampire by the throat, he growled. He claims he helped you escape. I’m two seconds shy of tearing his heart out.

He did help me. Don’t hurt him. Let them both go. I picked my way along the roof, stepping over the broken skylights.

Fine, they go free. Stay where you are and I’ll find you.

“Jessica!” Tyler yelled. “Over here.”

I turned and glanced down. My brother and Danny stood by a crypt. Tyler waved his arms. It was clear they’d been trying to tear into it but hadn’t had much luck. I rested my hand above my eyes and scanned the yard. There were hundreds of tombs and structures spread out behind the mansion. It was a real New Orleans graveyard.

And I’d just been in the underground network connecting them.

Rourke, I’m heading down into the cemetery. Tyler and Danny are here. I’m going to meet them. I motioned to Naomi. “Let’s join the boys down there,” I said to her. “Rourke is on his way—”

“Fool,” the Queen’s voice shrilled. My head snapped toward the mansion. Her voice ended on a shriek. “You’ve ruined everything!”

20

My gaze landed on Naomi. Before we could figure out what to do, there was another scream. It came from the house, and it was decisively the Queen’s, followed a moment later by Valdov’s murderous cackle.

Naomi ran down the slope and took off into the air. “We must get the cross back,” she called. “If he kills the Queen, the vampires will be thrown into chaos.”

Without thinking, I took off after her.

It was nice not to have to make the decision this time. And Naomi was right—if Valdov took control, it would be very bad indeed. The Queen had honor and played by the rules of supernatural negotiation—they were her rules, and worked in her favor most of the time, but she played them well. If Valdov ruled, there was a chance the vamps would side with the demons, and my Pack, along with many other supernaturals, would be in serious trouble.

The Reliquary sat fifty feet from the mansion, but there was a long portico that jutted from the back of the house. The portico roof looked big enough to hold me. It was a reasonable distance away—“reasonable” being the operative word. My wolf urged me along, agreeing wholeheartedly with getting rid of Valdov. We have to make this jump in one leap. There’s no other way. I took off running and leapt, soaring into the air. I connected with the roof, my claws digging in, splintering boards and dislodging shingles as my hands slid. I finally stopped my momentum by latching on to the gutters. I hung there precariously for a few beats.

Jess, what the hell are you doing? my brother yelled in my mind. I had to block out the rest of his protests, which were entering my brain rapid-fire, to focus on not falling. Both his and Danny’s footfalls raced toward me.

I swung a leg up and hoisted myself onto the small roof. Naomi had already entered through an open window. The mansion was made of big stone slabs, so there were enough footholds and crannies for me to shimmy up easily. I leapt onto the wall, moving at supernatural speed, my claws keeping me steady. I had to answer my brother’s protests. Tyler, I have to stop Valdov. He’s with the Queen. I can’t let him kill her.

Fine, but we’re coming in right behind you.

That’s what I’m hoping.

As I neared the Queen’s chambers, her voice rang out. “You will not defeat me!” followed by a strangled scream.

We go straight in, I told my wolf. No waiting. There was an open window around the corner of the turret, but we were going to take the closest route.

I hit the casing above a closed window, latching on to the stone siding above me. In the next breath I let go, plunging down, grabbing on to the upper windowsill, my legs bursting feetfirst through the leaded glass.

One second before I crashed through the panes, I heard four words.

“Now you must die.”

The glass exploded spectacularly and I landed in a low crouch, fists up, my wolf on high alert.

“You’re too late, mongrel.” Valdov’s precise voice hit my eardrum the instant before I sprang.

My brain took in the scene around me as I lunged, the Queen in her bed, blood everywhere, Naomi crumpled on the floor. My hands came around his neck as I snarled, “We’ll see about that, asshole.” My vocal cords were taut, my words strained. I knocked him to the floor in one motion, my knees pinning him across the chest.

Valdov chuckled beneath me, barely trying to fight back. “She’s already dead! You’re too late. I can feel the beautiful power transferring to me already.” He took a big, satisfied breath and grinned in a way that made him look like the Joker. “Ahh, it’s taken much too long to gain what was rightfully mine. Once I have the power, I will be the greatest Vampire King the world has ever seen, and I will kill you where you stand. You will be no match for me.”

This couldn’t be happening. The Queen couldn’t be dead.

My eyes found Eudoxia. She was chained to her bed, covered in silver links, her body smoking, Naomi’s cross stuck halfway out of her chest.

Her head hung at an odd angle.

She can’t regenerate with that thing inside her. We have to pull it out before it’s too late for her to recover. My wolf snapped her jaws, throwing up a picture of us ripping Valdov’s head cleanly off his body. We will, but we don’t have time to do both. By the time the power transfers completely from her to him, it will be too late. Valdov would put up too much of a fight right now.

Choosing to save the Queen, I jumped up and ran. But before I could reach her, I flew through the air. My back crashed into a wall, expensive drapes exploding all around me.

Valdov grinned like a fiend. “I am not weak, you filthy little beast! I can catch you. And you will not win, because you cannot save her.” He spread his arms and tilted his creepy ivory face toward the ceiling, inhaling, his perfectly sculpted nostrils flaring. “Can you feel it? It’s magnificent and so very intoxicating. And it’s all mine.”

I did feel the power, and unfortunately Valdov was right; it was swirling around the room searching for its next host. When the head of a Sect died, the power itself chose the new ruler, which was usually the strongest and most capable. In our world, the Alpha’s power transferred to the next wolf, but that wolf would be immediately challenged for it. An Alpha werewolf still had to prove himself physically.

No vampire would be challenging Valdov.

I had to stop this.

Squatting, I readied myself to lunge toward the Queen, but before I could move, Valdov locked his eyes on me. He was fully vamped out, cheeks waxy, eyes full black, fangs pierced down like swords over his bottom lip. His irises flashed silver, pinning me with their intensity. He knew my next move, but I had to try anyway. I sprang forward in a burst of speed, but I wasn’t fast enough. Valdov intercepted me and we tumbled to the ground again.

He hissed in my ear. “Little mongrel, oh, how I would love to drain you right now.” His fangs brushed the side of my neck, drawing a line of blood as they scratched along the surface of my skin.

I arched back, out of his grasp, bringing my fist up and slamming it into his trachea. He sputtered, trying to recover, but I held him by the shoulders, my claws digging in.

We rolled twice on the floor.

He was strong.

But I was stronger.

We hit the far wall right as Tyler jumped through the window I’d broken. I’d never been so happy to see anyone in my life. “Get to the Queen!” I yelled. “Yank the cross out of her chest.”

Tyler didn’t hesitate. He ran to the Queen’s bedside as Danny tumbled into the room behind him.

Valdov hissed, “I doesn’t matter. It’s too late. I will be King.” Power swirled in a heavy cloud around Valdov, his body vibrating as it absorbed the magic.

“Tyler, hurry!”

Valdov reared up beneath me, snapping at my neck, his face awful this close. His eye sockets were sunken and the bones in his face were stretched outward. His white, chalky, paper-thin skin didn’t look like they could contain them any longer.

“I did it,” Tyler said. “I pulled the damn cross out, but nothing’s happening. She’s not healing! Her neck is completely severed.”

Valdov cackled. “I told you. It is done.”

“It’s not over yet,” I snarled. “My guess is if the magic has a choice, it would still choose Eudoxia.” I yelled, “Vamps aren’t like us. They’re already dead. They don’t need communication to the brain. Put her neck back together and give her your blood.” I was banking on the fact she could regenerate with his blood. I’d learned the hard way with Eamon. I thought I’d killed him by breaking his neck, but he had healed after drinking from Ray.

Tyler’s face hardened.