Chapter Nineteen

CHARLIE

The mobster hadn’t caved. I was less than pleased about that, but I couldn’t lie and say I wasn’t satisfied by the ending he received. Sliced his head clean off his shoulders myself. He wanted to keep his lips locked? Well, he’d never open them again, that was for sure.

Didn’t matter. Marcus had gathered enough information from the other mobsters.

Ivy knew more about the vampires than any of us, and they provided additional insight that I was certain would get us to the vampire key. I’d lain awake all night coming up with ideas, and I’d formed a solid plan by the next morning.

I met my grandfather for breakfast to discuss my plan. The last thing I wanted was a repeat of the bank in Paris, so I needed his consultation on this.

“I know you don’t want me getting my hands dirty,” I stated when I finished explaining my plan. “But if we’re going to pull this off, I need to do it my way. I need to be there.”

“I agree. This couldn’t be a better plan if I came up with it myself,” Cassiel said.

I nearly reeled back in shock. I expected my grandfather to tell me that it was too risky, and to let him take the reins on this one, but he didn’t. My plan didn’t involve him or any of our parents, and after the way they’d reacted when we’d committed the bank robbery, I’d have expected him to put up a bigger fight.

“You really think I can pull this off?” I asked.

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “I believe in you, Charlie. You weren’t ready for this when you went to Paris, but you’ve progressed in our training sessions since then. The fact that you came to me for my opinion beforehand shows that you’re ready. I want you to pull off this job, and you have the perfect team to do it. Show me what you’ve learned from everything I’ve taught you.”

“I will,” I promised. “I’m going to get the vampire key. You won’t be disappointed.”

I meant it with every fiber of my being. We’d lost the vampire key in Paris, and I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I would become everything my grandfather wanted me to be.

My friends and I gathered around the conference table in the Elvish Associates’ meeting room later that day. I stood at the head of the table, facing the others. Ava sat by my side, and Oberi dutifully stood in husky form beside her. Marcus, Kallie, Chancey, and Ivy were there, along with Eddie and the Elvish Associates.

“Everyone’s here,” I said. “Let’s begin.”

“What about Alistair and Danny?” Marcus asked.

“They’re sitting this one out,” I replied.

Truth was, Alistair was a loose cannon who’d go off script at any chance he got, and we needed everything to go according to plan. Danny couldn’t be trusted, either. He was shit at following directions, and he’d run off to do his own thing like he did when we time traveled. I wasn’t going to bother telling either of them what we were up to.

“Here’s what we learned from the circus,” I started. “Marcus discovered that the vampire key is located inside The Devil’s City.”

“I don’t know what that means, though,” Marcus mused. “We’re headed to Vegas again?”

“That’s Sin City, dummy,” Kallie said.

“According to Ivy, The Devil’s City is the name for a casino in Chicago,” I explained. “It’s the worst kind of place— a hub for vampires and considered exclusively supernatural territory. The building towers over sixty stories high in downtown Chicago and acts as its own independent city, filled with bars, restaurants, shops, gambling dens, spas— you name it. The vampires don’t leave, because they don’t have to. It’s ripe with illegal activity, like drug trafficking and worse. It comes as no surprise that the vampires are holding the key there, because The Devil’s City is owned by Salvatore Bianchi.”

Marcus tapped his fingers against the table. “Hold on… Ivy, didn’t you grow up in Chicago?”

Ivy cleared their throat. “I was born in Hawaii and lived with my mother and her merfolk pod for a while, until I left to live with my dad in Chicago. More specifically, I lived in The Devil’s City— spent my whole teen years there. I named The Devil’s Playground after it, actually, because that was all I ever knew. The Devil’s City was like my own personal playground. I never thought my father would keep the vampire key so close to himself, in such an obvious spot where so many people could stumble upon it. I thought for certain he’d hide it away in some remote location. My father continues to find ways to surprise me.”

“This is a good thing, because it means Ivy has intel we wouldn’t be able to obtain otherwise,” I said. “I’ve asked Ivy to put together everything they can remember about The Devil’s City.”

Ivy stood, and pages rustled as they spread large sheets of paper over the table. “I know this place like the back of my hand— every nook and cranny, every ventilation shaft. It’s all in my head.”

“This is a big place, but luckily, Marcus was able to obtain additional information about the key’s location,” I continued. “One of Salvatore’s men from the circus revealed that the key is located on the second from the top level, which puts it just below Salvatore’s office.”

“There’s only one room it could be in on that level,” Ivy said, stabbing their finger to one of the pages. “It’s in this room here. It’s always heavily guarded by security, and it’s got a pin pad on the door.”

“That room is our target,” I said. “We already have the code to the pin pad, as revealed by another one of Salvatore’s men. Another vampire’s thoughts indicated that the key is kept inside a home safe with a dial lock. This is going to be easier to crack than the vault at the bank, because it uses a simpler locking mechanism.”

“So we get to the safe, then what?” Ava asked. “You crush the metal door open with your Earth magic?”

“It isn’t enough to rely on my Earth magic, because Salvatore wouldn’t hide this key in any average safe,” I said. “Salvatore knows demigods want the key, and he’ll have thought ahead— either with a fail-safe like the bank, or even with inferichite if he’s managed to get his hands on it. We don’t know what safeguards he might have in place, so our best option is inputting the combination, so we don’t trigger any magical alarm systems.”

“Do we know the combination?” Kallie asked.

Marcus cleared his throat nervously. “Unfortunately, the vamp we captured last night had that information and he… uh… didn’t crack.”

I heard it in Marcus’ tone. He thought I’d gone too far.

I did what I had to do. That fucker was never going to talk.

“We’ll have to move forward without that information,” I said coldly. “You can crack the safe, can’t you, Kallie?”

“Yes,” she stated confidently. “If it’s a combination lock, I can break it.”

“The last bit of information we obtained from Salvatore’s vamps was the security measures in place around the target room,” I continued. “There are two guards stationed in front of the room at all times, as well as one guard at the corner of each hall. This level is crawling with security, but I’m confident we can make it past them— or if we have to, take them out.”

“How do we do that without getting caught?” Ava asked.

“Everyone will have their respective jobs to help us get in and out of The Devil’s City clean,” I began. “Our best time to strike will be two days from now.”

“Why so soon?” Marcus asked.

