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I bit my lip, allowing my blood to drip down my chin. Darkness immediately lapped at the small wound, absorbing my blood. “I am Shara Isador, Daughter of Esetta and Typhon, Father of Monsters. All creatures of darkness under Typhon’s domain, hear my plea. Guard and protect my blood circles. Feast on any undead corrupted thralls lingering in my cities. Mark the faces of anyone who enters my domain. Track them. Find them. Whisper their secrets to me. Wrap my presence in darkness to obscure me from what seeks to harm me and mine. Make them fear the darkness. Make them fear Isador.”

Hollow knocks rolled up from the depths of the earth. Tiny marching feet echoed through the concrete as millions of rats marched to my command. My ears hummed with high-pitched sonar as bats zipped and dipped in the sky. Eyes above. Eyes below. Moving at night to track what wished to remain hidden. Not just here in New York City but everywhere. Darkness in the earth carried my message far and wide, uniting with the creatures who’d risen to my aid in Paris.

Now the sphinxes had competition beneath New York City as the demons of darkness crawled up from the bowels of the earth to join the hunt.

While my blood still flowed, I pulled the Eleusinian Mysteries over my body, obscuring myself. It was too late as far as the vision I’d had with Esetta, but hopefully it would protect me from whatever we found brewing down here. Then I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth, cleaning up my blood and closing the small wound.

Opening my eyes, I turned around slowly, getting a feel for the layout of the basement. Where each of my Blood were deployed. It’d been long enough since I’d been down here that I was afraid that I might not remember how to reach the dark, twisted space in the labyrinth of hallways where Ezra had stumbled across Tanza’s blood circle. But I could feel the old pain and tainted blood like a stain that never washed away.

Rik had already sent Blood ahead of me, guarding the way. I’d never taken the time to look around the space much. Not with my Blood trapped inside with the demon child. Dying. In pain. This time, I looked around, noting the large garage-like doors. It was a loading dock, with easy access to the street. Though my blood circle burned around the building now, keeping anyone out who might wander by, it wouldn’t have been nearly as secure when Tanza was here.

:Goddess,: Leonie whispered in our bond. :So much pain lingers here. The silence still rings with screams. So many dead. Not just Aima but humans too. Many victims were killed in this space.:

:One hundred percent,: Carys replied, her mental voice shaken. :Only the second I’ve ever seen.:

My lips quirked and I teased her gently. :That’s at least the third or fourth you’ve seen today.:

:Who the fuck is counting?: She retorted with a huff and Winnifred squawked, clicking her beak sharply at me. :What I mean is such certainty is extremely rare.:

Even months later, the concrete was blackened from where we’d burned Tanza and Keisha’s bodies. Sobered, I pointed to the deepest corner, furthest away from the loading dock doors. :Tanza had a tainted blood circle over there. Ezra accidentally stepped inside it, and then he couldn’t leave. She tortured her victims inside the circle and fed on their pain. Her mother tried to placate her with blood, but she only wanted suffering. I couldn’t sense the blood circle at all until I knew what to look for. It didn’t have a warning tingle like ours.:

We walked closer to the other blackened spot. :This is where we disposed of Keisha’s body after I drained her. Within hours, she’d started decomposing, and her corpse was full of Ra’s scarab beetles.:

:She’s here,: Leonie said. :She wants to speak to you.:

Oh fuck.

54

XIN

Despite the possibility of a new threat to my queen that we didn’t fully understand, I couldn’t help but be ecstatic to be on the hunt once more. I thought about running the short distance back to the tower, but the humans were still getting into the car. And the door was open…

So I slipped inside and crouched on the carpeted floor of the limousine. It wouldn’t hurt to listen in to their conversation, though they all carried Isador blood now. In theory, they should be trustworthy.

Though no Blood would ever fully trust a human. Not to the same level as another Blood. They simply didn’t have the same compulsions to serve their queen and ultimately, the Great Mother. Not to mention most humans were easily corrupted by greed. Aima too, of course, especially queens working to build their court at the expense of another rival’s power. But that particular flavor of greed I understood.

I didn’t understand why humans would commit murder and crimes against the Mother simply for a larger bank account. Though I suppose in their world, money bore the same power as blood for us.

Kevin spoke on the phone. “Good evening, Your Majesty. This is Kevin Isador. We had a bit of a problem earlier with Janelle and left the tower for our queen’s safety. Could you bring everyone into the main conference room for a quick update on the situation?”

I didn’t know the queen on the other end of the conversation, but I easily picked up her words. “A problem with Janelle? Really? But she was doing so well.”

“Unfortunately, yes. Queen Shara asked me to brief all the queens in the tower about what happened.”

“It’s rather late. Can it wait until morning?”

A bogus request—and certainly suspicious as far as I was concerned. Aima didn’t give a damn about what time of the day or night their queen might need to speak to them. She might be a queen in her own right, but she lived to serve House Isador now. I crept closer so I could glance at his phone screen to see who he’d called. Venissa Awen. I didn’t know anything about her, but I marked her name for the rest of the Blood.

:Daughter of Venus,: Daire said. :Her house was originally founded in Venice, Italy.:

“Unfortunately, no,” Kevin replied. “Queen Shara would like for us to discuss divvying up Janelle’s siblings and holdings among the other queens. I would hate for someone to miss out. I believe Janelle had over a hundred sibs associated with her house as well as several interesting pieces of property in both Ireland and Scotland.”

He might only be human, but he knew exactly what kind of lure to dangle before the lesser queens.

“Of course. Might Her Majesty also be interested in allowing some of us to return to Paris and take on responsibilities inherited from House Valois?”

:She must have also been a sibling to Rosalind,: I sent back to Daire. :She wants to return to Paris.: