Page 127 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

We were all dangerous.

And tonight, that was exactly what the world needed from us.

“Rest,” Raven said, straightening. “All of you.”

She met my gaze. “And you, Cass, are not using that level of fire again without a plan in place.”

I gave her a thin smile. “I will try.”

Constantine’s eyes met mine.

We both knew how weak that promise was.

Isra looped his arm through Marcus’ finally, more a grip than an embrace, and steered him toward the door.

“We will talk later,” he said.

Marcus nodded. “I will be here.”

They left together, the door closing softly behind them.

Silence settled.

Con shifted, wincing as he rolled slightly onto his side to face me.

“You burned half a hall,” he said quietly.

“You almost died in it,” I replied.

“We have the fragment,” he said.

“Yes,” I answered.

He watched me for a long moment. “We are still breathing.”

“For tonight,” I said.

He reached out, fingers brushing mine where my hand rested on the edge of the bed.

“We do not lose,” he murmured.

CHAPTER 20

Raven lingered near the chair where Marcus had set the case.

The room had quieted again. Con’s breathing had evened out, the bags of blood stacked empty in the cooler beside the bed. The scent of iron still hung in the air, laced with smoke and the citrus from the soap in my bathroom.

My body ached in places I had not yet cataloged, but the adrenaline had settled enough that the pain felt distant, layered under weariness.

Raven reached for the case.

Her fingers brushed the surface first, as if testing for a residual charge. The Pentacoris fragment was inside.

Still, I saw her hesitate.

She opened the case and reached inside. When her hand came out, it cradled the piece of the Pentacoris.

The fragment.