“Because that’s when my father is hosting his annual gala, the Blood Moon Ball,” Ivy explained. “It’s a big party he holds every year in the ballroom on the top floor of The Devil’s City. Vampires never sleep, so the party goes on from one night and into the next. It gives him and his business partners a chance to mingle and make deals.”

“He just had his annual convention in New York, and now he’s throwing a ball?” Kallie asked.

“He’s a very busy man. Or, to put it bluntly, he throws a lot of fucking parties to keep his morons entertained so they don’t get into trouble,” Ivy replied. “Most of the vampires bring… extra guests. Guests who never leave. My father pays a price for them, so all guests need to be properly vetted. Security is going to be diverted toward the gala.”

Ava gave a shudder beside me, and she spoke in a disgusted tone. “You’re talking about blood slaves. It’s a gala to get valuable people into the building and trade them amongst top mobsters.”

“Yes,” Ivy said regrettably. “I know what you’re thinking, Ava, and it’s not going to happen. We can’t break these people out. We can slip out with the vampire key while my father is distracted with the gala, but we’re never going to get those blood slaves past him.”

“If we get the vampire key and win this war, we can free those blood slaves when the time comes,” I added. “It’s imperative that the key is our one and only focus, because we can’t afford any distractions. We need the vampire key so we can open the Elven Gate and save the afterlife, or no amount of rescuing people will bring them salvation.”

“All right,” Ava agreed, though I could tell she didn’t like it. “We go in for the key and the key alone.”

“We can’t cross paths with my father,” Ivy added. “That’s a hard, fast rule we all need to play by. If he gets you in his sights, he will not hesitate to kill you by any means necessary. You already got past him once, and Salvatore Bianchi never lets anyone escape. The fact that you did once is already a miracle, and you can bet your pretty little asses you won’t get away a second time. He’ll either take you into custody to do with you as he pleases, or he’ll kill you on the spot.”

“Which is why we won’t be crossing his path,” I continued. “We’ll be accessing the building from the bottom up, to avoid the gala.”

“How exactly do we do that?” Kallie asked. “We can’t just walk through the front doors. Surely they have alarm systems that will detect us immediately, even if we use illusions to disguise ourselves.”

I smirked. “We don’t have to go through the front doors, because we have our own way in. Listen carefully, because everything must go according to plan.”

The room went silent as everyone leaned in to listen.

“Our home base will be at the Scarlet Grand Hotel eight blocks from The Devil’s City,” I explained. “The hotel is owned by an Elvish-vampire hybrid who is a rival of Salvatore Bianchi’s. He’s worked with the Majestica family before, and he’s an ally of ours that Max is already in touch with. The hotel is heavily warded, so we’ll be protected from being tracked by Salvatore’s people. We’ll set up at the penthouse suite, which has a clear view of The Devil’s City’s tower. Asa and Aries will be on the ground, going undercover as security officers who will hack into The Devil’s City security feed and sending that information back to Max and Gavyn at the Scarlet Grand. The Elvish Associates will cover our tracks on the cameras, as well as use them to help us navigate the tower. We’ll all have earpieces to stay in contact. Elyx will be stationed on the hotel roof. He’ll be standing by to take out any potential threats on the target floor via sniper rifle.”

“I should stay with the Elvish Associates at the Scarlet Grand,” Ava offered. “We need a back-up plan in case communication goes down. I’ll be able to telepathically communicate with Charlie. Plus, I’m clever, and I can piece stuff together quickly without getting distracted. I’ll be able to watch the cameras and know what you need to do if something goes wrong. You need someone who can make hard decisions on the fly, and I’ll be able to do that.”

I nodded firmly. “I was thinking the exact same thing, pidge. As for the rest of you, you’ll be on my team, infiltrating The Devil’s City. I expect this to be a clean job, but I’m also planning ahead for any and all potential mishaps. Which means Oberi will be coming with me in case anyone needs to be healed. Let’s hope we don’t need her.”

Ooh, yay! Oberi exclaimed. I was hoping to be in on the action.

I began pacing around the room. “We will strike during the daytime, beginning at ten in the morning. Vampires have a hard time moving around in daylight, and it will be difficult for them to follow us outside if we run into any snags. By then, the Blood Moon Ball will have been going on for several hours, and security will have lowered their guard. The gala will continue throughout the day and into the night, so we’ll have time to pull this off while Salvatore is distracted. We can’t portal into the building, because we’ve never been there before, so our portals won’t be precise enough. We could end up anywhere in the casino, and we can’t take such a risk, though we can portal out once the mission is complete.”

I’d circled the whole table and stopped at my spot in the front of the room again. “Ivy’s our guide to get us inside and to the right place. We’ll start at the storm sewers. The same network that runs beneath the Scarlet Grand also runs under The Devil’s City. There isn’t direct access to The Devil’s City through these tunnels, but all we need is to get under the building, and I can use my Earth powers to dig our way upward. Since we won’t be entering the building through any known access points, it shouldn’t trip the wards or alarms. For added security, Marcus will brew a potion that will ward us from tipping off the vampires. I’ll dig a tunnel up through the boiler room in the basement, which Ivy has outlined in their blueprints. From there, we’ll access the service elevator shaft and climb our way to the target floor. That way, we’ll avoid all cameras and security.”

“What about once we reach the target floor?” Kallie wondered. “That place is going to be crawling with security.”

“That’s Marcus’ and Eddie’s job,” I said. “They’ll be several steps ahead of us, acting as spies so we can circumvent any obstacles in our path. Marcus can use his Seer powers to read minds and detect if anyone is coming our way, as well as break any wards we might encounter. We have to be careful, though, because that will raise alarms, and we want to do this without altering anyone. Eddie can phase people through walls, like he did in Celestial City, as well as get us out of danger quickly if something goes wrong. Rishi will be on site with Marcus, as an extra pair of eyes and ears. Once we get to the target floor, we’ll have to move quickly, because we want to get in and out without raising any alarms. That’s where you come in, Kallie.”

I drew a breath, because this is where we needed the plan to work to stay undetected. Otherwise, it was going to turn into a bloodbath. “Once we’re out of the elevator shaft, Kallie will need to stop time for as long as she can, so we can get to the target room and break in before Salvatore’s people can come after us. If we do run into any vampires, Chancey will be along as our muscle, holding off any guards so Kallie and I can keep moving. Once Kallie and I reach the target room, we’ll take out the final security guards and input the door code we retrieved from Salvatore’s men. Kallie will crack the safe, and I’ll have a mirror along so I can portal us all out.”

