I swallowed hard, forcing the words “we’ll save him” to the bottom of my gut where they belonged. “Jack is on his own. He’s made that clear.”

Doran’s eyebrows shot up and he took a step back. “Well, then this last bit should be of utmost importance.” He took a breath, started to speak and then stopped. “Shit, Berget plans to bespell Jack, possibly even make him a vampire. He would be an immortal Tracker then. That is, if she hasn’t done it already.”

Holy mother of the gods. I sagged against the edge of the butcher’s block, my legs suddenly weak. Jack had been terrified of dying, of dying alone. But that didn’t mean he’d buckle, did it? Fuck, was that why Berget had taken him the first time, not to use him against Ke h on his o me, but to use him for herself? “I thought you said the process was long and tedious?”

He nodded. “It is. Which makes me wonder if it had already been under way when you met Jack. If his miraculous recovery was because he was already taking … the steps to become a vampire. He said it himself, he doesn’t want to die.”

“Who the hell does?” I muttered.

Doran lifted his hands, palms facing me. “Here is what I am wondering, that I couldn’t divulge from the woman’s mind. If Berget has Jack, why is she continuing to pursue you?”

That, I was pretty sure I knew the answer to, but to be sure … “How much stock do vampires put in prophecy?”

Doran snorted. “It is their whole lives. They are guided by it. Ah, I see. You are the one Berget believes will fulfill the prophecy, hence, she still wants you to work for her.”

I rubbed a hand over my eyes. “Jack is just a back up. If she can’t have me, then she can at least have the only other Tracker in the world.”

“Devious little thing, isn’t she?” Doran muttered as he walked past me.

“Where are you going?”

“I thought you needed to go to Dox’s place, to get the book?” He half-turned and arched a pierced eyebrow at me.

Not that I’d forgotten exactly, more that I’d just been sidetracked. “Alex, let’s go.”

The werewolf groaned and rolled onto his side. “Too much pasghets.”

With much prodding, I got Alex back into the Mustang and we were off, headed toward Dox’s place.

We drove in silence for the first few minutes until I couldn’t stand it. “You killed her?”

Doran glanced at me. “You didn’t expect me to?”

I turned my face from his and shrugged. “If you hadn’t, I would have.”

And that was that. In some small ways, ways I would admit to no one, Doran and I had similarities. Survival was always at the top of our lists, and we would do anything to make sure we stayed on this side of the veil unless our friends were in harm’s way. I vividly recalled Doran begging me to kill him before he hurt me or Pamela when Berget set him on the young witch. Yeah, for a Daywalker, he wasn’t half bad.

Even if he liked to tease Liam far more than what was good for his health.

We pulled into an empty parking lot, Dox’s “Temporarily Closed’’ sign hanging crookedly on the door of the bar. Days, it had been only days since we’d left his place and headed out to the west coast, yet it felt like a lifetime had passed.

“Still deserted,” Doran said as he opened his door. Alex pushed past him, bounded toward the Landing Pad.

“Brownies, brownies, brownies!”

I clenched my teeth to keep the emotions snugged down tight. With each new tragedy, it was getting harder for me to hold it in.

Anger, just focus on that. Good idea. “Dox didn’t have anyone else he trusted to run the place while he was gone.”

“You have a key to get in?”

I pulled a sword from my back. “Yup.”

Doran shook his head, a smile ghosting across his lips. “A girl and her weapons—such a pretty sight.”

“Shut up.” I was at the front door and pressed my hand to it first. A slight tingle and whatever protective spell Dox h Ke sith eaad laid on it dissipated. I checked out the lock. Light burn marks around the edge of it looked fresh, but nothing else was out of place. There wasn’t enough room to slide my blade between the door and the door jam. I stepped back and raised my blade to my ear, then ran it forward, straight through the locking mechanism.

Twisting my blade, the feel of metal on metal ran up the length of the sword into my arm, but the lock gave.

I gave a silent thank you to Milly for spelled blades that cut through pretty much any shit I threw at them. I pulled my sword back, but didn’t sheath it. I hadn’t known Dox to have any ability whatsoever with magic, which made me wonder whether it was Dox who’d spelled the place or someone else.

I slipped into the darkened pub; the only light came through the door window behind me. I flicked the light switch, nothing happened. Shit, there was no reason his power would be cut off, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t turned it off before we left. “Doran, you didn’t lay a protective spell here for Dox, did you?”

“Nope. But someone did, and it isn’t a shaman I recognize.” He moved beside me. Alex crept forward on his tippy toes and whispered, “Alex smells Troll shit.”

Oh, shit. There was a scuffle from the back room, where Dox’s office was and where the safe was that held the black-skinned demon book. I moved to the bar and crouched, pressing my back against it. Alex followed me, and Doran moved across the room to the wall and disappeared in a shadow.

Trolls, I hated the fuckers with all I had in me. Trolls helped skin and kill Dox and the other ogres, and they had been dodging me and causing problems for longer than I cared to remember. If I could kill them, I would. Just on principle alone.

Three of them sauntered out of the back room, laughing and joking. In the poor light it was hard to tell, but I thought two of them were similar in color and size, their bodies giving off an almost neon yellow glow. Tall, but thick in the body, they were buck fucking naked, their double pronged dicks hanging limply to their knees. The third Troll looked to be of a darker color, maybe green, and his body was squat and lumpy, reminiscent of a toad. When his tongue flicked out and grabbed a fly, I realized he wasn’t just reminiscent of a toad. I wracked my brain as they got closer. Toad Trolls had a poison they secreted out of their mouths that they could spit quite far. Wouldn’t bother me any, but it would burn through pretty much anything else. Like locks and safes. In his hands, he held the black-skinned book.