Page 47

“The building over the Colonia Dome was already of great interest.” The lawyer leans forward. “Few humans have seen the inside. Now the nightclub—he’s calling it the Fifth Chamber—it is a source of chatter. They want to experience the venom.”

“This isn’t new,” I say. “The venom was always the lure and the pain was always the price. That’s how the donor pool stayed small. We can handle it.”

“The clubs have all but disappeared as the vampire population has waned. Fifth Chamber opens at a time when nothing rare stays concealed. There are memes. ”

“Is that a weapon?” I ask.

Orlando chuckles. Serafina rubs her eyes as if hiding her face.

“Sometimes,” Luna says. “It’s how we talk to each other without words. On the internet.” She stops leaning on me when she speaks to Nazario. “And I get it. We can’t go in there and start killing.”

“We?” I ask.

“Correct,” the lawyer interjects. “This is New York City. It’s packed with humans who are not your subjects.

There is no System to keep them in control.

They will hunt us into hiding. We have power, but they have numbers and fear.

Enough to upset the balance. And there is the problem of the owner of the club. ”

“He has two rings,” I say.

“Exactly.”

“So, you knew.”

“Of course I knew,” he huffs. “Nothing happens to those rings behind the goddess’s back.”

“And she approves?” I cannot believe this is true.

“Charles has made a decision to live outside the boundaries the goddess set for her children. I advise against you doing the same.”

“This is all a him problem.” Tommy jerks his thumb in my direction. “Let them fight. Leave us out of it.”

“I cannot fight another king,” I say. “But I can rip you apart.”

Nazario taps his cane, and we quiet for it. He addresses Tommy. “Your company was contracted to do the renovations?”

“So?”

“So you know where the entrance to the labyrinth is?”

He shrugs. “I’m not going down there. No way.”

“You want your kin, yes?”

He crosses his arms.

“If you’re too much of a coward,” I say, “just invite me in and lead me there.”

“I can’t invite you. It’s not my building.”

“Anyone who builds it, pays for it, or sleeps in it can invite us.”

“I’ll do it.” Orlando speaks up for the first time. He glances at Serafina.

I don’t have Luna’s talents, so I can’t read Orlando as she can, but when he looks at Serafina, he doesn’t see the pain in the ass that I do. He sees eternity.

“I have the plans,” Orlando adds. “I’ll pass them to you. But I’m just the architect. I don’t know if my invitation will be good.”

“You built it.” I lay my gaze on Tommy, then Orlando. “I came alone, as requested. It’ll take me twenty-four hours to get my kindred here.”

Luna sees the movement of my hand. I can’t hide it in a pocket while I’m sitting. More than that, I don’t want to ever explain to her what’s happening to me. Then she does something I didn’t even have the imagination to hope for. She puts her hand over mine and squeezes, holding it steady.

I continue, “So we will steal the knife. There’s already a mix of blood in Charles’s colony. His nose will be confused. My kindred will be here by next nightfall. Orlando, can you make sure we are invited inside before Friday?”

“Wednesday. I’ll send everyone home and stay late to finish up. South side of the building. I’m assuming you can fly to the second floor or whatever.”

“Yes. You’ll give me the plans then?”

“Don’t be too late.”

“I won’t. Bene . We are agreed.”

“Great.” Tommy claps once. “Deal is sealed on Wednesday.”

“No.” I slap my hand on the table then point at the little weasel. “You get nothing until I know those plans and the invite are good. The deal is sealed when I’m in the labyrinth.”

“How am I supposed to know when that is?”

Again, the lawyer taps his cane for attention. “The goddesses have decided. Moonchildren, your goddess will crescent Friday, the night the Fifth Chamber opens. The Raven King seeks the restorative power of the Ossidiana Knife. The Eastern Islands Pack seeks to be made whole.”

“Talk about a you problem,” Serafina says under her breath.

She’s going to be trouble, but thankfully, not mine.

Nazario continues. “The pack will exchange access to the knife for their kin. But since more was promised than will be delivered, the weres must wait until midnight Saturday to receive their payment. If the Raven King does not emerge, they will not be at fault. They have closed the deal and will receive Sorenda Lugano.”

Serafina snorts in denial, and again, he ignores her.

“The witch and the half-were will stay with me. The goddesses will protect them until the vampire either emerges with his knife or dies trying. Collateral is free to go at closing. Either party may null the contract after they’ve delivered blah-blah-et-cetera. We are adjourned.”

Sam puts his hand under Nazario’s arm to help him stand.

We are done. Silently, we make our way out of the meeting room. Serafina returns with the lawyers. The wolves take the stairs. I open the fire door for Luna so we can stand in front of the elevator. As if she knows what I need, she holds my hand to hide the tremors.

This is what it’s like to love and be loved.

Except that it’s forced. This connection is an illusion. She’s in the deepest thrall I’ve ever imposed. I created her feelings by tying her weakness to my spite, and she plucked my fucking string. I want to be angry, but all I can feel is irritation that she won’t be sleeping in my bed.

“You’re safe with Nazario,” I whisper to her.

“Even from you?” she asks with a gentle push against me.

“Unfortunately.”

The doors slide open. Nunzio, his snake over one shoulder, is inside with Sam, who has returned in a navy pantsuit.

“Nunzi!” Luna lets go of me to hug him as if she hasn’t seen him in days, much less minutes. “You be careful, okay?”

“Sure.” They laugh when the snake gets in the way, and I put my rogue hand in my pocket before getting into the elevator.

Nunzio whispers to her, asking if she’s all right, and I can’t hear another sound in the space between his question and her answer, whispered back with a touch on his hand.

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

Thank you.

Gratitude, to him, for asking a question. For having concern. For being there for her. Human emotions exchanged like shiny beads.

“It’s been ten minutes,” I grumble as the doors close.

“He’s been my shadow for days.” She bumps her hip into me. “Thanks to you.”

Now the warmth they share is my fault.

Great. Flawless. Bravo to me.

Nunzio shares something with Luna that I will never share with her—humanity. It binds them with knots that grow tighter with every second that passes. Every tear that falls, every laugh in their chests, every thread of emotion that ties them to death also ties them together.

When they look at each other, they see themselves. It’s a comfort to fear the same thing. To have the same end. I am not mortal. I am just dying. I understand the difference now in a way I didn’t before. My mortality is unnatural—a problem to be fixed, not a shared fate.

The jealousy is childish and unjustifiable.

It is also unbearable.

I pull her hand. “Come with me.”

I pull us into the fold between life and death, but only for as long as we need to travel to a place where we can be alone. She succumbs to my touch, but she’s surprised by the unexpected change and pulls from my grasp with all the dexterity and strength of a Strega.

When we exit into the Manifest, she’s loose, and since I didn’t consider that where I was bringing her was incompatible with losing control over her, she immediately starts to fall.