For my troubles, I received a court date to be at the vampire courts for sentencing for violating the Covenant of Samhain. My court date was given to me by Empress Theodora. Apparently, she was the only one of the assembly available.

What fucking timeline was I living in?

“Don’t worry,” Karhi said as we walked away from the vampire delegation. “The judgment will be on my shoulders. And it will be something annoying, but ultimately harmless.”

I cocked my head at him. “I know?”

His confusion echoed mine. “You do?”

“I’m nineteen, Karhi. I grew up in Phoenix where I used to be a dancer at the Samhain festival. My best friend is contracted with the Queen of the Living Vampires. I know the age laws because I used to flout them all the fucking time. I got into a fight with a shifter here once. Because I was human and underage, they couldn’t really punish me. So, I was banned from dancing the following year. Joke was on them, that was after I got adopted, so I didn’t even go to the festival the next year.”

He stared at me.

“Who was that guy?” I asked. “The one that made me feel calm and was just . . . giving orders.”

“King of the Elves.”

Of fucking course he was.

“They’re good at mind magic. Neuromancy. That’s where the sudden calm came from.”

I fucking hated magic.

“Sloane!”

Mickey, Mira, and Bell had followed us up until the vampire delegation. They had stood outside, waiting for us to come back out from the tent in which the Empress had been. At some point, Annie and Mikko had joined them while we had been inside.

Mickey grabbed me and hugged me. “What happened?” He pulled away but laced his fingers with mine as if to make sure I was really still there.

I shook my head. “Karhi gets in trouble because I killed some sadistic vampires. My court date is in December.” I glanced at Karhi. “Well, really, your court date for raising such a rebellious teenager.”

The look on his face was like I had stuck a lemon in his mouth. “You are not my kid. Gross.”

I shrugged, focusing back on Mira and the others. “I’m safe.”

“What the hell happened?” Mira asked.

“Where were you?” I shot back.

“I lost track of you in the crowd. Too many minds to read.” She grimaced, unable to meet my gaze. “And Bell and Mickey got turned around with all the scents.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I used my soulfire, isn’t it?” My last bet had been for Mickey to save me because he was under twenty, too, and the age law protected him like it protected me. But honestly, after what I experienced . . . I doubt he could have done anything. Ilona was too strong.

Karhi looked at me. “Wait—you have it, too?”

I touched the pendant at my throat. It vibrated against my fingers like it was humming.

Then it registered. “Too?”

He pointed at the wolves. “Those two attacked Lunette and me.”

I had known about that, but I hadn’t known Mickey and Bell had used soulsilver. I spun to face them. “You used your soulsilver on them?” I demanded.

“They shot me!” Bell fired back, pulling up his right pants’ leg to show a puckered bullet wound. “With moon silver!”

“You attacked first,” Mickey said, giving him an annoyed look.

Bell shut up.

Mira ignored them. “Sloane, focus. It doesn’t matter right now. What happened?”

Right.

I told them all what happened when I got to Ilona.

When I was done, I said, “And that bitch wanted them all to watch. Fucking cu—”

“Sloane!”

I looked up to see Carry and Onyx sprinting for me. Behind them was Zeren and Lunette.

Carry and Onyx bulldozed into me, knocking me to the ground. The sand here was hard packed and uncomfortable. I felt the impact through my ribs.

They ignored my discomfort, embracing me and shoving their faces into my neck. I patted their backs awkwardly, looking up at Karhi, imploring him for help with my eyes. He shrugged uselessly.

“Guys,” I said after a moment of this. “Let me up.”

They got off me and helped me up. But they each kept one hand in theirs. I gave them strange looks, but they pretended like there was nothing weird happening. There was a springiness in their steps as they moved.

“What is going on?” I asked.

“We could ask the same thing,” Lunette said when she and Zeren arrived. “Where did you get soulsilver from?”

“Long story.”

“Explain—”

Zeren cut her off. He had the biggest grin on his face. “It really doesn’t matter, Luna. She did so much damage to Ilona that Ilona couldn’t even control us anymore at the end. She’s going to die.”

And that was where this was coming from. Karhi hadn’t yelled at me for having to make a trip to the courts. Onyx and Carry were holding my hands and practically prancing around. Zeren had the biggest grin on his face that I had ever seen. And considering the man only ever smiled, that was saying something.

Lunette was the only one who still seemed pissed. But even then . . . there seemed to be a lightness about her that I had never seen before.

“What happened after we left?” I asked.

Zeren glanced at Lunette, who was about to say something. She swallowed whatever she was going to say—probably something snarky—and Zeren answered. “Well, Alaric was going to take Ilona in, but Carrick grabbed her before he could and jumped away. We couldn’t stop him.”

I forgot that Carrick was a jumper.

“But there’s something that’s missing,” Carry said. She squeezed my hand. “Before, we always felt Ilona, even if she wasn’t here. We knew that she was out there. But now . . . blessed silence. That tense rope is gone.”

I glanced at Karhi, who nodded, a slight smile on his face. “She can’t survive injuries like that,” he said. “And even, on the slim chance she does, it will take her centuries to regain any semblance of the power she had before. Ideally, at that point, someone will have killed her anyway while she healed.”

