Frankie! I need Ephraim’s help!”
“Who the hell is Terrell?” Athaliah snapped, throwing his hands up in frustration.
“Frankie’s Maker!”
Rees stopped struggling immediately. He stared at Snod, worry draining away all of his rage as he
asked hoarsely, “He took him... why?” He hacked into his hand. “That fuckin’ monster has him? What
the fuck happened!”
“The Order wanted to summon him to use his blood,” Snod explained, trying to talk as quickly as he
could. “The council has been secretly abusing vampire blood for centuries. They needed his name for
the summoning spell, but it didn’t work. They were going to kill me...”
“Obie,” Athaliah murmured, gently resting his hand on his arm.
Swallowing back the painful memory, Snod continued hastily, “Frankie called Terrell to save me. He
allowed himself to be taken and made Terrell promise to spare me. He killed everyone else there...
all the hunters, the elders. They’re all dead.”
“How did this lovely piece of human garbage survive?” Athaliah asked sweetly, batting his eyes at
Ephraim. “Terrell decided that fuckin’ morons with fat heads and big stupid ears weren’t a tasty
idea?”
Ephraim’s upper lip twitched.
“Ephraim tried to confront the council about using vampire blood,” Snod replied gently, offering his
friend a sympathetic smile, “but they turned on him. He ran.”
“So, what?” Rees huffed defiantly, taking a handkerchief and pressing it over his mouth as he started
coughing again. “Little fucking pyro pants here is now suddenly on our side?”
“For now,” Ephraim grumbled.
“If we’re going after Terrell, we will need him,” Snod said sternly. “Ephraim is a very skilled
hunter.” He glanced at Lorenzo, adding, “We also need your help.”
“Me?” Lorenzo squeaked, blinking rapidly.
“The cure.”
“But the cure doesn’t actually... ohhhh!” Lorenzo’s eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. “Fuck! Yes!
That’s genius! You wanna make Terrell go boom! Holy crap! The DD would be so freakin’ nasty.
Uhm, I mean, shit. Right. We’ve got to get to the lab.”
“We need to weaponize it,” Ephraim pointed out.
