His smile faded. ‘Do you think her blood is still good after this much time?’

Tatiana’s belly growled, and she narrowed her eyes at him. Pretty did not always mean brains. ‘Of course it’s still good. And all this talk of blood isn’t helping. Especially knowing the girl is out there, somewhere, with a vampire helping her.’ The old comarré had given that much up when she’d thought Tatiana was her niece. ‘It just makes me want to hunt that much more.’ The vampire helping the rogue comarré would be ash as soon as she found him.

Mikkel glanced at the sky. ‘The Nothos should be back soon.’

‘Good. Then it can track down the female remnant and bring her in.’ She sighed. ‘I can’t believe those two vampire guards took down my other Nothos. Whoever sent them clearly trained them, although the element of surprise was on their side.’

‘Training fringe.’ He shook his head. ‘What a waste.’

‘Except that it obviously works.’ All nobles, including her, kept a contingent of trained fringe guards. She eyed him, wondering if the flight had affected his brain. Since gaining her new power, she’d felt a distance between her and Mikkel. She grimaced. ‘The Americas’ abundance of fringe is just one more reason not to live here.’ Fringe vampires weren’t worth notice, except when they stood in the way of what she wanted. Then they made excellent practice for hand to hand.

The smell of brimstone wafted in with a gust of rain-tinged air. She inhaled the familiar scent. ‘Finally.’

The Nothos stalked in, a limp kine under each corded arm. It dropped them at her feet with a slight bow. The female kine whimpered as she hit the concrete.

‘Well done.’ The kine were deliciously young but not children. That was a line she would never, ever cross. She spoke to the Nothos while watching the pair slowly rouse. ‘You are to find a female remnant named Nyssa. She works as a black market errand girl. Half shadeux, half wysper, believed to be mute, but use the iron mesh earplugs anyway. I can’t afford to lose another of you.’

The Nothos stayed still.

‘Do you need iron shackles?’

‘No, mistress.’ It patted a pair of the rusty bracelets hooked to its belt.

She glared at it. ‘Then go.’

The Nothos nodded and leaped into the now pouring rain, its strange loping gait carrying it swiftly into the last bit of remaining darkness. Tatiana envied the creature’s indifference to sunlight. Hard to believe the only thing separating their kind from hers was a bit of human DNA. The walking horrors didn’t deserve such a boon any more than they deserved their invisibility to human eyes. One more thing breaking the covenant would remove.

The male kine groaned. His eyes flicked open and he reached for his head. ‘What happened?’ His hand came away red and sticky.

The sweet perfume of hot blood brought her fangs down hard. Tatiana bent toward the male kine until the silver of her eyes reflected in his. Could there be a kine somewhere worthy of sacrificing to the ring? One pure enough to activate the ring’s power? Doubtful. Kine were weak. Far from pure. Good for one thing and one thing only. The male trembled at her closeness, and his fear sent liquid pleasure spilling down her spine like the finest silk.

‘Where are we?’ he asked. ‘Who are you?’

She smiled broadly. ‘You’re in hell. And I’m the devil.’

Chapter Twenty-one

Twenty minutes later and a world away, Doc rolled the sedan down an alley that reminded Chrysabelle of the one where she’d stabbed Mal. Despite the rain, two large, hairy men flanked a rusted metal door long ago stenciled with Seven. At the sedan’s approach, both straightened. One flicked a cigarette to the ground and exhaled a thin curl of smoke.

‘What’s Seven?’

Doc glanced into the rearview mirror. ‘Dominic’s club. As in seven deadly sins.’

‘This is where Dominic lives?’ Based on the way the vampire dressed, she’d imagined something more in keeping with her aunt’s estate, not the slums.

Doc shifted the sedan into park. ‘Yes, this is his club and his home. There are more levels than you’d guess.’

Beside her, Mal rolled his head from shoulder to shoulder like a man loosening for a fight. ‘Take your shirt off.’

‘What? Why?’

He kept his eyes on the two guarding the door. ‘Put the sword on beneath it. With the shirt’s length and your hair over the handle, it won’t be as noticeable.’

She raised her brows but did as he said. That he wanted her to keep the sword he’d been adamant she leave in the trunk minutes before spoke volumes. He expected trouble. That made two of them.

Doc checked his watch. ‘Dawn can’t be more than forty-five minutes out.’

‘We won’t be that long.’ Mal looked at her, his eyes silver, his fangs kissing his bottom lip, his human face long discarded. ‘You ready?’

‘Yes.’ She stared at his fangs longer than she should have. Already the blood was building in her again, weakening her flesh. Being in such close contact was ruining her cycle.

‘Follow my lead.’

She nodded. She’d do what seemed right, whether it was his lead or not, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.

‘Be careful,’ Fi said, scooting closer to Doc. ‘Both of you.’

Putting his arm around her, Doc lifted his head to look at them in the rearview mirror. ‘Watch out for the twins.’