“You really think we can pull this off without Salvatore knowing we’re there?” Marcus asked.

“Yes, but we’ll have to work quickly,” I said. “Once we arrive in Chicago, we risk Salvatore finding out, even if we’re warded from tracking. He has eyes and ears everywhere. We can’t lose this key again, so we have to get to the key before Salvatore is alerted of a threat.”

“We can give ourselves twenty-four hours,” Ivy added. “That’s it. Otherwise, we risk the key being moved again.”

“Who’s to say the key hasn’t already been moved?” Kallie asked. “We already had a run-in with your father once.”

“It’s dangerous for my father to move the key unless he knows it’s safe to do so, or unless he detects an immediate threat,” Ivy replied. “He wouldn’t trust anyone else to move it but himself, and once he does, he has to set up a whole nother system to keep it safe again, and dismantle the one he’s already got set up. There are multiple people after the key, including the Warden. It’s safer in The Devil’s City than it is anywhere else, even if he suspects someone’s coming for it, because as long as it’s there, he can defend it.”

“What if something goes wrong?” Marcus questioned. “Someone could get hurt.”

“That’s why we’ve got multiple people on each job,” I said. “If something happens to you, for example, Eddie can clear a path for us. Last time, things didn’t work out because we didn’t account for potential hiccups. We need to expect that anything can happen, and be able to pivot in any situation. During the bank robbery, Kallie couldn’t portal us out, so I’ll have a pocket mirror so we’ve got two portal makers. If Kallie can’t stop time, Chancey’s along to buy us time to fight our way out. If we run into wards, you can break them, and if you can’t, I can siphon the magic and break them anyway. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, because an Elf breaking a ward is going to be worse than a witch, and it’ll draw a lot of attention. But it’s something we need to consider if things go sideways. Furthermore, if something happens to Ivy and they can’t guide us, Ava will be back at the Scarlet Grand monitoring the cameras and telling us where to go.”

I crossed my arms. “But this only works if everyone follows orders, no questions asked. With Ava watching the cameras, she’s going to see things we won’t, and we won’t have time to hesitate. We need to trust each other on this.”

“We trust you wholeheartedly, your highness,” Eddie said.

“Charlie may be a prince here at the palace, but in Chicago, he’s our boss,” Ava added. “Everyone here needs to listen to him without hesitation.”

I smiled. I liked the sound of that.

“You’ve got it, boss,” Kallie said.

I clapped my hands. “All right, team. We’ve all got our jobs. Let’s put our final preparations in order and get some rest. We move tomorrow night.”

People started to get up and leave the room. “I’m going to stay with Max for a bit,” Ava told me. “I want to learn about her tech before I use it. I’ll meet you back in the suite.”

I took her hand in mine and brought it to my lips to kiss it. “Make sure someone escorts you back.”

“I will,” she promised.

As we were leaving the room, Marcus approached me. He fidgeted with his hands so much that it was audible. He kept his voice low so the others wouldn’t hear. “Charlie… can we talk?”

His tone sounded serious, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the vampire key.

“Yeah, sure,” I told him, keeping my voice steady. “Let’s find somewhere private.”

I took Marcus aside. Oberi and Rishi followed us down the hall, until we found a secluded alcove nearby. Eddie remained close, though he stood guard and gave us space. “What’s up?”

Marcus scuffed his foot on the ground. “The thing is… I don’t know if I’m ready for this job. I thought I was, but I’m worried I might do something stupid that could screw up the whole operation.”

“Like what?” I questioned. He needed to get to the point.

Marcus drew a deep breath. “I need to be honest with you. I was really uncomfortable watching you torture that guy. I know I shouldn’t be, because of what we’re up against, but I can’t lie to myself. Even though you were the one torturing him, I was still watching, which meant I was participating. I don’t know if I can stomach that again. I need to figure out what I’m willing to do to win. I need to know where my line is, because I didn’t the other day.”

“Marcus, we need you to pull off this heist,” I started.

“I know, and I want to be a part of it,” Marcus insisted. “But I need to figure out what I’m willing to do, and what I’m not, because I don’t want to be put in a position where I’m going to freeze and screw all this up. I could potentially be in a situation where I need to kill someone, and I can’t hesitate to pull the trigger. I’m not asking you to take me off the job, Charlie. I’m asking you to help me figure out where I belong on the job, and I can’t do that without knowing how far I’ll go.”

Marcus’ voice started to waver. “I realized some really important stuff in the last couple of months, and there are some big decisions I have to make. I need to do this before The Devil’s City, because you need me at the top of my game. I can’t be thinking about this stuff when we’re doing this heist, because I don’t want this to get in the way and make a mistake. You guys have been telling me to get my shit together for years, and I need to do it now.”

“How can I help?” I asked. I wanted to help him, but I didn’t understand why he was coming to me about this and not speaking to someone like Ava. She’d be able to work with him through this emotional stuff better than I could.

“I just need to talk it through, I think,” Marcus admitted. “And you have experience with this kind of thing. I don’t blame you for what you did to the vampire; I know we have to do whatever it takes, but I think you know how far you’re willing to go. I don’t. I’m just wondering… how did you know what you’re willing to do? At what point did you figure out where you draw the line?”

If I was being honest with myself, I didn’t think I’d found my line. I was almost certain I’d do anything to take down the Warden. There weren’t any boundaries for me.

I didn’t think I could tell Marcus that, though. He was looking up to me now, asking for my advice like a big brother. Maybe I didn’t know my line, but perhaps I could help him find his. We needed to figure out how far he could go if we wanted to obtain the vampire key, because one single moment of hesitation meant the difference between pulling off this heist and being eaten alive by vampires.

Marcus helped me find myself in the Institute’s chapel when I underwent my spiritual awakening. I could still hear the melody of his harp playing in my mind. It was time I returned the favor. I didn’t know any spiritual ceremonies that would help him, but if we were going to do this, we needed to dig deep into his psyche.

There was really only one way to do that with Marcus, and talking it out wasn’t going to do the trick. Perhaps that’s why he’d come to me and not Ava. I had an idea, and I prayed to the Great Spirit it worked.

“This is going to take a while,” I warned Marcus. “We shouldn’t talk about this in the middle of the palace halls. Go back to your quarters and change into something casual. I’ll meet you at the main doors in fifteen minutes.”

“All right,” Marcus said, without bothering to ask what I had in mind. He scampered off, and Rishi followed.

Eddie approached me. “Is there anything I can do to be of service, your highness?”

