Chapter 1

The first day I met Bree, I knew she would be trouble in every sense of the word, but even though I'd been drawn to her, I'd had no idea just how much she'd tangle her heart with mine.

That first dayI'd met her, the sound of voices woke me, Feish arguing with someone. Who had she let in now? Feish had a funny way of punishing me when I'd irritated her. Her favorite outside trying to ‘accidently' slip me some of her infamous tea was to let strangers into my forge when I was indisposed, and then act like it wasn't her idea at all.

A woman's voice had cut through, and the sound…it sounded like something I'd heard either in my dreams, or a long time before. In a memory maybe that I'd long buried? The soft southern drawl had pulled me from my bed with such strength that I'd walked out of the room with nothing but the sheet wrapped around my waist, ready to send the woman away. I did not need old memories or old dreams being dredged up when I was tied to the Dark Council.

I could try to lie and say there was no interest on my part when I laid eyes on her, but I saw through the magic holding her back, saw through the layers of her gran's spell. She was the new Sentinel of Savannah, I was sure of it.

That thought scared the shit out of me and…well it intrigued me at the same time. Because there had been a prophecy about her, one I'd denied for a good long time. If the Seer who'd given me the prophecy was correct, then this woman in front of me was about to be wrapped all up in my business.

Which had led me to sit down and have tea with her. To give her knives to help protect her.

To have her end up in my bed, naked…well, that had been a shock. Worse, was that when she dressed and left, I could smell her skin on my sheets, as if she'd truly slept on them. I should have burned those sheets, but I left them on and breathed her in for nights.

Found myself defying every bond that ever held me tight to try and keep her safe. Yes, I'd fucked up more than once.

But knowing how things turned out, I would do it all again.

All of that and then some. All to be with her, to see her again, to finally hold her and know we weren't going to be ripped apart.

I loved her, and as far as I was concerned, she owned me, heart and soul. There would be no other for me. I think maybe I'd known it that first moment she'd sassed me, defying a king with humor and intelligence. She was my match in every way.

And now….now I'd lost her.

Bree was gone,snatched only moments before by Evangeline, the one who had been behind every plot, every move of the Dark Council. She was the one behind the evil. And now, she had Bree.

I stared at the woman in front of me, her words seemingly real and unreal as they echoed between us.

"Then she will become the mother of all vampires, and with her power over the dead, raise every undead creature within the continent."

The witch's words took every fear I had ever had in my heart and pinned it there. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think past what she was saying. It did not seem possible that I would not only lose Bree but Bree herself would lose the essence of who she was and become something monstrous.

She would become a vampire—the very thing we'd been fighting against if this spell came to fruition.

I stared at the witch, Bree's cousin. There were similarities between them. Her reddish hair held hints of gold, the color of her eyes when the light hit them, the way her breath hitched and held with uncertainty. Did I trust this woman? Not a chance, but I would not turn down help, not when saving Bree was all that mattered.

I would raze cities if that was what it took.

If this witch was truly here to help, then I needed to know her. "What is your name?"

"Bramble."

I frowned. "I've never heard of a powerful witch by that name." I made it my business to keep tabs on the powerful forces within the shadow world.

She tipped her head my way. "That is by design. One of my greatest powers is the ability to wipe memories of myself completely from a mind." She tucked her hands into her pockets, the corner of her mouth lifting in a half smile. "Come, there is nothing to do here, we must go and plan—to save Bree will be no small thing. Evangeline is the strongest vampire this world has ever seen—that is what happens when you turn a guardian to the shadow world."

Roderick wobbled to his feet. I'd almost forgotten he was there. Almost. "I must go. The sun is too close."

Before I could so much as turn toward him, he disappeared. Maybe he'd slid into a grave, maybe he'd literally teleported to another place. Either way, the vampire was gone.

Fury snapped through me. "Roderick!"

