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“Except for Yichen,” Chen whispered.

“He was restless,” Junjie added.

Ming Yue dropped her head into one of her hands. “And we argued.”

“Yichen left the manor one night after getting into an argument.”

“He kept talking about going home.” Ming Yu’s soft voice trembled as she spoke. “We couldn’t understand why. It’s been two thousand years. Nothing would be as he remembered.”

Moon’s heart went out to all of them. It was as they’d said. Yichen had been feeling restless and needed a break. It was probably common for someone when they lived for so long. This silly argument should never have ended the way it did.

“From what we can tell, Yichen crossed an elf. We’re not entirely sure what happened after that, but the elf took him. We fought a cluster of elves and other fae for two months,” Daniel continued.

“Killed dozens of the bastards,” Junjie snarled. “We glimpsed Yichen once…”

“And they simply disappeared.” Daniel’s firm voice fell off to nothing.

“It took us another year of digging and researching to discover what they were and the truth of Moving Day,” Chen continued when it seemed as if Daniel could not. “We contacted hundreds of witches throughout Asia and Europe over the years, trying to find a way to force the door open so that we could reach Didi, but…”

“You can’t,” Red said. “There’s no opening the door or closing it early. It simply is, the same as the changing of the seasons and the setting of the sun.” The earth witch sat up and took a big drink of his tea. “I’m sorry that happened to your clan mate. I’ll…I’ll help you.”

Moon’s heart jumped into his throat. He wanted to launch himself across the table and hug the crap out of Red.

The words were barely out of Red’s mouth when Maddox was sighing as well. “Yeah, me too.”

“Seriously? Both of you?”

Red wrinkled his nose. “Wow. Gee. Thanks, bro. Nice to think your opinion of us is so high.”

“And he’s the one calling us assholes,” Maddox muttered.

“Of course you’re both assholes. It’s part of the reason I love you. I just didn’t think you’d agree so easily.” Moon was so relieved, he was feeling light-headed.

Sky smirked. “We were half convinced they kidnapped you, and we’re sitting here now. How can we not try to help when they’ve lost someone they care about?” The necromancer turned his attention to Daniel and offered a small bow of his head. “I know that my magic is of no use at the moment in finding the fae, but if there’s some way I can help, I’m happy to lend my support to rescuing Yichen.”

“As a necromancer, does that mean you can call an entire army of the dead to march on the fae?” Junjie’s voice bubbled over with excitement.

“Yeah, Sky,” Red drawled. “Why don’t you tell them about the time you made the dead all around the city get out of their graves?”

The necromancer groaned and dropped his face into his hands. “Oh my gawd, that was not my fault.”

“That was you?” Chen inquired from beside Moon.

“Noooo,” Sky moaned.

Moon smirked and tipped his head toward Chen. “Technically, no, but he was involved. Seems he pissed off a demon and when the demon came to get him, something else escaped from the underworld at the same time.”

Sky’s head jerked up, and he waved his hands wildly in the air. “It was all a misunderstanding. The demon and I worked it out. Everything is good now.”

A choking noise slipped from Winter as if he were trying to stifle a laugh. He cleared his throat and looked at Daniel. “It’s good to know that you have no desire to claim this territory. Things have settled recently, and we’d like to enjoy a little peace among the vampire clans. I understand your goal of rescuing your brother, and I will tell my father of your intentions. He may still wish to speak to you. His concern will probably be focused on protecting other vampires and keeping our secret from the humans.”

“I understand and welcome a conversation between our two clans,” Xiao Dan stated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a white business card. He extended it to Winter with a smile. “That is my private number. I look forward to meeting King Aiden.”

Winter accepted the card and tucked it away in the front pocket of his hoodie. He turned his attention to the trio he’d arrived with. “Are you good without me?”

Moon huffed while Mad waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. We have the scary blood witch to protect us if things go bad.”

“Not that they will,” Moon growled.

That time, Winter did chuckle as he rose to his feet. Junjie stood as well. “I will show you out.”

The two vampires left the meeting room, and all attention shifted to the earth witches who had promised to help locate the fae door before it appeared.