Chapter Twenty

AVA-MARIE

Our plan was in place. Now we just had to pull it off.

We were leaving for Chicago tonight and staying at the hotel until morning, when we’d begin our heist. Vampires couldn’t move in daylight without magical tools or potions to protect them, so hosting our heist during the day when they’d have the sun as an obstacle was part of our strategy.

At midnight, I drove my car through a massive mirror set up in the royal garage in order to portal to Chicago. Charlie and Oberi sat in the passenger’s seat, while Marcus, Rishi, and Kallie were in the back. Kallie had left Alette behind in her room, as we figured it’d be safer for the faekin. Chancey, Ivy, and the Elvish Associates followed in a white van behind us, ready to make their move.

When we came out the other side of the portal, I looked from left to right. We’d emerged into a massive garage underneath the hotel, which had been cleared out for our vehicles, save for a few high-profile cars stored in the corner. We parked the cars, then took a set of elevators up to the main floor.

The lobby of the hotel was splendid. Candelabras stood next to black pillars, which drew your eye to the cathedral-like ceiling. Lovely frescoes depicted classical paintings of angels, demons, and vampires, portrayed by an accomplished artist. Marcus seemed very impressed by the paintings, unable to keep his eyes off the ceiling. The rest of the room was cast in dark tones, Persian rugs splayed across the hardwood floor while art deco furniture was placed carefully around the room. Whoever decorated this hotel had been very particular, and clearly took pride in making it appear stunning.

A beautiful man wearing a pressed suit was there to greet us. He had gorgeous, flowing hair, and he moved with the most refined grace.

“Welcome to the Scarlet Grand Hotel,” he purred, shaking our hands. “My name is Dorian Abbot. I am the hotelier of this historical enterprise and wish to welcome you. I am honored that the prince and princess themselves have chosen to grace our doors.”

He was a vampire, for sure, but also very Elvish. A regular supernatural couldn’t tell, but I’d spent enough time in Ilamanthe to pick out Elven features, and Dorian had slightly pointed ears and high cheekbones that were signature Elvish traits.

“Thank you for having us,” Charlie said as he shook Dorian’s hand. “My grandfather sends his appreciation.”

“There is no need for your gratitude. I am here to serve the Emperor and his kin, as I have done all my life,” Dorian said, giving a slight bow to Charlie. “My full hotel has been reserved only for you, to conceal any rumors of your arrival from Salvatore Bianchi, and my staff is here to serve you. I would also like to add that anything I can do to be a thorn in the side of Salvatore Bianchi is a personal treat. He and I have had many quarrels over the years.”

Gee, someone else who hated Ivy’s dad. What a shock. Guy should be dead by now, with all the people who despised him.

Dorian turned Ivy’s way and nodded politely to them. “Welcome, Ivy. It is good to see you again.”

“Hey, Dorian,” Ivy said hoarsely, and they averted their eyes. Chancey went to grab their hand.

“You’ll want to stay aware when you enter The Devil’s City tomorrow,” Dorian noted. “This is the most popular time of year for visitors to the casino, and it will be infested with shady characters from all the magical races, not just Salvatore’s men.”

“I thought it was only for vampires,” Marcus said.

“The Devil’s City is a supernatural casino, and magical folks of all kinds can come in and out. Vampires aren’t the only magical beings who come to visit its temptations,” Dorian informed us. “It is one place of refuge during the war where all magical beings, regardless of race, may interact.”

Yeah, sure. Salvatore was definitely racist, but he certainly had the belief that everyone’s money spent the same, especially on cheap slots that probably never paid out.

“Isn’t it risky for Salvatore to put a casino right in the middle of downtown Chicago, where even the humans can see him?” I asked. “It’s not exactly hidden.”

“The doors of The Devil’s City are open to everyone, even humans,” Dorian said.

“They let humans inside?” Marcus questioned, shocked. “What about magical secrecy?”

“You don’t understand, my boy. They let humans in, but they do not let them out,” Dorian replied.

Ugh. I got it. Any humans who chanced going into The Devil’s City immediately became food or were sold as blood slaves. No need to keep magic a secret when you killed or enslaved everyone who walked in.

“Why hasn’t the United Supernatural Union gotten involved?” Kallie questioned. “That seems like a big violation of international magical law, to let humans into a place for supes, then to sell off said humans to be fed on.”

“The Union tends to look the other way when it comes to Salvatore Bianchi and his dealings,” Dorian said dryly. “Unfortunately, he has a lot of power here, and any attempts the Union has made to arrest him have only led to their own officers being killed. In awful ways, I may add.”

At least we didn’t have to worry about Union reps crawling around Chicago looking to bring us in, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. If even the Union was scared of Salvatore, we needed to be more careful than we already were.

“I will not take more of your time,” Dorian said kindly, and he handed Eddie a set of key cards. “The Elvish Associates have been given their own rooms. The prince and his court will stay in the penthouse suite, which is our grandest chamber. I hope you will be comfortable staying with us, and if you need anything, merely ask, and I will run to your aid.”

“We appreciate it,” Charlie said, and he turned back toward the elevators. “Come on, guys. We need to get to bed.”

We took the elevator up. The Associates ducked out on the second to the topmost floor, while we went all the way to the top.

“You know Dorian?” I whispered to Ivy as we headed up.

Ivy dropped their gaze, looking a little ashamed. “He helped Danny and me out when we were down on our luck. I used to bring clients here every now and then when I could manage it, because it was the only place I felt safe doing my job. Dorian didn’t approve, but he gave me a room for free to do my business, and he backed me up when my dad tossed me out of the mob. He kicked me out when he learned I was using in one of the rooms, though. I haven’t been back since.”

“Maybe you can patch things up with him,” I offered.

Ivy shrugged. “Maybe.”

The penthouse really was grand. The suite was massive, with a kitchen and dining room suited for twelve, a widescreen TV placed in front of a large sectional sofa, a balcony that overlooked the city, and a dozen rooms. We had the top floor all to ourselves.

I rolled onto the penthouse’s balcony and looked out. The Devil’s City was only eight blocks away from the Scarlet Grand Hotel. The Scarlet Grand was taller than the buildings surrounding it, so I had a clear view of The Devil’s City. It was a massive, mostly windowless tower, with only a line of windows streaking the outer corners. The building sparkled with colorful spotlights which lured gamblers into the casino. I knew that place was crawling with vampires, strippers and all kinds of illegal activity. It rose into the sky, several stories higher than the Scarlet Grand, and looked absolutely intimidating.

Not to mention phallic. I swear, Salvatore was compensating for something.

Charlie went to take a shower, which left me an opening to speak to Marcus in private. I had to talk to him before we went through with the plan. I quietly approached Marcus, who was rummaging for snacks in the stocked kitchen.

“Did you do what I asked?” I said quietly. Guilt sank like a rock into my stomach, but even so, I had to double check.

After the circus, I’d discussed what Danny and Chancey had brought up to me with Marcus, and asked him to use teleinsight to get into Charlie’s head and see if he was keeping any secrets. I really didn’t want to, but Oberi had encouraged me to ask, because she’d thought it was a good idea to have certainty. I despised the thought of rooting around in Charlie’s head without his permission, because he’d made a promise long ago that he’d never do that to me. But Danny’s words kept eating away at my conscience, and I needed to be sure.

