The silence stretches. I can feel the tension building, the moment balancing on a knife's edge. Any second now, this is going to explode into violence.
And then Konstantin smiles.
"But I didn't bring you here to fight. Not yet." He pulls out a phone, checks the screen. "I brought you here to watch."
A chill runs down my spine. "Watch what?"
"Did you think I didn't know about your little trap?" Konstantin's voice is almost gentle. "Your strike team in the shadows. Your forces at the distribution hub. Your compound, defended by a skeleton crew while you came to meet me."
No. No, no, no.
"Your people are scattered across the city, waiting for an attack that isn't coming." Konstantin tucks the phone away. "While my people, my main force, are approaching your compound right now."
Maximus goes rigid beside me. "You're lying."
"Am I?" Konstantin's smile is terrible. "Valentina, dear. Show them."
Valentina produces a tablet and turns it to face us. On the screen, security footage. Our compound. And approaching from multiple directions, dozens of vampires, moving fast, coordinated, overwhelming.
"They'll breach the walls in about..." Konstantin checks his watch. "Three minutes. Your people will fight, of course. Marcellus is there, isn't he? Loyal Marcellus. He'll die bravely." His eyes gleam. "So will the others. Julian. Nadia. That charming human coordinator, Elena. All of them."
I reach for the panic button…
Valentina moves faster than I can track, her hand closing around my wrist. "None of that."
Maximus lunges for Konstantin, but more vampires emerge from the shadows. Four, six, eight of them, surrounding us. We're outnumbered. Outmaneuvered. Exactly where Konstantin wanted us.
"You can try to fight your way out," Konstantin says pleasantly. "But by the time you reach your compound, there won't be anyone left to save. Or…" He holds up a hand. "You can listen to my alternative offer."
"What offer?" Maximus growls.
"Celeste comes with me. Now. Willingly." Konstantin's eyes lock onto mine. "And I call off the attack. Your people live. Your network survives. All it costs is her."
"No," Maximus says immediately.
"I wasn't asking you." Konstantin's gaze never leaves my face. "I was asking her."
The compound. Elena. Marcellus. Everyone we left behind, trusting us to keep them safe. They're going to die because we walked into this trap. Because we weren't smart enough to see what Konstantin was really planning.
Unless I stop it.
The calculation is cold and instant, the same part of my brain that used to assess opponents in the ring. Threat. Vulnerability. Leverage. Konstantin doesn't just want me; he wants to use me against Maximus.
So I give him what he wants.
"Celeste, don't." Maximus's voice is strained. He knows. Of course he knows. "Whatever you're thinking…"
"Call them off," I say to Konstantin, and my voice doesn't shake. I'm proud of that. "Call off the attack. Now. And I'll come with you."
"Celeste!"
Time slows down the way it used to before a fight. Every detail crystallizes: the dust motes floating in the warehouse light, the slight curl of Konstantin's satisfied smile, the desperate fury in Maximus's eyes.
I catalog what I'm giving up.
The compound that became home. The room where Maximus first kissed me. The training sessions where I finally started to feel competent in this new body. Elena's sharp humor and sharper compassion. Nadia's grudging respect. Julian's quiet mentorship.
Maximus.
