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Alarm filled Grayson. The humans could come after the Vampires.

Kill them with sunlight. Go after Ryder .

He imagined hearing Ryder howl in his wolf form as the humans shot him through and through with some terrible hooked and barbed weapon, laced with poison that would work against Vampires.

He imagined hordes of soldiers flooding Ever Dark’s streets with orders to shoot to kill any Vampire they saw.

He imagined students screaming and running and dying…

except they weren’t students, they were…

Fledglings! My fledglings! I--

He heard something rocking. They all looked towards the sound. It was the heavy metal table that the Horys Vampire lay on. It was rocking wildly. And he was doing it.

“Ashyr,” Elgar breathed, mistaking his ability for the Vampire gift.

The table rocked more . Grayson couldn’t control it! The Horys Vampire’s body was about to slide all the way off! But he kept smelling blood! And he kept seeing people coming to--

“Be calm. Breathe.” Dani stood in front of him and gripped both of his shoulders. “Grayson, listen to me. You are safe. We are safe. Everyone is safe. Breathe, baby, c’mon, breathe.”

He breathed. He kept breathing. The images faded away. The table slowed then stopped moving. He let out a shuddery breath. She rubbed his shoulders, calming him further. He gave her a nod that he was okay. She smiled and stepped back.

“I’m sorry. I’m normally so careful…” Grayson let the sentence stand.

He didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t lost control in a very long time. And that hadn’t even been losing control of what he’d done back then. He’d killed his stepfather deliberately. And this made no sense. To get so upset. To see… he really didn’t know what he’d seen.

“It only makes sense that things are a little more intense for you now that you’re here,” Dani offered to him as an explanation.

He opened his mouth to ask why being here, in the Ever Dark, changed things for him at all.

But Caemorn was speaking, “We have a plan. Several. But, Dani and Elgar, it might be a good idea to tell Balthazar about what he used to be able to do as Eyros, yes?”

“I’m figuring things out as I go along!” Balthazar complained. “I’m not like you who wrote everything down in triplicate!”

“Which has been very useful, has it not? I am able to recreate some of the greatest aspects of my gift,” Caemorn pointed out.

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “You’re so smart. I am so dumb. We all know.”

“You are hardly dumb. You are holding back. For we know that you also must have some Kaly gifts. You must when we consider Christian,” Caemorn pointed out with a meaningful look. It was almost beseeching.

Grayson frowned. He was still a little shaky, but asked, “How could he have Kaly gifts? I thought every Bloodline was separate?”

“It’s a long story.” Balthazar scrubbed the back of his neck. “But, let’s just say, I’m a little leery about looking too deeply into the past or figuring out exactly what I can do. I don’t trust myself. It has nothing to do with you, Caemorn.”

Caemorn looked unconvinced. Grayson frowned.

“You really don’t remember, Balthazar?” Dani asked the Eyros Vampire, but her eyes flashed to Grayson. “Being Eyros, I mean?”

“I remember walking across this battlefield in bare feet. My hands spread to the sides and people just became ash all around me,” Balthazar said and shuddered.

“I have no idea how I did that. I don’t want to know.

Because I wasn’t bothered by it at all. Not a bit.

After that, I decided I really didn’t want to know anymore. ”

“Master is very powerful. He can undo the body,” Elgar moaned and hugged the skull tightly. “But it wasn’t enough. Wasn’t. Will it be now?”

Balthazar went over to the other Eyros Vampire and drew him in for a hug. “Now, now, Elgar, we don’t have to talk about the War or anything. Just let it go. Let it go. Daemon is here now. Caemorn is here. Nothing bad is going to happen that we can’t stop.”

Elgar leaned into Balthazar’s chest and just closed his eyes for a moment. Balthazar stroked his back and looked sad.

“Seems like no one wants to remember,” Grayson said. “No wonder Ryder’s struggling.”

“Some would say it is foolish to think one can simply ignore the past,” Caemorn answered. “Because it will become the future if one isn’t careful.”

“But we are being careful.” Balthazar continued to pat and stroke Elgar. “We are aware of how we were and we’re not going to be that way again.”

“We haven’t been fully tested yet,” Caemorn pointed out. “The War showed us what we were capable of. A war against the humans could show us again.”

“Let’s hope not, shall we?” Balthazar sighed. “We’re just getting our good names back.”

“Some never lost theirs,” Dani said.

