I spun, yanking a sword from its sheath to see Faris standing ten feet behind me.

“Quite the army you’ve put together.”

“Fuck, don’t sneak up on me—us—like that.”

He spread his hands in front of his body. “Hardly sneaking up on you. Tell me, how do you acquire all these creatures? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with a grouping quite like this.”

“What do you want?”

“I’m here to help. I told you that you can’t do this on your own. There’s no way you will be able to get in and out without help.”

I slid my sword back into its sheath. “I’m going after Jack.”

“And the Child Empress?”

I said the only thing that I could. The truth.

“I’ll do what I have to, Faris. From everything I’ve seen, this Child Empress is one problem our world doesn’t need.”

Faris’ eyelids flickered ever so slightly. “And you would swear an oath on this?”

“What the f**k would I need an oath for?” I glared at him, trying to figure out what he was up to. Because even though he hadn’t lied to me about Berget, I still didn’t trust him.

I just couldn’t shake the feeling that he was maneuvering me into whatever position it was that he wanted.

“You need to be committed to this path. Completely. Or I will not help you—and you won’t be able to manage this without me.” His eyes never left mine, as I continued to glare at him.

“She doesn’t need you.” Pamela said from behind me. “She has us.” I didn’t turn around, but I had no doubt her hands were on her h*ps as she stood up to the vampire who, I knew without a doubt, terrified her. Gods, she was going to be a strong woman when she got older. She was already stronger than most adults now, at fourteen.

Faris gave me a small smile. “You will be facing vampires and their pets, who happen to be imbued with their master’s strengths. Rylee, you know you aren’t fast enough.”

Fuck, he was right, but I had to find a way around this. I wracked my brain, but no way that I looked at it could I see around the fact that we were outclassed, speed wise at least, when it came to the blood drinkers.

Maybe Faris saw the uncertainty in my eyes, because he smiled and stepped closer to me. “If we go back to London, if we re-group, then I can pull together those of my brethren who would stand with me—then perhaps we can make an assault on the Child Empress.”

“And Jack?” I already knew the answer though, at least what Faris would say.

“He will die. But there are casualties in war. And make no mistake, Rylee, this is war.”

Be very careful, this one is a tricky bastard. Even the Dragons have heard of him. But he is better than the Child Empress; anyone would be better than that one and her twisted mind.

“We don’t have time to go back to London,” I said, a plan already forming in my mind, though I hated what it would take to make it happen. Gods, if it meant I could bring Jack out safely, if I could keep the others safe …

“Faris, I need to speak with you.” I motioned for the others to back away, to give me some room. O’Shea was watching me closely, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. He would understand, he would have to; I had no other choices left to me.

Lesser of two evils, that’s what I was doing, or at least, that was how I soothed myself.

“You are ready to swear the oath?”

My jaw clenched of its own volition, irritation and a little bit of fear trickling through me.

I kept my voice low. “I will swear it, if you will do something for me.”

He leaned in close, his mouth next to my ear, cool breath tickling along my neck. “What would you have of me … Tracker?”

I closed my eyes, reminded myself that Jack needed me, and I’d promised him I would come back to London so that either he wouldn’t die alone, or I would make sure if he’d died that he was taken care of. This was no different, only now it wasn’t London, it was Venice.

“When we get close to Venice, I want you to bite me.” I lifted my eyes to his, just as his widened.

“Rather inappropriate timing, don’t you think?”

“Your bite just before the zombie attack, when you …” Gods, what was it that he’d done?

“I invoked the bite in order to heal you.” His voice was soft and his hands had found their way to my waist. I pushed them off.

“Knock it the f**k off. Bite me now then, and invoke it when we get close to Venice. That work for you?”

The grin that stretched across his face said it all. “You’re going to enjoy this.”

I snorted. “Nope, I’m not. I’ve told you, I’ve got a thing for a wolf.”

Faris frowned and from behind us Alex gave a woof.

“The troops are getting restless,” I said. “So either do it or don’t.”

“Swear the oath.”

I gave a growl, which O’Shea echoed back to me. Clearly he had been getting the gist of what was going to happen and wasn’t happy about it, either.

“I swear to you that I will do all I can to kill the Child Empress.”

“Swear it on the blood of the lost.”