Marcus nodded as he took a bag of cookies down from the cabinet. “Yeah. Sorry, Ava, but I didn’t find anything. Everything in his head is stuff we’ve already discussed. As far as I can tell, Charlie isn’t hiding secrets from us. The fact that I could get into his head at all is proof of that, because I shouldn’t be able to access a demigod’s mind without consent, and Charlie’s not blocking me.”

“I thought so.” I dropped my gaze, ashamed that I’d mistrusted my husband.

Now I was sure Charlie wasn’t planning anything devious. And I was angry at Danny for swaying me toward disbelieving Charlie’s promises. “Thanks, Marcus. Ancestors, I feel awful. What kind of a wife am I, to do something like this to him?”

“Hey, don’t feel bad. I’m his best friend, and I said yes,” he said, giving a remorseful frown. “I wouldn’t have agreed if I didn’t wonder that something was up.”

“Did you really think there was?”

He shrugged. “He has been acting kind of… different lately, and that’s why I agreed to do it. But maybe that’s just the mob boss coming out in him. Cassiel’s been pushing him to be all he can be. I don’t blame him for starting to crack under the pressure.”

That had to be it. If Charlie was stressed out that his grandpa had such high expectations of him, I needed to be here to support him, not judging his every move. I promised myself that I’d trust Charlie fully from now on, no questions asked.

The heist was going to begin at ten, which meant we had to get up early. It was already one o’clock in the morning, so everyone went off to bed without much more than a goodnight. Kallie and Marcus lingered on the living room couch while Charlie and I went off to our bedroom, which obviously was the biggest.

The four-poster bed was almost as soft as the one back in our quarters in Ilamanthe. I sank into it, feeling absolutely luxurious. Oberi was already snoring at my feet. As Charlie waved his hand, the candles in the room that were burning went out, leaving us in darkness.

“You could pour some of that wax on me if you like,” I teased as he slid in next to me. This was all so sexy, pulling off a heist, and now Charlie was all shirtless and delicious beside me. We were in a new place, and it was fun to think of having sex in a fancy hotel.

Charlie kissed me with a smile and whispered, “Later, when we get back home. Then I can fuck you as much as I want.”

Oh, he was teasing me, drawing out the suspense. I was a little disappointed, but not much, because my eyes were already drooping shut. I wasn’t sure how much energy I had for sexy times, anyway. I was out like a light in a matter of moments.

Loud noises from the room next to us woke me up a while later. I rolled over— Charlie was still fast asleep next to me. I checked the clock and saw that it was three in the morning.

I wearily wiped my hair away from my eyes and listened closer. What was going on? It sounded like someone was pounding the headboard against the wall as hard as they could.

My suspicions were confirmed when a few moans, one feminine and the other masculine, drifted through the wall next to mine. I scowled and put a pillow over my head, but it still didn’t block it out.

Geez, Chancey and Ivy are really going at it, I thought irritably. Can’t they quiet down? It’d be nice to get some sleep around here.

You and Charlie aren’t the only ones who copulate from sunrise to sunset, Oberi grumbled back. Apparently, the noise had woken him up, too. How do you think I feel?

I didn’t respond, because I didn’t feel like it. The noises were still going. For fuck’s sake, did nobody around here know how to have ninja sex? There were other people in the penthouse, too.

The moans only got louder, but I grunted, ignored them and went back to sleep.

After getting dressed the following morning, I went to the hotel’s lobby to get coffee from the barista downstairs. In less than an hour, the heist would begin and we’d take the key from Salvatore. I couldn’t wait to get on with it and be done. One step closer to fulfilling our destiny, we just had to kick in the balls of a vampiric mob boss. Easy enough.

When I arrived downstairs, I saw Kallie sitting at a table in the hotel’s café. The hotel was all but deserted except for the staff, since Dorian had reserved the whole place for us. Kallie was dressed in her black heist suit, but was slumped over the table, looking at a cup of coffee that had certainly gone cold. Both hands were in her hair, and her eyes were bloodshot and haggard. She wore a strained, disturbed expression I’d never seen on her before.

“Hey,” I said, and I rolled up to the other side of the table. “Are you all right?”

Her lip trembled. “Marcus and I had sex last night.”

I didn’t know whether to be shocked or elated, but either way, a huge grin spread across my face. I realized that I hadn’t overheard Chancey and Ivy last night— it’d been Kallie and Marcus.

“Oh my ancestors, for real?! How? What happened?” I asked. “You need to give me details! Girl, I’m so happy for…”

My joy faded, and my words fell away as Kallie began sobbing. She folded her arms on the table and her head fell into them as tears cascaded from her eyes. “I don’t know what happened! Everything’s just…”

She couldn’t finish, and started crying harder. My heart fell to pieces, and I hurried to roll around the table to give her a hug. “Oh, Kallie! Did something go wrong? Did he hurt you?”

I couldn’t imagine Marcus ever doing something like that, but Kallie was clearly upset for a reason.

“No,” she wept. “It was everything I hoped it would be, but now it’s all awful?—”

“Start from the beginning,” I encouraged, and I reached out to take her hand. “Tell me everything.”

Kallie sniffed, and her tears slowed. “Okay. So last night, after we arrived at the hotel, neither of us could sleep. We were both really excited about the heist, and just kept talking about it. Everyone else went to bed, so Marcus suggested we go to his room to keep talking, so we didn’t wake anyone up.”

I could see where this was going. “You didn’t want to leave.”

“No. And he didn’t want me to leave, either.” She wiped her eyes. “We were up talking for hours, and I got really tired. He said if I wanted to crash in his room, I could, so we both laid down.”

“More went on than just that,” I stated doubtfully.

“Yeah. It was like, two in the morning when we finally stopped talking. I figured we were going to sleep. Then Marcus just said my name, and… kissed me.”

Oof. “You guys didn’t have a conversation or anything?”

“There wasn’t any time! I just wanted him to kiss me so badly. He hasn’t in months, Ava. I wanted him to touch me again, and I think he wanted the same thing. Next thing I know, clothes are coming off, he’s got me flipped over… and we did it.”

She looked down at the table. “I don’t regret it. At least, I didn’t when I was in the moment. Now, I’m not so sure.”

Well, from what I’d overheard, it didn’t sound like anyone was having a bad time. Quite the opposite, in fact. I shrugged. “Okay, how was it?”

Kallie’s eyes got misty again. “It was wonderful. It was everything I ever wanted, and everything he would never give me. It was just perfect, for both of us.”

“If it was perfect you wouldn’t be crying like this, Kallie.”

“I’m crying because of what happened this morning,” Kallie said. “After we had sex, we went to bed, and it was still great, because he held me in his arms all night. This morning he got up before me, and when I woke up, I heard him taking a shower. So… I got up and joined him.”

“And you did it again,” I guessed. They’d certainly had a wild time.

“Yeah!” Kallie threw up her free hand. “And that was awesome, too!”

“Did either of you guys try to talk about this?” I asked. I tried to keep the judgment out of my voice, but hell, I was frustrated with both of them at this point.

“That’s where it all went wrong. After we’d gotten done fucking in the shower, I held him and asked him what all this meant.”

Kallie’s expression completely crumbled. She burst into tears again, and her voice raised a pitch as she cried, “His face just… got all red, and he just looked absolutely mortified. Like he was embarrassed or something about being with me. He just… got out of the shower and left. Before he walked out, he said; Sorry, this isn’t right. I know what that means. He’s running away again… running away from us.”

Kallie’s tears increased in intensity until she was crying harder than I’d ever seen her before. I squeezed her hand, not sure of what to do or how I could help, because nothing I could do would fix her broken heart.

