Page 52 of Jagged Souls

“Terra Harrison is alive, and they’re using Micha’s blood to target yours.”

I start to push past him to go find Aleric, but the vampire phases in front of me, his eyes on Khalid.

“Do they know Cara is here?” he demands.

“They didn’t mention her.”

He disappears, hopefully to bring her here. If Terra really is alive, Cara’s the only one who has a chance of countering her diseases.

“It will take her a few weeks to create something,” I say, forcing myself to concentrate on the news rather than my imagination as I think about every vile way they could be taking her blood. Cutting off her limbs. Hanging her upside down with her throat slit, healing her just enough she stays alive. “So that gives us a deadline.” I turn to Dayne. “I need you to take Maddox’s face until we rescue Micha. Antonio thinks you’re dead, so your absence won’t cause suspicion, but his will.”

“Where will he be?”

“With Zita. He’s plan one. If she isn’t killed on sight, she will smuggle him in. He’ll then take Micha into his shadows and get out.”

He shakes his head. “They have a witch. They will screen for –”

“They won’t find him.”

His eyes narrow as he tries to figure out how Maddox is going to pull that off, but I don’t have time to explain it to him, then argue about the statistics of it actually working. I am already worried I’ve just given my youngest brother a death sentence; I don’t need to see his concern too.

“Who’s changing me?” Dayne asks, and I like that he isn’t just agreeing to anything to get Micha out. It means he still has his head on his shoulders, able to calculate risk and return. He’s no good to me if he’s a slave to his emotions.

“Mother.”

Relief flutters across his face, followed by a grimace. This isn’t an easy thing I’ve asked of him. Changing one’s body with magic comes with a lot of risk. He could be killed or permanently disfigured or have his brain turned into mush. Talon used to handle these things, so Mother is a bit rusty in this area, but she knows the body well.

“Alright, but if I die, you tell Micha I survived Antonio. I don’t want her blaming herself for my death.”

She’ll just blame me.

So I might lose her anyway.

My throat tightens.

But at least she’ll be alive.

I nod at him, and he walks away. Taking a deep breath, I turn to Khalid. “What are they doing to her?”

His eyes bore into mine. “She bit off a guy’s nose, then ate it,” he says instead. “She’ll survive until we get to her.”

I glance away, both proud of her and horrified. If she antagonizes them too much –

He clasps a hand on my shoulder. “Trust her to handle herself, Varius.”

She shouldn’t have to.

Swallowing hard, I nod. Tears burn my eyes, and I look away. He drops his hand. “Anything else?” I ask, my voice rough.

“He wants to bring Siome back from the Underworld.”

My head jerks to him. “How?”

“Don’t know.”

But if we can figure that out, we can finally be one step ahead of him. “Get Rudy on this.” It’s a job that’ll keep him away from everyone and give him a chance to recover.

Khalid looks at me, his face a mask. “You haven’t been to see him, have you?”