“Actually, there is, Eddie,” I told him. “I’m going to need a few things.”

I rattled off a list of items I needed. Eddie didn’t want to leave my side, because he insisted on guarding me, but I told him that Marcus and I needed to do this alone.

Fifteen minutes later, I had changed into a black t-shirt and slacks, standing in front of the palace doors. Oberi was in her unicorn form and hooked up to a carriage, while Eddie had quickly retrieved the supplies I’d asked for and stored them in a trunk behind the seat. The chill of night crept over my skin, and the city was quiet.

Marcus met me there, and Rishi immediately jumped into the seat behind Oberi. “Where are we going?” he asked.

“You’ll see,” I replied, clapping him on the back.

Marcus and I climbed into the carriage, and Oberi took off out of the palace gates.

“You want to know what your limits are, Marcus?” I asked as we wove through the streets of Ilamanthe. “Then you need to get in touch with your dark side. You need to test those limits. You can sit around all day dreaming up imaginary scenarios and what you might do in those situations. The reality is you don’t know what you’ll actually do until the decision is right in front of you. Are you going to fight back? Are you going to run? You only get a split-second to decide.”

“Can’t I prepare myself?” he asked.

“Absolutely, and that’s what we’re going to do,” I told him. “But we’re going to start with something simple, and we’re going to see what your bad side has to say about it. From there, we can decide what limits to test next.”

I hoped he made a decision tonight, though, because we really didn’t have time to be fucking around. He needed to figure this out now, before we left for Chicago.

Marcus hesitated. “I don’t know if I have a bad side like you do, Charlie. I’m a good person who’s done bad things, but those were mistakes. What if I want to be good?”

“What if it’s good to be bad?” I asked him. “When I was torturing that guy, I wasn’t thinking about how bad I was for hurting him. I was thinking about the good that could come from it. If we don’t get answers, the Blessed Haven is fucked. Isn’t it worth hurting one guy to save the world? I don’t buy into the bullshit that the world is black and white. What if you didn’t have to worry about whether you were good or bad, only had to exist just as you are?”

“And what is that, exactly?” he wondered. “What am I?”

I tilted my head. “Well, you’re an artist, aren’t you, Marcus?”

The air shifted around us, and I could sense tall buildings rising on either side of us as we entered a narrow alleyway. Oberi nickered and came to a halt. I hopped over the side of the carriage and opened the trunk, displaying over a dozen cans of spray paint.

“You… want me to paint?” Marcus questioned.

I grabbed a can of spray paint and shook it. “Hell yeah. You want to see what your bad side looks like? Why don’t we do something bad in this abandoned alleyway?”

Marcus chuckled lightly as he hopped down from the carriage. “Painting isn’t bad. I’m not hurting anyone.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Isn’t vandalism illegal?”

“Um… I guess?” he replied. “I suppose someone owns this building and wouldn’t appreciate me destroying their property.”

“Destruction? But I thought it was art,” I said with a smirk. I popped the top of my spray can. The canister hissed as I sprayed an X over the wall.

This looks like fun! Oberi exclaimed. He shifted into a husky and slipped out of his reins. He and Rishi approached the wet paint I’d just sprayed onto the wall. Their paws made a squishing sound as they pressed them into the wet paint, then started placing paw prints all over the wall.

“I think I get what you’re saying,” Marcus mused. “It’s bad to vandalize, but it’s good to make art. So the good thing cancels out the bad.”

“Uh, no… not exactly. More like… being bad doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Maybe it’s okay to be bad.”

Marcus absorbed this for a moment. “Do you really think I can get to a place where torturing someone feels like a good thing?”

I shrugged. “You tell me. You’ve got limits that clearly I don’t have. At what point do you start to feel bad?”

I sprayed another X on the wall, but Marcus didn’t answer. “Come on,” I encouraged. “Paint something. You’ve done this a million times.”

“Yeah, on Institute walls and shit,” he said. “The Institute deserved it.”

“Bullshit. You told me your rap sheet. You have a bunch of misdemeanor charges from tagging buildings in Octavia Falls before you got to prison.”

“Yeah, but I did that to people who were assholes,” he protested. “We don’t know who owns this building, and I could really hurt their feelings.”

The building was owned by the royal family, but I didn’t tell him that. Marcus needed to get in touch with his inner villain to see how far he’d go. It was simple and harmless, but if he couldn’t spray paint a fucking building like he had a million times before, he’d never make it through the first stage of the heist.

“Who’s to judge who deserves what?” I asked. “Maybe it doesn’t matter what people deserve, and morality is merely a tool for control. People can call us bad, and so what if we are?”

I pressed the spray can into his hand. “Following the rules has never worked for you, Marcus. If you want to feel good, you need to do something bad. There are no consequences for people like us, because this world is ours for the taking. You get to decide just how bad you want to be. No one else gets to tell you what to do. It’s time to stop thinking about everyone else and what they think of you. What about Marcus’ feelings? What does Marcus want?”

“I want… I want to paint a mural.” He shook his spray can. “I want to release my demons. It’s like they’re caged inside of me, and I need to set them free. The only way I know how to do that is through painting.”

“Do it,” I told him. “What are those demons saying, Marcus? Let them run wild.”

Marcus began spraying the wall, and he didn’t stop, either. “They’re saying; You’re bad, Marcus, but you aren’t bad enough. You don’t have what it takes to be on this team. You’re going to fuck up, and everyone’s going to blame you. It’s black, and it’s dark, but it’s other colors, too. Where’s the blue?”

Marcus turned from the wall to rifle through the trunk. Spray cans clattered onto the pavement as he tossed colors he didn’t like aside. He found what he was looking for and began spraying again. I leaned against the opposite building, listening to the hiss of the paint as he moved across the wall.

Marcus started rambling, as if I wasn’t here at all. “My depression is a navy blue, almost gray. It’s like the color of the clouds as a storm begins rolling in. It’s a gloomy day when all the colors turn hazy and you can’t see the sun, so you don’t even know what time of day it is. I need some highlights.”

Marcus grabbed another can and began adding detail to his painting.

Oberi stepped back, coming to my side. He’s barely started, and it’s already beautiful. He’s painting storm clouds, and they look so realistic.

“My trauma… ooh, that’s red.” He popped off the cap of another can. “It’s like lava, bubbling up inside of you, searing you to the bone. Sometimes you can push it down, but it creeps up on you, and sometimes it explodes!”

