I tipped my head back and screamed his name.

“FARIS!”

Just once, I called for him. He would hear me and come, or he would ignore me and Doran would die in my arms. I quickly slid out of my jacket. Losing another friend, wasn’t an option. I wiped his face again and slid out one of my blades. I pressed it gently against my arm. The blade was so sharp, I didn’t feel the sting, even when the blood flowed down my arm to pool in my elbow.

I lowered my wrist over Doran’s mouth, my blood dripping in, turning the white foam pink. I scooped the foam out with my fingers so my blood dripped deep into his mouth.

He let out a moan, the first real noise I’d heard from him.

“You would give the Daywalker your blood?” Faris said behind me.

I pressed my wrist against Doran’s mouth, felt him latch on, his lips suctioning around my open wound. “You got a better idea?”

“You woke me to watch you two have your little love fest?”

The snarl in his voice turned me toward him. “I wasn’t sure this would work, vampire.”

Faris spun on his heel and limped away from me. In the back of my mind, I took note that Faris was really not healing well.

Doran sat up, his arms wound around mine, holding me to him. I didn’t know how long to let him draw from me, but since he was sitting up, I figured we were about done. “That’s enough for you.” I slid my finger between his mouth and my arm and popped the suction.

He moaned and sagged forward. “Rylee, that was bad.”

“I hope you didn’t see a bright light and head toward it when I brought you back.” I sat beside him, my hip against his calf.

Coughing, he shook his head. “No, not so picturesque.” He shuddered. “Your blood is different, Rylee, stronger. It shouldn’t have brought me back from that venom, not from a Guardian. I should have died no matter what you did.”

I shrugged. “Can I do anything about it, my blood that is?”

He slowly shook his head. “No, but be aware of it. Your blood was a draw before, but it is stronger yet. Do not let Faris bite you, or Berget. Or anyone else for that matter.”

His words were an eerie echo of Berget’s. “Just add it to the pile of shit on my plate. For the record, I hadn’t planned on letting anyone bite me.”

Alex snuggled up beside me. “Sorry, don’t be mad at Alex.”

I curled forward to hug him. “Hey, I’m not mad at you. You didn’t know it was on the other side.”

“Alex sorry, to Doran.” He reached out and slid a claw over Doran’s hand.

Doran waved him off. “No big deal. What’s life without a little poison now and then?”

We said nothing more, just shifted and shimmied until the three of us leaned against the wall and waited for Faris to show up. Wrapped around each other, like children scared of the dark night, praying for their parents to rescue them. Only there were no parents coming for us, we weren’t praying, and would have no rescue but the one we came up with ourselves.

The place Frank led them to was not what he’d been expecting. He’d expected an old, run down building with barbed wire twisted around the fence and gate, sluggish Trolls patrolling the perimeter, the obvious suspect.

Not a mirrored building that glistened even under the weak starlight, looking as pristine as only a brand new building could. No guards, no fence, a nice parking lot and trees planted every ten feet along the front of the property. Young trees that hadn’t had a chance to be anything but saplings.

Night had fallen as they drove, and now it was closing in on midnight. Snow still fell in an icy mist, felt but not seen. Not much time was left before Rylee would be back and waiting on them. That would be a first.

Liam eyed the place, looking for a way in. “Did you get inside, Frank?”

Frank sat on the other side of the backseat and shook his head. “No, I got this close, and then slipped around to the back. They were doing some sort of demo outside to prove the guns worked.”

“How did you know they were doing a demo? How did you know these guns worked against supernaturals?”

Frank swallowed hard enough that the two witches in the front seats turned to look at him.

“They had a firing squad.”

Chills swept through Liam, and though he suspected he knew the answer, he still had to ask. “What exactly were they shooting, kid?”

Frank swallowed hard again before answering. “I didn’t know what the creatures were, but they were tied up together and they weren’t human. Not even close. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

It didn’t matter what kind of supernatural had been rounded up for the firing squad, the point was it had been done.

“What a clusterfuck,” he said softly, wondering in that moment how Rylee was faring. Hell, she was probably back at Giselle’s, pissed off they were taking so long.

He made the decision quickly. “Milly, can you show Pamela a way to hide us, so we can slip in?”

Milly snorted. “Like a cloaking device? This isn’t Star Trek, O’Shea.”

The wolf in him had him leaning forward kani18" align and physically crowding her across the seats before he could stop himself. A low growl slipped though, making it very difficult to think of anything but her neck snapping between his teeth.

“Liam.” Pamela put a hand on his shoulder. “I can cause a distraction, I don’t need her to help us get in.”

He turned slowly to look at the young witch. Not a drop of fear trickled out of her; she trusted him with her life. With a slow easing of his muscles he slid back on the seat.

“What are you thinking?”

“I did it for Rylee once, I started a fire. Everyone rushes to that, and we sneak around back and in.” She tucked a strand of blond hair behind one ear. “We can leave Milly in the car and take Frank with us.”

Milly stiffened in her seat, and he heard the beat of her heart shift. She was afraid to be left alone, afraid Orion would come for her when she had no one to save her ass.

“Good idea, Pam. Let’s get this done.”

The three of them piled out of the Jeep, and Milly didn’t move from her seat, didn’t wish them luck, didn’t ask them if they were sure.

He almost thought he saw a tremble of tears shine across her eyes, but he ignored it.

The bite of the North Dakota wind snapped at his bare face, but the fresh air was welcome after sitting in the Jeep with three other people and the residual odor from Agent Valley.