My heart nearly stopped. Bandu was lying on the bed, blood smeared from the bite marks on his neck, apparently unconscious while Carter held the stake I’d given to Imogen at her throat. Two things were crystal clear in that moment. Carter wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if she didn’t do what he wanted. And if Carter had Bandu in this room and no one had come after them, then the people I loved most were in serious trouble.

“Heal him,” Carter ordered her.

“I-I can’t,” she stammered, meeting my eyes, fear shining back at me.

Carter jabbed the stake at her neck, breaking the skin. She winced as he hissed, “I said, heal him.”

I took two tentative steps, not sure if Carter had even noticed me. But if he hadn’t, I didn’t want to startle him.

“I’ll try,” Imogen said.

“You’d better do more than just try.”

Imogen’s eyes were still locked on mine when I nodded and mouthed, Try. Try anything.

She swallowed and laid her hands on the shifter’s body. Light began to glow from her palms and spread over the limp shifter.

“Carter?” I said softly. “What happened to him?”

The vampire’s eyes flashed as he glared at me. “Get out. Get out! Get the fuck out!”

I let my dagger fall to the floor and raised my hands in a surrender motion. “I can help her. With the two of us, the magic is more powerful.”

He flicked his gaze from me to her and back again. “You’re a liar.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not. At least not about this. We work well together. We got past the demons and the magical wall, didn’t we?”

His eyebrows pinched together as if he wasn’t quite sure what I was talking about, and then he jerked his head, indicating I should come forward. “If you try anything, I’ll kill her on the spot.”

“Understood.” There was no doubt in my mind that he’d live up to that promise. The stake was hovering right over her carotid artery.

I stepped up to the bed, standing just across from Imogen. I placed my hands over hers and squeezed. Her magic rippled over my skin, and it was easy to see she wasn’t even trying to heal the shifter. She was just sending light over him. I sent her a small smile, approving her thought process. If there was any opening, any opening at all, we might be able to stun the vampire with a blast of light. It was risky. Risky as hell to be sure since I already knew my sun agate hadn’t stopped him. But I was sure a powerful blast from the two of us would at least knock him on his ass. Hopefully I wasn’t wrong about that.

“It’s not working,” the vampire snapped. “If he dies, I’ll rip both your heads off.”

“How original,” I muttered.

“Keep it up, Kilsen, and I’ll take yours just for the fun of it.”

“Nice pillow talk you have there, Carter. Is that how you bagged Bandu here?” I smiled sweetly at him as I called up my magic.

He scowled and said something about me being a first class bitch but clamped his mouth shut when he saw the magic sparking over my fingers. His eyes were glued to our hands, and armed with the knowledge he wouldn’t hesitate to kill us both if Bandu died, I knew we had to try. I also knew that Imogen hadn’t been lying when she said she couldn’t heal him. Healers couldn’t just fix blood loss. That required a transfusion. And since Bandu was a shifter, it required shifter blood. So if he lost too much blood from whatever had bitten him, and I was guessing it was one of the demons by the shape of the bite, he might already be a lost cause. But if we could breathe a little life into him, it would buy us time with Carter.

“Imogen,” I said.

Her gaze flickered to mine. “Yeah?”

“Let’s try a massive infusion of energy.”

Doubt flickered over her face, but when I cut my gaze to Carter for a just a moment, she seemed to get my message. She nodded and sucked in a deep breath. Light glowed under her skin, and I was awed at the sight of her building her power.

She placed her hands flat over his chest, and I placed mine over hers. And in the next moment, she unleashed her powerful healer magic. I sent mine, joining with her yet again, almost getting lost in the gorgeous beauty of her energy.

Goddamn, I thought. If this didn’t bring him back, nothing would. Sweet, cool magic mixed with mine, fortifying it as I held it in my mind’s eye and sent it all pumping into Bandu’s chest. He lit up like a Christmas tree, nearly coming right off the bed. Both Imogen and I jumped back. Light continued to cling to him, flickering like twinkling lights all over his skin.