Marcus let out a maniacal laugh.

He’s painting a hellscape, Oberi told me. There’s a volcano beneath the clouds, with rivers of lava streaming through cracks of black stone.

“Then there’s the rage,” Marcus continued. His voice had taken on a crazed tone. “Fuck, I already used red— no, rage is more than that. It’s like an explosion. It’s yellow and orange and blue, colors of fire and flame… exploding dynamite. No, lightning!”

Marcus sprayed three quick streams of paint to create a lightning bolt. “Then there’s the BPD, and that’s… that’s all the colors. It’s everything combined into one. All my emotions brewing together, until I can’t make sense of them and can’t separate them, either.”

I stood back curiously as Marcus put his borderline personality diagnosis onto the wall. I didn’t know how his BPD would show up in his art. Marcus must’ve spent fifteen minutes on this part of the painting, before he stood back to admire his work.

“It’s a monster…” he said breathlessly, like he’d only just realized what he’d done. “I know you can’t see it, Charlie, but he’s taller than I am— eight feet, at least. He’s big and heavy, with a fat belly like a troll. He’s made of all different colors. I can’t even tell what color he is, because he’s got splotches of every shade imaginable on him. He’s only got one eye, like a cyclops. I don’t know why I drew him that way. Maybe because with BPD, I can get so single minded. Once I put my sights on how I feel, it’s hard to convince myself of anything else. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. All I know is the stories I believe about myself. He’s got long claws and sharp teeth, like he’s going to sink his fangs into me and never let go. He’s not going to eat me, because that would be too merciful. He just lets me dangle out of his mouth and watch me bleed. Ooh, he likes the taste of my blood. He wants me to scream and suffer. But I’m not going to let him do that. He’s a demon on my past, and he can fucking stay there.”

Marcus gasped. “That’s what they are! I’ve been fighting demons and monsters, not storms and volcanic eruptions. I need to start over.”

Rishi gave a cry, and Marcus took a few steps back.

“You’re right, Rishi,” he said. “I can’t calm a storm or force the lava back into the earth. I can’t fight nature. But I can fight these fucking demons. I can kill them. I can leave them behind and keep on trudging up this mountain so I can transcend these clouds. These motherfuckers think this storm is bad? They haven’t seen the kind of storm I can create!”

A hint of a smile touched my lips, because I felt like we were really getting somewhere. I didn’t want to distract Marcus, though, so I didn’t say anything.

Paint cans clattered across the pavement as Marcus kicked a few aside to get the ones he wanted. He shook the paint can in his hand. “All right, depression. You aren’t these clouds; you’re a demon. Let’s see what you look like.”

Marcus kept on painting, personifying his demons into real-life paintings. Hours must’ve passed as Marcus worked, muttering under his breath every now and then. I remained patient, letting Marcus depict what he wanted. Oberi described the paintings to me as they were created, giving them life.

Marcus painted his depression as a gray fog monster, with empty black eye sockets and a dark pit at the center that could suck him in. “Depression fucking sucks, man,” Marcus ranted as he painted. “Some days, you’re just in this haze, void of color and all hope. And then sometimes, you fall into this deep, black pit it feels like you’ll never crawl out of. It’s funny how the brain is wired to survive, but when things get really bad, the only solution your brain can come up with is to end it all. How’s that possible? How can something that does everything to keep us alive be driven to such a dark solution? Only demons can do that. This demon sucks hours from your life, drains your will and your hope, and slowly crushes you. You don’t really want to die, but you can’t see another way out. You either lay in bed all day, waiting for the monster to claim you, or you power through the pain. Well, I’m going to choose a different path. I’m going to slay that fucking monster.”

He kept on working, painting his trauma next. “People say trauma makes you stronger, but it doesn’t. It breaks you, hurts you, makes you sensitive and vulnerable. You back off from everything and everyone, because you’re so afraid to feel that way again. You don’t know who to trust, because now you know that the people you love can hurt you… or you can hurt them. Trauma makes it difficult to concentrate or make a simple fucking decision. It gives you PTSD and nightmares. Trauma doesn’t just happen in the moment, but it latches on and sticks with you, until it literally alters who you are.”

Marcus shouted toward the sky. “Well, guess what? You can let me fucking go, because I won’t let you latch on to me any longer!”

He’s painted his trauma as a lamprey-like creature, Oberi told me. It’s a giant red eel with circles of razor-sharp teeth. It’s creeping along the blackened rock with the other monsters, as if searching for something to devour.

“Rage?” Marcus continued. “Well, she’s a strong monster. She’s got muscles bigger than my head, and fangs as big as Rishi. If she gets me in her hands, she could crush me.”

It was interesting to me that Marcus identified his rage as a woman, but I didn’t know why.

“Rage lashes out,” Marcus continued. “She doesn’t give a fuck who or what she destroys. She only knows that things aren’t right, and somehow, she needs to put it back together again. She cares too fucking much.”

Rage is bipedal, Oberi described. She’s got huge hands, bulging muscles, and teeth like a lion’s. She doesn’t have eyes, though.

“She can’t see where she’s going,” Marcus said. “She just reacts. She just destroys. I’m not going to let her keep destroying my life.”

He picked up another can of spray paint. “Self-doubt is a tiny little monster, but he’s fiercer than all the rest. He’s a little gremlin, skittering between the others so that you don’t even notice him until he’s right on top of you. He makes you question your worth and convinces you to back down, even when you want to put up a fight. He can force you to retreat before the fight has even begun. And if you find yourself in the middle of the battle before he can convince you otherwise, boy, does this little guy make you feel like the smallest living thing on the battlefield. He can suck your soul dry, until you’ve lost everything… even the people you love. When he’s got a hold of you, there isn’t anything you wouldn’t give up, because you don’t believe you deserve it anyway. This little guy can go fuck himself, because I deserve the world!”

His self-doubt is only a foot high, with a naked round little body, small eyes, and spindly arms and legs, Oberi told me. It’s the tiniest little thing.

Marcus stood back to view his painting. The moments ticked by, and I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. He just kept on tapping his foot.

“It isn’t done,” he mumbled after a long silence. “Something’s missing.”

I stepped forward. “The way you described it, these monsters are marching toward a destination, aren’t they? They’ve got their claws out and their fangs bared like they’re ready to battle. What are they fighting, Marcus?”

Rishi meowed loudly.

