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MALACHI

I flattened myself against the stone wall, rock cutting into my ravaged back as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing.

Evangeline was here. In my cell.

Her beautiful face was luminescent against the gloom, her spicy scent a reprieve from the reek of old blood, damp stone and piss.

But she was here. She couldn’t be here.

Go. Run. You aren’t safe in this terrible place.

Her smile warmed me from the inside out, her fingers trailing gently down my face, blue eyes glimmering with tears as she took in the ruination of my wrecked body, courtesy of her father and uncles.

She thrummed with power, the sort I hadn’t sensed… ever .

Not even Rhiannon possessed magic this commanding and she had been the most powerful witch I’d ever known. Evangeline was…something different. And maybe I should be frightened, but instead, I was in awe. She was magnificent.

Utterly magnificent.

And she is not safe . As quickly as she appeared, she faded into the darkness, like a dream I’d awoken from, her hand still reaching out from the shadows before she disappeared completely.

My conversation with Romulus came flooding back in a wash of horror. Evangeline was in danger. Even now, Ravok might be at Crimson House, he could have his hands on her, and if he was hurting her, I couldn’t stop him because I was chained to this fucking wall .

Panic surged, the kind I’d never known before.

A helpless, sick horror, staining every part of me. I had to get to her. I had to protect her.

Muted voices echoed down the corridor outside my cell, followed by heavy boot falls and strength rushed through me along with a surge of adrenaline, the last burst of energy my body was capable of.

I was cloaked by the impenetrable darkness inside my cell as two younger guards stopped to peer through the bars. The second their human scents hit me, I sent out tendril of glamour—all I had left—painting a scene of an empty cell, open shackles dangling from the wall.

“Fuck. Goddamn it, he’s gone, Virgil.” The guard’s curse was distorted through my glamour, then keys jangled and hinges squealed before the door slammed open. The rusty shackles, slick with blood, bit into my wrists as I tried to work one hand free, biting back my grunt of pain when the dark-haired guard approached, furiously stabbing a knife into the shadows between us.

“Where the fuck did he go? I can’t see a fucking thing in here. If he escaped, Silas is going to kill us both.”

The sandy haired guard hovering out in the hall groaned. “This can’t be happening. Fucking hell, how could this happen on our watch?”

“This is your fault, Virgil.” The closest guard stank of onions and whiskey, a foul combination, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. “You just had to take a piss between rounds, didn’t you?”

Strange. Virgil and this other guard weren’t thralls. They were still human. Cowed, subservient humans, but…their hearts still beat, red blood flowed in their veins…I just needed them to come closer.

Or…I needed to get within arm’s reach of them.

For that, I had to get free of these shackles.

“What the fuck do we do now?” Onion breath’s voice shook. “Your father…you have to talk to him, Virg. Convince him this wasn’t our fault.”

“He’s not my father anymore, asshole, or haven’t you been paying attention? And blame my cousin. If Evangeline hadn’t shown up, we’d still safely be outside on perimeter duty, instead of guarding the prisoner, while everyone else goes hunting for her.”

This was Evangeline’s cousin? I bared my teeth, even though the little shit couldn’t see me.

The thought of Evangeline sent ice through my veins, a threat far worse than the shackles binding me to this fucking stone wall. I would not let Ravok break her the way he had broken me and countless others. I grit my teeth and twisted my bloody right hand, snapping my wrist.

“What the fuck was that?” Onion Breath stopped in his tracks, just out of reach. “Did you hear that sound? Like something broke?”

I pinched my lips together. The agony from my shattered wrist was excruciating, but pain had lost its edge hours, maybe days ago. With one final, desperate wrench, my right hand slipped through the metal circle, shearing off skin, blood soaking my fingers, but the only thing that mattered was that my right wrist was finally free.

The guard took another step, almost within range, then reached toward my illusion of the empty shackles, his fingers brushing across my arm. “What the fuck?”

I shot my broken hand out, fingers working just well enough to grab his throat and yank him forward, snapping his neck in one move.

Virgil—Evie’s worthless cousin—peered into the darkness, blue eyes wide as an owl’s.

“Clint? Where are you? Is he… still in there ?” A long pause. “Answer me, damn it.”

Clint couldn’t answer, because I was drinking him down in great, heaving gulps, filling my mouth with as much blood as I could manage. Strength trickled back, the bones of my snapped wrist mending together, along with broken bones, pulverized organs and rent skin.

I kept my eyes on Virgil, edging toward me, his boots sliding across the rough floor, the stench of his fear filling my nose as I drained Clint down to the last onion-whiskey-flavored drop, then dropped his body to the floor with a wet thump.