“This must’ve meant something to him. It was his first time,” I encouraged. “He’s never done it with anyone else, but he wanted you, Kallie. If he didn’t, he would’ve held back. It’s so obvious.”

“If it meant something, he’d tell me, but he didn’t,” she replied hopelessly. “I might be the only person he’s ever slept with, but so what? Maybe he was just tired of being a virgin and knew I’d put out.”

“You know that’s not true,” I said. “Sweetie, Marcus loves you, even if he can’t say it.”

“I can’t do this again. I can’t,” Kallie said, her tone tighter than before. “I can’t keep crawling into bed with someone who won’t make me his, begging for scraps of love that he won’t give me. I thought we were doing so well lately. We were getting along great, being such good friends… I really did figure it was over between us. In reality, I was just falling for him harder than I had before, and I kept denying to myself that’s what it was.”

“Kallie.” I rubbed her back, knowing there wasn’t much I could say.

“It doesn’t matter that Charlie broke our bond. It doesn’t matter that he’s no longer my mate and that we don’t share a magical connection anymore. I still love him.” Her entire body shuddered, grieving the loss of someone she deeply desired and couldn’t have. “I don’t know what it’s going to take to make these feelings go away, because they never will! I’m always going to want him, and he’s never going to choose me. He’ll just use me and cast me aside, so he doesn’t have to commit. I’m at the end of my rope, Ava. I don’t know how I’m going to survive if he keeps doing this to me… and I keep letting him. I don’t want to live like this anymore. Not if it hurts this bad.”

Fuck. Marcus. Overwhelming anger welled in my chest and crashed over me, nearly making my body ache. As much as I cared about Marcus, I hated him for doing this to Kallie. I’d be happy to burn him alive right now.

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked softly, though my real thoughts were, Don’t worry, girl, I’ll find a big enough hole to put him in.

“I just need to be alone, and try to process this,” she choked out. “Thanks for listening, but what you and I do isn’t going to make a difference, because he’s never going to change.”

She stared at her coffee again, and I took it at a clear sign that she was done talking. I left the café, to give her some space. She was absolutely devastated by Marcus’ latest rejection.

Which I was going to make him deeply regret. Right the fuck now.

I forgot about the coffee and started searching the hotel’s main floor, looking for Marcus. The Scarlet Grand was a massive hotel, so I had a lot of ground to cover. Charlie was making his way toward me. He appeared to be a criminal mastermind, dressed in all black with his magical pistol holstered to his side. I went rolling by him at a higher speed than usual, which caught his attention. Oberi was on his shoulder as a phoenix, and she peeped as I sped by.

“Pidge, I’ve been looking for you. Where are you going?” he asked warily.

“I’m off to kill Marcus,” I said simply. “You can join if you want.”

“What’d he do this time?” Charlie groaned, following me.

“Marcus and Kallie slept together.”

Oberi squawked in alarm, beating her wings. Charlie sucked in a breath, held it, then let it out in a long sigh. “Great.”

“Yeah, twice. And he ran off this morning after it happened a second time without giving her any explanation. She’s completely devastated.”

“That’s uncalled for.” Charlie scowled. “We need to do something about this. It’s gone on for far too long.”

“I’ll say. And if it has to be permanent, so be it,” I said casually.

Are you sure you two should get involved? Oberi asked, but neither of us answered.

We finally found Marcus in the shopping area of the Scarlet Grand. The hotel had its own boutique stores, and he came out of one carrying a small square bag.

Oh, he went fucking shopping, taking a page out of my own handbook. When things get hard, just blow some fucking cash, it'll make you feel better! I really wanted to deck him.

“Hey guys,” he said. “You ready to?—”

“Screw you, Marcus!” I spat. “I’m not tall enough anymore to punch you in the face, so the dick will have to do!”

I pulled back my fist to do just that, and Marcus floundered away, but Charlie snagged my arm before I could swing. Oberi hung onto his shoulder for dear life. “Pidge, hold on a minute.”

“This asshole hurt my best friend!” I shouted. “Nobody bangs my girl then takes off the next day without paying for it!”

Marcus’ face fell. “You guys know about that?”

“Yeah, we know,” Charlie said harshly. “Marcus, what were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t, not really,” he admitted. “I don’t think either of us were.”

“You should’ve used at least one cell in that pea-brain of yours to think before you left her in the shower all alone!” I shouted. “I found her in the café crying because of you!”

Marcus appeared crushed. “I didn’t mean anything by all that. I wasn’t trying to hurt her feelings.”

“Well, you did,” I said. “And now you’ve ditched her, again. Can’t you get your shit together?”

“I didn’t ditch her,” Marcus insisted. “I just needed a minute to catch my bearings, all right?”

“Because you were going to come up with another excuse as to why you can’t date?” I accused.

“Because I was terrified,” Marcus said, and he truly sounded it. “I was going to propose.”

My jaw dropped. “What… really?”

“Yes! Don’t look so shocked,” Marcus said sourly. “I wanted to ask, truly, but I felt like I was going to pass out, to be honest. Then she asked me what we were, and I realized I was totally unprepared.”

His response floored me. Before he’d left the shower, Marcus had said; Sorry, this isn’t right. Kallie had taken it as him turning her down, but now I realized Marcus had just chosen a really stupid way of telling her he wanted to do this properly.

“I didn’t have a ring to give her, and I can’t ask her without that, so I rushed down here to get one,” Marcus explained. “I know it’s last minute, but I can’t go any longer without asking her. It’s driving me crazy we’re not engaged. We should be. I should’ve asked her to marry me a long time ago.”

“Why this sudden change of heart?” Charlie asked. “You’ve never been ready to take this step before.”

“Because ever since I did my ceremony and faced my demons in that alleyway, I’ve realized what I want out of life, and what I want is her,” Marcus said firmly. “I don’t care what’s standing in our way or what we’ve been through, because that doesn’t matter. Kallie and I should be together, and I’m done getting in our way.”

“Well, hallelujah to you for finally seeing the light,” I said grumpily. “Think she might want to know all of that?”

“Look, I planned to tell her everything last night,” Marcus started. “I invited her back to my room so we could talk, but not about the heist. I wanted to spill everything to her, and lay it all on the table. I was going to tell her I love her, that I don’t care that the bond is broken and that I want us to be together.”

“So why didn’t you?” Charlie demanded.

“I couldn’t get the words out,” Marcus confessed. “I tried, I really did, but I just felt scared, so my hands started doing the talking for me.”

“Yes, because sharing a bed isn’t going to lead to disaster.” I waved my hands around. “Oh no, I’ve fallen, and my dick just happened to slip in!”

“It wasn’t like that,” Marcus shot at me. “We were just kissing at first, but then we kept going. I went to tell her to stop so we could talk about this, but what came out of my mouth next wasn’t exactly words, and by that point neither of us wanted to quit.”

I could only imagine. Kallie hold on, probably turned into a couple of moans, loud gasps and Fuck, baby, right there. I swear, I wanted to murder these two. This was a constant problem with them. If they’d just communicate every once in a while instead of denying their feelings then jumping into bed when they couldn’t take it anymore, their relationship wouldn’t be so messy.

“Marcus, you guys needed to talk about this before being intimate,” Charlie growled. “You should’ve established the relationship and what you both wanted before going that far.”

“I know that, but neither one of us controlled ourselves, or went to stop. We just lost it.” Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think we wanted to be together so badly nothing else mattered in the moment.”