Marcus drew a sharp breath. “The mural is missing me. All this time, I’ve been fighting against these monsters, which means the painting is missing the warrior. I’ve got it, Charlie!”

He clapped me on the shoulder, and wet paint soaked into my shirt. I didn’t even care. I smiled proudly as Marcus rushed to gather more paint cans that he’d sprawled across the alleyway.

“I used to be afraid of all these monsters,” Marcus started as his paint can hissed. “But I don’t have to be afraid anymore. I said trauma doesn’t make you stronger, but that doesn’t mean I’m not stronger than I was before. The trauma didn’t make me strong, but you know what did? Perseverance. Healing. Hope. I’m not there yet, but I’m sure as hell farther along than I was before.”

Marcus ran out of paint in one can and quickly tossed it aside to grab another. “I’m not afraid, because I know that if these demons haven’t consumed me by now, they never will. I’ve had the tools all along to fight them; I just didn’t realize that’s what I was doing. No, no, no… fighting isn’t the answer. That’s what I’ve been doing all this time, and it’s only worn me down. Maybe I don’t have to fight them anymore. Instead, I have to become their master. They can’t rule me anymore, because I rule them. I know how to direct my rage. I’m never going to get rid of her, but you know what? She’s strong because she cares, and that is not a weakness. She’s like a mother defending her children, and I can do the same. Instead of turning that rage inward or toward those I love, I can direct it toward the Warden to save the people I love.”

I realized then why he’d personified his rage as a woman. He saw the side of rage that was caring, kind, and nurturing— that even in the midst of battle, one could fight from a place of love.

Marcus’ footsteps disappeared, and the sound of his spray can came from high above my head. I realized he’d levitated himself off the ground to reach a higher portion of the mural. “My depression is a gift because it shows that I care, and I feel more deeply than others. Most people in this world don’t give a damn. With my BPD, I struggle with relationships because I care so damn much, and I want to be perfect for everyone. My self-doubt shows me where I can focus my energy to heal myself. It shows me the parts of me that need more love. I have so much love to give, and I’m finally ready to give it back to myself. My mental health isn’t a burden, but a tool, and I’m going to use it to make my life better and not worse.”

Oberi wagged his tail and began panting. Charlie, I see what he’s painting now! It’s all coming together. He’s painting a cat that looks like Rishi. It’s over twelve-feet tall! The cat is facing the oncoming monsters with its claws braced in the dirt. It’s baring its teeth, like it’s holding off the monsters.

Something powerful seemed to surge through the alleyway. I didn’t think it was magic, but I swore I could feel Marcus’ emotions coming through the painting just by hearing Oberi describe it. It was powerful art; that was for certain.

I realized that Marcus hadn’t just created a painting— he’d made Spirit Art. Ava told me some time ago that if a supernatural put enough of themselves into a creation they made, they sealed a fragment of their soul into the project that would remain attached to the piece forever.

I knew what Marcus had made now was a piece of Spirit Art, because the energy of his soul radiated powerfully off the painting he was creating. He was so immersed he didn’t even realize a part of his soul was being sealed into the design. He hadn’t tried to make Spirit Art, but it was something that happened naturally, because he put so much heart into this project.

“I’ve painted a cat,” Marcus told me. “He’s not fighting off the monsters, because he doesn’t have to. He’s standing guard, holding them off so they can’t hurt me anymore. This cat is you, Charlie. He’s all the good things I’ve had at my side all along— your friendship, my parents, Ava and Kallie and everyone who’s been here all this time. He’s my hope, and he’s my dreams for the future. He’s all the good things that fought the demons away.”

Marcus’ feet landed on the ground, and his spray can clinkered to the pavement. “I… I didn’t realize…”

Marcus sank to his knees as sobs broke from his chest. I knelt beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Marcus,” I said softly. “You never had to fight this battle alone.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes. “You guys have told me that before, but I didn’t believe it until now. I thought my demons controlled me, but the real fight was between me and the cat. I wasn’t letting him defend me.”

Marcus grabbed my shirt and sobbed into it. His tears dripped onto my chest. “It’s time to set him free, Charlie! I don’t have to fight off the bad to unleash the good. I can find the good in the bad, and use it to my advantage.”

I clapped his back. “Yes, Marcus. That’s exactly it!”

His shoulders shook as sobs racked his body. “Finally! Finally, I can be free.”

Rishi meowed loudly, as if in warning. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to communicate, until Marcus’ sobs came to a sudden halt. He slumped into my arms, and I realized he was passing out. I caught him before he could fall completely to the pavement and hit his head. His body jerked several times, like he was in the midst of a terrible nightmare. Marcus had fainted, and it hadn’t come with any warning.

I didn’t realize what was happening until the alleyway completely disappeared around me. An image invaded my senses.

I saw a dark, desolate landscape all around us, with rivers of lava cutting through the blackened stone. The sky above us was black, without a single star in sight. It seemed like we had entered Marcus’ painting, though I didn’t know how that was possible. I noticed the edges of my vision were hazy, like the images my grandfather projected into my mind when he was replaying a memory.

I realized Marcus was having a vision, and I’d just been sucked into it.

I looked around for Marcus, but I didn’t see him anywhere. He must’ve been close by, though, because his magic provided me with a frame of reference for the images I witnessed— filling in any gaps in my understanding of the shapes and colors that overwhelmed my senses. It was like I was viewing the vision from afar, as if I’d left my body and was hovering above the scene.

I peered down onto the dark landscape. Nothing but black rock stretched as far as the eye could see. Glowing rivers of lava flowed out of active volcanoes, and smoke billowed upward. Screams echoed in the distance, and the roar of monsters filled the air. It looked like a hellscape out of a horror story.

A shadowy figure took shape behind the steam of active geysers. It appeared as a man, walking upright on two legs, but he was larger than any man I’d encountered before. He must’ve stood at least eight feet tall, with broad shoulders and bulging muscles. As he came closer, I saw that he wasn’t a man at all, but some sort of demon. He had the head of a ram, with thick curved horns growing out of the top of his head. His body was covered in fur, and he had long, sharp claws.

I wasn’t afraid of him, though. Unlike the monsters in Marcus’ painting, he didn’t have fangs or a thirst for blood in his features. Instead, he had a curious look in his dark eyes.

In the distance, a woman’s voice called out. “Please! Help me!”

“No one has called upon me in centuries,” the demon uttered to himself. “I have been forgotten.”

It didn’t seem forgotten by everyone, because the woman cried again, “Lord demon, come to me!”

