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I stare at the ashy remnants of the blood I took into the sun. The slide cracked as soon as the light hit it, the sample on it going black and charred. When it happened, I realized two things. One, vampires cannot survive sunlight. And two, Valen is no ordinary vampire.

A week has passed since the protest, a week of healing and researching. I still haven’t had any word from Juno, but I see her on the screen from time to time. The blood resorts are continuing to open across the country, thousands of people signing up for a respite from the ravages of the plague. But what they’re actually walking into? I don’t know.

I have a suspicion, a fear that I hope couldn’t possibly be true. But knowing what I know now … I can’t deny the very real possibility that Juno is willingly offering up citizens to the vampires. Some manner of paying them back for her election. But that can’t be it. I know Juno. There must be some angle I’m not seeing. Or maybe I’m altogether wrong. Maybe it really is the Illuminati’s doing. That would be better, possibly even less far-fetched.

I make some notes about the charred blood then open the imaging from Gretchen’s investigation of the antibodies we found in one of the last samples. She’s done a strong workup, pages of analysis on the proteins and a hypothesis that the vast majority of them aren’t clinically significant. Possibly from common colds. But there was also an overabundance of a certain antibody that she couldn’t identify.

“What are you?” I flip through some of her work, trying to find what we’re missing. The familiar hum of a helicopter grows as it flies low overhead. My chest aches, fear like icy fingers along my spine at the thought of Juno flying away to meet with Gregor. Is that why Valen hasn’t come tonight? Is he with her?

I’m sipping a flat soda from a case Wyatt found in one of the back ballrooms and trying not to full-on panic when my doorbell rings. This time I know the sound.

“Can I come up?” Gage calls from the hallway.

I press the button to say yes, then hesitate when I remember what Valen said when he found Gage up here. They were only threats, but where Valen is concerned, I don’t have the luxury of believing any of them are empty. “I’ll come down,” I call into the microphone, then hurry to my room and throw on some real clothes.

He’s waiting by the elevator when it opens on the ground floor.

“What’s this?” I look him up and down. He’s wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. “Casual Friday?”

“It’s Wednesday and no.” He glances out the front doors. “Can we walk for a minute?”

I stare at the darkness beyond the glass for a beat too long. I haven’t been outside since the protest, which is dumb, of course. I can’t stay locked up in here forever. It’s not like it’s particularly safe—Theo got in and drugged me. Valen, an admitted murderer, has 24/7 access. But when I blink, I swear I can feel the gun muzzle against my temple again.

“Not for long. Promise.” He smiles, though it lacks its usual warmth. He’s tense, his gaze bouncing around.

“Um, okay.” I follow him out, the air humid and sticky. “What’s up?”

We walk slowly, the clear sky overhead giving us a sliver moon.

He stops at a cross street and turns to face me. “There are some things I need you to know.”

I look up at him, his eyes gone serious. “Like what?”

“There are three bloodlines. Dragonis, Corvidion, and Tantun. Remember them. Repeat them back to me.”

Confusion is too mild a word for what’s going through my mind. “What is this about? What?—”

He grabs my wrists and pulls me closer to him. “Repeat them to me. Do it now. Dragonis, Corvidion, and Tantun.” His voice has gone hard, his eyes boring into me. “Say it, Georgia.”

“Okay.” Panic wells in me. Something’s wrong. “Ah, Dragonis, Corvidion, and, and?—”

“Tantun.” He squeezes my wrists. “Again.”

“Wh—”

“Again, Georgia!” he snaps, his demeanor turning strained. “You must memorize it.”

“Dragonis, Corvidion, and Tantun.” My voice is shaking.

“Blood Tantun, their bite is poison. Blood Corvidion have the power of flight. Blood Dragonis is the worst of them all. They can control your mind, your body—everything. Sunlight kills them. Silver slows them down. Otherwise, they’re invincible. You have to find a way to stop them. The blood camps are just the first step.”

“Gage, I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to understand. You just need to know . Now tell me again, what are the bloodlines?”

A shadow along the eaves of the building behind Gage catches my eye. It’s as if it’s moving.