“Sex isn’t a mistake.” Charlie crossed his arms. “It’s not something you just fall into.”

“No, but it’s damn hard to resist when you’ve been denying each other forever and you just can’t anymore,” Marcus shot back at him.

“She doesn’t get it,” I said. “She thinks you guys messed around, and now you’re going to leave like you always do.”

“What? How could she think that?” Marcus gasped. “I didn’t leave her. I just came to get this, so I could do this the right way!”

Marcus dug in the bag and showed me a small black ring box. He really was serious about this.

“She doesn’t know that, Marcus. She just thinks you’re abandoning her again,” I pointed out.

“I don’t want her to think that. I never want her to feel abandoned like that ever again,” Marcus stated. “I was a jerk back then, but what we shared last night was real. I want her to know that, and I want more of that for us. I don’t ever want to let her go.”

“So this is just a huge misunderstanding!” I said in relief. “You can talk to Kallie, apologize, explain what you really meant and ask her to marry you! It’ll all work out!”

“Definitely.” Marcus straightened with a resilient nod. “I messed up, but I can fix this. I want Kallie to be my wife, and I want to be with her. It’s not enough to be dating, not after everything we’ve gone through. We should be married, like you guys are. If she rejects me, fine, but I won’t be a coward anymore. At least she’ll know how I truly feel about her.”

“She’s not going to reject you, man,” Charlie assured him. “But the longer you drag this out, the more she’s in pain, and we have to leave soon. You need to set this straight so both of your minds can be on the mission.”

“Exactly.” Marcus subconjured the bag and hurried forward. “I need to find her, so I can tell her right away.”

Charlie, Marcus and I headed back to the café. I hoped I’d get to witness it all, and see Marcus ask her. That would be amazing.

This is good, this is very good, Oberi muttered. Perhaps now, all this drama is behind us.

I sure hoped so. I really wanted Marcus and Kallie together, so I could fangirl over them like a proper best friend should, and this miscommunication stuff was getting really old. This was their chance to finally be a couple! I was so excited.

Except now, I was starting to get worried. We’d come back to the café, and she wasn’t here, but her coffee was, sitting half-drank on the table.

Where was she? We were supposed to start the heist in fifteen minutes.

“This isn’t right. I left her right here,” I said in concern.

“Is she back at the penthouse?” Marcus asked.

Charlie was already making a phone call. He shook his head as he hung up on Eddie. “She’s not up there. Nobody saw her come back from the café.”

“Saw who come back from the café?” a familiar voice asked.

Ivy and Chancey walked in. Chancey was looking impatient. “Are we ever gonna start this thing? Time to hit the road. I ain’t got no patience for bullshit today.”

“Yeah. Neither of us got any sleep, what with Charlie and Ava keeping us up all night,” Ivy grumbled grouchily.

“That wasn’t us,” I said, with a pointed look at Marcus. He blushed a deep red. Ivy seemed positively delighted.

“Oh, so it was you,” Ivy said deliciously. “Finally grew a pair of balls and showed your lady what’s up, huh?”

“Yeah, but I fucked up the talking part,” Marcus said lamely. “We did it, but I was too chicken to tell her how I feel about her first.”

Ivy sighed and put their face in their hand. “Marcus, I’m gonna kill you.”

“Wait until we find Kallie.” Marcus seemed really nervous. “Guys, have you seen her?”

“We haven’t seen her all morning,” Chancey said, suddenly appearing alert.

The color blanched from Marcus’ face. He sprang into action, running toward the counter where the barista was stacking cups.

“Excuse me, did a woman with blonde hair come in here?” he asked loudly, getting her attention.

“Yeah. She left ten minutes ago with some guy,” the barista replied.

Some… guy? This didn’t make any sense.

“He left this note before they went out,” the barista said, clutching a piece of paper. She extended it out to me. I took it. I unfolded the paper, reading letters crudely cut out of a magazine and patchworked together.

She belongs to me.

I recognized the signature trait, because he’d left similar notes behind on occasions when he’d slaughtered girls he considered prizes. I’d seen it in the crime photos Charlie researched for his Advanced Criminal Justice project. My hands began to shake, and the paper quivered in my hands.

The Dollmaker.

The minute I thought it, shared horror passed between Charlie and me. He grabbed onto a nearby chair to steady himself, and Oberi crooned lowly.

“Ancestors,” I whispered, and nearly gagged. “He’s got her.”

“Who’s got her?” Chancey asked frantically.

“The Dollmaker. Valen Christoffer,” I whispered, and a horrified tear slipped down my cheek. “Kallie’s ex.”

“The psychopath who murdered all those girls in Malovia?!” Ivy screeched. “It just can’t be!”

“This is one of his signatures. I know it is. I’ve seen it before when Charlie did his criminal profile,” I said miserably, raising the note in the air. “Somehow, Valen found out we were in Chicago, and he waited until she was vulnerable enough to take her.”

Charlie’s features had gone pale. “This can’t be right. The Dollmaker always strikes at night. If he really took Kallie now, it goes against his M.O.”

“Kallie’s the girl he’s fixated on this whole time,” I pointed out. “He’s not going to stick to his M.O. if he saw his chance to take her. Those other girls were a fantasy of his, but Kallie’s always been his ultimate target.”

“No,” Marcus whimpered, and he backed away. “No, he can’t… this isn't… fuck!”

Marcus lost his shit. He punched a nearby picture, and the glass broke. Shards cut into his hand, and he started bleeding everywhere, but Marcus didn’t feel it. He picked up a nearby side table and broke it across his knee, sending the legs scattering. I jumped in my seat. Chancey ran forward to restrain him, and held him in place. Marcus fought back, but he couldn’t match the strength of an angel. The barista freaked out, giving a scream and running out of the café.

“Take it easy, pal,” Chancey said. “You gotta keep a clear head.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Marcus screamed. “The person I love is in the hands of a serial killer, and you’re telling me to keep calm?!”

“She left ten minutes ago, which means we might be able to get to her before he does anything,” I said in a rush.

“Chancey, start looking around the hotel for Valen. We don’t know how far he’s taken her,” Charlie said, immediately giving orders. “Try to stay out of sight.”

“I will,” Chancey said, already heading toward the door.

“She wouldn’t leave with him willingly,” Marcus raged. “She’d put up a fight. How did he just walk out with her?”

“Check her drink. It’s still here,” I said quickly.

Marcus snatched the only coffee sitting out and held it in his hands. The coffee glowed a bright purple at his alchemy magic, and he stated, “It’s been tampered with. Some kind of heavy magical sedative.”

“He must’ve gotten into the hotel and slipped the drugs into her coffee without the barista seeing,” Charlie growled. “We don’t know how long he’s been here.”

“Give that to me,” Ivy ordered, and Marcus handed them the coffee. Ivy sniffed it again, and their lip curled. “This isn’t just a sedative. It’s a compulsion charm, a powerful one made by a strong-ass vampire. If she drank this, she’d be forced to do whatever he said until it wore off.”

“That’s probably what he used on her before, when he compelled her to kill her brother,” I said in horror. “Kallie and I talked about this. She suspected Valen was working with vampires, using compulsion items on his victims that vampires gave him, and this is proof. He’s in Chicago for a reason— no wonder the Union hasn’t been able to track him down, if he’s got vamp friends around here who are willing to hide him.”

“Ivy, you need to stay here in case she comes back, or in case Valen returns,” Charlie said.