A portal bloomed in front of the demon, shimmering around the edges with powerful magic. He stepped through the portal, and I was transported through the vision with him.

The demon stood in a dense forest, and the moonlight shone overhead. Several paces away a woman knelt in the dirt, her quiet sobs piercing through the night. She had brown hair and pale skin, and wore a long, simple dress. Through the trees, I could make out a large stone manor. Something told me this vision had taken place many centuries ago, sometime in the late Middle Ages.

“You are a powerful sorceress to have summoned me,” the demon said in a deep voice.

“Please,” the woman begged in a shaky tone, keeping her head down. She spoke in an accent that I thought sounded Malovian. “I have prayed to my gods for many moons, and none have answered my prayers. I only seek your help, and I will give up anything in return— including my soul, if that is what you wish.”

The demon took a step toward her, and she shuddered. “What help do you seek?” he asked.

“I wish to be free of my master,” she said, though she wouldn’t lift her gaze to look at the demon. “He is very cruel to me.”

She reached a shaky hand to her shoulder and drew back her sleeve, to show the demon bloody slashes across her back. They had clearly been inflicted by a whip, and several were raw with infection.

“I do my best to please him, but if I make a mistake, my master locks me in the cellar for days to starve,” she said. “I see the whip almost every day. I cry out in pain each time he lays me down to share his bed. Today, I spilled a pail of water while doing my chores, and I was punished severely.”

The woman began to sob, and her tears landed in the dirt below her. She curled her knees to her chest, then showed the demon her feet. The bottoms were an angry red and oozing with blisters. It looked like her master had forced her to stand upon hot coals until there was no skin left on the soles of her feet. I didn’t know how she’d managed to walk out here into the forest.

Then I noticed the dirt all over her hands and knees, and I realized she hadn’t walked out here at all. She’d crawled out here to beg for mercy from a demon, because selling her soul to a creature of the Eternal Torment was a better alternative than serving her master.

My heart broke into a thousand pieces for her. I couldn’t imagine treating any woman like this. She deserved to be protected, and instead, she was beaten and abused. The man who possessed her deserved a fate worse than death.

The demon curled his hands into fists, and his tone became enraged. “Where is this master?!”

Her voice shook, and she peered over her shoulder. “He is sleeping in the house. Please, take me away. I do not wish to go back there.”

The demon wore a look of sympathy as he knelt by her side, though even on his knees, he towered over her. He reached out a hand and gently placed a finger beneath her chin. The woman shied away, until he guided her face toward his. For the first time, she looked at him. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she gazed upon his face. She appeared to see him in a way no other had before.

“After tonight, you will never have to return here,” he promised. “I am a demonic god, and I will do everything in my power to grant you your wish. Now show me where to find him.”

The woman couldn’t walk, so the demon lifted her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he carried her like she was as light as a piece of paper. The demon stomped through the forest, his angry footsteps shaking the ground. He grunted and moaned in rage as he burst through the front door of the manor. The door blasted clear off its hinges and splintered into a hundred pieces in the middle of the foyer. The demon let out a terrifying roar that made the walls shake.

The house broke out into a ruckus as people woke to the sound of the intrusion. An older man in a nightcap skidded to a halt at the top of the stairs. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

The man’s eyes went wide when he saw the demon, and he clutched at his heart.

The woman clung tight to the demon’s neck as he cradled her in a single arm. “That’s him,” she whimpered.

The demon gently set the woman on a chair near the door before turning his maddened gaze on her master. He stomped up the stairs, the wood cracking beneath his weight. “You are a wretched beast, and have issued your final punishment.”

The master of the home scampered backward, tripping over his own two feet. “P-please, what is it you want? Jewels? Riches? T-take whatever you want.”

“You have taken this woman’s life, and that is of more value than anything you can possibly offer me,” the demon sneered. “And so, I’ll take your soul, in exchange for the one you damaged.”

The demon swiped his long, sharp claws, and the master’s pleading cries instantly died. In three quick swipes of his claws— one right after the other— the master’s body had been completely dismembered. Blood spurted across the walls, and limbs fell to the floor in a heap. His torso, now in two pieces, landed on the lower level of the house, and the master’s head rolled across the hardwood. Servants who had come to investigate the commotion screamed and quickly fled.

The demon stared down at the master’s body, which was oozing a puddle of blood across the floor. The demon shook in rage.

“Even a demon would not be so heartless,” he stated coldly. He turned from the master’s body and slowly descended the stairs, reaching a gentle hand out to the woman.

She turned her gaze up to him, but she was no longer shaking in fear. Instead, she stared up at the demon with admiration in her eyes. Then, she bowed her head to him. “Thank you. In exchange for fulfilling my wish, I pledge that you are my lord. I will give my soul to you now, and you may do with it what you will.”

“No,” the demon stated, though his voice changed. His body shrank several inches, and the horns and claws disappeared as he took on the image of a man. He was tall in his human form, at least six feet, with a muscular build and dark hair. He wore a long black cloak and knelt at the woman’s side again. “I will not take your soul, for you have already given enough to your master. You do not deserve an eternity in an endless abyss.”

“Neither do you,” she whispered. “What you did was merciful. You deserve a place among the gods.”

“The gods do not want me,” the demon replied. “I am not desired there.”

“Then stay with me,” the woman pleaded. “Be my lord here in this realm, and don’t return to your hellish underworld.”

He hesitated, like he never thought there was another option for him. “I will stay here on Earth for a while… to protect you. We will go far away, and you will never have to return to this place.”

“How far?” she asked.

“As far as you wish.”

“Take me out of this country,” she begged. “My own people sold me to this man and claimed I deserved it, because I was born a dark magic user. My gods did not answer my prayers. I do not belong here.”

“Then we will start a new life somewhere else.”

He went to pick her up again, but she quickly said, “I think I can carry myself now.”

To my surprise, black wings appeared out of her back. They were shaped like butterfly wings, with pointed edges, but they were sheer rather than velvety. In the light, the black wings shimmered purple and blue. She fluttered her wings, and they carried her several inches off the ground.

“Though my wings and my fae magic will always be a part of me, I do not wish to be Arcanean any longer,” she told him. “My own people cast me out, and Malovia has become a foreign land to me. They have made it clear that as an Unseelie fae, I am not welcome there. I am no longer a fae sorceress, but something other.”

“You will become something new,” the demon promised. “I am called Santos.”

