“Alex, there are going to be vampires in here, so we have to be very careful. One of them looks like Jack, but he isn’t our friend anymore, do you understand?”

The werewolf frowned, his lower lip sticking out. “Bad Jack?”

Teeth gritted tightly, I nodded, unable to say anything past the sudden lump in my throat.

The door was locked, but a slide of my blade through the latches and we were in. Inside smelled musty with an overlay of fish, but the thick coating of dust was the tip off.

No one had been in here for a long time. Two sets of footprints left a path on the floor. One large, one petite. I loosened my swords and started forward. Behind the counter was a small selection of flashlights. I grabbed one and flicked it on, the battery sputtering only once. Not bad.

Doran put a hand on my shoulder. “We kill Jack first. That won’t wake her. But if we do anything to her, he’ll be up before we can say ‘fuck it, we’re dead.’”

“Got it.”

I tried my best to not think about Jack as we located the trapdoor, but it was hard. Though I hadn’t known him long, and he’d lied to me several times, he’d also helped me swallow some hard truths. And I’d wanted so badly to believe he was going to be the mentor I needed.

Finding the trapdoor was easy enough following their footprints. Doran pulled the door open and peered into the darkness. “Leave this open. Just in case.”

Doran went first, and I followed. We were about halfway down when he cleared his throat. “Rylee, I have to tell you something in case this is the last time we speak.”

Shit, I hated it went people got maudlin, but if he wanted to talk, I wouldn’t stop him. “Okay, what?”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Those panties you’re wearing make me want to bite your ass.”

I glared over my shoulder at him, but there was nothing I could do. The Daywalker had a perfect view right up the short skirt. At least I was wearing panties.

“Ass.”

“Tease.”

I swung a boot at him, and with a quiet laugh he dropped to the floor. Following his lead, I did the same, a puff of dirt swirling up around us. Alex landed next to me in a crouch, sniffing the ground in soft whuffles. Doran had broken my tad widrain of thought around Jack, and I suspected he knew it.

Clever boy.

I handed him the flashlight and let him lead so I had both hands on my swords. Down here, the musty scent was far stronger, and Alex sneezed twice. At first, I worried he would alert them to us, but the further in we walked, the more I realized the place was damn well cavernous.

“How far?” Doran asked.

“Twenty feet,” I said, keeping my voice low.

Doran glanced back at me. “They’re dead to the world, you don’t have to be quiet. The only thing that will wake them is when we take Jack’s head.”

I swallowed hard. “Will it be that simple?”

Doran stopped and turned to me. “Never killed a vampire?”

“No, Faris was the first I’d met, and he never gave me the chance.” True and not true. One time I’d been able to kill him was when he flooded me with his power, not because of anything I was on my own.

“Take the head, then pierce the heart. Your swords are edged with silver, are they not?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’ll do it.”

We rounded a small curve in the underground complex and there they were, asleep on two separate beds. Mind you, Berget was in the princess bed, a canopy swooping between the bedposts, bright white sheets curling around her small body.

Jack was on a basic bed, more like an army cot than anything. On the side wall, there was a simple white wooden door.

“Fuck, you want to bet that goes to the castle?” I strode over and yanked it open, looking straight into the hallway where we’d seen Jack and Berget originally.

“I bet she’s cheating,” Doran said, rapping his knuckles along the edge of the door. “Using the memories of her parents to further herself.”

They hadn’t been searching for the right door like us; they’d known where they were going, or at least, which continent.

Moving away from the doorway, I looked at Jack. Alex had his head on the Tracker’s chest, tears streaming down his furry face.

“Bad Jack. Alex sad.” He scrubbed his paw over his face and Jack stirred.

“Alex,” I hissed. “Get over here.”

“Rylee, quick,” Doran said.

But even that was too late. Jack was on his feet without me even blinking.

“Hello, Rylee. Be glad the Empress sleeps, or I would have to kill your friends where they stand.” His voice was strong and deep, nothing like the shaking tremor I’d last heard in him.

“How could you, Jack?” I held my swords up, pointing them at his neck and heart. “How could you let her use you?”

His blue eyes, those three tones of blue, swirled. “She didn’t give me a choice, and she took my memories of her visits. Until I stood before her, a vampire fully fledged, I had no idea what had happened.”

“Doran?” I didn’t know who to trust, though I wanted so badly to believe Jack. But that would mean one more person to try and rescue.

“I don’t know,” the Daywalker said. “I don’t think he’s lying.”

Alex, though, was the one who sealed it for me. “Smells honest, like Jack.”

“Jack, if we take you away from her …”

Doran was beside me, shaking his head. “Sunlight. WeSf b’d be better off to kill her now, get it done with.”

This time Jack shook his head. “Rylee, there is only one thing to be done. You won’t be able to kill her. I tell you this because I believe there is only one thing that would be able to kill her, to finally end her life. She must walk into the sun by her own choice.”

“Well, that ain’t going to fucking well happen, is it?” I growled, but I wondered if that was just what she’d told him? To make him believe she was unsinkable. It wouldn’t surprise me, but then again, she was carrying the blood and powers of two very old, very strong vampires. “And why aren’t you cussing up a storm?”

His lips twitched. “The Empress doesn’t like bad language, so I’m forbidden from using it.”

I couldn’t help laughing; it was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. “Seriously?”