“I’m on it,” Ivy said dangerously. “If this fucker comes crawling around, I’ll rip his throat out.”

Marcus stared down into the cup, and his features darkened. "My Aunt Talia gets visions of the past through touch. Perhaps I can, too. I should be able to follow his path and see where he took her."

Marcus closed his eyes, and his head twitched to the side, like he'd just witnessed something very troubling. His lips curled back into an angry sneer. "I see the fucker in the café. Kallie's eyes are completely glossed over, and he's ordering her to follow him. She's going along with it. She’s trying to resist the compulsion, but the sedative makes it hard for her to disobey, so she can’t fight back. I see them leaving... come on. They went this way."

Marcus sprinted out of the café and took the front door out of the hotel. We quickly followed. The November air was chilly, and the sky was completely overcast.

Marcus tried touching things to get a vision, but he must’ve not found anything useful. He raced down the street and began grabbing random people. He shook them to read their minds, trying to see where Valen had taken Kallie.

“Did you see him? Did you see where he took her?!” he yelled in a crazed manner.

He didn’t find anything and angrily shoved people to the ground, screaming his desperation and acting insane. People scrambled to get away from him, glancing over their shoulder as they ran away. Rishi yowled as he did so, giving hisses of rage.

Marcus doubled over to catch his breath; he was practically hyperventilating. He steadied himself on a nearby lamp post, and almost immediately, his form went rigid. "Hold on. I'm getting something. I see them on the sidewalk… Valen’s ordering Kallie to cast an illusion around them to conceal themselves, so nobody can see them leave. He says once the spell is cast, she's to get on his back?—”

Marcus gasped. “Valen's going to shift into a wolven and fly Kallie out of here. But her concealment charm is strong... I can't break through it!”

Marcus started to panic, and now he was hyperventilating. “I've lost them. I don't know where they’ve gone. If he shifted to fly Kallie out of here, he could be miles away by now!”

Charlie grabbed Marcus by the shoulders. “Marcus, we need you to focus. Is there anything else?”

Marcus closed his eyes again and gave a shudder. “I see Kallie following Valen outside. She’s walking forward. That’s it.”

“What else?” Charlie pressed.

The crease between Marcus' brow deepened. “Before Kallie cast the concealment charm, Valen brushed up against the side of the building, against some plaque. It was accidental, but he might’ve left some sort of energy imprinted on the object. Maybe I can get something from it.”

I quickly surveyed the area and saw the plaque Marcus was talking about. I rolled over to it and began reading. Chicago Landmark, it read, before listing off all kinds of historical details about the Scarlet Grand Hotel.

Marcus put his hand on the plaque, and concentrated. His Seer powers worked quickly, and Marcus’ eyes shot open as he said, “I couldn’t see where he was going to take her, but I caught an impression of a name… Rupert Berenwald. It’s got to mean something. Thoughts and intention are energy, but they’re difficult to imprint on objects. The fact that I’m able to pick up on this at all means this information is really important.”

Charlie yanked his phone out of his pocket and stabbed the screen. He began barking into it. “Max, Kallie's missing, but we might have a lead. Look up everything you can about Rupert Berenwald.”

I could hear Max's voice through the phone. “I’m on it.”

A keyboard clicked in the background, and I held my breath. Max better find something right fucking now, because I was ready to burn down this city for my best friend.

“Rupert Berenwald was an architect; a vampire, actually. He designed the Scarlet Grand,” Max said.

“Did he design any other buildings in Chicago?” Charlie demanded.

Max clicked the keyboard again. "Yes… there was an entire neighborhood that he constructed decades ago, but that area looks completely deserted now. The groundwater in that area became polluted from a local factory nearby and forced everyone to leave. The city’s left it abandoned.”

“That must be where he took her!” I cried.

“Let’s go,” Charlie said. We dipped back inside the hotel, and Charlie used his pocket mirror to make a portal. We went through, and came out on the other side in a dilapidated residential area that didn’t look like it’d been inhabited for twenty years or more.

Since the area was deserted, Oberi changed into a unicorn, and I got on her back. Marcus subconjured my wheelchair. Charlie and Marcus immediately dispersed in different directions to look for her.

I took off on Oberi, galloping through the abandoned streets. We rounded corners and went down crooked alleyways, but found nothing. Just graffiti, trash, and broken items that had been discarded long ago.

I met up with Marcus and Charlie a short time later. They’d been running around like I was, and clearly hadn’t seen a thing. Rishi gave a mournful yowl.

“We’ve covered this whole block, and there’s nothing here,” Marcus moaned.

Charlie shook his head. “I don’t think Valen’s here. I’m scanning the area with my Elf magic, and I don’t feel any magical traces.”

“What do you mean?” Marcus asked. “According to my vision, this is where he ended up!”

“But it wasn’t his final stop,” Charlie stated. “If it was, we’d have found him.”

“Then where the fuck is he?!” I yelled, feeling hopeless.

Charlie didn’t answer. He was out of ideas, and so was I.

“Fuck this,” Marcus snarled. He conjured items from his stash, and they sprang into his hands. One was a white rose, the other, an alchemy knife.

“Marcus, what are you doing?” I asked, already feeling scared.

“A powerful fae locator spell, from Kallie’s grimoire,” Marcus stated. “It’ll show us the way he went.”

“But you’re not a fae! You’re a witch, so the spell won’t work!” I argued.

“According to my vision of Miriam and Santos, we know that witches are descended from Unseelie fae. Faerie magic is in my blood, no matter how far back it is, so I’m going to harness it to pull off this spell,” Marcus rasped. “It’s time to prove my theory that witches and fae are blood related, and this is the best time to try.”

“And if the spell backfires, what happens?” I asked.

His face was grim as he stated, “If I fuck it up, it could kill me. And since I’m a witch using fae magic, it probably will.”

“Marcus!” I yelled.

“I don’t care!” he screamed. “I’ll do anything to get her back! If I’m dead, you guys find her, okay? It doesn’t matter what it takes!”

We couldn’t lose both him and Kallie in one day, but Marcus was determined to go through with it even if it killed him. He used the alchemy knife to slice into his hand, then pressed his blood into the petals as he screamed, “Fae ancestors of the briar, lead me to my heart’s desire!”

Kallie had used this spell before. I hadn’t been there to see it, but according to Charlie, when she had tried to use the spell to find the merfolk key, it had sent her into a vision that had nearly taken her life.

I was terrified the same thing would happen to Marcus, and Kallie wasn’t here to pull him out of it like he did her. But that didn’t happen. The spell worked. I watched as a magical thread formed in the air, one that connected to Marcus’ chest and formed a glowing line that hovered before us, leading us to Kallie.

“Let’s go,” Marcus said viciously, starting forward. We followed the thread as it led out of the abandoned area and to a large body of water sitting beside a vacant warehouse that stretched on in both directions as far as the eye could see.

The Dollmaker had taken her across Lake Michigan. The thread hovered over the water. In the distance there was an island that looked like it was a hub for some sort of factory. The thread led there, waiting for us to follow.

“She’s there,” Marcus breathed. He looked at the island with longing, desperately wanting his love.

I immediately conjured a boat out of ice with my water magic, gesturing for the boys to get into it as Oberi and Rishi hopped inside. “Come on, let’s go. If a human sees us, I don’t fucking care.”

