I threw on my clothes and strapped on my weapons before following Raven downstairs. My mother met us by the front door in her frilly bathrobe, holding a cup of tea. Did this woman ever sleep?

“Raven, what are you doing here?”

“I just needed Olivia’s help with something,” he muttered, laughter in his voice as he passed her, moving toward the front door. I smirked as I passed, suppressing my laughter. It felt like we were teenagers again.

We went outside and he opened his passenger door for me. “Ride with me, Livi. It’ll be faster if we take one car.”

“Okay, fine,” I said, closing the door of my Camaro. He was the cop. Might as well arrive in a cop car.

We drove downtown to the location where the girl had been taken. Several uniformed officers were milling about on the sidewalk talking to confused witnesses.

No one knew where the car went or had any description of the driver. “Did you ever get a lead on that messenger in the club?” I asked him after we’d questioned all the cops.

“That’s what I was on my way to tell you about. The messenger matches the description of a homeless drug addict who we’ve picked up a few times for loitering.”

“Where did this guy hang out?”

“He had a couple different locations. Most of them downtown.”

“So Vincent most likely picked him up around here somewhere?”

“Probably. Let’s drive by the places where we’ve got records of him being arrested.”

Raven drove around the darkened streets of Portland, the street lights glowing off the black pavement. There was still plenty of activity going on, even at midnight on a Friday night. Pedestrians and bikers darted across the wide streets between restaurants and bars.

“He spent some time outside this brewery,” Raven said, pointing to a place that looked like a sports bar.

“I doubt Vincent hung out around there.”

“You think he took this guy from a place he frequented?”

“Vampires don’t like expending extra energy. So, yeah. I think he was more likely to have taken someone from his usual haunts than to go out of his way.”

“What about the girls?”

“The girls all came from the vamp club.”

“And the last one?”

“I think Vincent is sending me a message.”

Raven shot me a look as he came to a stop at a red light. “And what would that be?”

I sighed. “I slept with the guy and then tried to kill him. I’m sure he’s pissed about it.”

Raven didn’t say anything, but muscles in his jaw tightened as he gripped the steering wheel.

We stopped in front of a drugstore. “Nope,” I said, taking in the neighborhood.

He continued, driving into the main tourist area near the convention center. Tall luxury hotels towered above the night sky. Raven pulled up in front of a five-star hotel, warm light glowing over the glass doors at the entrance.

“Um, yeah, why didn’t you bring me here first?”

“Just covering all the bases.”

He parked and I was opening my door as my phone pinged with a text from the witch network. Twyla.

Help, was all it said.

What the fuck? I showed it to Raven. “What do you think that means?”

“No idea. Pocket text?”

“I doubt it. I’m calling Mom.”

I rang my mother’s phone, getting ready to get chewed out for one reason or another.

“Olivia, why are you calling so late? And what was Raven doing in your bedroom?” We were fucking mother. Jesus, I am twenty-seven years old. But I didn’t say any of that.

“Mom. Can you check on Twyla? I just got a weird text from her.”

I heard the muffled sound of my mother walking up the stairs and opening the door to Twyla’s bedroom. “Twyla?” mother said.

“She isn’t in her room,” she said into the phone.

The sound of her stepping across the hall and turning on the bathroom light came over the phone. “Not in the bathroom either.”

“Mom, check her room. The text said Help. I’m worried.”

“That’s all it said?”

“Yes.”

The sound of the phone thudding on the floor and my mother screaming blared through my phone.

“Mother! Mother! What is it?”

Gasping, my mom picked the phone back up and shouted into the mouthpiece. “Olivia, get over here right now.”

“We’ve got to go, Raven. Back to my mom’s house.”

“But he could be up there.” Raven pointed at the hotel.

I sighed. “Mom, what do you see? What is upsetting you?”

“There’s a message. In…blood. On her wall behind her dressing screen. Oh my God, Olivia.”

“Mother, what does it say?”

“It says, ‘Hide And Seek.’”

Great. “Do you see anything else?”

“Someone’s taken her, Olivia. She was terrified before bed. Put up every ward she knew. I should have hidden her better.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered, Mom. The person who took her would have found her there. Twyla might be a psychic, but that’s no use against a powerful vampire with an ax to grind.”

“Olivia, you brought this here. You go find your sister this instant!”

“Okay Mom, will do.” I hung up the phone without another word. Like I needed to be talked to like that right now.

“Vincent has Twyla.”

“Let’s go take him out,” Raven said, going for his door handle.

I hesitated. The last time I’d tried to take him out, I’d failed. Now Vincent had my sister and my ex-boyfriend was helping me kill him. This was all a total clusterfuck. Not the cleanest way to kill an ex-lover.

“Come on,” he said, through clenched teeth.

“Wait a second, I’m just preparing myself for this.”

“What’s there to prepare for?”

“Vincent is a very powerful vampire. He has an ancient totem that makes vampires almost impossible to kill.”

“You have Benedictus this time.”

