Allcot’s eyes blazed with fury as he followed Link, his movements sleek and graceful and just as predatory as a cheetah. I ran to catch up with him and the wolf, my eyes stinging from the smoke-filled air.

Moving deeper into the smoke, I pulled my T-shirt up over my mouth and put my head down. The heat from the burning house prickled my skin, setting me on edge. Whatever Link had found had better be worth it, I thought. Because if we survived the premeditated attack and the fall from the third story of the house just to get swallowed up in blaze anyway, I was going to be supremely pissed.

“Kilsen, get over here,” Allcot ordered.

I followed the sound of his voice, my eyes too watery to see much of anything. But then the wind shifted directions, taking the smoke with it. I took a deep breath, blinking rapidly, and my vision cleared. My eyes widened as I stared at the vampire nailed to a shed. He was held up by a total of five lawn stakes, one in each of his hands, one through his sternum, and one each through his ankles.

“Holy shit.”

Allcot snarled at the vampire, his fangs bared.

I’d never seen the leader of the Cryrique look so savage, so feral, before. The cool, cold-as-ice persona I’d come to know so well had vanished. There was nothing left of the CEO businessman, only a pissed-off vampire who’d given in to the beast inside himself.

“Where is she?” Allcot demanded, lashing one hand out and grabbing the other vampire by the throat.

The redheaded vampire looked almost identical to Carter Voelkel, only his face was slightly rounded with a few more age lines. There was no doubt the two were related. It was impossible to tell how long he’d been staked to the shed, but it’d been long enough. The wounds around each of the stakes had already healed. Curiously, he still had a bloody wound on his face.

The vampire didn’t even try to speak as hatred swam in his blue gaze.

“Eadric, you’re going to have to let go if we want to get answers,” I said conversationally.

Allcot only squeezed the other vamp’s neck harder.

The redheaded vamp’s eyes bulged and a bone cracked under the weight of Allcot’s fist.

“Are you trying to break his neck?” I asked the Cryrique leader.

“Yes,” he said, “I’d like nothing better than to rip his head off.”

“That would be productive,” I said sarcastically. “I seriously doubt we’re going to get another potential witness just handed to us, but if you feel that strongly, then maybe you should just end him. Put him out of his misery and we’ll go about our business, trying to find someone else with answers.” I had no idea why Allcot hated the other vampire, but in that moment I didn’t care. Whatever it was, we had more important matters to deal with.

Allcot turned his steely glare on me and hissed.

I raised my hands, palms up, and shrugged as if the next move was entirely up to him. It wasn’t. If Allcot attempted to kill the vampire before we questioned him, I wouldn’t hesitate to stake him with my dagger… the cursed one that would knock his ass out. “What do you say, Allcot? Should we find out what he knows before ending him?”

There was a long, pregnant pause.

I tapped my finger on the hilt of my blade and waited.

“Fine,” Allcot said with a sneer. He leaned into the other vamp and said, “Move one muscle and my companion here will turn your ass to ash, got it?”

“I will?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“Yes, you will,” Allcot snapped as he released his hold on the other vampire. “Keep your dagger ready.”

“Oh, right.” I took a step forward and held the dagger up, pointing the tip straight at his heart. “Ever seen one of these before, carrot top? The magic in the blade makes it feel like your insides are on fire.”

“Don’t fucking call me that,” he rasped.

“Then what should I call you?”

“Dante.”

“Seriously?” I said, shaking my head. “Is that your given name, or did you just decide Dante made you sound cool?”

The vampire averted his gaze, not meeting my eyes, and let out a barely audible huff of annoyance.

“Oh gods. It’s not your real name.” I shook my head in pity. “Listen, Dante. I’m not sure anyone’s ever told you this, but picking a cooler name doesn’t do anything to help with your cool points. In fact, I’d say it’s probably a strike against you. It says you know you’re uncool and are trying too hard. If I were you, I’d have gone with something more like Rusty or Smoke or even Coal. But Dante? Come on. No one’s buying that.”

Allcot let out a snort of amusement, and I was glad I’d managed to distract him from his single-minded determination to annihilate the vamp.

“Shut the fuck up, Kilsen,” Dante said, glaring at me now.

“Oh, you know who I am. That’s interesting. But I think we’ll save that story for later.” I inched closer, tightening my grip on the dagger. “For now, let’s start with who did this to you?”

He ignored me.

“If you cooperate, we might help you down, but—”

“No you won’t.” He nodded his head toward Allcot. “He won’t let you.”

“Seems you’re not as stupid as you look,” Allcot said.

I glanced between them. “You two know each other?”

“You could say that.” Allcot nudged me out of the way, stepped up to the vampire, and pressed a sharpened fingernail to Dante’s neck. A thin line of blood beaded from the shallow scrape. “Why don’t you tell Kilsen here exactly who you are, Dante?”

He scowled and shook his head.