The dagger in my hand shivered. A demon was trapped within the blade—by his own choosing—a blade I'd made for Bree, hoping to give her another weapon to keep her safe. A blade of black steel, infused with a demon's power. His words were quiet enough, and we were far enough from Bramble that only I could hear him. "Lucifer's left nut, you got a strong grip, man. Ease up."

I didn't respond to the dagger, just used it to point at the witch. "You've been playing a game, witch, one that has gotten Bree taken."

Her sniff and eyeroll reminded me so much of Celia that it was hard not to startle at the resemblance. "Of course I've been playing a game, you idiot. I have been trying to get back here to my family for years. But you forget that there are many Dark Councils. Many dangers in our world. You are not the only ones fighting unseen battles."

I didn't put the dagger or the sword away. Trust was not something I gave easily—not after the family I'd come from, and my first marriage teaching me that trusting the wrong person could get you killed, related to them or not…and this witch had given me every reason not to trust her. But I did know that she wasn't wrong about the dangers, about all the magic that was held in the darkness, waiting for its moment to be unleashed on the world.

She gave another wave of her hand at me, like a queen sending a peasant away. "Go to your friends. Tell them what happened. I will meet you there at the height of the sun, when the shadows are at their weakest. I will tell you everything I know then?—"

"You will tell me now," I snarled. "The longer we wait, the more chance we have of losing her. The spell?—"

"They will try to complete the spell with or without me." She drew a slow breath. "And the spell cannot be completed for seven days. That is my promise to you."

The blood in my body, the beating of my heart, everything absolutely stilled. She would complete the spell still.

I eyed the distance between us, feeling the handle of the demon blade against my palm. Was I fast enough? Or would a spell hit me before I tackled her?

Bramble turned her back on me. "At noon. I will meet you at noon."

And then what? She would lie to the others, tell them that she was helping and make them forget? Make me forget? She could take Bree from me forever if I gave her the chance. No, that was not going to happen.

I lunged at her and found my body wrapped up in weaves of power. The threads bound me tight, holding my weapons tightly to my sides, keeping me from driving them into her. She didn't even bother to turn around. She just lifted her wand and pointed it straight into the air, swirling it in a slow circle.

"I know you hate me right now, Fae King. But I am on your side. More importantly, I am on Breena's side. She is the most important person to me right now, and I will do all I can to save her from Evangeline." She looked over her shoulder, the profile of her face so like Bree's that my breath caught. "We will find a way to save her, but you have to learn to trust me. I understand the Dark Council and this spell like no one else—my family understands it. You see only Bree, and that will get you killed, you and your friends."

Her magic tightened and that half smile flitted on her lips.

An explosion of light erupted around her, stinging my eyes and making them water. I was dropped to the ground, and by the time I regained my vision and bearings I was alone again.

I bellowed to the sky, head tipped back as the rage and fury poured through me.

More than that…fear. Fear that I would lose Bree for good this time, that after everything we'd been through, after everything she'd done to save me, I wouldn't be able to save her.

My head dropped to my chest. The taste of the woman who had my heart and soul lingered on my lips. I could still feel her fingers brushing against my skin, exploring my body inch by inch, as if she would memorize every piece of me. Had some instinct told her that she was going to be taken? That we would be separated again?

"Fuck," I growled, and again the dagger shivered.

"Oh, say it again like that," Nancy said. "I could be convinced."

I tucked the dagger—and yes, Nancy was the dagger's name—through my belt loop and carried the sword with me.

"Are you not even going to talk to me? That's rude. I mean, shouldn't expect anything different from a demon fae."

"I am not demon fae," I said. "Dark, yes, not demon."

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Same difference."

"No, they are not the same." I was not about to give the dagger a lesson on fae classifications, but demon fae and dark fae were very, very different. The former were literally part demon. The latter simply preferred the shadows to the light. Fae who could manipulate darker magic with ease and no repercussions.

Fae like me.

I strode through the Hollows Cemetery, seeing shadows of Bree everywhere I looked. Feeling her presence in this place. Whether she'd meant to or not, she'd marked it as her own.