The boys didn’t care, either, because they jumped into the ice boat and held on. I propelled the ice vessel toward the island faster than any speedboat could go. Even if a human did see us, my water magic was blasting us across the lake so fast they’d consider it a trick of the light, and it was dark and gloomy out. Winter was setting in, and the entire area was cold. I didn’t think anyone would see us through the fog. We made it to the island in less than a minute, and I slowed the boat down as we came to the shore.

The place smelled like sewage and molten metal. These factories had been abandoned, too, and were leaking chemicals into the soil. Once we got on land, Oberi helped me onto her back. We followed the magical thread past the rusting buildings, though we crossed droplets of crimson liquid on our way. We came upon signs of a struggle— metal barrels recently overturned, along with a rusting sign with fresh blood on it. Kallie had been fighting the compulsion spell and tried to get away here, but Valen had kept her in captivity.

Marcus ran, and we followed. We turned down twisted lanes and alleyways to follow the thread around buildings, until I started to get dizzy. Where was she?

“Here!” Marcus yelled. We turned down an alley between the factory buildings, and my being absolutely trembled as I saw there was a woman lying at the end of it.

We’d found her. She looked so cold and forlorn. Kallie was lying on her side, her cheek flattened against the pavement, one arm splayed out on the ground and the other hanging limply against her torso. Her face was swollen with bruises, and I could tell from here some of her limbs were broken.

He’d beaten the shit out of her. My breath caught as I saw that she laid in a pool of her own blood, scarlet red still dripping from the multiple slashes in her skin. Valen had stabbed her multiple times, then cut her body open for his own pleasure. Once he was satisfied, he’d left her here to bleed out, like all his other victims.

I would do my best to save Kallie. But whatever happened to her, Valen wouldn’t live to see the sun set, and his death would be far from painless. I promised her that.

Marcus got to her first. He rushed to Kallie’s side and fell to his knees, freely weeping as he hovered his hands over her broken body. “Kalina,” he whimpered, and that sound carved a hole inside of me that cut so deep, the person I was bled out.

I skimmed the area but didn’t see anyone else, not even a shadow. Valen had fled. He’d probably gotten done by the time we arrived and was long gone. This was how he always killed— he liked to blood let his victims, then come back later to admire his handiwork. The sick fuck couldn’t even stick around to finish the job himself. The longer it took his victims to die, the more thrill he got out of it.

Fuck him. We’d take care of his ass later.

Oberi cantered toward where Kallie lay. Once she got to her, Oberi knelt to the ground. I immediately slid off of her back and to Kallie’s side, trying to figure out where to start repairing the damage.

Ancestors, there was just so much. Her skin was so ashen. I’d never seen a person turn that shade of gray unless they were already dead. We might’ve arrived too late.

I dared to touch Kallie’s shoulder, and gently brought her forward so I could check her back. I didn’t realize I was crying, but I had to be, because tears fell from my face as I looked at the jagged gashes that were cut through her jacket, two of them side by side, from the top of her shoulder blade to the base of her spine. They were the worst cuts and bled the most, staining her clothes and her skin red. Rishi put a paw on Kallie’s leg, mewling softly.

“Her wings are gone,” I choked out. “Valen’s got them.”

Charlie’s thoughts flitted across my mine, and mixed with the revulsion was wrath. The Dollmaker had taken her wings as a fucking trophy.

I turned Kallie onto her back, though it wounded me to lay her onto her severed wings. I checked her pulse, and my own stopped when I realized there wasn’t a heartbeat. With a quick check of her lungs, I found those weren’t expanding, either. “She’s not breathing.”

“Goddammit.” Charlie summoned Air magic to inflate her lungs, but that didn’t work. I stirred my Toaqua magic to make her blood flow, but nothing happened.

Her body was refusing magic. Both of us felt it, and we panicked.

Charlie began performing CPR. He started on chest compressions while I summoned my Spirit magic. My hands glowed white, lighting up the entire alley as I brought the power of my soul to life in order to save my best friend.

“Oberi, help me,” I ordered, and she changed into a phoenix to lend her aid as I set my healing magic to work. Marcus paced above us, both hands in his hair as he hyperventilated and sobbed at the same time.

Ancestors, there was so much blood. She’d lost at least four pints. She couldn’t lose any more, or she’d die, and she was still hemorrhaging from all the wounds on her body. Her organs were shutting down. Some of them, like her heart, had stopped already, and Charlie’s compressions on her chest were the only thing keeping it beating. Once he got to thirty, he bent over to breathe life into her lungs, giving her two rescue breaths, desperately trying to buy me enough time to stabilize her.

I could force these cuts to heal and regenerate the blood in her body. That was the most important step to saving her life, and I’d fix the rest later. But there was a problem. Despite my magic pouring into her body— and it was— and my command for magic to knit the wounds back together, nothing happened. Her skin glowed with my power, but the wounds remained intact and continued to bleed.

“What’s happening?” Marcus wailed. “Why isn’t it working?”

I went deeper, ignoring her bodily injuries and focusing on finding her life energy. Ancestors, it was fading. Barely a flicker of a flame inside her chest, it dwindled like a dying candle. Her body was nothing more than a half-filled vessel, holding back the only part of her spirit that hadn't yet broken free. So much of it was gone now, more afterlife than earthly.

I latched on and tugged at Kallie's soul, telling her to keep fighting. I pleaded with her to hold on, because she knew I could heal her and get her help.

Kallie’s spirit felt weak and frail. She was telling me she loved me, and she cared, but she couldn't do this anymore. She didn't want to live in a world where something like this was capable. Even if she had to go to the in-between place where her soul would be trapped, unable to venture into the afterlife, it was better than whatever this existence was. She wanted me to let her go.

I almost did, because it should've been her choice. But I wouldn't until I knew for sure this was truly the call she wanted to make, and she had unfinished business here.

She didn’t want to talk to me. She needed Marcus. He had to be the one to convince her to walk away from death.

“Marcus, you need to talk to her. I can't heal her if she's lost the will to live,” I said harshly.

“Talk—” he said weakly. Charlie continued performing CPR, ignoring us. “Why? Why isn’t she fighting?”

“Because she doesn’t want to. Healing magic is Spirit magic. My magic isn’t working because her soul isn’t responding. You need to convince her it’s still worth it!”

“What am I going to say to make her want to keep going?” he gasped with sorrow, and Rishi wailed beside him. “I’m not the person to do this— I’ve tried to kill myself twice!”

“Marcus, if you don't convince her to stay, she's going to die!” I snapped. “Bring her back.”

That seemed to snap him out of it, because he moved closer to Kallie. He reached out to grab her hand, which was stone-cold by now. “Hey pretty girl, I’m here,” he told her. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here.”

Kallie’s soul flickered, but only a little bit. I couldn’t heal her, but I could at least stop the blood from flowing out. My magic held it in place, hoping Marcus would find the right words to say.

“I’m sorry for everything I put you through,” he started, speaking through his tears. “I’m sorry this happened. I didn’t leave you this morning. You’re the love of my life, and I want us to be together. I want to experience everything with you. I love you so goddamn much, Kallie. You’re my best friend, and you’re the woman I want to marry. I truly fucking mean that, with all my heart. I don’t want to be anywhere if you’re not here with me, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to love you exactly like you deserve to be loved.”

Her life force energy got a little stronger. I went to heal up the wounds, but her soul cringed away, telling me she wasn’t ready yet.

