Page 2 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

“That can’t be what they wished for.”

“It was,” he insisted.“A djinn’s magic comes at a cost.The changes we make to reality have to be balanced.Usually the cost is distributed among hundreds to thousands of people, diluting the impact to the point where it’s barely noticeable.My magic is… broken.”

“What do you mean?”I asked.

He ran a hand through his thick black hair before he turned and walked a few paces away.

“Garion.”I took a step toward him.

Deep lines creased his face when he turned back to me.“You made abargain?”

“I shouldn’t have,” I said.“I knew that before and after I made the deal.I don’t understand why I agreed to his offer in the moment, but I did.”

His head bowed toward the ground.He looked so… defeated.So weary and drained.It hurt to see him like that.Aside from Nora, he was the only paranorm at The Rain who’d known me before college.He’d always listened when I needed to talk, and he’d been there for me after my parents’ deaths.His quiet wisdom had always fortified me.I couldn’t betray him.

“Here.”I held out the djinn’s token.“Take it.Hide it.If I can’t find it, I can’t give it away.”

Garion’s hands fisted at his sides.“You made a bargain with a fey, Kennedy.There are consequences if you break it.”

“There are consequences if I don’t.My parents kept your secret for the past five years.I’ve been here three months and all I’ve done is create chaos.”Deliberatechaos for the most part because I’d refused to maintain the status quo.

“Who did you make the bargain with?”Garion asked.

“Canyon.”I grimaced.“That’s not his real name.He’s the king—”

The door at the end of the hall slammed open.I shoved Garion’s token into my pocket, sure that I’d somehow summoned Canyon, and he was barging in to collect it.Lightning highlighted the silhouette of a tall figure, a figure who flung something large into the hall.I didn’t have a chance to see what it was before Garion swung me behind him.

A rumble of thunder followed another flash of lightning.I looked around Garion’s shoulder and saw that the somethingwas a someone.Deagan.

Garion grabbed my arm when I rushed forward to help.

“It’s Deagan,” I told him, attempting to pull free.But Garion wasn’t focused on the unconscious vampire; he was focused on that vampire’s master.

Jared’s chest heaved.The left side of his face glistened with blood, some of it pooling into his eye, the rest disappearing under his collar.That, coupled with his cold expression and the eerie shadows that seemed to wrap around his torso, made him a menacing and monstrous sight.There was a reason he had been Arcuro’s enforcer for well over a century.Jared had the ability to instill bone-deep terror into anyone who crossed his path.

Thank God he was an ally.

After a deep inhale through my nose and a slower exhale out, I erased my instinctive fear and removed Garion’s hand from my arm.He allowed it this time.

Moving cautiously, I kept my attention divided between Jared and Deagan.When I reached the unconscious vampire sprawled out on the cold floor, I knelt down.“He’s not any better?”

“No,” Jared said.

“What have you done for him?”Deagan no longer wore the tattered clothes from when I’d found him in the compound, but this new set was just as bloodstained and ruined.

“I have fed him,” Jared said.

I looked up.“Blood?”

“He is a vampire.”

“Who was abused by vampires,” I said, but Jared’s response didn’t surprise me.He was more of a kill someone than care for someone type of person.

I turned my attention back to Deagan.He still hadn’t moved or opened his eyes.His fingernails were broken, his flesh gouged and scratched, and his dry, cracked lips stuck together.“Why isn’t he healing?”

“He is blood-crazed.”Jared took a step farther inside.“Delirious.He cannot control himself enough to make up for what he lost.He spills more blood than he ingests.I have fed him from my own veins.I have brought him young and Aged vampires.I have brought him humans, and he has ripped them all to shreds.”

“Have you—” Wait.What?“Are you kidding me?”