“It is nice to meet you, Santos, my lord above lords,” she replied. “I am Miriam.”

She took the demon’s hand, and together, they left the manor.

The images washed away, and I gasped as I was yanked from the vision. I felt the hard ground beneath my knees once again. Oberi nudged his wet nose into my arm, and Rishi meowed while he pawed at us. I was still holding Marcus, and he was growing heavy in my arms.

“Holy shit! Marcus!” I shook him.

He groaned as he came to. “Dear Goddess. I just had the most intense vision.”

“I know!” I cried. “Somehow, you sucked me into it. I saw everything. How did you do that? When you sucked me into your visions before, I didn’t see images.”

Marcus sat up. “I guess my powers are getting stronger. I never felt so present. It was so clear, like I was there myself.”

“Same,” I remarked. “That was your god and goddess, wasn’t it? The demon fell in love with her, and they gave birth to the first witches. Miriam and Santos are the mother and father of all Miriamic people.”

“Yeah, but it can’t be real. Mother Miriam was a witch; she got her powers from Santos. She wasn’t an Arcanean fae sorceress— oh, shit!”

Marcus smacked the palm of his hand to his head. “How could I have never seen this before? Of course! It makes perfect sense.”

He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. “Don’t you see? It all adds up. In the vision, Miriam says she was born a dark magic user. She was Unseelie fae! Santos was a demonic god. Witches always knew we had demon blood running through our veins, but that’s not all we are. We were always half Unseelie fae, half demon. That’s why our magic is so similar to the Arcanea. Our Mentalists can do telekinesis like the fae’s wolven faction. Our Seers feel emotions like the griffins. Our Mortana are warriors like the dragons, and our Alchemists brew potions like the fae. Our Curse Breakers can even break fae magic, because it’s so similar to our own!”

He got to his feet and started pacing. “It’s all coming together. The fae and the witches lived in Europe at the same time, before the witches came to America to escape the witch trials. Witches use wands and crystals, just like the Unseelie fae! A tattooed mark appears on a fae sorceress when she’s ready to bond, the same way a tattoo appears on a witch when their powers awaken.”

Marcus paused for a beat as he realized something. “Even some of our last names are the same. My dad told me about a reaper he encountered when he was my age— Edgar Nowak was his name. That’s Kallie’s last name, too. I didn’t think much of it, but now it’s obvious that much of the witches’ and the fae’s lineage can be traced back to the same families. Santos and Miriam’s kids had children of their own. I bet some of them married other Unseelie fae who were being persecuted at that time.”

Marcus blew a breath of disbelief. “We have all these stories of Mother Miriam trying to hide her magic from the fae. She even wrote her grimoires in Latin, so the fae couldn’t read them. It’s because she was Unseelie, and if they discovered she was using dark magic— hell, used it to summon a demon and then mate with him— she’d be put to death!”

He stopped pacing. “Somewhere along the way, the coven lost this knowledge. Then again, knowledge wasn’t the only thing we lost. If this is true, and my people are half fae, half demon, then our magic changed through the generations. Women lost their wings, and the men lost their ability to shift into magical creatures. We lost our fated mate bond. But we gained other powers through our demon ancestry, like the power of necromancy. Mother Miriam must’ve hidden this information to protect us, because the fae persecuted witches and put them on trial. She said she didn’t want to be an Arcanea anymore… so she became a witch.”

I stood up. “What does all this mean? You must’ve had this vision for a reason.”

“It must be a lesson about what it means to be good and bad,” Marcus said thoughtfully. “Miriam’s people claimed she was bad, because she wielded dark magic. And Santos was labeled a demon because he was outcast by the other gods. They’re telling me that just because people think you’re bad doesn’t mean that you are. They loved each other and created a whole new supernatural race out of their love. Santos made Mother Miriam into a goddess because he loved her that much. He killed Miriam’s master, but that didn’t make him a bad guy. He was protecting her.”

Marcus thought about it for a moment. “But there’s got to be more to it than that. I mean, holy shit, my goddess was an Unseelie fae! Mother Miriam must be trying to tell me something about me and Kallie, right? I mean, I’m trying to bring my demons to light, and my relationship with her is the one piece I still have yet to resolve. It’s like Mother Miriam and Santos want me to know the witches and the fae need to be united, because they’re really one people. Kallie was supposed to bond to an Arcanean fae, and I guess in a way, she kind of did, because that’s what my distant ancestors are. Our relationship didn’t make any sense before, and maybe that’s why it was so intense. But now I understand. We aren’t some fluke or freaks of nature. This was always meant to be. Kallie and I… we were meant to bring the fae and the witches together, and unite them into one people, because that’s what we are. Our kinds have been at war for centuries, but they don’t have to be anymore. The witches and the fae aren’t two separate nations, but one.”

“Does that mean you want her back?” I asked.

Marcus hesitated. “If she wanted me back, I would get together with her in a heartbeat… but I don’t think that’s what this vision meant. It’s not about what I need to do in the future, but about coming to terms with the past. It’s showing me that we weren’t wrong to bond, and it wasn’t a bad thing. Even if I can never have Kallie back in that way, I can learn from it. I know now that I might not have all the answers, and that doesn’t make something wrong. I just need to trust the process and put my faith in my deities. I don’t have to be in control of everything all the time, because there are forces at play working for me that I’m not even aware of.”

“That’s a beautiful message,” I said. “And really powerful.”

Marcus sniffled. “I think I get it now, Charlie. I don’t have to be good, because that’s not who I am. It just isn’t in my blood. I’m bad, and that’s okay. Thank you for everything, Charlie. You have no idea how helpful this was. I’m ready to take what I know now and put it to use. You don’t have to worry that I’ll hesitate in The Devil’s City, because I’ll pull the trigger if I have to.”

I clapped Marcus on the back. To say I was proud of him was an understatement. “It’s good to have you on board.”

“I’ll say,” Marcus said breathlessly. “I need to tell Kallie all about this right away!”

I laughed, and we headed toward the carriage. “Let’s get back to the palace. I have final preparations to make with the Elvish Associates, and we need rest before we leave tomorrow.”

I thought about the vision on the way back. What Marcus had just discovered about Mother Miriam and Santos was powerful knowledge. It could bring the fae and the witches together— two sides that had been at war for centuries could be joined into a single nation.

Though that union would have to wait. To bring them together, we would first have to defeat the Warden.

Which meant stealing the vampire key right from Salvatore Bianchi’s hands, no matter what it took.