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“You cannot escape me,” she hissed, her voice echoing off the buildings, reaching into the very core of our beings. “I will have you, just as I had your mother and your brother, and this curse will go on.”

Her sinister laughter filled the air as her image began to fade, leaving behind a chill that cut deeper than the wind.

A sickening silence fell on the street. The neon lights of Dizzy’s Donuts flickered, casting eerie shadows on the pavement. The Matriarch’s words hung in the air, a promise and a threat. Her power was real, and she wouldn’t stop until she had what she wanted.

Me.

“We have to find the cure,” Damien said, his voice grim. “We have to end this curse. Now more than ever.”

I nodded, knowing he was right. The fight had just begun.

Damien grabbed my hand and opened the car door. “Let’s go before the Enforcers get here and we’re stuck in an interrogation room for the rest of the night.”

Chapter 24

‘Till the World Ends

Damien

The adrenaline of our confrontation with the vampires—the haunting image of the Matriarch and those disturbing tentacles falling from her lips—still flooded through my mind as we approached Marmont’s Chateau. I had asked Robby about a hundred times if he was okay with continuing the night, and each time, he would answer with a resolute “yes, abso-fucking-lutely.” So I stopped questioning him, realizing that maybe it was me who needed the reassurance in this situation.

I had—once again—feared that I was about to lose Robby. Of course, I had confidence that I could kick four vampires right in the ass, but when Helstriva appeared, I thought it was over. I didn’t think I’d be able to put up any sort of fight against her ancient power.

But it had been a projection. We were safe. Robby was safe. And now we had a dragon’s hoard to break into. It was time to set aside all the doubt and anxiety, focusing instead on what was ahead.

And what was ahead happened to be fucking beautiful. I thought the Blackthorne Castle was a sight to behold, but Marmont’s Chateau had us beat by a long shot.

Nestled in the heart of West Hollywood, the chateau seemed to resonate with the ancient power of dragon magic from its pale stones and polished marble, its grandeur a testament to ages long gone. The structure was a spellbinding fusion of timeless elegance and modern luxury, a property imbued with magic at every corner. Its pale stoned spires loomed above skinny palm trees, carved with intricate patterns that made it look like the brick were actually made of scales. There were statues of a variety of mythical creatures, each one holding a torch ablaze with enchanted blue fire.

A bridge wrapped in phosphorescent vines and bathed in soft moonlight led us to the grand golden gates. They were guarded by two jewel-eyed fae, one with sapphire eyes and the other with turquoise eyes, whose beauty was outdone only by the ethereal ledger they held, shimmering with names of the invitees.

“Name?” the sapphire-eyed one asked, moving aside a golden curl from her airbrushed skin. Unlike the vampires, fae definitely had pores, which was a testament to how great she was at doing her makeup.

“Maddox Blackthorne,” I said. “This is my plus-one.”

Maddox’s name glowed brightly as they stepped aside and the gates opened, the aura of the chateau beckoning us in, its walls pulsating with an energy that seemed to say, “Forget your worries; embrace the night. It could be your last.”

The chateau wasn’t just Marmont’s residence. Sometime around the late ’90s, the dragon had opened up his property to guests who wanted to pay exorbitant amounts of money to stay there. We walked past five separate bungalows, one of them having the windows wide open to reveal a six-person orgy in full swing.

No, seriously—they had a swing in there.

“That looks fun,” Robby commented, his cheeks flushing pink.

“Want to join them?” I teased him, walking around a kissing pair of fae dressed in mesh shorts and nothing else.

“Oh?” Robby said, continuing down the path by my side. “Have you ever, you know, done any group stuff?”

“Once or twice,” I answered. He nearly stumbled and fell into a glittering koi pond, purple and blue lights under the water making the fish glow like captive stars.

“How was it?” he asked, and I could tell his curiosity had been piqued. I couldn’t hold back the smirk.

“It was a good time,” I said, deciding to play it a little coy with him. I wasn’t ashamed of playing around with a group of other guys. I was single, and so were they, all four of us drunk and the last ones standing (and sucking and fucking) in the hot tub, the rest of the party having dispersed.

“Hmm,” Robby said with a sheepish grin.