“What are you doing?” Carter roared at us. “Keep—”

Bandu suddenly sucked in a desperate breath, let it out, and then his chest began to rise and fall in a thready but rhythmic fashion.

“Oh my God. You’re alive,” he said, knocking Imogen out of the way and throwing his body over Bandu’s.

Holy hellfire. Was Carter that big of an idiot? The answer appeared to be yes, because as I bent down to retrieve my dagger, Carter didn’t move. He just held tight to his lover, fighting back tears.

I, however, was unmoved. Carter cared for no one but himself and Bandu. And even then, he cared more about having Bandu by his side than he did about Bandu’s soul. It hadn’t escaped my notice that while Bandu had ultimately gone along with Carter’s plan, he’d done so to please Carter. The sacrifices, the lies, the corruption, it had been more than Bandu could shoulder. And while none of that let Bandu off the hook for his crimes, Carter was the one with no remorse, no moral compass, no empathy for anyone else.

And I was done. He would not live another day to order another sacrifice of an innocent soul.

“Say goodbye, Carter,” I said.

“Not today, Kilsen.” Like most vampires, Carter moved so fast he was barely a blur. One second he was lying on Bandu’s chest and the next he was behind me, nearly breaking my wrists with his iron-vise grip. “Drop the dagger.”

“No,” I said, embracing my defiance.

His fingers squeezed and pain shot up my arm. I let out a cry as my knees tried to buckle from the agony, but I forced myself to stay upright and whipped my head back, catching him squarely in the nose. His bones made a nauseating crunching sound, and I knew I’d hit the bullseye.

“You fucking whore,” he said and threw me to the side.

I stumbled, let myself fall, and rolled while Imogen let out something that sounded like a battle cry. When I scrambled back onto my feet, my eyes grew wide as I stared at Carter. The gold stake I’d given Imogen was lodged in his chest. He teetered back and forth, back and forth, then crashed backward, landing on his back, his unfocused eyes open and staring at the ceiling.

“Holy shit! How did you do that?”

“I just threw it.” She shook her head. “I have no idea.”

“I mean, what did you do to the stake? The last time I tried to dust his ass, it didn’t work. He actually pulled my dagger right out of his chest and took off.”

We both turned and stared at the statue-like vampire lying on the floor.

“I probably infused some of my magic, but I can’t be sure,” she said.

I shook my head in awed disbelief. “You’re something else, Healer Imogen. You know that?” Then I grabbed her hand and tugged her from the room. “We’ll celebrate this later. Right now we need to find out what’s happening in that other room.”

Our footsteps echoed in the hall, and I once again realized I couldn’t hear our friends. I fully expected to run into another invisible wall, but we didn’t. The door wasn’t even locked. And when I burst in, it took me a moment to register the scene.

I paused, Imogen right behind me, and blinked, scanning the room.

“Nice of you to finally join us, witches,” Morena drawled and then took a drag from the longest cigarette I’d ever seen. The thing must’ve been at least a foot long and smelled like cinnamon-coated tar. She was sitting in a recliner, her legs crossed while she drummed her scraggly nails on the armrest. Her hair was a tangled mess, her dress had moth holes, and her boots were coming apart at the seams. Morena, it appeared, was losing her hold on her place on earth. I suspected that if she didn’t get her sacrifice, she’d be sent back to the hell she came from.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

I coughed and scanned the room. Willow was in her cell, Link and Leo, both of them in wolf form, right next to her. Allcot and Pandora were trapped in some sort of shimmering bubble. Dax was pinned to the wall, held up by invisible restraints, and his mouth clamped shut. And Talisen was nowhere to be seen. I said a silent prayer he was safe somewhere in another room.

“You two owe me an army of demons,” Morena said. “It seems you found a way to send them home without my permission.”

“Send home.” I scoffed. “Sure. If that’s how you want to put it. You ready to join them?”

“As long as Bandu is alive, this plane will remain my home. There’s nothing you can do to stop that,” she said and pushed herself up out of the chair.

