“It comes through as something you enjoy,” Doran said and I glanced at him over Faris’s arm, and raised my eyebrows. “Most people get chocolate.”

I gave a slight shake of my head. I didn’t know how much to take, so after another few seconds I let go. “Enough, yes?”

The vampires in the room nodded, and Faris reached for me, a dreamy look on his face. I sidestepped his hands. “Nope, not fucking happening.”

I hate to interrupt, but we have a problem.

“What now?” I stared at the ceiling as if I could see Blaz roosting there.

Incoming demons. You’ve been Tracking enough on our way here that they pinpointed you again.

“Time to go.” I strode from the room, picking up my swords from the hallway as I passed. “Berget, Alex, and Faris are with me.”

“The sun is up, Faris and I can’t go anywhere,” Berget said, stopping me in my tracks.

“Use the blackout curtains,” Deanna pointed back toward the library. “Wrap yourselves in them and then Blaz can carry you.”

“Rather undignified,” Faris muttered.

“It’s that or stay here and wait for the horde,” I snapped at him. Back in the library, I yanked down two of the curtains, the morning sun pouring in around me. Will worked on a third curtain beside me.

“I’m sorry I was such an ass.” He gave the curtain a final yank and it fell to the ground.

“Thanks, can we have this discussion another time?”

“No discussion, I just wanted to apologize. Before anything else happens.” He gave me a weak smile and for a moment I wondered, not for the first time, what everyone else had faced while I’d been away. What they’d struggled with.

“Done, forgiven. Be my friend again, would you?” I dragged two curtains behind me, and Will followed. He picked up the bottom edges of the curtains and hefted them up.

“You’ve got it.”

Faris and Berget eyed the curtains like I would have eyed a parachute with holes in it, seconds before jumping from Blaz’s back. “It’ll work.” I jerked the curtains behind me.

Doran took one from me, took Berget in his other hand and ran up the stairs. “The demons are on the lawn.”

Crap, the ass hats were moving fast.

Faris grumbled the whole way up to the roof. “Wrapped like a stinking mummy. This is truly ridiculous.”

“You want to hang out here, or come with me?” I knew the answer, we both did.

Doran flipped the curtain he had open and Berget sat in the middle of it.

“There is no other choice, Faris. You know that.”

Blue eyes narrowed. “And when they see Blaz fly away, don’t you think they’re going to follow?”

I held my breath for a moment before answering, but it wasn’t Faris I spoke to. “Blaz, what do you think?”

I think the vampire might be right. If I take a couple of riders with me, the horde may follow now that your blood has shifted. You go with Eve and Marco, and I’ll catch up with you later.

The plan came together quickly. Blaz called Eve and Marco from the forest. They will be here in less than two minutes.

Deanna took the decanter of my blood. “I’ll give some of this to the Harpies.”

The rest of us wrapped Faris and Berget in the cloth and tied them off. Two bundles of vampires, ready for dry cleaning by the looks of it. As Alex went by the bundle containing Faris, he gave it a kick and grumbled, “Fucking vampires.”

“Wolf, I will drain your blood when I get out of here.”

I had to admit, if the situation hadn’t been such a rush, I would’ve laughed ‘til I cried funny.

But already, the outliers of the demons were crawling onto the rooftop. Doran dragged Faris in his bundle, but held Berget up so she didn’t bump along. I’d almost forgotten that Doran had retained his ability to walk in the sun. Going from Daywalker to vampire had not only made him stronger, but unique in the world of blood drinkers.

And then there was no time to watch what everyone else was doing. The skittering of exoskeletons on the brick exterior brought my head around and my weapons out. A half dozen smaller demons clamored over the edge of the roof. They looked like cockroaches, if cockroaches could be the size of a Great Dane and had pinchers around their mouths like monster crabs.

They rushed forward, and I stepped to meet them.

Beside me, Alex snarled, “Bug squashing time.”

A laugh escaped me as I drove my right sword into the first over-sized roach, pinning it to the roof. It screeched a high-pitched tremor that hurt my brain. Alex kept the others at bay while I put my hand on the demon bug in front of me. The demon fled, leaving behind a young man about Pamela’s age.

I couldn’t stop, though, and mourn his loss. A set of pincers bit into my leg. “Bastard!” I didn’t bother trying to wound it, just put my hands on the cold shell and blasted it. That demon fled, leaving behind a child, her body slumped as if sleeping.

The tears trailed down my cheeks as I met each demon, expelling them and freeing the kids. The whole fight was over in a matter of minutes. The demons were used to using sheer numbers to overwhelm their prey. They didn’t have that here.

All I could see, hear, and feel were the deaths of the kids in front of me. Their bodies they owned once more, but what was that to the loss of their lives?

I stepped back, unable to take my eyes from them. “Doran, make sure—”

“I will, now get down so the demons can’t see you.”