“How do I know this isn’t a trick?”

“You don’t. But you’re just going to have to trust me.”

“That will be the day.”

Sera pushed out with her magic, breaking the magic around her. Nothing shattered. If he’d been inside of her head, the illusion would have flickered, if only for a moment. It didn’t. This was real. She was really here with him, at the northern end of Oregon, alone and far from where she’d been. She tried not to think about the ‘alone’ part, that she was in the core of enemy territory with no one to back her up.

She buried her fear beneath layers of bravado. “You shouldn’t have brought me here,” she told him. “Now I know where your base is.”

He smiled, amused. “Indeed you do.”

He wasn’t even concerned about revealing its location. He must have been sure she wouldn’t ever make it out of here again. If she was going to be perfectly honest with herself, she’d have to admit that he was probably right. Her chances of making it out of here were pitifully slim, if not impossible.

The power he had was enormous. He smiled, as though he’d read her thoughts. Sera buried thoughts of his power right next to her fear. She wasn’t going to be honest with herself. Honesty and realism were two things she couldn’t afford right now. She had to figure a way back to San Francisco.

“Have you thought about my offer?” he asked.

“To join your army of crazy minions? No thanks.”

“There is so much we can accomplish together. I can help you unleash your power.”

“Got that covered,” she told him. “I don’t need you.”

“You may have unlocked your power, Sera, but you haven’t unleashed it. There is so much more inside of you. So much more potential. So much more power. I can lead you to it.”

“And what do you know of Dragon Born magic?”

“I have been around for a long time. I’ve known a few Dragon Born mages over the centuries. I know what they can do. More specifically, I know what you can do, if you will just let me help you.”

“Why do you want me anyway?” she demanded. “You have so much power.”

“There is some magic out of even my reach.”

“A power not outside of mine?”

He nodded.

“Tell me what this mysteriously elusive magic is,” she said.

“Not yet. I need your loyalty first.”

She laughed in his face. “You’re afraid I will use this power against you.”

He didn’t say anything, but his silence spoke droves. Alden’s only interest in helping her was so that he could siphon that power for himself.

“Sorry, I’m not interested in backing the Grim Reaper in this war.”

He was quiet for a few moments, then said, “It is a war, Sera. A war between the just and the unjust. Would you back the side that will turn against you? The side that hunted your kind to extinction?”

“You will kill many more people than they ever did. Hell, you probably already have.”

“You think you can convince them to see the error of their ways? Just like that, after seven hundred years? Sera, you are so tragically naive. The Council will not side with you, even if you make me your common enemy. Your friends. Your allies. They will turn against you when they find out what you are.”

“Kai didn’t,” Sera said, defiant.

“Drachenburg’s colleagues on the Magic Council do not share his love for you. They will turn against you. And against him too. This will end only in pain,” Alden said. “I’ll tell you what. I will save you and your sweetheart from this horrible fate. There is only one way you will both survive this, and that’s by joining me. You both have a place at my side.”

“We don’t want it.”

“Don’t be stubborn, girl,” the Grim Reaper with the teenage face said impatiently. “You cannot fight this. It will happen. Fighting it will only lead to the people you love getting hurt. Don’t doom them to a future of pain and death because of your lack of vision.”

“We will fight you,” she told him, anger boiling up inside of her. “And we will win.”

“The Magic Council is crumbling. Many have already seen the light and turned to my side.”

“Who?”

He braided his fingers together. “It is only a matter of time before they are all mine.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“It’s too late. It is happening. The Magic Council is done. They just don’t know it yet. A new Council will rise in its place. A great Council. A just Council.”

“A Council ruled by you.”

“It is the only way for a just world,” he said. “I will not allow such beautiful magic to be squandered—or, worse yet, killed.”

Because he fed on that magic. And on supernaturals’ devotion.

Sera walked right up to him and stared him in the eye. “You will not win.”

She pushed her hands out, trying to break his magic, but he was too fast, as though he knew what she was planning on doing. He evaded smoothly, then hit her with some magic of his own.

It slammed into her full on, a fire like none other raging across her, dropping her to her knees. She felt like her skin was burning, being eaten alive, being peeled away, consumed by a pain greater than she’d ever experienced. Tortured, mangled screams broke out of her lips.