Power rolled off her in thick waves, making my skin itch. It was impressive really, the way she had Dax pinned and Allcot and Pandora caged and still possessed so much power I could practically see it.

“Come on, Morena,” I said. “Carter is toast and Bandu is on his last breath, and your demons… Well, Imogen and I took care of them. Now how about you and me just finish this shit show?”

“That’s a lie! Carter can’t die,” she screamed, her black eyes turning red with rage.

I suppressed a shudder and waved a hand at Imogen. “Seems all it took was a powerful healer. Check for yourself. He’s a stone-cold corpse lying on the floor while Bandu struggles to breathe on the bed above him.” I smiled sweetly at her. “I know it isn’t the outcome you hoped for, but you fucked with the wrong witch.”

She flew at me, her gnarled hands tangling in my hair.

“Son of a bitch! What are you, a thirteen-year-old girl?” I cried and twisted hard, cursing as she ripped away tufts of my hair. “For fuck’s sake. Now I’m going to have to get my hair done.”

Morena was not amused. The sorceress waved a hand and sent the recliner right at my head. I ducked just in time to keep it from knocking me out. I flattened myself to the floor, rolled twice, and scrambled to my feet, ready to fight, but as soon as I did, my eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

Bandu was standing in the middle of the room, holding the golden stake in one hand and a gold ring in the other. Anguished cries ripped from his throat as he held both in the air and shook his fists at the sky as if he was damning the powers that be.

Morena’s eyes widened and filled with tears. Forgetting us, she flew to him and wrapped him in her arms, apologizing over and over and over again, telling him they’d be okay. If they stuck together, they’d find a way to honor Carter, to learn to love again.

Bandu stiffened, then pushed her away and shook his head violently. “He was the only man I ever loved. The only one I wanted to love. I’ve loved him for four centuries and these are the only things left of him.” Bandu shouted angrily at Morena and thrust the ring her face. “Do you see this? The ring I gave him four hundred years ago. One of the cursed rings you sold us. The ones that bound us to you for forever. Now he’s gone. And I can’t even take mine off. You still own me, you wretched, horrible piece of evil!”

He dropped his head, his sobs wracking his body. Morena moved in again, trying to soothe him, but the moment her arms came around him, he jerked his arm up and the golden stake he still had in his hand went right through her heart.

She let out a startled gasp and whispered, “What did you do?”

Before he could answer, the light rippled beneath both of their skins, brightened, then exploded in a brilliant ray of light, ten times brighter than when Imogen and I had destroyed her demons.

I threw my arm over my eyes and jerked back, my ears ringing from the massive blast. For a moment, everything was silent. A reprieve from the chaos of the past few hours. But then everyone started to chatter, and strong arms engulfed me from behind.

“Dax,” I said, resting my head against his strong chest.

“It took you guys long enough,” he whispered in my ear.

I smiled, knowing he wasn’t kidding. He’d known all along we’d show up, but no one could’ve predicted what happened with Bandu. I couldn’t say I was surprised really. It was clear he hated what he’d become, and without Carter, he’d had no reason to keep living a tortured life.

“Phoebs!” Willow called from across the room. I glanced at the cell to find Allcot already picking the lock and grinned at her.

“Ready to go home?” I asked.

“Only once we find Talisen.” Her voice cracked as much from worry as it did from fatigue. Her eyes were full of concern, and it was obvious she hadn’t slept since she’d been abducted.

“Son of a… Dammit. I’ll find him. Any ideas where to start?”

She pointed to a door on the other side of the room. “Try there.”

“On it.” I slipped away from Dax and moved to the door. Locked. It was annoying but not an issue. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my own set of picks. In less than ten seconds I had the door open and strode into the dark room. After running my hand over the wall, I finally found the light switch and flicked it on.

It took a moment for my vision to adjust, and when it did, I just stood there, frozen. Two cells were side by side. One held Talisen, and the other…

“Seth!” I screamed and ran over to the cell.

He sat straight up and blinked, much like I’d done just a moment ago. And when recognition dawned, a huge grin spread over his stubbled face. “Hey, sis. Long time no see.”