“Hey, remember all the things we planned to do together during those long nights we spent in the Criminal Lair?” Marcus asked, cracking a weak smile. “We’d sneak out overnight, and talk about all the places we’re going to visit. Well, we’re still going to do all that stuff. You’re going to show me the art museum in Malovia, and I’ll show you a sunset in Octavia Falls. We’ll build a castle of our own on an island in the middle of the ocean, and no one will be able to take it from us, because it’ll be ours. Remember that painting you asked me to make? I finally finished it for you, and it’s so fucking beautiful, just like you. I’m going to hang it up in the entrance hall in our castle, right when people walk in, so when everybody looks I'll point to it and say that she’s my wife, because I want to show you off to the world.”

Charlie went to continue compressions, but I held up an arm to hold him back. Kallie was letting me help now, though she was still wavering on the decision to stay or go. I began to stitch up wounds, and the cuts on her body healed as I brought forth my power. Oberi focused on regenerating her blood, and color slowly began to come back into Kallie’s skin as the phoenix repaired what she could. Kallie’s heart began to beat again, and air finally flowed into her lungs.

Marcus went to lightly stroke her hair. “You told me your favorite girl name is Lilith, remember that? I didn’t say so, but I loved it. Lilith is the most badass name ever. It would be perfect for a little girl that would look just like you. But we’ll never get to use it if you’re gone, and we’re not meant to be separated. Not like this, not ever. We go to the Blessed Haven, we go together, when we’re older than dirt and we’ve seen all we wanted to see, and do all we wanted to do. But not now. Not like this. You and me have all these dreams, and we’re going to do them together. We’re going to conquer the world, pretty girl, I promise. But you’ve gotta stick around so we can see all these places, and do all these things. You wanted to be a queen to save people, but right now, you need to save yourself.”

I moved on to her organs now. Valen had stabbed several of them and left puncture wounds that left her organs in shreds. Normally, these kinds of wounds would require surgery, and be beyond a normal healer’s power to mend. But I was a demigod, and it wasn’t anything I couldn’t fix. I would move mountains and reset the Earth’s place in the cosmos before I allowed Kallie to fade away like this. I healed holes in her stomach and intestines while Oberi fixed up her liver and kidneys, mending them so they were whole again. I didn’t need to replace or regrow anything, so that was a good sign.

Marcus’ voice sank even lower, into a strained and desperate whisper. “We never got to test the limits of my art and your illusions, and when we combine our magic, miracles happen. We have so much left to discover together. We’re going to create so much for this world, and for ourselves, and there isn’t anyone else I’d rather do it with. I knew you were the one for me the second you came into my life, and I’m not letting you go now. What we have, we’ve had forever, maybe in another life or a thousand lifetimes before, but I’m not giving up a single day with you.

You light up the entire fucking world for me, Kallie. This place is going to be a whole lot darker if you’re not in it. I might be the Lord of Death, but you’re my Mistress of Time. And death doesn’t mean anything if time isn’t here to send him her love, or hold his hand.”

I let out a sigh of relief as I felt Kallie’s soul flood back into her body, no point of it remaining on the edge of the afterlife. She’d decided to come back.

“It’s working,” I breathed. “Marcus, keep talking.”

He leaned closer, whispering to Kallie things that I couldn’t hear. I didn’t need to listen. If they wanted to be in their own private universe, let them, because all I cared about was if it helped Kallie recover.

As I healed her, I came across a foreign substance in her system. It was the sedative Valen had given her. I dissolved the sedative immediately, and Kallie’s body began writhing in pain.

Fuck. She was still out of it, but the sedative had been acting as an anesthetic. Now she could feel everything. I rushed to heal her further, but there was still so much work to do, and I couldn’t do it in the middle of this shitty alleyway. It’d take too long, and we were exposed out here.

“She’s stable, but it won’t last if I don’t continue my work,” I said in a rush. “We need to get her back to the hotel.”

“I’m getting help from the Associates.” Charlie spoke madly into his phone before he shoved it back in his pocket. “Let’s go.”

Charlie took a pocket mirror out of his jacket and projected it outward, blooming a portal. The hotel was only a few miles away, and Kallie’s body could withstand traveling that short of a distance… I hoped.

Charlie conjured a gurney with his illusion magic, and he hovered Kallie’s body onto it. Oberi changed back into a unicorn, and I hefted myself onto her as Charlie pushed the gurney through the portal. Marcus was still by Kallie’s side, refusing to let go of her hand.

When we got back to the hotel, Mom and Ezekiel were already waiting for us, along with a whole team of Elvish medics. The Associates had clearly worked fast to portal them here. My brother appeared horrified when he saw Kallie lying limply on the stretcher.

“Who did this?” he asked hoarsely.

“Doesn’t matter. Help me,” I demanded.

The medics had set up Kallie’s bedroom in the penthouse as a makeshift emergency room, and they hurried to utilize the medical equipment they’d brought. We rushed to get there. Chancey and Ivy were standing in the living room, and their expressions were crestfallen when they saw her. Ivy started sobbing, and Chancey’s expression became gravely wounded as he witnessed Kallie barely hanging on to life.

The medics gave Kallie an oxygen mask, and set her up with an IV and a heart monitor while Mom, Ez, Oberi and I continued to heal her. Charlie stood at the back of the room, and Marcus remained with Kallie, holding her hand as Rishi mewled at his feet.

I was glad for the support, because I was getting tired, and so was Oberi. Mending Kallie’s organs and replacing her blood had worn me out and taken a lot of my strength. Thankfully, Mom was a strong healer and Ez’s magic had been improving, so they were able to mend the rest of Kallie’s injuries without much help from me.

Eventually, we cleared away the bruises from Kallie’s pretty face and restored all of her broken bones. We cleaned the blood off of her and got her into a clean hospital gown.

Unfortunately, there were mental scars we couldn’t heal, and I knew when Kallie woke up she’d have to deal with them. Who knew what Valen had put her through, besides the obvious injuries on her body. The mental torture, and the memory of what happened, was going to be far worse than the physical injuries we’d fixed.

We left Kallie to rest. She still hadn’t woken up, and that was probably for the best. I looked at my Mom and said, “You guys need to get back to Ilamanthe. It’s not safe for you here in Chicago.”

“Kallie needs us. Until she’s strong enough to go back through a portal across the ocean, we’re staying,” Mom said firmly.

I couldn’t argue. I needed help here.

My brother wavered on his feet. He looked close to passing out. “Do you think she’s going to be all right?”

“She will be,” I said, and I reached out for his arm. My Spirit magic immediately set off alarms when I touched him, and I added, “Your blood sugar is low.”

“I was studying all day, and in med class. I didn’t get a chance to stop for dinner,” Ez mumbled.

“Ez, you need to eat something,” Mom said firmly. “That was a lot of work we just did, and you’re sick, too.”

“I guess so,” Ez mumbled. “No use having two people laid out in a hospital bed. Can’t take care of patients if I don’t take care of myself.”

“That’s right.” Mom looked at me. “Ava, do you mind if we take a break?”

“Go ahead,” I stated. “There’s not much more you can do right now.”

Mom nodded, guiding Ez out of the room. “Be back soon.”

When they had cleared out, I glanced at Marcus. “Get into the bed with her. She needs you to hold her. Touch will stabilize her heartbeat and help her oxygen levels recover.”

Charlie had done the same with me after my spinal injury, and it had really helped. I remembered even now how much better I felt when he’d been lying beside me. Kallie needed that right now.

Marcus didn’t ask questions. He clambered into bed beside Kallie, carefully maneuvering around the tubes for the IV and oxygen mask and cradling her against him.

