“What do you mean there’s nothing?” I growl over the phone.

“Exactly what I said, Warwick. There is nothing demonic or otherwise that I’ve been able to find that could possibly bring someone back from the dead without them becoming a vampire or a zombie. There’s no way it can be done,” my brother explains.

“God damn it, Carsyn. You were supposed to find me something.”

My brother sighs. “Alright, there was something I found that seemed a little strange.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s not demonic, but it is dark magic. The kind of dark magic that even a dark witch wouldn’t touch because of the consequences behind it.”

“Spit it out.”

“I don’t know what exactly needs to be said, it was just mentioned in one of the books I found. There’s a way to save a life, close to death or even directly following a death without vampirism, but it’ll make the person . . . different.”

“Different how?”

I look up as Hunter and Talon enter my room and hold up a finger for them to wait. They each nod once.

“Okay, from what I understand, it’d be like combining your life forces together, but the trade off is that whoever you’re saving, they’ll have the abilities of whoever was connected to the spell. It’s seriously dark magic, though, man. I don’t know of even a demon who’d try to attempt this thing.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s combining life forces. If the person who is being saved ends up dying, then so do the ones who brought them back. What’s weird is if the one who dies ends up being someone that brought them back, it doesn’t do anything; it causes an immense pain in the person they originally saved for days on end, but that’s it.”

“‘That’s it’,” I drawl sarcastically. Letting out a breath, I rub the bridge of my nose. “Thanks, Carsyn. Let me know if you find anything else. And do me a favor?”

“What’s that?”

I look up and meet Hunter and Talon’s eyes. Holding their gaze I say, “Send me all you know about the whole combining thing and how to do it.”

There’s silence on the other end and then a curse. “Christ. Are you fucking serious, War? Did you not hear me?”

“I heard you. I’m not saying we’ll do it, but it’ll be nice to have around.”

“Who is this person that you’re prepared to be tied to for the rest of your goddamn life?” My brother growls.

“You’ll meet her soon enough.” With that, I hang up the phone, not bothering to wait for a response.

“What was that about?” Hunter asks.

I give them a quick recap. “I don’t know if this is the answer, but so far it seems like our best option.”

“He said it was dark magic?” Hunter asks. I nod.

“So, maybe we send Kai to figure out what he can about it? Demon’s don’t usually do magic with spells and rituals. They’ve got powers, sure, but not that kind of power,” Talon says.

“That seems like it’ll be our best bet.” Hunter looks at me. “Let’s find Kai, then you and him can go discover what you can about this, since it might take a bit for your brother to bring you everything he found.”

“Kai and Parker are probably together,” I point out. “They’ve been looking for Torn but haven’t gotten any hits.”

“Library?” Talon asks.

I nod. “Yeah, that’s where I saw them the other day when they were doing it.”

We get to the library and find Parker typing away at his laptop, and Kai standing over a table covered in maps, his hands held over the papers and eyes closed.

“We’ve got some news,” Hunter announces, drawing their attention to us. Hunter gestures for me to fill them in, so I do, quickly going over what Carsyn had told me.

Kai winces when I’m done. “I won’t lie, I have heard about that, but I didn’t think it was actually real.”

“Why do you say that?” I ask, curiously.

“Because it was just a bedtime story to our people. A ‘don’t do dark magic, or this could happen’ kind of bedtime story to scare the kids into not doing dark magic. I never thought it was real.”

“My brother told me a little bit of what could happen, but it didn’t seem all that bad besides being connected for life.”

Kai nods. “There is that. But according to the story that was told, if it’s done wrong it can kill everyone involved.”

A stunned silence fills the room as we all exchange glances.

Hunter breaks the silence. “In any case, it’s the best we’ve got right now. If something else comes along, great, if not, then at least we’ve got that as a backup. Kai, I want you and War to go find anything you can over the next day and get back here. I don’t want us separated for long with Torn out who knows where.”

CRASH!

