We sprinted out of the records building. Smoke coughed out of the opened door a ways up. Flames flickered in the windows. No denying that. I’d definitely set fire to it.

A jet of magic came at us. Emery shot something back before I could even blink.

I collected up my power stones and whatever handfuls I could of the natural items. I stuffed them into my belt and strapped it on as the vampires converged around us.

“Stay near me,” Emery said, grabbing my arm and pulling me close. Our bubble flared to life almost immediately, our power instantly amping up.

We jogged out the way we’d come. Movement caught my eye from the right, a pulsing beacon of death flaring to life in front of us.

“They’re creating a nasty spell that way.” I pointed in front of us.

“Exit strategy. Go left,” Darius commanded.

Like a flock of birds, everyone turned, the vampires gliding along effortlessly, seemingly untroubled by the weight and bulk strapped to their backs. Emery dropped a hazy shield around us, similar to the spell I’d used against the mage attack on our first visit. He could say what he wanted, but his brain was clearly just fine at quickly picking up and remembering spells.

We picked up the speed until Emery and I were flat-out running. The boxes bounced on the backs of the vampires. Evil sparked behind us.

“Incoming,” I hollered, whirling another heat ball into existence, then bowling it behind us.

“You have a very creative imagination.” Emery created a weave above us, perfectly done regardless of how fast we were running. “And a very scary one.”

“You literally have no idea.” Movement caught my eye to the right and I sent a red zapper that way. Someone shrieked. Marie sprinted away and the sound cut off.

“Left,” Darius said.

Emery and I turned together, moving into a part of the compound we hadn’t seen earlier. We passed between shabby buildings with black windows and sickly trees with bare branches. Marie caught up to us before stalling and drifting behind. I felt a surge of aggression, spiky and hot, ready to be realized.

“Oh no.” I jumped to the side so the vampires could pass me and sprinted back toward her, my heart in my throat. She was terrifying, but she had helped me. I didn’t want to see her die.

“Penny,” Emery called out, chasing after me.

The spell loosed, hurtling in roughly our direction. Marie ran in front of us, right at it. It would slice her in pieces. Even superior healing would not help her.

White-hot fire rose through me. I clapped my hand on Emery’s wrist, closed my eyes, and opened up to my intention. Blast away that spell.

My center exploded out, my power acidic. I staggered, clutching at my chest. Emery wrapped his arm around my shoulders, supporting me as my spell sailed right above Marie’s head. It hit the spell five feet before it reached her. An explosion of heat and light blasted Marie off her feet. She flew backward at us, her hair burned away and her clothes smoking.

Her body hit mine, throwing me back. My head smacked against the ground and my vision swam.

“Get Penny,” Emery yelled, his voice hard. Hexes exploded through the air, firing out from Emery faster than I could think. Energy boiled and frayed around us.

Screams pierced the darkness. Agonized groans filled in the gaps. Movement came from the right. Emery gracefully turned his upper body to shift his aim, his file at his feet and his magic rising around him like he was some sort of God. He flung the spells every which way, aggressive and powerful, cutting out the enemy with cool efficiency.

A hairless, gristly-green monster yanked me up off the ground and threw me over its shoulder. Black filled its eyes, fangs dropped down from black gums surrounded by black lips, and jutting cheekbones with hollowed cheeks made me cringe.

“Am I hallucinating?” I tried to hold my hands away from touching its half-scorched, half-swampy back. My head pounded and simultaneously felt like it had been stuffed with feathers, but I could still make out the greenish-white skin dipping between the creature’s ribs, the bony butt, and stringy, bowed legs.

And we were running. So fast I couldn’t focus. Legs churning and air whipping my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again, thinking of Emery. He had been left behind to deal with the mages. Alone.

“Let me down. I can help,” I said. “I’m fine.”

“He comes,” the horrifying monster said through a mouthful of fangs.

I arched, looking back. Sure enough, Emery was sprinting, his file safely in hand. We turned a corner and the sight of him cut out. I was about to roll off the bony, extremely uncomfortable shoulder of the swamp thing, when Emery came around after us.

“He and I leave together,” I said, pounding a fist on the back of the monster. “Did you hear that? I don’t leave this compound unless it is with him.”

Miracle of miracles, the swamp thing listened, slowing as we ran up to the ward leading out of this hellhole. Emery caught up with us, his eyes anxious, glimmering in the moonlight. As a unit, we ran out together, our magical key from previously entering enough to get us back out again.

Thoughts dizzied after that. We ran up a small hillside and to a small road where a line of cars and trucks awaited us. The others.

“Dawn is fast approaching. Let’s get to the safe house,” Darius said, thrusting a finger in the air.

I ended up in an SUV on Emery’s lap, my head still pounding and a huge lump on it to show why.

“Did you get it?” I asked.

“I think so. I need Darius or Clyde to read over a couple pages to be sure, but I really think so.” His eyes held relief and sadness. “I never would’ve guessed. It wasn’t the person I’d suspected. But one document in particular…” He shook his head and grazed my forehead with his lips. “It just goes to show how conniving that bunch really is. They’re almost a match for the vampires.”

“So you can get closure.”

He gave me a squeeze. “After trading with the vampires for information, yes. Clyde has all the details I need to end it. Finally.” He looked down on me, his eyes deep and soft. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You have more courage than combat-trained men. You went in there knowing next to nothing, but you never once balked. I am in awe of you, Penny Bristol.”