Breathless, I ripped the shackle from my left wrist, tearing flesh off along with the iron. I tried to take one step, then fell to my knees, my entire body screaming in protest. I was worn down from injuries and starvation, from trying to keep myself alive, but I could not afford weakness—not now.

The door was open, nothing but a wide-eyed guard standing between me and freedom.

I lurched to my feet, my head swimming as I wondered whether to kill this worthless bloodbag or use him to get out of here. Even in this condition, I was ten times faster than a human who couldn’t see an inch in front of his face and in two steps, I was behind Virgil, my hands banded around his throat.

“Virgil Silverwood. You have one chance to survive this. Do you know who I am?”

He nodded desperately.

“Then you know Evangeline is very important to me.” Another too-fast nod. “I need you to get me out of this building and off these grounds. You do that, and I’ll let you live.” Maybe, I was still deciding.

“You’re just like all the other bloodsuckers, a fucking liar.” His voice shook, but his spine straightened. Maybe cousin Virgil had some backbone after all.

“On the other hand, I’m starving and I can kill you right here, like Clint.” His eyes searched the darkness wildly, desperate breaths rasping through his open mouth, but he couldn’t see past his nose. “Let’s take a chance on each other, shall we? You get me out of here, and I’ll leave you alive. Seems like a fair trade. And let me remind you, you’re in the employ of said bloodsuckers, so climb down off your high horse.”

His trembling body went limp. “Are you going to hurt Evie?” He asked softly. “Because if that’s what you’re after, then just kill me now, because I won’t help you escape.”

Surprise flickered through me. “Now why would I ever hurt sweet Evangeline?”

“Because she’s dangerous. I heard my father---or what used to be my father, talking. Silas said she’s a threat to Ravok, so I figure she must be a threat to you, too.”

“Yes, Evangeline is a danger, but not to me,” I growled. “Has Ravok left the compound? Has he gone after her?”

“Not yet,” Virgil murmured. “They’re still putting together tac teams. Me and Clint were supposed to stay here, keep an eye on you. They’ll leave soon, an hour, maybe less.”

I clamped my hand down over Virgil’s shoulder and turned him toward the door. “This is what we’re going to do. You will get me out of this building and I will not harm a hair on your head. I swear this, on Evangeline’s life.”

“Like I could ever trust you.”

“Then be my guest and trust the creatures your father and uncles have become; they seem so much more trustworthy.”

His shoulders sank, everything about him going limp. “No,” he whispered, “I don’t trust them, any more than you.”

“Then you’re smarter than you look. Now, tell me when the next patrol will pass by, and how to avoid them.”

Shadows curled at my fingertips, tendrils of glamour that slithered between darkness and wove a shield around us as we edged out of the cell out into the corridor beyond, where the stale scent of decay and despair was stronger.

Outside, except for a few pairs of guards along the perimeter, the compound was empty, and we picked up the pace, my strength slowly building, my footing surer as we headed for the tree line.

Virgil remained quiet, his clumsy feet shuffling through dirt, then grass as we crossed the area between the outbuildings, then the grounds themselves, draining my already depleted strength as we crossed hallowed ground.

On the far side of the compound, groups of males in all black were checking weapons, talking in low, excited voices, the practiced actions of well-trained soldiers before a mission. I picked up the pace.

As luck would have it, we ran across two guards smoking in a darkest corner of the yard, their backs turned, laughing at something crude on their phones. My fingers curled, calling up more glamour. A thin wisp of shimmering magic snaked forward, wrapping around the throat of the nearest man. He choked, eyes bulging, his hands clawing at the air as I snapped his neck. The other male dropped his cigarette, then I snared him, too.

In minutes, I’d drank them both dry while Virgil panted in fear, then we stepped over the perimeter, and disappeared into the woods.

I drank freedom in greedily, the sky a vast, open expanse above me. But there was no relief—not yet. Not until I knew Evangeline was safe.

Outside the compound, I sensed her pull as strong as the tide, as undeniable as the blood racing through my veins. She did not realize danger slithered toward her tonight.

But when Ravok arrived at Crimson House, I would be there to face him. He would not take her, he would not lay a fucking finger on her.

I would die before I let that happen.

“Is this where you kill me?” Virgil asked quietly, as if he’d resigned himself to this fate and not allowed himself to expect any other outcome. He tipped his chin up, reminding me of Evie. “Do me a favor. Make it fast, will you?”

“I keep my word,” I bared my fangs, “Even if it is to a human whose family has hunted my kind for centuries. I only have one favor to ask.” I gripped his arm tight enough to bruise. “Do not vomit on me.”

I forced my still-healing body forward, dematerializing us both into the dark, toward the only thing that mattered.

Toward her.