William and I had stayed up late, telling each other stories and deciding where we wanted to go first in our travels. I wasn’t sure if we would actual follow through on our plan, but it was fun to think about regardless. As I had started doing since returning from the mountain, I slept alone in my own bed. It was important to me that I no longer be scared in the Darkness. I wasn’t going to let Drake control me any longer.

  William was busy preparing for our mission all day and I didn’t see him until we all gathered on the beach at dusk. We were all wearing matching black uniforms with small backpacks strapped over our shoulders. The bag carried just enough supplies for two nights away from the Darkness, weapons, and blood for the Vampires and power bars for me.

  “Line up!” Alexander barked.

  I took my place between Kathryn and Knox. Our squads had been determined earlier in the week. My squad included the three of us, plus another male Vampire named Ephram. Alexander stood rigidly in front of us with William at his side.

  “You weren’t planning to leave without me, were you?”

  It had been many days since I had seen Drake. When he appeared in front of us, my heart jumped and my hands clenched into fists. I watched as William slowly stepped forward, directly into Drake’s path.

  “You have skipped training all week.” William looked at him with pure hatred.

  “I’ve been killing things for hundreds of years. I don’t need to train.” Drake’s eyes found me and a delighted smirk appeared. “Since when do we let humans join the Rogue Army?”

  “That is none of your concern.” William glanced at me. I kept my facial expression even, betraying nothing. “If you insist on going with us, get in line.”

  Drake sauntered past William, headed straight for me. He slipped right into the small gap between me and Kathryn, bumping her out of the way in the process.

  “I look forward to fighting with you, Grace,” he said, leering.

  “With me this time?” I challenged. “That will be a nice change over you trying to kill me.”

  “Feisty.” He looked me up and down with a glimmer in his eye. “Nice.”

  Kathryn shoved him hard. “Leave her alone, Drake.”

  He just laughed at her.

  The sky was growing darker and William had already started toward the vehicles that would be taking us on our mission. They were similar to the vehicles we had taken up the mountain, only they were much larger. We broke into three groups of six and filed down the beach. William was standing in front of the nearest vehicle and he pulled me from the line.

  “Stay close to me,” he said quietly. His eyes drifted to where Drake was climbing into the next vehicle.

  “We talked about this, William,” I said.

  “I know. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go, I’m just asking you to… stay close.” He was still watching Drake.

  I nodded. “Alright. I can do that.”

  One-by-one, we piled into the vehicles. Octavia, Alexander, and William were the pilots. Keeping my promise, I got in line for William’s vehicle. I sat in the second row, next to Knox. He smiled when he saw that my hands were shaking as I searched for the seat belt.

  “This thing isn’t going to crash.” He stretched his legs out in front of him and leaned his head back. “Just try to relax. This is the easy part of the night.”

  The easy part. That was easy for him to say. It had been many years since I had been on an official hunt. My parents had taken me hunting with them several times, but I had been too young to really participate. After they died, any hunting I had done was purely ad hoc. Coming home late from school and seeing a lurking shadow following an unsuspecting victim. I could count those kills on one hand. What we were about to do was going to be much different than that.

  I was seated on the right side of the vehicle and that allowed me a view of William’s profile. His face was tight with concentration as he lifted us into the air. I wondered what he was thinking and wished that I was sitting closer to him, that I could look him in the eye and ask him if he was worried about the impending fight.

  As if he could hear my thoughts, William looked over his shoulder. His gold eyes instantly locked onto mine. He didn’t smile, but I also didn’t detect any fear in him. This wasn’t his first time facing off against a dangerous enemy.

  When I winked at him, the smallest smile turned up the corners of his lips. He was trying to be stoic as he led his army into battle, but he was no match for my charms. After he turned back around, I tried to take Knox’s advice and closed my eyes. Not seeing the ocean rushing by below us helped with the nausea in my stomach.

  By doing some deep breathing, I was able to get my heartrate into a normal range. When I eventually opened my eyes again, I could see the dark horizon of land rising in the distance. William hadn’t said where we were going, but I could see tall buildings rising over the water. We were headed for a city.

  I had lived in the Northern California when I was taken and William had admitted that the Darkness was somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. That narrowed down the possibilities considerably.

  “Hey, Knox. What city is that?” I nodded out the window.

  “Seattle,” he said without looking. “It’s the closet metropolitan area to the Darkness and tends to be where most of our attacks take place.”

  It made sense. Seattle was an overwhelmingly cloudy city. It practically invited Vampires to set up shop. Because it was overrun by a larger than average number of Vamps, it was also home to a lot of Hunters. I had actually been born in Seattle.

  “Surely we aren’t going to land in the middle of a highly populated city,” I said.

  “These things are guarded by magic. The humans won’t even see us.” Knox waggled an eyebrow. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  It was strange to be on the side of benefiting from magic rather than fighting against it. As we got closer to the city, I could see that Knox was correct. None of the humans below seemed to notice us flying just off the coast.

  We landed in an empty field just north of the city. At the edge of the field was a large building that I thought was a museum.