The car she'd arrived in was outside the cemetery, parked crooked, half up the sidewalk, the driver's side door still open. The keys dangled from the ignition.

Because she'd known I was here and had rushed to find me, forgetting even to close the door in her haste. My chest tightened, and I fought the grief that wanted to take hold of me. In all my years, in all my long, long life, I had never loved someone the way I loved Bree. As if she had become a part of me, a vital piece of my existence, and I wasn't sure I could go on without her.

The Seer had been right all those years ago.

I slid into the driver's seat. Bree's perfume enveloped me, not a smell that she'd applied, just the scent of her.

Lightning and fire, spring flowers, and honey. She was all of it and more. I gripped the steering wheel until the cheap plastic creaked under my hands, breathing her in, holding onto that small part of her that she'd left behind.

"See what I mean? Ease up, man. Breaking that steering thing, breaking my handle. It won't bring her back."

"What do you know about getting her back?" I said, but I also eased up on my hold long enough to get the car started and in gear.

"Well, I know that the magic that sucked her through that portal had traces of the demonic. Hence the demon fae, dark fae question." A shudder ran through the blade. "Also, I think I may have tied myself not only to this blade, but to her. And that's a problem. It means that if she dies, I'm kaput too. Puts me in a pickle, if you will."

I drove the car slowly, thinking. Weapons that tied themselves to their owners were a pain in the ass. But there could be a benefit, depending on the type of bond. "Can you find her? Do you have that kind of a connection to her?"

The blade was silent for so long I knew what the answer was going to be before it even spoke.

"No. Maybe when I get closer? But at this distance I've got nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Bupkiss?—"

"Enough," I growled.

I drove not toward Haven House, but in the opposite direction, toward Factors Row.

Once there, I pushed my way into my old apartment and went straight for the bedroom. Then I flipped the bed over.

"Good gracious, my big strong fae man! You don't have to prove you're a brute, not to me!" Nancy shivered against my hip. "Seriously, what are we doing here?"

"Going into the land of Faerie. I am not much welcome, but I need the guidance of someone who has a stronger connection to the unseen world than I do." Someone who had once, a very long time ago, told me to search for the Sentinel of Savannah. Someone who had told me she would be my salvation.

I hadn't been back to the Seer since that day, over twenty years before. I'd thought it would never happen, as there had been no Sentinel in this city in all that time. I thought they'd all been killed. Until Bree. When I'd met her, I'd known she was the one that the Seer had seen in the future. I just hadn't truly believed what the Seer had told me was even possible.

I bent and ripped up the loose floorboard, exposing a small burlap bag, threaded with gold filaments. You could not just take anything to the Seer—you had to take an offering in the correct vessel.

"What is that?"

"An offering for the Seer."

"Oh, shit! Someone who can prophecy the future—that's not right, see the future? Which is it? The first one sounds weird. Don't you think? Hello? Am I just talking to myself?"

"Go to sleep, or do whatever you need to do to be quiet."

"Not possible." Nancy sighed. "Just saying."

I stood there with the bag in hand, the offering within it still good after all these years hidden away. I hefted the bag, feeling the weight of the objects clanking gently against one another.

No one had seen the Seer in the last twenty years. And to add to that little piece, the Seer was never found in the same place, but many, many people had sought out advice. As far as I knew, I was the last one to have been given a prophecy. One I'd flung back in the Seer's face.

"A week," I muttered under my breath.

"Yup, that's how long the witch bitch said. I don't think you should trust her, you know. I mean, I would know a bad apple—get it, I know what you've got there—when I see one."

If I went into the land of fae now, there was no telling how long it would take, and I might not be able to find the Seer in the end. If I was in the land of faerie when the seven days ran out…no, I couldn't let that happen.

Which meant this offering and attempting to find that Seer was a last resort, my final hail Mary. I tucked the bag under my arm. "Let's hope we don't need this."