“He was also my lover. I’m just trying to get my head straight. It’s a very confusing time for me.”

“You still have feelings for him don’t you?”

“Feelings…for Vincent? Are you insane?”

“Admit it, Olivia. That’s why you’ve been acting like a fickle teenager the entire time you’ve been home.”

“I’m not admitting anything because it isn’t true. I betrayed Vincent. I think that’s the entire reason he’s after me, the reason he took those girls, the reason he took Twyla. Vampires like that don’t take betrayal lightly.”

“So you’ve been stringing me along because you betrayed your lover?”

“One doesn’t have anything to do with the other, Raven. Can we just do this now?”

“Wait. Wait a minute. I want to talk about this now. You told me you loved me an hour ago. What’s going to happen tomorrow? Are you going to go back to acting like I mean nothing to you? Are you going to leave?”

“I have no idea what will happen tomorrow. I don’t even know if I’ll be alive tomorrow.”

“If you do live, what then?”

“I’ll figure it out then.” I went to grab the door handle, but he pulled me back inside.

“Please Raven, my sister.”

“I love you, Olivia. Tell me you love me. Tell me.”

“Goddamn it, Raven!” I put my hand to my forehead. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’ll always love you. I’ve thought about you every single day since I left five years ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I can’t. I’m a screw-up. I hurt everyone I love.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I let my father die,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Your father’s death was not your fault.

“Yes. It was. If I’d been quicker. If I hadn’t hesitated. If I’d just accepted who I was to begin with.”

“You were just a kid, Olivia.”

“I should have taken the sword when he told me to take it. One split second, one hair’s breadth of hesitation, and I killed my father.”

“Is that what you think?”

“The demon was coming through the portal. My dad told me to take the sword and kill it. But I didn’t want to be what I was. I’d tried to be something else for so long. I couldn’t accept that I was a killer. And when it mattered most that I play my part, I backed away. The demon tore Dad’s throat out. He died right there on the floor in front of us all.”

“It was Twyla who opened the portal. No one blames her for his death.”

“Twyla is innocent. She wasn’t even conscious when she did it.”

“Still. She opened that portal. You just hesitated to take a sword. I can’t believe you’ve been blaming yourself for that all this time.”

“Margery blames me.”

“Miss Goody Two Shoes can go fuck herself. Seriously, Liv. What did you do? You hesitated for like two seconds.”

“It was more like thirty, with Margery screaming at me the whole time. I didn’t take the sword until Dad was already dead.”

Raven put his hand to his head. “And you left me because your sister made you feel guilty?”

“We’d just lost our father. I’d killed him. I could have taken that demon in one slice. It was easy for me. That’s when I decided to dedicate my life to killing. To atone for my sins. A killer can’t have a family. Can’t have love. A killer is alone.”

“Olivia,” he said, pulling me toward him. I let him hold me, a tear sliding from the corner of my eye.

“It makes me weak,” I said.

“No, Olivia. Love makes you strong.”

“I do love you, Raven. I love you with every breath in my body.”

He crushed his lips to mine, kissing me like his life depended on it. When he let me go, he wiped the tear from the corner of my eye with the pad of his thumb.

“Let’s go kick some vampire ass,” he said. I nodded, sniffing.

We climbed out of the car and strode across the street. Not knowing what I was going to find inside, I prepared myself for anything. My warrior senses and my Executioner powers were on high alert. As I entered the lobby, I could sense his presence there. High above me.

“He’s here,” I told Raven. “I couldn’t feel him until we got inside, but I feel him now.”

“Do you think he knows we’re here?”

“I don’t know. But he knows I’m coming.”

I strode to the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. As we zoomed upward, I could still sense him above me. Finally, we came to the top floor. He had to be there. I strode out with Raven right behind me. Pulling my gun from the holster at my back, I began to walk slowly down the hall. Raven took out his gun as well. I looked at him and pulled out some spelled wooden bullets.

“For vamps,” I said. He smiled and slid the clip into his gun. Because it was spelled, it fit into any gun.

We walked down the hall together, ready for anything. I walked past the double doors of one of the penthouse suites and stopped. “He’s in here,” I said, gripping my gun.

“We busting in there? How are we doing this?”

I considered my options, my magic taking in all the information around me to process the best course of action.

“On three, we kick the door down,” I said. “One, two…”

Suddenly the doors slid open in front of us. The messenger from the club stood before us in a white suit, his eyes dazed and vacant. Behind him, a stark white room with white furniture, white walls, and white decorations stretched out before us.

“Come in,” he said, stepping out of the way.

A pool of bright red blood sat on the table in a huge marble bowl. Drip. Drip. Drip. Blood dropped from above. My gaze went up to see a brunette girl hanging upside down, her neck slit, the blood drained from her body. 

“Fuck,” Raven said, pointing his gun in front of him. The minion slid the doors closed behind us and we walked further into the room. I pulled Benedictus out of the scabbard and held it in my left hand with my gun in my right. I would be ready this time.