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I tried not to look at him, not to make eye contact. I could tell he was doing the same, but he wasn’t being very subtle about it. I could feel every stolen glance, every side-eyed look. It was hard not to be a little excited.

He was, after all, still very much that dangerous man from the nightclub, and the effect he had on me hadn’t been dulled now that I knew his name. If anything, he was more dangerous. He was a Diaboli, a mage with weird powers over demonic entities and their kin.

What secrets did he know?

Dinner resumed more or less normally after my brief moment away from the table. We had our starters, then our main course arrived, and shortly after that, dessert was served. A creamy cheesecake with a raspberry sauce and a side of cream, it looked delicious.

As we ate, I looked around at the rest of the table. Despite our earlier apprehension and the stressful day we’d had, everyone was looking much more relaxed. It didn’t look like my father was feeling at all vulnerable, not anymore, not the way he was talking to the patriarch of the Diaboli family.

They were laughing so much, you’d have thought they were the oldest and bestest of friends.

My mother though, she and Carla had just about exchanged pleasantries, but they hadn’t said much to each other since. I doubted if they had anything in common. My mother was a little older than Carla was, and honestly, she was something of a recluse. Carla, however, looked like she lived and breathed to attract attention, and that was bound to rub my mother the wrong way.

Looking at Max, he seemed to be a little more tense than everyone else. I wondered if he was still feeling the effects of his first hangover, or if he just felt a bit out of place. I made a mental note to speak with him later to make sure he was doing ok.

I finally let my eyes roam over to Lucien, who was wiping the corners of his mouth with a napkin having finished his cheesecake. Our eyes locked. I saw his Adam’s apple work. I glanced at my plate, at the last piece of cheesecake left, then looked up at him again. He swallowed once more.

Grinning slightly, I forked the piece of cheesecake, gave Lucien my eyes, and very carefully slipped the fork into my mouth, letting my lips close around it. Lucien’s eyes widened. He grabbed the edge of the table with one hand and looked as if he was visibly straining. I shut my eyes, chewed, and swallowed, savoring the experience of exciting him from across the table.

When I opened my eyes again, though, the entire dining room was dark. A chair drew back, scratching roughly against the wooden floor. “Dad?” Max called out. “What’s happening?”

“I’m not sure,” my father said.

My heart surged into my throat. The room was pitch black; I couldn’t see the stars beyond the windows, or even the windows themselves.

A current of power suddenly pushed through the room, knocking me out of my own senses for a moment. Magic. It bore through the room like a freight train, forcing me to get up quickly, to react. Just as soon as I went to stand, though, someone grabbed my shoulder and forced me to sit back down.

The lights flickered on again, and my heart started beating like a jackhammer against my chest. The room was now full of people, each of them clad in black, with a cowl over their heads and dark masks that covered most of their faces. There were two behind my father, two behind my mother, and another four behind Max and me.

I tried to get up, but one of the men behind me squeezed my shoulder, digging his fingers into my skin hard enough to cause me to cry out.

“What is all of this?!” my father roared. “Diaboli, what have you done!”

Mason Diaboli put a finger up to silence my father while he finished the last piece of his cake. He took his time with it, labored over it. Then, when he was done, wiped his mouth with a napkin and placed it gently on the plate.

Who were these people? And why were they in our house?

“There’s been a change of plans,” Mason said.

“Change of plans?” my mother asked. “What are you talking about?”

“An alliance with your family sounds… interesting. But we now have an advantage that I hadn’t considered we would ever have.”

“Dad, what are you doing?!” Lucien asked.

“Shut up, Lucien,” Mason barked. “The grown-ups are talking.”

One of the men standing behind the head of the Diaboli family slipped something off his neck and handed it to Mason. I recognized it instantly, and as soon as I did, my blood ran cold in my veins. I felt like I was going to throw up. Everything, every last bite of food I had eaten tonight, came gurgling up.

They have the amulet.

“Nifty little toy,” said Mason. “Funny that it should have fallen into my hands, don’t you think?”

“That doesn’t belong to you,” my father said.

“No, it doesn’t. I believe it belongs… to you.”

Mason placed the amulet on the table. My father went to grab it, but Mason yanked it back a few inches by its chain.