A chill rippled through me.

I swallowed hard, suddenly nervous. “I swear it on the blood of the lost.”

He didn’t give me any warning and I reacted even though I had asked for him to bite me. I tried to jerk away from him, one hand pushing him away even as his arms snaked around me, and his mouth slammed into the side of my neck. His fangs dug in deep, and I knew I was going to have bruises after this. The bite was not like the one Doran had given me, but there was again a memory that wrapped me in it and sucked me down deep, even though I felt Faris fighting it alongside me, a hum of pleasure sharp and sweet singing along my veins, distracting me.

Whatever the memory was, he didn’t want me to see it. My interest piqued—maybe I’d finally find out what he’d been hiding from me all this time.

I wasn’t disappointed.

I recognized where we were—where the memory took place—almost immediately.

Deerborn Park.

Laughter circled up around us, Berget’s six-year-old laughter. Fuck, f**k! How was it that this was Faris’ memory? Was it somehow mine and he’d been pulled into it? Was that even possible?

No, I stood in the shadows of the trees on the edge of the park, staring out over the heads of two vampires as they watched Berget play.

She was on the swings, legs pumping hard, stretching out her toes, reaching them as far as she could. Blonde hair streamed out behind her in two long braids as she pushed herself higher and higher.

“Rylee! I’m going to flip over!”

“No, you aren’t.” That was my voice, but I hadn’t said a word. My eyes fell on my teenage self, long auburn hair hanging down around my face as I lay on my belly, reading a book next to the swings. I knew without seeing it that the book was Of Mice and Men, and I knew even the part I was at, what exactly I’d been reading. Lenny had pet the puppies too hard and was about to get busted. Bile rose in my throat. I’d never been able to finish the book, though I knew how it ended. Just like life. Badly.

The two shadows I stood next to worked their way closer, the one on the left a woman.

“Do we take them both?”

The other vampire turned his blue eyes toward her, his face the same then as it was now. “No, we take just the child. Only the child.”

I screamed, fury lighting me up like nothing I’d ever felt. Faris had been the one, he’d stolen Berget, he’d been the one to take her away to Venice, the one to lead me on to make me think he would have saved her. To make me feel like I’d been the one to blame, to then lull me into trusting him.

I snapped out of the memory, screaming and punching. A wild rage that I couldn’t control spun through me. Faris’ mouth was covered in my blood and his eyes were locked on mine. He was trying to enthrall me; I could feel it pulsing against my skin, his power drawing at my soul, trying to get to me through my eyes.

“You f**king piece of shit! You stole her from me!” O’Shea went from being across the clearing to at my side in half a breath. I buried my hands into the thick fur of his neck, clinging to him like a life raft in a stormy ocean. Calm slid through me and I knew without looking that Blaz was using whatever bond was between us to mellow me out.

“Don’t, Blaz. I want to be f**king angry.”

Anger can be used, you know that. Use it to find your friend, to kill the Child Empress. There is more good in those things than in fighting with one vampire, or losing your life to him.

I glared at Faris, who was breathing hard, but he wasn’t coming after me. Nor was there any sign of shame in him. Not a drop.

“You’re an a**hole.” I spun on my heel and strode across to Blaz. No one said anything, not even Alex. Pamela sat in front of me on Blaz, and O’Shea jumped onto the dragon’s back, wedging himself between two of the dragon’s back ridges as if he’d been flying by dragon all his life.

Eve gathered up Alex and the two winged creatures launched into the air, one right after the other.

We’d been flying for about ten minutes before anyone said anything. And it was the Dragon who decided to try and draw me out.

Once we are in Venice, where are we going?

“I’ll tell you when we get there.” I bit the words out, gripping the whip handle. How the hell could I have ever thought Faris was on my side? That he was here to help me? I closed my eyes and tipped my forehead down until it was pressed into Pamela’s shoulder. Faris. My whole world had been turned upside down because of him.

“Rylee? Do you have a plan this time?” Pamela’s voice made me open my eyes.

“Jack is first. When we find him we’ll send him home with Eve right away.”

“And after?”

She knew that I was going to try and kill a child, which went against every oath I’d ever made. Then again, a vampire child would look young, but that didn’t mean she would be young. Probably hundreds of years old, trapped in a child’s body.