Everyone frowns at the noise, not moving until we hear a loud bang.

Cursing, we all leave the library and head toward the sound.

“Are you for fucking real?” I hear Mercy shout from the ballroom where the masquerade was held.

“Damn it,” Parker hisses under his breath, then uses his vampire speed to move ahead of us.

We each pick up our speed, running into the ballroom and come to an abrupt stop. Mercy’s surrounded by three extremely pissed-off females. And she’s without a weapon.

“Why the hell is she wandering around without her weapons?” Talon growls.

“Maybe she figured she wouldn’t need them while we were here,” I offer.

Taking in the scene in front of me, I see the crystal chandelier on the floor not far from Mercy, and a table on its side behind her.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Parker shouts, gaining their attention.

The three females exchange glances before the blonde in the middle steps forward to talk. “She started it.”

Mercy snorts.

Parker crosses his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at the females. “And how, exactly, did Mercy start it?”

“She started it by bragging that she was with you, saying she’d soon rule over us–”

Whatever else she was going to say is cut off by Mercy’s laughter. She’s literally bent over, clutching her stomach, she’s laughing so hard.

Parker glares at the blonde. “I don’t see what difference it makes, Chelsey. I highly doubt she said those things, because for one thing, Mercy isn’t you.” Chelsey winces at the bite in his tone.

“Let me guess,” Mercy drawls, “an ex?”

Chelsey turns and hisses, taking a step towards her. She doesn’t get far before Parker’s standing in front of Mercy, glaring at Chelsey.

“You do not touch her,” he says, his tone deadly.

“Parker, you can’t seriously be taking the side of a half-demon,” she sneers.

“If you wish to stay here then you will shut your mouth, Chelsey. You’re lucky you’re not already dead because of this.”

Chelsey’s face pales. “Y-you’d seriously kill me, over her?”

“We all would,” he says with a nod in our direction.

Her face falls, and she steps away from him. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

“That’s the thing, Chelsey. You never did. You were with me because of what I am. Not because of who I am. Take your friends and leave. Stay away from Mercy.”

Without a word, the three females leave, and the rest of us enter the room, moving to stand by Mercy and Parker.

“What was that about, exactly?” Hunter asks.

“Stupid bitch was complaining about how I was stealing all the men, or whatever. Honestly? I wasn’t paying attention. I just let her bitch, piss, and moan. I kind of zoned out until her friend picked up a table and threw it at me for not listening. Then she decided it’d be a good idea to toss a dagger and break the chandelier on my head. Obviously, it didn’t work.”

Parker rubs a hand down his face while the rest of us chuckle.

“It’s not funny! If that shit had hit me, it would have hurt like a bitch.”

I snort. “You’re fast, Mercy. Obviously it missed you, so I don’t know why you’re bitching.”

She narrows her eyes at me, making me laugh harder. “Quit being an ass.”

I move to her and pull her into my arms, kissing her lightly on the lips. “I’m sorry, Mimi. It is a little funny, though.”

She pinches my side, and I snicker, pulling her in for another kiss. “Dick,” she mutters against my lips.

“War, you guys need to get going,” Hunter reminds me.

“What do you mean?” Mercy asks, peeking around me to look at Hunter.

“He and Kai need to go get some information on something that may help,” he explains.

Her face falls slightly. “We’re separating?”

“Only until tomorrow,” Kai assures her moving close to her other side.

“We’ll be back annoying you before you know it,” I say with a grin. Like I hope, she laughs.

“Alright, go. The sooner you guys get out of here, the sooner you’ll be back, and I don’t have to worry,” she says.

“You got it,” I say, bringing my mouth to hers, thrusting my tongue in her mouth, indulging in a long taste of her.

When I release her, her eyes are glazed over with lust, and it damn near undoes me, making want to say screw the mission and just stay. But I know I can’t.

Kai wraps his hand around her nape, directing her head to him and kisses her, just as I did.

“We’ll be back,” he mutters after he breaks the kiss.