I stood and watched, but didn’t shut the door. “So eager to die, vampire? I can help you with that.”

“Shut the door, Tracker.”

With the tip of my sword I reached out and shut the door. “See how nice I can be, vampire?” If he wasn’t going to use my name, I wasn’t going to use his. “Perhaps you can tell me what the fuck is really going on.”

Faris sat on the ground, looking totally and utterly defeated. “I need to sleep; you three, keep checking doorways.”

My eyebrows shot up, and my jaw dropped open as he pushed himself to his feet and limped away.

Unable to process what just happened, I turned slowly to Doran. “Any ideas?”

But the Daywalker had gone pale, pasty white. “I don’t think I can do it, Rylee.”

Shit, I was pretty sure he didn’t mean continue looking into doorways.

Time to get tough on his ass. I strode to him, stuck my face right in his, like Liam had done so many times to me, only I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Yeah, you think I want to face Orion? You think I want to fulfill this particular prophecy? You think I want any of the shit that has come my way? Fuck, Doran, you of all people should know sometimes you don’t get to choose.”

He let out a slow breath. “Rylee, it is not just the daylight I will give up, but my very soul. Daywalker’s retain their souls; it is why we cannot carry the power a vampire can. Where their souls were, their strength fills.”

My throat tightened. Shit, if that was true, then he was right; I couldn’t ask that of him, not even for this. Faris would have to lead the vampires; he was the only option now. Fuck me, I hated this. “You can still help me with Berget?”

He nodded. “Yes, of course.”

I turned from him and loosened my second sword. “You open the doors, I’ll step through. We’ll move faster with Faris asleep.”

Doran opened the door that had seared Faris, and I stepped through. “Do you know why he has to sleep now? That is way too weird.”

He cleared his throat. “It is a part of the ritual. They must fast for some time before they go on their individual quests, and they may not feed until the quest is complete, or their opponent claims the throne. To do so would show weakness and the inability to conquer their own flesh. This is also to prove themselves as they pass the final tests before the ceremony.”

I did a slow circle as I Tracked, reaching out as far as I could with my senses. “That’s why he isn’t jumping the veil, isn’t it?”

“I believe so. It would take too much power, would require him to feed every day and he can’t do that.”

I stepped back through the doorway. “Nothing here.”

Alex trotted ahead of us, much perkier now that Faris was not with us. He flung open the next door with a flare I didn’t know he had, one paw flicking out, a la Vanna White. “Ta-da!”

Oh, fuck me. The other side was not a ‘ta-da,’ more of shit on toast we’re in trouble.

“Shut the door!” I screamed as I ran toward him.

He wasn’t fast enough, and the doorframe cracked as the giant spider pushed its way through. Its body brushed the top of the doorway, and its legs folded nearly in half in order to make it. A tawny golden fur covered its body, and in another time I would have said the thing was magnificent, maybe even beautiful. There was one real small glitch.

Its eyes glinted silver.

A Guardian.

And I wasn’t betting on being able to talk us out of this one. But there was no choice, I had to hope this Guardian had some sense, as did Eagle and Bear.

I lowered my blades and did my best imitation of meek. “Guardian, we did not mean to disturb you. We were on the hunt for another.” The arachnid scuttled forward, its furry legs flashing. Doran and I dove in opposite directions and the spider spun, going after Doran.

“Alex, keep the door open!” I swung hard with my blades, crisscrossing them in front of me and taking the leg closest to me off partway up. A high-pitched squeal more porcine than anything else erupted out of the Guardian. It spun and faced me, and I held up my blades.

The time for meek and mild was gone. “I will fucking well take you apart limb by limb or you can go back into that hole you came from.”

It clacked its fangs together twice. “Child of the Lost Ones, you take my leg and expect me to go obediently where you tell me to?”

I slid my blades along each other and adjusted my stance. “No. But you need to have an option before I chop you into tiny little pieces. You can leave now, with seven of eight, or you can stick around and see how many appetizers I take before you’ve had enough.”

The Guardian went still, only the fur on its long legs waving in some unseen breeze. “The Lost Ones were always foolishly brave. It is why they are no more. It seems their blood runs true yet.”

I dropped my weight, bracing my body, thinking this was it, the Guardian was going to attack. It let out a long breath. “I do not wish you well, Lost One, for I do not think well wishes will help you with where you’re headed.”

It took a step back, and then another. W ken o nith nothing more said, it slid through the doorway. Alex slammed the door shut and pressed his back against it, his golden eyes as wide as I’d ever seen them.

“Big ass spider.”

I slumped where I stood, the adrenaline rushing out of me. “Holy fucking hell that was lucky.”

Alex slid down the doorway and I pointed at him. “No more opening doors unless I’m right there, got it?”

He crossed his heart with a claw. “Gots it.”

I slid my swords into their sheaths as I turned to Doran … “Doran?”

There was no answer from the Daywalker. He must have made a run for it down the hall. I strode around the corner and stumbled to a halt. He was flat on the floor, two huge puncture marks in his middle, foam frothing out of his mouth.

“Fuck, Doran!” I dropped to the ground, grabbed him and rolled him to his side. His body convulsed, shaking with the venom pumping through it. No wonder the freak ass Guardian didn’t mind leaving. It had done damage to us already.

An eye for an eye and all that shit.

I wiped the foam away, tried to clear his throat. “Alex!”

There was a scrabble of claws on the rock floor and then he was with me, but like me, there was nothing he could do.

I lifted Doran a little, slid my hand down his arm to feel for a pulse. It was erratic and weak, but there. Only one person might, maybe could help us.