The minion opened French doors at the other end of the room, and we paced toward them, Raven covering us from behind.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I said, playing his game.

Vincent swept into view on the other side, wearing a spotless white robe, his bleach-blond hair hanging down his back and his bright blue eyes shining with power. I saw the power totem on his neck.

“Olivia, so good of you to come.”

“Hey, what’s up, Vincent?”

“I see you brought your boyfriend. I’m sorry, my darling, I’m not interested in a three-way.”

“Save it, fucker. Where’s the girl?” Raven ground out.

“What girl? There’s a girl hanging out in the living room. You can have her. I’m done with that one.”

“We saw your handiwork,” I said. “You’ve broken every law the Council of Elders has for vampires. Now, Vincent, we can do this one of two ways. You can turn yourself in and spend the rest of eternity in supernatural prison. Or you can resist and die.”

“Seems like a waste of immortality, doesn’t it? Oh, Olivia. What I could have given you.”

“What’s it going to be, Vincent?”

“Tell me, did you use that sweet pussy of yours as a way to get closer to me?”

“Shut up!” Raven yelled.

“You didn’t know did you?” he said drawing closer. Vincent was supremely good-looking, like a marble statue of a god. His eyes glowed with mesmerizing desire. All at once, I felt bad. Like I’d lost something.

“It doesn’t make any difference,” I muttered, pointing my gun at his heart. “I’ve got wooden bullets in this gun.”

“Tsk, tsk, Olivia. You know you can’t shoot me.”

He moved toward the balcony, his robe fluttering around him as he walked. “Come here. I have something you might want to see.”

Raven and I walked forward as he slid open the patio doors. What I saw almost made my knees buckle. Twyla was bound and gagged, hanging over the balcony by an invisible thread.

“I used spell thread to keep her up there. If I die, the spell goes with me.”

“What do you want, Vincent?” I spat out.

“Isn’t it obvious, Olivia? I want you.”

“What?” Raven and I said at the same time.

“No one else’s blood fills me with the same spirit as yours. I miss you.”

“You let him feed on you?” Raven barked.

“You’ve obviously never been with a vampire before,” I muttered.

“I can’t believe you let his guy feed on you.”

“Could you just drop it please? We have to get her down.”

“You can’t get her down until I let her down,” Vincent said, overhearing everything we’d said.

“So you’ll give up Twyla in exchange for me?” I asked, still pointing my gun at him, my sword ready in my left hand.

“Olivia,” Raven snapped.

I gave him a pleading look and shook my head no. If this was what I had to do to make up for my mistakes, then this is what had to be done.

“Okay. How are we supposed to do this?”

“Put down your useless weapons so that we can speak like civilized people.”

Raven scoffed.

I began to lower my gun and Raven barked at me. “No.”

“Put your gun down, Raven.”

I didn’t know what my plan was, but I’d come up with something as soon as he let go of Twyla. I’d get my sword back and kill him.

But Raven wasn’t following my plan. Shots rang out in the room as he ran forward toward Twyla. Oh shit.

I lunged forward, blocking Vincent from slamming into Raven. Raven sidestepped, jumped into bird form, and flew toward Twyla. I saw him standing on the edge of the balcony casting a wind spell around Twyla’s struggling form.

Snapping back to look at Vincent, he burst toward me, moving so quickly I couldn’t see him. I emptied my clip in his general direction. Bullets flew and hit the minion in the shoulder. He slid down the wall, leaving a streak of blood behind him. Vincent came up in front of me. I could see the totem hanging around his neck as he slammed me into the wall.

His fangs extended and he lunged for my neck, but I sliced at him with Benedictus. I was able to cut his leg before he realized my sword cut got through his protective barrier. He lunged away, screaming in anger.

I dropped the empty gun and gripped Benedictus with both hands. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I mocked. He started it.

I looked upward and found him clinging to the ceiling just before he jumped down on me, grabbing at my neck. I parried, but he scratched at me with his extended nails.

His fangs were bared. He spun around me, trying to disarm me. Benedictus had chosen me; it belonged in my hands. I saw Raven pulling Twyla onto the balcony out of the corner of my eye. He set her down and untied her.

A blur sped across the room grabbed for Twyla. But Raven blocked him, only to get flung off the balcony instead. As Vincent turned to grab for Twyla, I lunged forward but missed.

I watched Raven fall from the twenty-seventh story of the building. A split second later, a black bird flew past Vincent and snatched the totem from his throat. I took the opening and lunged again, piercing Vincent’s kidney. Benedictus worked quickly on the vampire, impairing the ability of the undead to heal.

My ex-lover stumbled to his knees, blood spilling from his wound. Vincent grasped at the wound that wouldn’t heal. His legs kicked as he slid around on his side.

“Damn you, Olivia. I could have given you everything.”

I reached down and grabbed the totem from the floor.

“I already have everything I need, Vincent. But thanks.” I pulled back my sword and thrust it into his heart. Raven’s bird form flew up and over me, landing on the balcony beside Twyla.

We knelt beside my traumatized little sister, whose mouth and hands were still bound. Her eyes were huge.

I pulled the gag from her mouth and she took a deep breath.

“The portal,” she said, struggling to her feet. “He’s opened it all the way.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The portal to the other world,” she staggered into the living room and threw open the door to the bedroom.

“He used me and the blood of the girls to open it.”

Raven, Twyla, and I stood there, staring at a glowing oval portal that shimmered like the silver surface of a lake. “Great,” I muttered, crossing my arms.

“How do we close it?” Raven asked.

“We can’t. Not from this side, anyway.” Twyla said.

Twyla began to move forward. “What are you doing, Twyla?” I screamed, grasping at her hands.

“I’m not letting this happen. I’m not letting my magic be used to hurt people again. I have to stop this.”

“This is because of Oren isn’t it?”

She turned to me, her face expressionless. “This has nothing to do with him,” she said, but I could tell she was lying.

“He left you, Twyla. He used you to open a portal home. The portal that killed Dad.”

“I have to confront him, Olivia. He’s never even met his own daughter.”

Her fingers slipped from my hand and she sprinted forward, jumping through the portal. It snapped out of existence, and Twyla was gone.

“No!” I screamed, falling to my knees. Raven was beside me, his arm around my shoulders.

“She’ll be fine,” Raven whispered. But anything could happen on the other side. As a portal catalyst, Twyla couldn’t open portals herself, but she could be used by others to open them. That’s what had happened five years ago, when the boy we all thought was her boyfriend used her to open a portal into the other world. A portal home.

Fae were not common in our world because of the difficulty involved in opening portals. Vincent has been using blood magic to open a portal to bring the paranormal creatures here, and then used Twyla to open it the rest of the way.

“I hope she finds him and kicks his ass,” I said, standing.