Vampires.
And I gulp hard.
Holy crap. I’m really looking at a group of actual vampires. Like, real ones. Not movie vampires or Halloween costumes.
Real vampires who drink blood and apparently don’t age.
So how on earth is he her grandpa? How do vampires even... make more vampires? Do they have kids? Turn people? Both?
Which is when I realize with crystal clarity that I am so,soin over my head. And have been for a while now.
I thought I could handle being a consort or whatever to a god. That sounded almost romantic, in a weird way. An adventure.
And then the rest of his god—or supernatural angel?—family comes home. Big family, kinda intimidating, but nice enough.
And oh yeah, by the way, they’re all the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The actual biblical end-times guys.
Then we’re attacked by the Russian military with missiles and tanks.
Then we accidentally portal into a dragon dimension and almost get eaten.
And now we’re seeking refuge with freakingvampireswho apparently have grandchildren and motorcycles and live in what looks like a fortress compound.
A smarter girl would have gotten off this ride about five stops ago.
Hell, a smarter girl would never have gotten on in the first place. Would have run screaming when the guy with wings showed up at the fountain.
And maybe I would have. Should have.
I don’t like danger. I can’t even handle scary movies—I watch them through my fingers and have nightmares for weeks.
But I do actually know why I keep hanging around, and it’s not even morbid curiosity that, like the proverbial cat, might just get me killed if I’m not careful.
Dammit, this man whose hand I’m holding has bewitched me.
Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered, as the song goes.
Though I know—or think I know, or desperately hope—that despite all the supernatural crap swirling around me,thisis the one thing that feels real. Grounded. Solid.
The connection between us. The way my heart beats faster when he looks at me. The way his touch makes me feel safe even when everything else is chaos.
So when Layden seems to relax after the woman has a quick, animated conversation with her ‘Grandpa’—lots of handgestures, a few laughs—and then Layden’s waving a confident hand for us all to depart the helicopter, I’m able to follow.
Well, I can pretend confidence with the best of them. Fake it ‘til you make it, right?
I square my shoulders, lift my chin, and step forward.
I can only pray and trust it’s not one of the most foolish decisions I’m making in my life.
Though given my recent track record, the odds aren’t exactly in my favor.
TWENTY-FOUR
REMUS
I’m constantlyaware of Lauren’s presence as we walk down the ramp and into enemy territory—every shift of her weight, every quickening of her breath, every spike in her heartbeat.
My nose takes in every scent with predatory focus. My brothers and their women and children—familiar, comforting. The summer air carrying pine and wildflowers from the forest beyond this mountain fortress. The ancient stone and timber of the compound itself.
