Dare lurched backward and stuck his hand in his jacket like he was reaching for a gun.

“Enough!” Lon jumped between us, and roughly shoved Dare’s arm away. They stared at each other for a long moment.

“I’m done being ashamed of my past,” I shouted at Dare over Lon’s shoulder. “And I’m not paying for it anymore.”

The Hellfire leader blinked at both of us, looking old and weary in the shadowed light.

Nobody said anything else, so I just crossed my arms over my chest and started walking up the driveway. After a few moments, I heard footsteps following. I was pretty sure they were Lon’s. He has a certain loose way of walking, as if nothing in the world could ever hurry him along. I knew for sure it was him when he de-alarmed the car and reached around my side to open my door.

I was still angry. Shaking a little, even, as I hoisted myself into Lon’s SUV. His valrivia cigarette dangled from his lips as he started the engine. He cracked the window then pulled out of Merrimoth’s drive onto a winding coastal road. We sped around a curve, sitting in silence. My anger bled into a slow-moving anxiety. Lon still hadn’t said a word.

Was he upset at me for mouthing off at Dare? He often told me to stand up to the man, but admittedly, it might not have been the best time to rebel. Dare just lost one of his oldest friends. At least, I guess Dare and Merrimoth were friends. Associates. Colleagues. Fellow club members. Whatever the hell they were to each other, it was decades old.

Maybe I should’ve thought of that before I told Dare to go to hell. Maybe I should’ve thought of how this would affect Lon. Then it dawned on me that this wasn’t the reason for his silence.

I’d never told Lon that Dare had uncovered my family secret.

Crap.

“I don’t know how he found out,” I said. “But he knows who my parents were. He knows about my order. Everything.”

“Figured that out from your rant,” he said quietly. “How long?”

“Since the Halloween parade.”

He made a small noise.

“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you. I guess I was . . . I don’t know, ashamed. Stupid, I know. But you can’t understand what’s it like to keep a secret like that hidden for so many years—I built my life around keeping that secret. I just . . .”

My words trailed into a groan. I was frustrated with myself. And sick of all of it. “We’re not supposed to have secrets between us, and I should’ve told you. I’m sorry. But I mean what I said. I’m done with him. I’m tired of hiding.”

And in a weird way, I was glad I came to that realization on my own. If I had told Lon, he likely would’ve gotten in Dare’s face for me. I know he would have. But it felt good to do it myself.

Lon was silent for several moments.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked.

“I’m not happy.”

That was fair. “You wouldn’t do anything stupid to Dare, right?”

“If I would’ve known he was holding that over you—”

“I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you. But this is my bone to pick with him. I don’t want you going Neanderthal.”

It took him awhile to respond. “You haven’t called me that in a while. I sort of miss it.”

Relief washed over me. He wasn’t too mad. I gave him a soft smile. He squeezed the back of my neck and steered the car down another road.

“You think Dare will tip off the FBI or police about my identity?” I asked after a few minutes.

Lon grunted. “No. He’s not that stupid. No matter how he postures, he’s afraid of you.”

“Still, I better go ahead and tell Kar Yee.”

“It’s probably time.”

“I’m not telling Jupe, though.”

“When you’re ready, I think he can handle it.”

“I’m not ready yet.”

Maybe after the holidays. Lon’s former in-laws—Jupe’s grandmother and aunt on his mother’s side—were coming for Christmas and that was enough family drama to worry about right now.

Lon slowed the SUV as we approached a red light. “We’ll worry about it later. Right now, let’s just go home. We’ll have some wine, reheat our dinner, watch a movie.”

It sounded glorious. And, for the most part, we did salvage the remainder of the evening.

I got one night of peace and quiet. One night to relish my liberation from Dare. To ignore the feeling of dread that settled into my bones with the unexplained expansion of my moon powers. To block out the vision of my mother standing outside Merrimoth’s house. To forget about the demonic crime wave that was spreading across the city.

One single, enjoyable night before everything turned to shit.

My shift at Tambuku Tiki Lounge the following night was busy early in the evening, but the crowd tapered off before midnight. Not unusual for the Yuletide season. The Earthbounds that patronized our demon-friendly bar came in for happy hour drinks, then headed off to office parties, family functions, and shopping. By Christmas Eve, only hardcore alcoholics would walk though the neon-crowned Moai statues flanking our door.

Though I was still feeling resolute about my decision to stand up to Dare, I tried not to think about my expanding magical abilities while I worked, and I especially avoided any stray thoughts about my mother. After sleeping on the whole incident, I’d almost convinced myself that I hadn’t seen her. Almost. Before I came into work, Lon reminded me that even if she were alive—and how could she be?—she’d be alive in the Æthyr. I wasn’t going to bump into her on the street. This gave me enough peace of mind to make it through my shift.