Fi crossed her arms. “Mal’s with her, right?”

“Yes, but she’s not going to be happy waiting on me.”

“Where exactly are they waiting?” she asked.

“In a suite at the Westin.”

The edge of Fi’s mouth curled up. “Yeah, that must be killing the both of them. Look, Doc needs your help.”

Damian joined them. “I can go with Creek, and the fae can leave. So long as Fi stays inside, Velimai can protect everyone from Tatiana.”

Velimai signed something to Mortalis. He signed a reply and she shook her head, clearly upset. Fi only made out the words no and you and the spelling of Doc’s name, but understood Velimai was pushing for Mortalis to help.

His last signs were sharp and short. The barbs on his arms extended a little, then snapped against his skin like he was making an effort to stay calm. “I’ll stay for an hour. That’s as long as I told Mal I’d be gone. No more.”

“Thank you,” Fi said. Then she stepped into Damian’s personal space “You have to kill Aliza because there’s no way she’ll break that spell voluntarily. Can you do that? Kill a woman?”

He leaned down a little, wickedness sparking in his impossibly blue eyes. “How do you know I haven’t already?”

Fi stepped back and nodded to Creek. “He’s as full of himself as Chrysabelle is. He’ll do.” She exhaled, feeling the tension of the last few hours like a knot being tied over her body. Time to go ghost and let her body rest. “Be quick, but be safe. Doc and I are counting on you.”

Lola’s office door burst open, causing her to lose the thread of the statement she’d been dictating to her secretary. Something had to be said about the possibility that Paradise City had a serial killer on the loose now that a third body had been found. “John, you’re back sooner than I expected.” He was alone. No Creek, no child. She nodded at her secretary. “That’s all for now, Valerie. We’ll finish up later.”

“No problem, ma’am.” The woman left, shutting the door behind her.

Lola dropped the smile. “What’s going on? Where’s the child?”

John frowned. “The child is gone. Taken by… they’re called the ancient ones. They’re like the fathers of all the vampires. Really bad news. Anyway, one of them got the baby. Look, you’re not going to like this, but you’ve got to cancel all the—”

She stood. “Go after this ancient one. Get the child back.”

His jaw popped to one side, then slid back into place. “You don’t understand, it doesn’t work that way with these beings. Nothing about them is human. They’re demons. Fallen angels. You can’t just go after them.”

She crossed herself as she walked around to the front of her desk, the horror of his words settling over her like a blanket of ice. “A demon has my grandchild.”

“Your grandchild is half demon.”

Her mouth opened in disbelief. “How dare you say that.” A hot-cold flash of anger sliced through her heart. She slapped him across the face, then gasped at what she’d done. She clutched her hand to her heart. “Ay Dios mio, I am so sorry.” She went back to her desk and leaned against it, trying not to cry or scream or break something. Her world wasn’t just crumbling, it was disintegrating into strange pieces she no longer recognized. She glanced back at John. He hadn’t moved. His dark sunglasses still sat on his face, the only change the red handprint rising on his cheek.

She dropped her gaze. “You think I’m a fool, don’t you? A sad, human fool who doesn’t have a clue as to what’s really going on in this world.”

“I don’t think that.” But the words came too fast and without conviction.

She laughed. “Am I just supposed to give in? Float along with the tide, accepting whatever comes my way?” She straightened, turning to look at him again. “Or should I fight? Is there even any way to fight this?” Her arms wrapped around her rib cage and she shook her head. “I’m lost.”

“You’re not lost. You have me. And Creek. And we both have networks of support in place. I have an entire pack of varcolai ready to respond, should I need them.”

She stared, seeing him like she’d never seen him before. “So what do I do, then?”

“About the child?”

“About any of it.”

He came toward her, tapping one of the chairs in front of her desk as he took the other one. She sat. He pushed his sunglasses up onto his head. His eyes were an almost silvery blue they were so pale. How she’d never noticed the inhuman gleam in them before, she didn’t know. Or maybe that was part of what the covenant had done. Or undone. It was all so maddening. “First of all, you have to cancel every Halloween-themed celebration going on in the city tonight that you can. The parade, trick-or-treating, everything. Call it a terrorist threat, a homeland security issue, poisoned candy, whatever you have to do, make it happen.”

“Why?”

“Because Samhain, Halloween, is a night of power for othernaturals. No one really knows what will happen tonight with the covenant broken, but the thinking is, tonight will be the final melding of the two worlds. Magic is going to run wild. Keeping people inside—”

“You mean humans.”

“Humans, yes, but tonight will affect all races. Keeping them inside is the safest thing.”