“No? I guess it’s up to me then.” Allcot took a step back and, in a flat, expressionless tone said, “He’s Pandora’s ex, and I’d bet money she’s the one who nailed his ass to this shed.”

“Pandora’s ex?” I asked, shocked. Eadric and Pandora were like an institution. It had never crossed my mind that there was a time when they hadn’t been together. Of course, that was faulty logic as everyone had pasts and history. “But how come you think Pandora did this to him? How could she have done that if she’s captured?”

Allcot moved in close again, grabbed the vampire’s jaw and jerked his head to the side.

The vampire let out a grunt.

“See this?” Allcot ran his thumb over the one remaining bloody mark on the vampire’s skin. “See how it hasn’t healed?”

“Yeah.” I squinted, trying to make out the shape of the wound. “Is that a fleur-de-lis?”

“Yes. Now ask me who’s been working on a line of cursed rings that are designed to be used during an attack and have the added benefit of magically scarring the attacker.”

“Nicola?” I guessed, impressed at her ingenuity.

“And guess who has been testing them out for her?”

“Pandora.”

“Right again, Kilsen,” Allcot said, slamming Dante’s head against the wall. “This mark right here proves they’ve been fighting within the past couple of hours. Because while the curse leaves a mark, it does heal enough to just leave a scar.” He tugged his sleeve up and showed me his inner arm. An identical mark was just below the crook of his elbow, only Allcot’s had turned into a pink scar and was no longer a fresh wound. “I’d say Dante’s here will look just like this within a few hours.”

“Holy shit. That means Pandora was here recently.” I turned and scanned the area, already knowing she couldn’t be anywhere near. If she were, Link would’ve scented her. Those fresh tire tracks in the mud guaranteed she’d either driven off by herself or had been recaptured and hauled away again. It was hard to say which scenario was most likely.

“She was and Dante here likely knows where they’re taking her next, don’t you, Dante?”

I frowned. “Why would anyone leave him behind with information they clearly wouldn’t want you to have?”

“Insurance,” Allcot said, his cold, sinister smile sending a chill up my spine despite the warm, humid day. “Just in case their trap didn’t work. They left me a gift so I’ll be sure to show up again for the next round of cat and mouse.”

I glanced back and forth between Dante and Allcot, my skin prickling from their mutual hatred as I tried to make sense of what Allcot was telling me.

“You really pissed someone off, didn’t you, Dante?” Allcot tsked. “Looks like whoever you’re working with wants you dead.”

They must, otherwise they’d never have left him here for Allcot to find.

“Did they finally figure out your loyalty is shit? What did you do? Try to sell Pandora to the highest bidder?”

Dante’s lips twisted into a maniacal grin. “That bitch is worth a lot of money.”

Allcot’s precarious hold on his control snapped, and he grabbed the vampire, yanking him clear off the structure.

Dante let out a piercing cry as his flesh tore open once again from the lawn stakes that had been holding him up. Allcot threw him back against the shed, causing the entire thing to collapse around the other vampire.

“Shit,” I muttered, taking a step back to stay out of the fray. I didn’t personally care if Allcot beat him to a pulp. Clearly Dante was a worthless member of vampire society. But I did care if Allcot killed him before we got more answers.

Allcot reached into the rubble and grabbed Dante with one hand, his other fist already sailing toward Dante’s face. But Dante came out of the rubble with a broken two-by-four in his grasp, and before Allcot’s fist connected, Dante rammed the jagged piece into Allcot’s shoulder, tearing the flesh open and knocking Allcot off-balance.

Dante took his opening and flew at Allcot, his fangs bared.

Allcot spun, but he wasn’t fast enough and Dante’s fangs sank right into Allcot’s neck. Still on their feet, they were a tangle of limbs and fangs and grunts.

Calmly, I walked right up to the grappling vampires and said, “Enough! Eadric, control yourself. We have work to do—Pandora, Willow, and Talisen are still missing, remember?”

Neither acknowledged my reasoning, not that I’d expected them to, but it’d been worth a shot.

“You realize you leave me no choice, right?” Again, nothing. “Okay then.”

I reached for my other blade and waited for my opening, then lunged. The weapon slid easily into Dante’s back and he froze.

Startled, Allcot froze too. Then his eyes found my blade and he started to laugh. He stepped away from the incapacitated vampire and nodded at me. “Well played, Kilsen.”

“Bitch,” Dante said, not daring to move a muscle.

“Call me that again, vampire, and I’ll twist this knife.” I pushed it in deeper, just to make my point. “It won’t likely kill you since I didn’t use the cursed one… this time, but it’s hard to say. Depends on how close it is to your heart.”

He let out a snarl. “What do you want from me?”

I leaned in and in a harsh whisper, I said, “I want to know everything. Who has Pandora, why they’re toying with Allcot, and where the hell are Willow Rhoswen and Talisen Kavanagh?”