“I know it’s there,” Gage says softly. “Don’t look at it. Look at me.”

My hands shake as he slides his grip from my wrists to my palms. “Look at me, Georgia.” His tone is softer now, more like his normal voice.

“Dragonis, Corvidion, and Tantun,” I repeat.

He nods, his grip easing a little. “Good. There are hundreds of them, maybe thousands. They live underground.” He speaks quickly now, as if he’s running out of time. “They’ve built miles and miles of tunnels, all hidden right beneath our feet. They control governments around the world.” He shoots a look up Pennsylvania Avenue. “They have a foothold here now, and soon enough, they’ll have it all.”

“What’s going on, Gage? You’re scaring me.”

“I have to leave.” He reaches up and presses a hand to my cheek. “I don’t want to, but I have to. I’ve been compromised.”

“I don’t understand. Gage, I don’t …”

“Valen.” He seems to bite the word. “He’ll keep you safe. If he doesn’t, he’s as good as dead.”

“Where are you going?” The hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I see the very real shadow moving like a spider down the face of the building.

I freeze, my blood turning to ice as the shadow materializes into a man on the sidewalk. No, not a man. One of them . His too-perfect olive skin and the catlike glow of his eyes set off every alarm bell in my primal brain. A predator. Danger .

“I’ll see you again, Georgia. I promise. If you need me, leave a light in your window. I’ll see it. I’ll come.” Gage plants a hard kiss on my lips. “Now, run!” He pushes me backwards, then spins and pulls a gun.

The vampire lunges at him.

“Go!” Gage yells.

I turn and run, my heart pounding almost as loud as the gunshots that break the stillness of the clammy air.

When I reach the front of the hotel, the soldiers there are already standing with their guns out. “There’s a, a—there’s a—Gage needs help!” I point behind me.

They take off past me as another shot rings out. I dash inside and hit the elevator, my mind screaming at the wait as it rises to my floor. I have to get help. Real help. Gage can’t fight that thing with bullets. I’m sure of it. Once I’m inside, I hurry to my bedroom and dig around in my drawers until I find the phone Valen gave me.

I open it up and dial.

The ringing stops with a click.

“Valen?” I can’t catch my breath. “There was a vampire. Gage is fighting it, but I don’t think?—”

The line beeps and goes silent.

“Valen?” I stare at the phone then dial again. It doesn’t ring. No answer. No voicemail.

More shots, this time a barrage of them, and someone screams. I rush to the window and look down, trying in vain to see Gage or the other soldiers. The street is dark. I strain to see something, anything.

But nothing moves.

The soldiers never reappear. And neither does Gage.

* * *

“You were outside after dark.”

I jump from my spot at the window. Valen is right behind me, his face a mask of fury.

“You have to help Gage. He’s?—”

“I told you never to leave this apartment once dark fell. Never .” His fangs lengthen.

I take a step back and bump against the glass. I’ve never seen him like this, not fully. How could I have ever believed he was only a man?

“You disobeyed me once to meet with your sister.” He steps closer, erasing the distance I’d put between us. “And now you’ve disobeyed me again.”

“You saw?”

“I know every move you make. Every single moment. The rhythm of your heart. Every fucking beat.” He inhales, his pupils blowing and swallowing the blue whole. “And now you’re scared? When you know what lurks in the darkness. When you’ve already seen it firsthand. Only now you feel fear?” He moves so quickly I can’t even react. His hand collars my throat, his skin warm, his grip firm. “I’m not the one you should be afraid of. Do you have any idea how many vampires want you dead?”

I swallow hard as I look up at him, at his impossibly long fangs. My knees threaten to disintegrate, but I force myself to meet his gaze. “Why?”

He smiles, but there isn’t a single hint of amusement in it. “Why not?”

“Let me go.” I grip his wrist, but his hold doesn’t move, doesn’t even change in the amount of pressure.

“So you can run to the captain of the guard?” He leans closer, his eyes becoming my entire world. “I don’t think so.” He glances at my lips, and something low in my gut turns molten.

“Don’t.” I barely breathe the word.

