Chapter 2

TWO

JOAN

“ Thank you for calling the Vauntero Violence Hotline. ”

Lilian hissed behind me. She tugged on my arm and spun me around to face her. Those pretty blue eyes that looked so much like mine were wide with fear. “ Mom , what are you doing?”

“ If you’d like to report violence by a Mage, ” the recording said through the speakerphone, “please press two.”

I arched one eyebrow at my daughter and shrugged a shoulder. “I told you to stop or you’d get caught and get us all deported to Third Realm”

“If you’re reporting violence by a fae, please press three,” the recording continued.

Lilian gasped. Her eyes were so wide I saw the whites all the way around. “So you’re tattling on me?”

“I’m fixing your mess, Daughter.” I rolled my eyes.

She was so dramatic, but she was young. She would learn one way or another. It was a byproduct of our species, born to chaos and wildness that had to be tampered down. As her mother, I had to ensure she only got into mild trouble . . . human trouble. I wasn’t going to lose her to Third Realm, and I sure as hell wasn’t going there myself. We were born to First Realm. This was our home. So long as we stayed out of trouble, we could stay here.

“If you’re reporting violence by a vampire, please press four.”

Lilian ran both hands through her light-pink hair. “ Mom. ”

“Be quiet,” I snapped.

Over my dead body were we being deported. No one had any real idea what it was like in the other realms. No one who’d been deported had ever come back. That was how it worked. That was the deal King and Queen Vauntero made with the angels a thousand years ago after the war—the supernatural civil war. I couldn’t imagine it myself. Vampires, fae, and mages all coexisted peacefully here now, but we were a minor population. There were only a few hundred of each species living in First Realm, and most of us lived on our own private magical land called Megelle Island.

The civil war had been a bloodbath of gruesome violence and menace. Araqiel and the angels separated the species into their own realms: Second Realm for mages, Third Realm for fae, and Fourth Realm for vampires. They were locked away from us here in First Realm . . . and we were locked away from them, just living in secret harmony with the humans.

But the rules were strict.

Zero acts of violence, no matter the victims, or you were sent to your home realm.

I scoffed. Home realm was a joke. This was our home. None of us had ever lived elsewhere, not even the Vauntero family. So, we all lived with this threat dangling over our heads. My daughter was foolish for recklessly risking us all like this. It wasn’t worth it. Third Realm was the realm of chaos. Queen Tephine’s treachery was infamous even here. Hell, she was the one who started the civil war.

“If you’re reporting violence by a shifter, please press five,” the recording continued. “If you’re not sure of the species committing a violent act, please press zero. To repeat this list, please press the star key. ”

I pressed the three button on my screen and a ring instantly followed. Butterflies danced in my stomach. I’d memorized this number as a child, but I’d never, ever dialed it. I felt no remorse in what I was about to do, but the nerves still got to me.

“ A member of the Vauntero family will be with you in a moment. Please remain on the line, ” a lovely robotic female voice said through the speaker, followed immediately by instrumental music.

Lilian groaned and tugged on her hair, then began pacing the small security office of The Sapphire Residences. Charlie, her insolent little friend who worked as the head security officer here, sat in his office chair, chewing his fingernails. This boy had been nothing but trouble since the day I’d met him. I had half a mind to turn his ass in as well, but I knew he’d drag my daughter down with him.

“Um, Miss Joan?” Charlie cleared his throat. He pointed to his wall of screens. “What do you want me to do?”

I glanced up to follow his point and spotted Mr. and Mrs. Larabe standing at their front door talking to a uniformed police officer.

The phone clicked and the music stopped. “This is Constantine Vauntero. What violent act do you have to report”

I took a breath to calm my voice. “There are two stepsisters here in Vegas: Collins and Tallulah Elliott. One of them is definitely fae because I can sense her aura, but I think the other is human. They are running a crime ring.”

“Then report it to the Las Vegas police.” Constantine’s voice was low and gravelly—and definitely bored.

I frowned. “We’re supposed to report them to you.”

“Report violence, not petty crimes,” he growled. “Definitely no tattling.”

“ Excuse me , but these two girls are stealing a lot of stuff from people and stores here. They’re going to get caught. When this explodes, which it will eventually, I don’t want all of us to get deported to Third Realm because of it. I don’t want you coming in here and thinking we’re all involved.”

There was a beat of silence and then, “Why would we assume such a thing?”

“Because they’ve roped in a few other fae into their scheming.” It was a lie, but sometimes you had to be selfish.

“Miss, I am eight hundred and fifty years old,” Constantine growled sharply. “Do you really think I am ignorant enough to blindly deport someone to their home realm for a non-violent act?”

“Well . . . well . . . this is precautionary. The Vaunteros should know.”

“I am a Vauntero, the eldest Vauntero child even. My parents founded this island and are the reason you and your most likely not-so-innocent spawn are not living under Queen Tephine’s rule as we speak.”

“Are you?—"

“Done here? Greatly so.” Constantine sighed heavily like I was some petulant child. “But yes, thank you, Karen, for reporting a non-violent incident. Please alert us if it turns violent, as that is the only illegal action in First Realm that we have concern with or jurisdiction over.”

I clicked my tongue. “My name is not Karen.”

Constantine chuckled and it sent a chill down my spine. “You really underestimate us, don’t you, Joan Gordon?”

I gasped. I had not told him who I was. Intentionally, just in case. The fact that he knew did not make me feel well.

“As a friendly reminder, Joan ,” Constantine said, his voice barely more than a growl, “keep in mind that when there is violence, both parties get deported. So, you might want to keep your nose out of other people’s business unless you’d like to be a victim. I hear it’s currently extremely cold in Third Realm. Bye, Karen.”

The line went dead.

I stared at my phone with my jaw dropped.

“You ratted them out to the Vaunteros.”

I rolled my eyes and shoved my phone in my pocket. “It was you or them. Their mother outright refuses to join our fae community here in town. If Sandra thinks they’re too good to be with us, then they surely aren’t going to have our backs. So why should we have theirs?”

Lilian’s face paled. “But they’re my friends. They didn’t know—I deliberately lied to them and said it was my parents’ apartment. I tricked them into stealing stuff because I have problems. This isn’t their fault.”

She was young. She didn’t understand.

“It is now. Perhaps their deportation will finally wake you up to your own misbehavior.” I snapped my fingers to Charlie. “Erase all the video with any of your faces in it—I want no evidence that any of you were involved . . . except for those two.”

Charlie glanced nervously to my daughter, then nodded and started clicking away. Lilian’s eyes brimmed with tears as she watched him erase all evidence that she, Mitch, Alicia, Sean, and Will were ever there. By the time he was done, the police would only see Collins and Tallulah fleeing the building in stolen black silk robes, designer heels, and designer bags— all courtesy of Mrs. Larabe.

The door to our left flew open without warning. The same police officer I’d just seen on the screen now stood in the open doorway in his black uniform . . . with Mr. and Mrs. Larabe.

The cop nodded his head. “We need to see your tapes.”