Midnight Marked

Anger pierced me, the fact that she believed I’d used Ethan in some kind of rebellion against my family. The recognition that she probably knew better—that she was baiting me just as Reed liked to do—kept me in my place.

“We have a countermagic,” Ethan said, getting us back to the point. “Your alchemy is being unraveled as we speak, and the CPD is waiting for you below. Your bluff has been called, Reed. It’s time to step away from the table.”

“You misunderstand,” Reed said. “Your magic’s failing.” He gestured to the airspace above us, where the QE still hung in the sky. It did look more stable than it had seemed before we came up here, but I refused to believe Mallory and Catcher weren’t beating it back, reversing the magic they’d created. I believed in her as much as I believed in anyone. And good had to win sometimes.

“It’s your sorcerer against mine,” Reed said, “and mine wins every time. She’s exquisitely powerful.” He slid his hands into his pockets, just casually enough to rankle. “I assume the magic’s effect on you has been dampened by those trinkets you’re wearing. A clever, if unsophisticated, measure. Not that it will matter. We appreciate a good game, but our magic is winning. When we have Chicagoland’s vampires—and everyone else—under our control, you’ll become nothing more than rounding errors in our empire.”

He doesn’t know about the House, I told Ethan. About the ward.

And let’s keep it that way, he said.

“And, of course,” Reed continued, because the man loved to hear himself talk, “we have a vampire.” He looked back at me, and his gaze crept over my body like a spider. “I understand you’re acquainted.”

I would have lunged for him, if Ethan hadn’t held me back.

Reed’s smile widened. “As I expected. That had been a bit of luck. I hadn’t known Logan when he was in Celina’s employ. And wasn’t it fortuitous that we met again, and he told me of his exploits?”

It was too late for fear. I’d already done that. “He’s failed to kill me three times. I’d say I have the upper hand there.”

“And speaking of the upper hand . . . ,” she said. Her gaze slipped to my left just as I heard Ethan’s warning in my head.

He came out of nowhere, slamming me to the floor and covering me with his weight. And then his hands were around my neck, squeezing.

“Fourth time’s a charm,” he said.

I tried to suck in air, kicked to dislodge him, but he kept his seat, kept his weight forward, his big fingers pressing, pushing. His eyes stayed flat and brown, a man for whom killing had become routine, just another task to check off the list.

My eyes sought Ethan, looked for hope and help, and found him frozen in front of Sorcha, a hand outstretched as if he’d moved toward me. His cheeks looked faintly blue, and his body shivered. It was the same magic she’d used on Robert, some cheat not reached by the bracelet Mallory had provided. It wouldn’t have, I thought. Those were geared to the alchemy, to the magic. Sorcha had used old-fashioned magic, probably of the dark variety. I had no respect for a woman who cheated her way out of a fight.

And worse, if Logan killed me, she’d kill Ethan. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind. She’d probably let him suffer first. Let him mourn before taking his life.

I was our best hope. Which meant I had to get out of Logan’s grasp. I stopped struggling, went momentarily still, and felt his grip loosen in what he believed was victory. Chest heaving, he sat back.

I took my chance. I grabbed his neck with my hand, pushed fingers into the tender skin just beneath his jaw. He sputtered, tried to move away. I scissored my legs to push him off me, jumped to my feet, and snatched up the sword I’d dropped when he slammed me to the ground.

Logan coughed, rose to his feet, pulled a dagger from his waistband. “I’ve always wanted to fight you with a katana.”

I didn’t let myself think about Ethan, and kept the smile on my face. “Same here, my friend. Let’s make it happen.”

I struck first, slicing to the left with a double-handled strike. He blocked the strike with his dagger, but the blow unbalanced him. He hadn’t been prepared for my being aggressive. Good. That was a strategy I enjoyed.

I didn’t give him time to think twice. I kicked back, nailing him in the kidney. He stayed on his feet, caught the tip of his dagger on the back of my calf. But adrenaline had numbed me to pain. I stepped into the kick and pivoted, aiming a punch from the left at his unguarded head. He dodged, the shot glancing off his chin. But his head still popped back, and when I kicked him in the stomach, he hit the roof.

And then I was on his chest, one foot propped at his side, my knee in his abdomen, my katana across his neck.

And as he looked up at me, surprise in his gaze, I pulled out the aspen stake I’d slipped into my waistband before leaving the House.

It was one of the stakes Jeff had given me for protection shortly after we met—and if stabbed through the heart, it was one of the surefire ways to kill a vampire.

Logan lifted his eyebrows. “So that’s how it’s gonna be? I gave you immortality, and you want to send me to hell?”

My voice was hard. “You gave me nothing. You took, or tried to. Turns out, you weren’t very good at it.”

I held my katana in one hand, the stake in the other, poised above his heart. My hand shook with need, with hatred, with the fear of having this man, this monster, haunt me for the rest of my life.

He did this. Caused all of it. He was the prime mover, the reason I was a vampire, and the reason my family had been endangered as a result. He’d hurt my brother, injured my friends, and apparently had no qualms about using his magic to make us puppets, to turn us into minions in the sociopathic kingdom he probably believed he’d rule with Reed.

I wanted him dead. I wanted Logan Hill—his name, his magic, his essence, his existence—erased from the earth by my hand. I wanted to plunge the stake into his heart, and see him turn to ash. Because this was his fault.

But even so . . . nothing I could do would change any of that. Nothing I could do with the stake in my hand, nothing that his death would accomplish. I would still be alive, a vampire. Caleb Franklin would still be dead, as would the other girls Logan had killed at Celina’s command.

I understood justice, but if he died by my hand, if he died like this, it would haunt me forever. I didn’t deserve that. And neither did he.