“Don’t what?” Now there is amusement in his eyes, in the way he moves closer, stealing my breath.

I bring my knee up as hard as I can, but he sees it coming. With a swift movement, he puts his thigh between mine, pressing against my sex.

A groan rumbles in his throat, and I gasp, heat pooling in my stomach. I can’t breathe, and not because of his hold on my neck. I’m reacting to him in ways I can’t seem to control. An ache sets up inside me, and it thrums with each drumbeat of my heart. If he kissed me right now … I close my eyes, clamping them shut. I have to break free of whatever this is.

“Please,” I whimper.

“Mmmm. I like the sound of that.” His lips feather along my ear, sending goosebumps rising along my skin. He presses his thigh against me even more, and I feel his hard length along my hip. “Beg me again, Georgia.”

His accent has been flat, nothing giving a hint of where he might be from, but when he says my name … I don’t know, there’s something extra in his tone, his voice. He’s never called me by my first name before, and now perhaps I know why. It’s loaded with so much, like a world of color when it used to be only gray.

My breath hitches. “Please let me go.”

He laughs, low and dark, the sound like the caress of a velvety claw. “And if I don’t? If I want you right here, right now? What then?”

I don’t have an answer. Don’t have anything except the need that seems to eclipse everything else. It’s sick and wrong, but I want him. God, what have I become?

“Please,” I whisper again, one last plea before drowning.

His hold disappears, and I drag in a deep breath. He stands a few feet away, the wild look still in his eyes as his fangs slowly retract.

“Never leave this apartment once the sun sets. You’re safe here. Out there—” He runs a hand through his dark hair, the only sign that what just happened affected him, too. “Out there, you’re fair game to all of my kind.”

“You have to help Gage.” My voice is thin and reedy, the same way I feel inside—hollowed out and raw. “There were other soldiers, too. They went to help.”

“The captain is fine.” He smirks. “The other soldiers, well, they know what they signed up for.”

“There was a vampire. Gage only had a gun.” I want to search the street again for any sign of the captain, but I don’t dare turn my back on Valen.

“It’s been handled.” He reaches into his pocket and retrieves a vial. “This week’s sample.” He holds it out, his gaze expectant. The wolf offering the rabbit a carrot, saying, ‘come closer.’

“Don’t ever do that to me again.” I force the tremble from my voice.

“Do what?” He’s taunting me, reminding me why I hate him. There shouldn’t be any cloudiness around that simple fact, no matter how my body reacts to him.

“Get out.” I snatch the vial from him, and he grabs my wrist, holding me in place with his grip and the force of his stare.

“Something you need to know about vampires, Doctor. We have keen senses. Hearing, sight, and smell.” He steps closer. “We’re particularly attuned to humans. To their heartbeats, their pheromones, their arousal.”

I grit my teeth.

“Lie to yourself, but I know what you felt. I felt it with you, with each pounding note of your heart. Your blood calls to mine.” He finally lets go. “And I fully intend to answer that call.”

“Leave.” I say it with all the hatred I have.

He gives me a short bow and walks away. “In this apartment at sundown. Don’t disobey me again.”

A litany of ‘fuck yous’ play on repeat in my mind as I take the vial and sit at the kitchen island. Resting my head against the cool granite, I cringe at how I reacted to him, how for one tiny moment I wanted him. Then Gage’s words come back to me—“Blood Dragonis is the worst of them all. They can control your mind, your body—everything.”

Realization hits me, and I sit straight up. It’s not me reacting to Valen at all. He’s controlling me, making me feel things other than disgust. Like some sort of what? Vampire magic? I would laugh at the insanity of it, but nothing is out of the realm of possibility now.

“Fuck.” I rub my temples. I’m being played on every level. By Valen, by Gregor, and worst of all, by Juno. I force those thoughts away. I can’t get mired in self-pity, no matter how appealing that sounds.

I pick up the vial and stare at the blood inside it. Ending the plague is the priority. But now, so is destroying the vampires. I stand and pocket the sample, then head down to the lab. Two goals. Two reasons to work harder, smarter, and faster.

Now I know the stakes.

I won’t lose.