Below me, the lights of New Orleans spread out like a constellation fallen to earth, each glowing point a reminder of what I stood to lose. The French Quarter pulsed with life—tourists stumbling between jazz clubs, the distant sound of a saxophone weaving through the darkness. I could smell it all from this height: café au lait and beignets, the muddy Mississippi, bourbon and sweat and the intoxicating perfume of night-blooming jasmine.
There—Crimson Stakes cut through the skyline below, our casino's neon sign bleeding red light across the surrounding blocks like spilled blood. My enhanced bat vision picked out every detail of the Santi family’s territory spread beneath me. Beyond the casino, barely visible through the thick canopy of ancient oaks, Crescent Manor sat like a fortress in the darkness.
The manor where I'd first brought Joy after we’d rescued her from Maximo Barone. Where she'd become my responsibility, my charge to protect. I'd failed once—let my guard down, let enemies slip past our defenses.
Never again.
My leathery wings pumped harder against the night air, urgency driving me forward. I would bring her back to that safe house, back behind walls I could defend. This time, I wouldn't let anyone fucking breach our perimeter. She was under my protection now, and I'd learned the hard way what happened when an enforcer failed in his duties.
The blood stone's alien pulse pressed against my transformed chest, a constant reminder that our enemies were already moving, already planning their next strike. Time was running out, and I had a job to finish.
Desperation drove me faster through the humid night air, my wings slicing through invisible currents as I banked sharply toward the bayou. The glittering lights of New Orleans fell away behind me like discarded diamonds, swallowed by the encroaching darkness of the untamed wilderness.
The acrid stench of charred wood and smoke invaded my sensitive bat nostrils as I crossed into Lamina Glade, making my eyes water. Faas’ fireballs had left their mark—the smell of destruction hung heavy in the air like a funeral shroud. Below me, moonlight revealed the skeletal remains of burned trees reaching toward the sky like accusing fingers.
There was no sign of the bastard. He must still be hiding in the cathedral like all the other assholes.
At least that meant no fireballs. Flying in bat form made me fast but also exposed—one well-aimed blast of fire and I'd be incinerated before I hit the ground. The darkness helped, but against Marsha’s magic, it wouldn't be enough if he spotted me.
My blood thundered between my temples as the cathedral came into view, and the sight nearly sent me spiraling out of control. The old structure looked like something from a fever fairy tale—massive thorny vines had consumed every inch of stone, their barbed tendrils writhing in the breeze as if they werealive. The Gothic spires disappeared into a writhing mass of vegetation that pulsed with an unnatural, sickly green glow.
I swooped down toward the clearing where Keir and the others waited, my transformation from bat to human form happening mid-flight. My boots hit the scorched earth hard enough to send up puffs of ash, and I stumbled slightly as the blood stone's weight settled against my chest once more.
My throat constricted as I stared at the vine-choked nightmare before us. Joy was somewhere inside that green hell, and every second we wasted was another second she suffered.
I clenched my teeth. Tinker Bell's spell better fucking work. If those vines didn't part, if I couldn't get to Joy, there'd be nothing left of me but rage and violence. I'd become the monster everyone feared.
Angelo and Dimitri landed behind me with heavy thuds. Serenity immediately broke away from the group and ran into Angelo's arms.
"Did you hurt—" she started breathlessly, searching his face for an answer. "Thank god." She melted against him, her head finding its familiar place on his chest, and Angelo's arms wrapped around her like she was the most precious thing in the world.
A sharp spike of envy stabbed through my chest as I watched their reunion. The way Angelo's entire body relaxed the moment she was in his arms, how Serenity's face transformed from worry to pure relief—it was everything I craved and couldn't have. Angelo had his mate safe and sound while mine was trapped somewhere in either the Elder Dimension or buried alive in that vine-choked cathedral.
My hands clenched into fists at my sides. While they got to hold each other, breathe in each other's scent, feel the steady beat of each other's hearts, Joy was facing god knows whathorrors. Alone. The unfairness of it burned like acid in my throat.
I forced myself to look away from their intimate moment, my jaw tight with barely controlled emotion. While they stood there embracing, Joy was suffering without me.
Dimitri stepped up alongside me, his brown eyes fixed on the vine-covered cathedral. "Tinker Bell's spell better work. Because if it doesn’t, Marsha’s going to pay for every second those vines kept us out."
"Speaking of which..." I turned as Tinker Bell approached, looking like she'd been through hell. Strands of blonde hair had escaped her ponytail, ash streaked her flushed face, and her jeans and T-shirt were torn and filthy from whatever battle had taken place here.
"Enzo, you have it?" Tinker Bell's voice was breathless with exhaustion, but her green eyes burned with desperate hope.
"Yes," I said, my hand trembling slightly as I reached into my jacket. The stone felt heavier than it should as I pulled it from my pocket, its surface warm against my palm like living flesh. "You want to tell me exactly what this is? This thing acted like it was alive."
My skin crawled as I remembered the constant pulse against my chest, the way it seemed to respond to my emotions. I held it out to her, fighting the urge to hurl the cursed thing as far as I could throw it.
"You might say it is." She took the stone with reverent care, cradling it in her palm like a venomous snake. The moment it left my hands, a strange emptiness came over me, as if something vital had been ripped away. "The stone leeches onto whoever is cursed and would literally suck them dry if they were in the same room."
Cold swept through me. "It almost killed Killian." The words came out hoarse, my throat tight with the implications.
"I'm not surprised," she said matter-of-factly, though her fingers trembled where she gripped the stone. "Hopefully, his blood will be enough to fuel the counter-curse."
Sweat beaded on my forehead despite the cool night air. I didn't want to ask—didn't want to hear confirmation that Joy had been screaming. But I had to know. The not knowing was worse than any answer she could give.
"Have you heard any more screams? Any sign of Joy?"
She gave me a look filled with sympathy and regret. "We heard some screams, but honestly, we couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman."
