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I refused to let it end like this. I gave chase for a full block, keeping pace with the speeding vehicle. They blew through a red light into busy cross-traffic. Horns blared and cars swerved to avoid a collision. I skidded to a stop, missing the minivan that was destined to crash into me.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuckkkk!” I cursed violently as the sedan disappeared into Chicago’s maze of streets.

For a long moment, I stood there, chest heaving from rage and disbelief. Teresa turned Marisol. She created another vampire, an enemy specifically engineered to hurt my brother and his human.

My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I removed it to look at the screen. It was Zand. I ignored it. This news needs to be delivered in person. Immediately.

There was no fucking way I failed again. Fuck! I failed again.

CHAPTER TWENTY

HARLEN

Zand was going to be disappointed with me, but not more disappointed than I was with myself.I was bested by a new vampire, a new girl vampire. My night would be unbelievable if I was there to witness this shit firsthand with my own vampire eyes.

Defeated by the night’s events, I ran back to my car and drove directly to The Castle.

I parked in the private lot and entered the staff door at the side, where a lone security guard nodded when he saw me. It was either Jim or Nick. There was another guy named Viktor too, but it wasn’t him. He didn’t question my disheveled appearance or the wild look in my eyes. In vampire ran establishments, you learn not to ask unnecessary questions.

I pushed through the crowd, ignoring the curious glances. My singular focus was to find my brother.

My key card granted access to the private elevator. With a key card swipe, the doors slide open with a soft ping that felt absurdly mundane, given the chaos in my head. Inside, Ipunched the button for the top floor. The elevator felt too slow and too confined.

When the doors finally opened. I sprinted down the red painted hallway to Zand’s office. I didn’t knock. There was no time for courtesy.

Zand sat behind his desk. Natasha was standing beside him. They were both poring over what appeared to be security footage on a laptop. Their heads snapped up in unison at my intrusion. Their expressions shifted from irritation to concern as they registered my bewildered state.

All the tact and decorum exited my body, and I blurted. “She’s a vampire. Marisol Lopez is a fucking vampire.”

Zand’s face went completely still. It was a stillness that only vampires could achieve. It was the absence of unnecessary breathing and human fidgeting. Only his eyes remained alive while his body was still and lifeless.

“Explain.” He commanded.

I paced the length of his office, unable to stand still. My hands gestured wildly as the words poured out.

“I followed Marisol from the club. It was the perfect ambush in a dark stretch with no people around. But she knew I was behind her.” I run a hand through my cropped hair. I still couldn’t fully process what happened. “She moved like us. She fought like us. And then, fuck, then, I saw her fangs.”

Natasha stepped forward. “You are certain?” Her accent was thicker with the tension that filled the office.

“She threw me ten or twenty feet into a parked car. No human could do that. She’s been turned.”

Zand stood abruptly. “Teresa!” He snarled her name like it was poison on his tongue.

“Marisol confirmed it,” I nodded. “Said to tell you your ex-wife sends her regards. She said Teresa gave her the power to avenge her brother.”

“That crazy bitch.” Natasha muttered.

“Marisol is a newly turned vampire with a vendetta, driven by human grief and rage?” Zand said through gritted teeth.

“I almost had her.” The failure was like a bitter pill I didn’t want to swallow. “But she escaped in a car. The was a driver was a pale woman with dark hair. Someone new.”

“A vampire.” Zand and Natasha said in unison.

“I don’t know.”

“We should assume they are all vampires.” Zand added, and I thought that was a good assumption.

Natasha turned her laptop around, showing traffic camera footage from downtown. “I’ve been tracking Teresa’s movements. Last three nights, she’s been in this area.” She pointed to a map with a red dot blinking near Lake Michigan. “She’s staying somewhere near Pilsen, Gage Park, Little Village or South Lawndale. Her vehicle keeps appearing on traffic cams in those areas.”