There was this meaningful pause and no one looked at each other. Except for Grayson who couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. The past hung heavy in that room. Grayson almost felt like he could pull it back with his hands and see all of it. But he kept himself still.

“Let’s--let’s focus on the present, shall we?” Balthazar suggested. “We have enough problems now.”

“Can’t you just read her mind when she’s asleep?” Grayson asked, shaking himself.

“Finding anything in a sleeping mind is like hoping to bump into a lost treasure ship in the dark. I need her awake,” Balthazar explained. “We ask her questions and whether she lies or not when she speaks--”

“She’ll lie,” Grayson, Dani, Caemorn and Elgar said as one.

Balthazar nodded. “Yes, she’ll lie with her lips , but her mind will offer the truth. She won’t be able to help it or stop it.”

And that sounded really good. They’d know the whole plot. She’d spill her guts without saying a word. Her mind would be an open book. And why did this sound like a terrible idea?

Because it can’t be this easy.

He stared at the Horys Vampire’s placid expression on that fox-like face.

Even in sleep, she would have some awareness of where she was.

Some memory of how she’d gotten there. Her face would not be so composed.

It would show pain, rage and fear. But it didn’t.

She almost looked content, satisfied, or even happy.

This is wrong. If I were working against the Vampires like the Sect of Dawn is, I would have safeguards in place. In fact, I would lean into the Vampires’ strengths. I would make my traps in those strengths.

Balthazar rubbed his hands together eagerly. “Elgar, let’s wake Sleeping Beauty up, shall we?”

“Wait!” Grayson stepped between Balthazar and the Horys Vampire.

“Grayson? What’s wrong?” Balthazar asked, but then his expression cleared. “Ah, see, your mind just told me what was wrong! You don’t have to say a word.”

“And what is his mind saying, Balthazar?” Dani asked with an uplifted eyebrow.

“Grayson believes that it can’t be this easy. Maybe that there’s even a trap, because they anticipated this… ah, ahhhhhh, well…” Balthazar grimaced.

“She was really confident when she spoke to me in the store. It wasn’t her being arrogant,” Grayson said as he thought back to what she had said to him.

If the Eyros Vampires were perfect at what they did all the time well… then the War would never have happened. But it did.

And she had even had bad words for Seeyr.

Seeyr? She couldn’t even stop herself from being imprisoned in the damned Spire. She says it was the only way to ensure that Daemon returned and got all the good things coming to him. But we know better. She is limited.

Balthazar heard those with him. “We’re not perfect, no. But she underestimates us--”

“Or she doesn’t. The Sect of Dawn has Horys Vampires in it, why not Eyros or Seeyr or both?” Grayson pressed. “They would know that if any of their operatives got caught that you would be the most likely person to interrogate them.”

“Her mind was fractured when I Whispered, Master,” Elgar said, still cuddling against Balthazar as if there was no other place he’d rather be. “But perhaps it was more? The Whisper is light but goes deep without my help. Your mind would have to go deep to get the full truth.”

“True.” Balthazar’s forehead furrowed.

Caemorn plucked out an egg-sized ruby from his pocket and flashed it before his fingers. “All the more reason to take her soul and make her tell us that way.”

“No, they’d anticipate that, too,” Grayson said with a firm shake of his head. “She mentioned both of you as the heads of the school. They’ve studied, you guys. They know everything about you.”

“Could these Vampires know the strengths of the Immortals though?” Caemorn asked. “There are so few from that time.”

“And of those that do remember, they have very bitter memories,” Dani added and shivered. “I believe Grayson. He has a… a strategic mind. Don’t you think? Daemon thinks so.”

Grayson glanced over at her in a little confusion, but both Balthazar and Caemorn nodded in agreement. When had Daemon said that? Well, it didn’t matter. Grayson knew he was right.

“So are we just going to not wake her up then?” Balthazar asked.

“No, we just shouldn’t do what they expect,” Grayson said, and then an idea came to him. It was an insane idea. He was still wobbly from holding all of the Vampires, but he thought he could do this. Especially, if he was in place before she was awake.

“Grayson, that is a very bad idea,” Balthazar said, catching his plan.

“What idea?” Dani asked.

“I should interview her,” Grayson said. “No one else should be in here, but me. Just me. You all should wait in another room.”

“What?” Dani laughed disbelievingly. “No! No way!”