A few minutes after Marcus had laid beside her, Kallie’s eyes weakly fluttered open. She went to pull at the oxygen mask, but Marcus did it for her, taking it off and laying it beside her. I kept an eye on the oxygen monitor, but her levels were stable. She could go without it for a bit while we talked.

“Marcus?” Kallie seemed astounded that he was right next to her, faintly grasping him back. “What’s… what’s going on?”

“I love you, pretty girl,” Marcus said, and he kissed her. “I’m sorry I ran off this morning. I was just nervous for what I was about to ask, but I’m not anymore. I want us to be together, all right? I want a relationship, the commitment, all of it. You’re my girlfriend now, okay? I’m here for you forever, and I never want to let you go.”

Kallie marveled. The look in her eyes was sparkling and full of light as she gazed at Marcus. The joy emanating from her was so powerful I could feel it from here. She truly felt like this was some kind of dream, or that she’d won the lottery. It was the sweetest thing to see in the world.

“Okay.” She laid her head against his chest, and gave the slightest of smiles. “I love you too, Marcus. Let’s be together.”

They nestled their heads together, and I melted inside. Rishi jumped up on the bed and settled between them, purring so loudly it echoed around the room.

Oberi ruffled her feathers, and Kallie settled into the pillows to look at me. “You guys got to me not a second too late,” she said quietly. “It was really bad this time.”

This time?

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” I asked carefully. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

“Might as well. You guys should know the details, and I don’t want to go over it ever again, not after today.”

Kallie leaned into Marcus, and he held her closer. Kallie’s voice wavered as she said, “I remember taking another sip of my coffee, but not much after that. When I came to, I was in some sort of alleyway, and I felt sick. Valen knew he couldn’t take me in a fair fight, so he drugged me. I could do magic, but the drugs made me so confused it was hard to cast a simple spell, and I knew I’d been compelled. He gave me just enough to keep me delirious, but not enough so I would pass out. He wanted me to remember everything.”

This was all stuff we knew, and I was terrified to hear what came next. Kallie gave a shudder and went on. “He wanted to drag it out. He punched me, broke my bones. I tried to take swings at him, but the drugs made me so uncoordinated. I never got a hit in. Then… he started stabbing me. Just… cutting me open. I was bleeding everywhere. I knew I wasn’t going to make it out.”

“Did he…” I couldn’t get the words out, but I’m sure she knew what I meant. Everyone did. Charlie stiffened across the room, and Marcus went pale.

Kallie stared at me. Then she did the most unexpected thing. She laughed. She let out a loud, startling cackle, one that turned into a series of coughs.

“Fuck… him,” she choked out, still laughing. “Oh, Ava, he tried, but he couldn’t get it up. His tiny little dick was all limp and pathetic. I laughed at him and spat in his fucking face.”

Her smile died, to be replaced by a deathly countenance devoid of all hope. “That was a mistake, though, because after I did that, he took my wings. He sawed them off while I was still conscious, because he wanted to hear me scream. He didn’t get what he wanted, though, because I passed out from the pain before he even got to the second wing. I didn’t wake up again after that, until just now.”

Marcus nestled his head into her hair, and Charlie said, “We’re glad we found you, Kallie. We wouldn’t be able to handle it if we lost you.”

“You got to me this time,” she whispered. “You missed your chance twice before.”

Marcus went paler than before, and I hushed, “Kallie, tell us what happened.”

“I went back. Three different times,” she said, and she started to cry. “I used my time powers to try and change the situation, so the Dollmaker never hurt me, and I never got captured.”

Her tears amplified into sobs. “But it didn’t work. He got me, all three times, and no matter what I did, it didn’t change the outcome. And every time I tried, his torture just got worse. I was able to put myself back in my healthy body, up until the point where I drank the coffee, but I couldn’t go back farther than that because of the drugs. The first two times, I had enough strength left after he beat me to go back and try to reverse things. I waited for you guys to find me then, but you never showed. I knew if I waited any longer, I was going to die, so I had to use my remaining strength to go back in time. This last time, he took my wings, which he didn’t do before, and I wasn’t able to influence time after that. I passed out thinking this was the end, and you guys weren’t going to get to me before I died.”

“What changed this last time?” I asked.

"I left the coffee cup," Kallie explained. "The first time around, the drugs started to hit when I got up from the table to leave the café. I threw away the cup just before he got me. When I went back a second time, I already knew that he'd drugged me. I threw my half-drank cup away, thinking the less drugs in my system, the more I could fight him, but I couldn't go back far enough to reverse what I'd already drank. You guys didn't make it in time, so I went back one last time to leave my cup there, so you'd know something was wrong and look for me sooner. You arrived just in time."

Tears leaked out of Kallie’s eyes as she closed them. “It’s all running together. I can’t remember exactly what he did to me this time, only the details of all three events. It won’t stop.”

My stomach churned in absolute terror. Kallie had relived this three times over. We hadn’t saved her the first two occasions, and barely managed to save her this time.

We’d failed her.

“Let’s go back and kill Valen before he ever takes you,” Charlie suggested. “Kallie, I know we promised not to use time magic unless it’s absolutely necessary, but this is necessary. Then you’ll never lose your wings.”

“I can’t, Charlie,” Kallie wept. “You don’t understand. Now that the Dollmaker took my wings, my power… it’s not as strong as it was. I can’t shift anymore. I can’t stop time. I’ve tried, and nothing happens. All I can do is basic fae magic. I’m useless to you guys now.”

“You’re not useless. You’re everything,” Marcus promised, brushing her hair back from her eyes.

“Who am I if I can’t be a wolf?” Kallie asked, in deep pain. “I’ve been a shifter since I was sixteen. What good am I if I can’t be who I truly am?”

“You’re mine,” Marcus said, and he kissed her again. “You don’t need to be powerful to be the incredible woman you are. I know I have everything I need right here.”

“I should’ve had Alette with me. Faekin protect their faeries.” Kallie wheezed. “She would’ve warned me before he drugged me. It was foolish to leave her behind in Ilamanthe.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Marcus insisted. “It’s not your fault that monster attacked.”

Kallie’s eyelids fluttered, and she sank against Marcus as if everything in her was spent and worn. “I’m really tired.”

“Go back to sleep.” Marcus kissed her head. “You need your rest. We’ll be here for you when you wake up.”

Kallie didn’t say anything more, just let out a few sobs before she passed out.

The minute she was out of it, Marcus broke down. He covered his mouth to silence his weeping as tears free flowed down his face. His entire body was quivering so hard it made the bed shake.

“Marcus, go get some air,” I said gently. It was okay for him to cry, and understandable, but if Kallie woke up again and saw him like this she’d get very upset, and we had to keep her relatively calm if she was going to recover.

He nodded and got off the bed, heading for the door. Rishi stayed behind, remaining on the bed at Kallie’s side.

It was silent as the grave with just Charlie and me inside the recovery room, Kallie’s chest rising and falling as she slept. I glanced at the clock. Valen might still be in the area. We were already late on starting the heist, but it would have to wait. Valen was out there. We couldn’t start the heist if he was still prowling around, because he was still a threat. Oberi stood at the foot of Kallie’s bed, her eyes black and hungry for vengeance.

I directed my eyes toward my husband. I yanked on my end of our bond, demanding his attention, and I got it. Charlie stood rigid, waiting for whatever I was about to say.

My tone was dark and full of feminine rage as I said, “You need to take care of this.”

He got what I meant. Charlie gave a short nod, then left me to watch over Kallie while he went to handle the job he was born to do.