  “Are we fighting the mummies?” I joked.

  Knox looked at me like I was mentally unbalanced. “That’s William’s home.”

  William had told me that he had homes around the world, but I had assumed he was exaggerating. I also hadn’t assumed that those homes would be mansions.

  “How much money do you have exactly?” I asked as he helped me out of the vehicle.

  “Enough.” He didn’t keep holding my hand like he would in the Darkness. Tonight, I wasn’t his girlfriend or his companion. I was a soldier in his army. “I save a lot of money by not having cable.”

  I laughed and several Vampires looked in our direction. “How close are we to civilization?”

  “A few miles. There are some simple wards set up to keep humans from wandering onto the land.” He gestured wildly around the open space. The mansion grew larger as we approached. “It’s not as hidden as the Darkness and we aren’t protected from the sun, but we’ll be safe here for a few days.”

  “Not to question your plan, but wouldn’t it make more sense to draw the enemy to this location, rather than us attacking them on their turf?” I had been walking quickly to keep up with William and had to stop abruptly when he froze.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sorry. It’s probably a stupid idea. It just seems like you could drop the protective wards and maybe even use some magic to draw the enemy here. With those stone walls around the perimeter, it should be pretty easy to see them coming.” I stopped when I saw the quizzical look on his face. “Is it that terrible of an idea?”

  His head shook slowly. “No, it’s not. In fact, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that myself. We aren’t always lucky enough to have a home base so close to the fighting. We should use it to our advantage.”

  “Exactly.” I still didn’t understand the look on his face. “Are you mad that I questioned your plan?”

  “Mad?” He smiled. “Not at all. I was just thinking how you are a natural at this. Maybe you should be the Premier.”

  “A Hunter in charge of an army of Dark Souls? Probably not the best idea.” I noticed that the other soldiers were already at the mansion and hopefully out of earshot. “You look pretty hot in your uniform.”

  His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Are you flirting with me, Hardwick?”

  “That doesn’t sound like me.” I fought back a smile. “Just stating a fact.”

  He grabbed my arm just as I was about to walk away and pulled me to him in a swift, fluid movement. His lips were on mine before I knew what was happening. Just as my mind caught up to my body and I started to kiss him back, he let go.

  “To be continued,” he said in a deep voice that made my breath catch.

  I had to take three deep breaths before I could catch up with him as he headed toward the house. A series of stone steps led to an oversized wooden door that had already been opened and was beckoning us forward. It almost had the appearance of a castle.

  “It’s homey,” I said as we entered.

  The main entryway was barren, just stone walls and an old wooden floor. A large chandelier overhead was lit by a hundred candles. I wondered how those candles had been lit considering we had just arrived less than five minutes earlier. I also wondered what happened to the dripping wax.

  “It’s enchanted,” William said. “It senses when someone is in the house and lights automatically. The candles never truly burn.”

  “Handy.” I turned from the chandelier to study the rest of the house. In front of us, a large staircase wound upward.

  “Bedrooms up there. We can settle in later. I need to gather the squad leaders to discuss our new approach to the battle.” William dropped his bag on the floor and I did the same. Somehow the other soldiers had all managed to disappear already.

  I wasn’t sure if I should follow William as he headed down a long hallway. “Do you want me in the meeting?”

  “Of course. It was your idea.”

  It was settled. I was going to be responsible for the safety of the eighteen Vampires that would be fighting. No pressure.

  At the end of the hallway, Alexander and Octavia were studying something at a large table. It looked like a map of Seattle.

  “New plan,” William announced, heading straight for the bookcases along the far wall.

  “What are you doing?” Alexander glared at his brother. “We already agreed to a plan. We’ve been training all week based on that plan.”

  “This is a better plan.” William found what he was searching for on the shelf and brought a stack of papers to the table. “This is Grace’s plan.”

  Alexander and Octavia turned in unison and glared at me. “Stop, please. This warm welcome is embarrassing.”

  “She’s a human,” Octavia snapped. “Are you really going to trust the safety of the army and the future of the Darkness to some weak human? A Hunter nonetheless.”

  “Are you questioning my ability to lead?” William snapped.

  Octavia clamped her lips together. She turned back to the table and said, “No, of course not.”

  “This is a blueprint of the house,” Alexander said as William unfolded the paper. “I see what you’re thinking. It’s not a bad plan.”

  “We were going to be outnumbered storming into enemy territory,” William said, tapping the blueprint. “By staying here, we will have a chance to prepare. We can eliminate surprises.”

  “But we also lose the element of surprise,” Octavia said. “Not to mention that we will be exposing ourselves to the enemy. This land will no longer be hidden.”

  “Only if we don’t win.” William grabbed a marker and began making marks on the blueprint. I stepped next to Alexander to get a closer look. “We should keep the fighting to the field. The wall surrounding us isn’t tall enough to keep the enemy out completely, but it will slow them down.”

  I pointed to a shaded area behind the house. “What is this?”

