“Long story. Short version is—”

He held up his hands and closed his eyes. “Let me guess, you’re in trouble?”

Erik, splayed out beside me, let out a deep shuddering breath. “Gods, yes. She’s in trouble.”

“Not surprised.” Faris let out a deep sigh and held a hand to me. I took it and he helped me to my feet, his eyes flickering over my body and a frown twisting his lips.

“Are you well, Rylee? You seem different.”

I took my hand back; with him I never knew what to expect, and hoped he wasn’t hearing what was wrong with my heart like Alex. He’d use my weakness against me for sure. “Fine. Can you help us?”

“No, ‘how have you been?’ or maybe ‘lovely to see you when we needed you to save our asses, thank you so much’?” His eyebrows rose over glacial blue eyes that roved my body. Not in a sexual manner, more like something puzzled him.

I didn’t like it. “Stop looking at me like that. And thank you for pulling us out of there.”

“Better,” he grumbled, his eyes flicking to Alex. “It is a good thing I recalled this wolf was yours or I never would have bothered.”

I knew that was bullshit, he wouldn’t suddenly forget Alex and knew damn well he was my wolf. But I’d let him have his illusions.

“Yeah. Good luck for us. Listen. We’re on a time crunch. Orion has stolen Milly and Pamela and if we don’t get them back—”

Again he stopped me. “They’ll die, isn’t that the usual threat? And really, would Milly be much of a loss?”

I glared at him. “It’s worse than that.”

Faris’s eyes flicked up to mine. “How can it be worse than that?”

“Orion is taking Milly’s baby to possess it. And her child will have more magic naturally coursing through it than any other witch ever born, including Pamela. And Pamela, I don’t think he’ll let her go, or even kill her. He’ll turn her like he did Milly.” As I said the words, I knew they were true. Death was not the worst thing that could happen to them; no, Orion would make sure he had far worse for them both.

I saw the flicker in Faris’s left eye, just a twitch, but I knew it for what it was. Fear.

“What do you need from me?”

A part of me wanted to stare around, see what place he’d brought us to, where he considered home. But a quick glance showed me we were in an average house, probably somewhere in the suburbs that held no decoration to it. Nothing that stood out from anything, just white walls, basic furniture and no knick knacks. The blinds were drawn and no light came through. I shook off my curiosity. “I need you to jump the veil for me, we need to pick up Frank and his friend and bring them back to the necromancer we just left. And for the record, Frank and his friend are young necromancers. Can you handle that without killing them?”

Erik stood quietly, watching me and Faris. I had a flash of understanding that solidified into fact inside my brain. Erik knew next to nothing about the supernatural world; he was a human with the rudimentary knowledge of how to kill demons and, while he might be able to teach me, I was also teaching him.

Faris clasped his hands in front of himself. “First of all, I don’t hate necromancers the way other vampires do; how do you think I learned to jump the veil when no other vampires have?”

“You’re telling me you don’t want to kill them? If that is true, why did Thomas know your name? Why did he react so strongly to it?”

He shook his head. “The past is filled with stories and lives you can only imagine, Rylee. Thomas and I go way back.” He paused and shook his head again, this time as if trying to clear some of those stories. “Besides that, while there will always be a built-in animosity between vampires and necromancers, I can easily control it. You don’t know me, Rylee. Maybe it would be best if you don’t make assumptions about me and how I might react.”

Hell, there was truth in that. I didn’t know him, or his past.

Faris cleared his throat. “Tell me though, why do you not use the castle?”

He didn’t know. Shit. I filled him in as quickly as I could. Red caps, Orion, the doorways all busted up and blocked.

“Have you spoken to Doran of this yet?” Faris leaned over and grabbed the white phone that blended into the wall so well I hadn’t seen it.

I thought about our quick visit to Doran to re-attach my soul. “No time, everything has been going to the toilet too fast.”

Without looking at me he dialed what I assumed was Doran’s place. Apparently Faris took his job as second in command to the vampire throne very seriously. I paced the room while he was on the phone. I got one pass in before he hung up.

“I didn’t hear you say anything.” I stopped in the middle of the room and looked over my shoulder at him, a bad feeling swelling up.

“No answer.” Faris strode across the room. “We will wait and try again. I have not sensed his death, and I would. So we wait.”

“Waiting isn’t an option,” I said, thinking he would listen. Nope wrong.

“Then leave. I don’t have to jump the veil for you, you’d be best to remember that.”

Oh, how the four letter words wanted to spill off my tongue. Mostly because he was right. Saying nothing, I walked to the couch and slumped onto it. I leaned my head back. Maybe he only would mean a few minutes. Fifteen or twenty. I could do that.

Nope, wrong again. Four hours passed with Faris making phone calls at short intervals. Believe it or not, I managed to keep my mouth shut for most of it, only grumbling a time or two under my breath.

“Seriously, why are you not just opening the veil for us?” I snapped somewhere near the end of the fourth hour.

“Because, jumping into situations that are unknown are bound to get you killed. And since you are the savior of the world, I’d like to keep you around until your job is done,” Faris snapped back at me, the tension in his shoulders visible. I eased back into the cushions. Faris was trying to keep me alive. Again, I wasn’t sure if I could trust him or not, but there was no other choice for me at that point.

He finally gave up when the line on Doran’s end went dead.

“Someone’s ripped out the phone,” Faris said, setting his own phone down.

Without any warning, he swung his hand. The veil sliced open ten feet away from him and then I understood why. Bright sunlight filtered in, the splash of Doran’s koi pond echoing back to us. Doran’s courtyard, but no one was there.