Page 15

A res is still unconscious when Juliet and I arrive back at the vault. Thankfully Harry thought to add me to the biometric scanner before I left earlier; otherwise, we would have been sitting on our asses outside waiting for him to get back.

I close the heavy steel door behind us, the familiar chill of the vault crawling up my spine.

Juliet walks beside me like this isn’t weird, like this maze of boxes hiding a vault isn’t just a little crazy.

She carries that kind of effortless, contained chaos—like she’s constantly holding back a wicked punchline or something far more dangerous.

The monitor outside the cell shows that Ares is still out cold. I hate seeing him so damn still, almost like he’s dead. But I guess it’s better than the alternative of him raging so violently to escape that he injures himself. His chest rises and falls in a slow, shallow rhythm. My throat tightens.

“Home sweet dungeon,” Juliet murmurs behind me, and I glance over my shoulder to see her already stepping toward the second vault. She tosses me a look. “You mind if I chat with your girl? See what’s ticking in that morally gray mind of hers?”

I nod for her to go ahead, barely trusting myself to speak.

As Juliet’s footsteps echo throughout the warehouse, I fold my arms and study the screen.

Ares looks like a shadow of the man I love.

Paler than he should be, smears of dried blood all over him, dark circles beneath his eyes.

There’s a gash above his brow, half-healed.

Bruising on his arms. All self-inflicted.

He’d been clawing to get out of here, and he hadn’t even felt the damage he was doing to himself.

It's hard not to let the what-ifs take over my brain. What if Ophelia can’t fix him? What if I’d been too late finding him? What if Ares had gotten to Sysco? What if, what if, what if.

I press my forehead against the monitor and close my eyes.

What does a future look like for him like this?

He’ll wake up and feel the weight of everything.

Every life lost at his hands. The guilt will bury him alive.

I can feel it—like a storm cloud waiting to crack open.

Ares has always carried more weight than is his burden to carry. This might be too damn much.

But it won’t matter to him unless Ophelia can fix it

Fuck. I hope Juliet can shake something loose in her. I hope she can tap into some underutilized part of Ophelia’s messed up brain and help her figure out how to unravel what she twisted. I’d offer up my own mind if it meant saving his.

I flinch as the door to Ophelia’s vault opens again.

“…how many times did you do it?” Juliet’s voice is casual, even.

“I told him once,” Ophelia replies, annoyed sounding. “It’s not like I kept repeating it.”

Juliet hums, unimpressed. “One time’s enough when you’re a loaded weapon.”

“You don’t get it, you’re fucking one of them. You’re all dangerous. I wasn’t just going to do nothing.”

There’s a pause, then Juliet’s voice, low and sharp. “And what exactly do you think you are?”

Silence.

There it is. Juliet has given it a name, what Ophelia has become. Her ability to influence is dangerous.

Ophelia never looks my way. I don’t know that we can ever look each other in the eyes again. She keeps her gaze firmly on the floor.

“I really didn’t mean for it to go that far,” Ophelia mutters. “I guess I just didn’t picture it so literally, or I thought he’d kill a few, maybe enough to scare others into leaving.”

“You thought you could play god.” Juliet’s tone is flat now, no sarcasm, no humor. “You don’t undo this with a heartfelt apology. People are dead , and there are consequences to shit decisions. Messing with someone’s mind…” Juliet shakes her head, her disgust obvious.

More silence. Then Ophelia, quieter. “I don’t know if I can undo it.”

I want to choke. I want to throw up. I want to scream. I really fucking want to punch Ophelia.

Juliet clicks her tongue. “Well, sweetheart, it’s time to get experimental.”

Ophelia turns in my direction, though, really, it’s more just toward the door. Her eyes flick up to me, but never actually meet my gaze. I place my hand on the scanner, and the door to the vault unlocks.

Maybe I should worry about letting her in that prison cell with Ares. His blood is still smeared over the walls, and there’s still damage throughout the space from when he was last awake. But this is her mess. I’ll let her lay in it.

Juliet pushes the door closed behind Ophelia. Which is the safer option. She is a Born, after all. If Ares does wake up and Ophelia doesn’t fix him, she will be right in his line of sight.

“She’s not happy,” she tells me, sauntering up beside the monitor. “But she’s going to try again. I gave her some tips. Who the hell knows if they’ll work. But it’s worth a shot.”

“Thank you,” I say, keeping my eyes fixed on the monitor. Ophelia is looking at Ares like a puzzle that both terrifies and disgusts her.

“Lana,” Juliet says, softer now, serious. “If he wakes up and she can’t undo it… what’s your plan?”