  “Trees. Very heavy forest that is virtually impassable.” Alexander traced a finger around the front of the drawing. “We should be able to concentrate the majority of our forces here, using just a few to protect our flank.”

  “You said we would be badly outnumbered. How many of them are we expecting?” For some reason, I had expected our enemy to be a small group.

  “A few dozen,” Octavia said casually. “We suspect it will be the largest group we have ever faced.”

  The three vampires all exchanged a look.

  “What? What are you not telling me?” I looked at each of them before settling on William. “You know who it is, don’t you?”

  “You haven’t told her?” Alexander looked pleased.

  “Told me what?” I stared so hard at William that my eyes began to burn.

  “Mirella was able to discover who is behind the attack.” Alexander watched William to see if he was going to speak up. When he didn’t, Alexander continued, “It’s the Immortui.”

  I straightened. “The Undead? What the hell do they want with the Darkness?”

  A lot of folklore had gotten the Vampire legend wrong. They weren’t technically undead, they just had an evil soul lurking in a human body. With a well-positioned knife, they could be killed fairly easily. But a smaller subset of Vampires were different. They had used Vampire blood rather than human blood to complete their transition. The result is that they became Undead, also know an Immortui.

  There was no humanity at all left in the Undead, and they were much harder to kill. A knife to the heart would do nothing to them except make them angry. The only true way to kill them was to slice cleanly through their brainstems.

  “The Immortui don’t care about the Darkness, they are worried about the threat we pose to their existence. We are the primary slayers of their kind,” William explained without making eye contact. He still wasn’t tell the full truth.

  I didn’t have time to press him on it because he started giving orders. Octavia needed to contact the Coven and have them weaken the wards around the house just enough that the Immortui would be able to penetrate them. The Coven would also place subtle spells into the air just strong enough to draw their attention to our location.

  Kathryn joined us as we discussed the rest of the logistics about where the squads would be placed. Once that was decided, William and Alexander left to give everyone their assignments. I followed Kathryn outside to keep moving. Anxiety was building and I couldn’t stand still.

  “We’ve faced the Immortui a dozen times. Nothing to worry about,” Kathryn said confidently.

  “Do you know why William brought me to the Darkness?” I asked abruptly.

  “Because he thinks you can help us,” she said, being evasive.

  “Yes, but do you know why?” I was trying to figure out if anyone else in the Darkness knew about my Siren blood.

  Kathryn hurried her steps toward the stone wall. “Because you are a Hunter.”

  “There are many Hunters he could have chosen. Hundreds.” I grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. “You know, don’t you?”

  “Grace.” Kathryn looked back to the house and then pointed to her ears. She was worried that we were still close enough that we might be overheard. “William believes you are a powerful Hunter and based on what I saw during training, he’s right.”

  “Because of my powers?” I said.

  She nodded emphatically. A vine snaking up the wall held a single red rose. Kathryn plucked it free and held it flat in the palm of her hand. “Take it from me,” she said.

  It was a weird request, but I reached for it.

  “No.” She shook her head firmly. “Make me give it to you.”

  I felt a shiver run through my body. Her words didn’t make sense, but somehow I knew what she meant. She wanted me to use my Siren powers to control her movements.

  “I’ve never done that,” I said.

  “Are you sure?” She kept her voice low. “You never thought about wanting someone to do something and then they did that very thing?”

  I thought about earlier in the air when I had been thinking about how much I wanted to look into William’s eyes and then seconds later he had turned to look at me. Had I done that or had it been a coincidence?

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” I looked at the rose again.

  “Just try. Think it in your head.” Kathryn sounded certain.

  At first I tried closing my eyes, but that just felt weird. Then I looked into Kathryn’s eyes and felt that shiver again. Give me the rose. The words seemed to flow out of me even though I didn’t say them out loud. A strange light flashed through Kathryn’s eyes and then she shoved the rose into my hand.

  “Whoa,” she said, mouth dropping open. “It worked. I tried to resist, but I couldn’t.”

  “It really worked.” I stared stupidly at the rose that was now in my hand.

  Kathryn smiled. “You are a powerful woman, Grace Hardwick.”

  “This is so weird.” I still couldn’t believe that I had actually controlled a Vampire.

  “Your boyfriend is headed this way,” she said, turning serious. She quickly ran her fingers over my wayward hair, smoothing it into place. “Perfect.”

  “You shouldn’t have wandered so far from the house,” William said. “The Coven has already weakened the wards.”

  I watched him walk the last few feet to join us and felt a familiar thump in my heart. He looked strong and severe in his black jacket, but the smile he gave me was warm and inviting.

  “Just checking the perimeter.” Kathryn was already backing away. “I should go join my squad. I’m sure there’s plenty to do in preparation.”

  “Good idea,” William said, turning away from her. “This is a weird time to pluck flowers.”

  I had forgotten that I was still holding the rose. “I took it from Kathryn.”

  He almost smiled until he realized the insinuation in my words. “How did it feel?”

  “Weirdly normal. It felt like something I had done a hundred times.” I twirled the stem between my fingers.

 

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