“Once she wakes, her ability to use her gifts will be awakened, too,” Caemorn said. “Unless she’s kept from using them, but if there’s a plot here to harm any Eyros Vampire from touching her mind--”

“I’m going to have her heart in my hands. Almost literally,” Grayson explained. “She does anything, I crush it.”

That had everyone going silent. He wondered if they were picturing it.

“We are,” Balthazar answered. “Very messy, but contained. How handy!”

“You think she’ll tell you the truth?” Dani asked.

“Oh, she’ll take some convincing, but she likes to live.

She wants to live. Vampires have got to fear the Hell out of death, right?

” Grayson looked at all of them. “She will tell us something to keep herself alive. And maybe, Balthazar, you will hear the surface thoughts she’s got without connecting. ”

“Ashyr is correct, Master,” Elgar said to Balthazar.

Grayson frowned. “My name’s Grayson. I’m not…” He stopped himself from explaining as he saw Elgar curling inwards. “It’s okay! You can call me whatever. It doesn’t matter. What does is that I’m not what the Sect of Dawn are expecting.”

“You are definitely not anyone’s choice to do this,” Balthazar laughed uncomfortably and scrubbed the back of his neck. “That’s for sure.”

“This is insane! We don’t know that there are any traps in her mind for Balthazar or in her soul for Caemorn!” Dani looked panicked. “We should--”

“You said that you trusted me, Dani. That you believed me,” Grayson reminded her.

She bit her lower lip. “Yes, yes, all right. Well, I think that we should just leave her be, and do things the old fashioned way.”

“Which is?” Grayson asked.

“Get a Horys Vampire in here and make them identify her. We track her back to her House, find out her associates, all of it. We leave her sleeping,” Dani explained. “A grenade with her pin still intact.”

Grayson surprised himself by reaching out and taking both of her hands in his. It was such a natural thing to do, even though it wasn’t natural for him at all.

“I know you’re scared, Dani,” Grayson intuited.

Though why was she so scared for him? They’d just met.

But he felt it. So that’s why he had to convince her.

“I am, too. I don’t want her to harm anyone else.

But she said that there were other people--students and who knows who else--at the school that are like her.

We don’t have time to find and examine the hidden parts of her life.

At least, not without getting something from her to narrow it down. ”

“But you--you just got here,” Dani whispered and blinked, tears in her eyes. “I don’t want to risk you.”

“Not stopping this is risking everybody, including me,” Grayson said, again shocked at what he was saying and doing. “I think I’m the best shot to do this.”

Tears fell down her cheeks, but she nodded. “You always have good reasons for everything you do. But please, please , be careful.”

He knew on some level that her words made no sense.

They’d just met. She didn’t know his character.

And yet, he nodded and said, “I will. And you’ll be nearby.

All of you will.” He turned towards Balthazar.

“Listen to my mind, Balthazar, not hers. That way you’ll know what’s happening, but won’t get caught in anything they’ve got planned for you. ”

Balthazar nodded. Caemorn flashed that jewel between his fingers again, but then he put it away.

“I will think of methods they might not have known of to get to a person’s soul,” Caemorn said, “in case, you do have to crush her heart.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Grayson said.

“She will wake once you are ready. I will know,” Elgar told the skull.

Grayson assumed Elgar was talking to him. So he just nodded.

The others slowly filed out of the room with Dani being the last. He squeezed her hands once more before letting them go. She stared at him, eyes wet with tears, but then she embraced him quickly and silently before hurrying from the room.

I don’t want her to be afraid. I don’t want any of them to be , Grayson thought, but then his gaze went to the Horys Vampire. Well, I do want her to be terrified .

Grayson concentrated on her, peeling away her layers in his mind, and focusing on the thud, thud , thud of her heart. He had it. Right there. In his hand, so to speak. He’d never done this before. He’d never even thought of it. But here he was. And he was sure he could do it.

Ready, Elgar.

It didn’t take long before the Horys Vampire’s eyes fluttered open. Those silver eyes in that fox-like face. She saw the ceiling above her. Confusion flooded her expression for just a moment, but then it cleared and she actually smiled .

She knows where she is. She believes she knows who is about to interrogate her. She thinks the trap is about to be sprung. I was right.

Her gaze slid to him and that smile wavered. Shock and alarm passed over her pretty features. It was Grayson’s turn to smile.

“Hi, I see you remember me,” Grayson said. “You and I are going to have a little talk.”