I glance at her and feel like all of my internal organs disappear with her words. “There is no plan,” I admit, my words hoarse. “There is no other option. We have to fix him.”

Juliet looks away, folding her arms and sighing. “Then let’s hope your twisted little friend has a redemption arc in her.”

I press a hand to the monitor again. “Come back to me, Ares,” I whisper, barely audible. “Please… come back.”

The front door makes a grinding sound as it’s opened. The sound of footsteps echoes throughout the warehouse as they make their way through the maze. A few moments later, Harry steps through first, followed by Sysco and Roman. But behind them is James St. Claire. Ares’ right-hand man and assistant.

He’s about the last person I would have expected to accompany the group.

His sharp gray eyes scan the room until they land on me. I don’t expect them to narrow at me like they do.

“Lana, what the fuck is going on?” he asks. His tone is sharp. I’ve never heard him be anything but in control and at the ready. “Where is Ares? What’s wrong with him?”

“James, I?—”

“He hasn’t returned my calls. No one’s seen him in days,” James cuts me off, looking like he’s about ready to tear the world apart. “This isn’t like Ares.”

I didn’t realize he cared for Ares so much.

Sysco moves to intercept, a hand raised in caution. "James, things are... complicated right now."

James glares at him. "He's my employer and my friend. Complicated or not, I think at this point, I have a right to know what's going on."

Juliet crosses her arms, studying him with a cool detachment. Roman lingers at her side, silent and unreadable.

I step forward, my voice tight. "He is here, James. But he's not okay."

James's eyes flick to mine. "What does that mean?"

Instead of answering, I nod toward the monitor. "See for yourself."

James’s gaze flicks to the monitor. The second he sees Ares—pale, his clothes torn, dried blood caking his arms and neck—his brows furrow and something grows… dark in his expression. "What the hell happened to him?"

But I don’t answer because suddenly, Ares moves.

It’s not much. His hand twitches. But my new, sharp eyes don’t miss much now.

“Get Ophelia out of there,” I say in a breath.

Harry scans his hand, and Juliet yanks Ophelia out of the vault. Harry slams the door closed again as Juliet hauls Ophelia across the space, talking to her privately.

On the screen, we see it as Ares’ breathing speeds up, which sends my heart rate skyrocketing. Next, he takes in a sharp inhale.

And dammit, I realize he’s scenting the air.

Then his eyes snap open.

A low, animalistic growl rips through the speakers. Ares rises in a violent rush, body tensing like a loaded weapon. He hurls himself at the vault door, a furious blur. I flinch and instinctively take a step away from the door.

"I can fucking smell you!" he snarls. "Harry. Sysco. James! Who else is out there?"

He doesn’t know Roman or Juliet, but he can scent them, and it’s like he’s turned absolutely feral.

He slams his shoulder against the reinforced wall so hard it echoes like a gunshot. Again. And again. He doesn't even wince. I’m not even sure his broken collarbone from earlier has healed yet, but there’s no way it doesn’t snap again in the next few seconds.

"Shit," Sysco mutters. "He's worse than before."

From her half-hidden corner, Juliet shifts her weight, one hand hovering subtly near the hidden dagger at her hip. Roman steps forward, tension rolling off him.

They better stay put, or it’s going to get ugly and violent in here.

James is pale, horrified. "What the hell is wrong with him?!"

I step between him and the screen. "There was… an incident. This woman, she was hurt by Augustus. He did bad things to her. And she, Ophelia, it made her hate vampires. Turns out she can do… things."

He blinks, like he didn't hear me right. "What?"

Why the hell do I feel so nervous? I know James. Not well, but I’ve been around him plenty. He’s Ares’ employee. He’s just some guy who works for my fiancé. So why is my heart pounding? Why am I worried about the look of fury in his eyes?

"She got in his head,” I say. “I’d seen her do it before but didn’t realize to what extent she could do it. But she thought Ares was like Augustus. She thought all vampires were like him. So, she told Ares to kill every vampire he knows in New York. And then himself."

I don’t mean to, but as I speak about her, my eyes naturally flick to Ophelia, where she is still speaking to Juliet.

It’s like watching a hurricane roll in. The look in James’s eyes darkens. I see a muscle in his jaw twitch. His hands curl into fists. “She fucking what ? She just dug into his mind and turned on some command?”

Ares throws himself at the wall again. There’s that sound, the one I’ve been anticipating. The sound of his collarbone cracking. I can’t breathe.

"He’s going to destroy himself before we can fix him," Harry mutters.