“It’s easier to have courage when you don’t know what’s coming. You’re the courageous one, not me.”

His lips were firm and insistent on mine, fluttering my heart. “Thank you for helping me,” he said. “I will never forget it.”

His heavy tone sent a tendril of fear worming through my heart. “Is that an invitation to constantly remind you of my heroics?” I asked, keeping it light.

A flash of sadness and regret rolled across his expression, there one moment and gone the next, so fast I wondered if I’d imagined it. Before I could press the point, because if he thought he was walking away after all this, he was sorely mistaken, the procession of vehicles slowed.

“Wait…where are we?” I asked, straightening up and looking out the window. Lush greenery lined both sides of the narrow road. Ahead of us loomed a large house nestled into the trees, mostly obscured by the natural surroundings. “We got him what he wanted, so now the vampire is going to kill us, is that it?”

The light came on as we stopped beside the road. “Do not be absurd.” The dark gaze of the driver flashed into the rearview mirror. “You are much too valuable to kill.”

“Well there you go. See?” Emery opened the door. “And you were worried.”

“Okay, but where are we?”

The driver was next to the door in a flash, his hand outstretched to help me. Judging by the grumpy expression on his face, this was the last thing in the world he wanted to be doing. “We are at a friend’s estate. The guild does not know of it. You’ll be safe here.”

“Thank you, Mr. LaRay, I’ll take it from here.” The driver peeled away to reveal Darius, just as immaculate and freshly pressed as when he’d shown up earlier at the warehouse. How was beyond me. I was pretty sure I looked like a dead rat that had been dragged by the tail through the apocalypse.

Darius held out his hand, and I took it, because it seemed rude not to. The man had some serious manners.

“I didn’t want this venture to be associated with Mr. Regent in any way,” Darius said, steadying me until Emery had climbed from the car and slipped an arm around my shoulders.

“I’m good, you guys,” I said. “Aside from the headache, I’m fine.”

“We merely encountered a small, on-hand staff tonight,” Darius continued as though not hearing me. Clearly he had his own ignore list.

He directed us up the driveway to the house and continued. “The Mages’ Guild will be out for blood. I do not want them knowing who exactly the perpetrators were.”

“But they had cameras.” I watched the vampires zip by, carrying their boxes.

“Vampires don’t show up in cameras or video equipment,” Emery mumbled. “They’ll only see you and me.”

“Yes,” Darius said. “They will know you were working with vampires, but they will not know which vampires. Mr. Regent has been with guests and in the public eye all night, along with his prized children—”

“Wait, vampires can have kids?” I asked.

“That’s what they call the new vampires they make,” Emery whispered.

“When they inevitably go looking for him,” Darius continued, “he’ll have an alibi. As for you two…well, you are already at the top of their list. Now they know to fear you.”

Dread pounded in my middle. “People kill what they fear.”

“Not in your case.” Darius nodded to a woman holding the door open. Not a woman, judging by the predatory stare—another vampire. “They will see you—both of you—as the greatest prizes available to them. You blew through their facility as though peasants had created the spells guarding it. You are firmly at the top of the power pyramid.”

“Being the top of the pyramid didn’t help my brother,” Emery said darkly.

Darius held out his hand at the bottom of a wide set of stairs, the house large, spacious, and fashionably rustic. It was gorgeous. “Please. I’ll show you to your room. I’ll have dinner and drinks brought up, if you’re hungry?”

My stomach growled in answer.

“Yes, I thought so.” He followed us up. “Your brother, Mr. Westbrook, was in an entirely different situation than are you. He thought he could change the guild from the inside. You, wisely, realize that to do any benefit, the guild must be torn down and rebuilt. Which you have the power to do. With my help.”

“I’m not saying I don’t agree, but it’s going to take a lot more magical might than someone like me to change the guild.” Emery stopped at the top of the long hall. Darius gestured us to the right. “Even with Penny, we can’t do much more than make a dent. Not if they organize. Which, after tonight, you can bet they will. I’ll never be able to set foot in this town again.”

My heart squeezed and I grabbed hold of his shirt. Though what was I responding to? I wouldn’t be able to stay in this town either. Not after tonight. My home wouldn’t be my home anymore. I needed to come to grips with that.

“There are…others that can help in the struggle, I think,” Darius said, his voice far away. He was strategizing, probably. “The guild won’t be taken down immediately, but all good things come to those who wait.”

We stopped at a closed door that looked the same as the closed doors to the right and left. Darius opened it and pushed it wide.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted two rooms or one. This—”

“One,” Emery said. He squeezed me, and butterflies filled my stomach.

Darius offered a slight bow and stepped back. “I’ll have clothes brought up to you. After you’re rested, we’ll create a plan for what is next.”

“I need someone to look at a couple letters,” Emery said.

“Of course. And you’ll want to know what we dig up from the records we’ve collected, I trust?”

“I would, thanks.” Without a goodbye, Emery walked us into the room and closed the door after us. He conjured up a spell and smeared it against the door. “It’s unusual for a vampire to offer to share information.” He unzipped his vest and shrugged out of it. His white shirt underneath was plastered to his body with sweat. “I’m not sure what that’s about.”

“Seems like he wants the guild brought to the ground for his own reasons, and realizes you have to help. You need to know your enemy.”

Uneasiness wrestled with his expression, but he didn’t comment. Instead, his gaze connected with mine, raw, deep, and bare. “How about that bath?”