“And you,” Lunette said. Her tone was more even but still accusatory somehow. “You’re Free.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “What?”

“You broke free from her. In that last instant before you set Angus and Ava on fire. We all felt it. She lost any pull she had on you. She couldn’t control you.”

I blinked.

Free. I was Free. I wasn’t tethered to any vampire. My link to Ilona, and therefore, my link to Karhi . . . it was gone.

But wait . . . I could still feel Karhi’s emotions. It wasn’t as strong as it had once been, but it was still there. Gentle tugs instead of pulls. I looked at him. “I can still feel you.”

“Double siring has some weird side effects,” he said. I could feel from him that he didn’t really know much past that.

“Double siring?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of that.

“I resired you. You died.”

That didn’t explain anything, but I couldn’t find the will to care. I felt light and airy in a way I hadn’t felt in years. “Freedom,” I said wistfully, looking up at the sky. A sire’s control was absolute. Especially in the first few years of a vampire’s life. Strong vampires, like Ilona, could maintain control for centuries. Not even Karhi had gotten his Freedom, and he was over five centuries old.

“Did . . . did I Free you all?” I asked after a moment. Surprisingly, my chest welled with hope. I didn’t care for vampires, but I did care, however minutely, for these vampires. I wanted them to be Free like me.

They all exchanged glances.

“Not quite.” Karhi was the one to answer. “When you burned her? She lost her control over us. And you rendered her power over us almost useless, but, if she were to regain it quickly, say within the next few decades, she could regain control.”

The hope disappeared, and my chest deflated. Until . . . “Wait, you said it would take her centuries to recover.”

Karhi nodded. “Yes. And with those centuries, our ties to her will fade.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Good.”

“And on top of that, King Alaric asked us what happened,” Lunette added. “We told him. She’s also up for disobeying the Samhain Covenant. But unlike you, she’s old enough to know better.”

“I mean . . . Mira and I kinda planned to, at the very least, use Mickey to help out if I couldn’t tap my soulsilver,” I said. Though now I understood that that plan would not have worked.

That earned me some confused looks.

“I wasn’t going to Ilona blind, guys,” I said, looking between the vampires. “Mira’s twenty-one, but Mickey and I are still nineteen. I’ve been flouting the Samhain Covenant since I knew what it was.”

I felt a measure of pride from Karhi, but he didn’t show it. He hid a smile, looking away from Lunette, who was scowling.

“That is a stupid gamble,” Lunette said. “Especially if you’re repeat offender.”

“You can only be a repeat offender if they catch you,” I shrugged.

“Lunette, Carry, Onyx, and Zeren Emelyn!” a deep, booming voice called out.

We looked up to see the same dark-skinned man that had called Karhi and me into Empress Theodora’s tent standing at the edge of the vampire delegation.

“They wanted to see us, too,” Lunette said by way of (absolutely useless) explanation. “Bye.” She turned from us and headed towards the man.

Onyx and Carry each hugged me one more time. “Thank you,” Carry whispered in my ear before she left.

Zeren also got a hug in. “Stay safe.”

“No promises,” I replied, hugging him back.

He let go and went after his sister.

“I think I’m done with the festival for this year,” Mira said, stretching. As she did, it brought attention to her chest, which made me realize—

“I wore this fucking outfit to dress up and make myself semi-presentable, and that bitch didn’t give a fuck.” I looked down at my scarf shirt and long skirt. “Son of a bitch. Should have worn jeans and a shirt.”

“Hey . . .” Karhi murmured, stooping down to look at my stomach. “That’s the wound from Ava and Angus?” He touched the scar.

I shied away from the sudden contact. “Yeah. Why?”

“We don’t tend to scar, but that was bad enough that I thought it would be worse. That is way too faded to have only been inflicted two days ago.” His brow furrowed. “And thinking about it, for a fledgling, you shouldn’t have healed so many broken bones that quickly. Even if you were double sired. It should have taken at least a day. I wonder if you’re a healer.”

“A healer?”

“It’s not common, but some vampires manifest an incredible healing ability.”

I glanced down at my belly. Even I had thought it was a bit weird that it was so faded. Being a healer could explain it.

“I do have a power.”

“So it would seem. On top of your self-control.”

I hadn’t realized that was a power, but cool, cool.

“You were always a good healer as a human, too,” Mira pointed out. “You were up and about within a week after that other scar on your stomach.”

She meant the one that had introduced us, the big one next to my latest scar.

“Hm . . .”

“Were we serious about leaving?” Annie interrupted, looking from me to Mira. “I’ve about had my fill of people for today.”

“Yeah,” Mira agreed. She looked at me. “You ready to go?”

“Uh . . .” I glanced at Karhi. I hadn’t actually had a chance to talk to him and I found myself actually wanting to. He cocked a questioning eyebrow at me.

“Take me back to my car and we’ll leave you behind,” Mira said.

“Deal.” I turned to her to allow her a piggyback. She climbed on and we were off.

As we ran, I thought, Subconscious?

I’m going back. What?

Thanks for kindling my fury for Ilona.

There was a pause for a moment before, Yeah. You’re welcome.

If Mira heard me talking to myself, she didn’t say anything.

I brought Mira back to the car, Mickey and Bell bringing Mikko and Annie back. Annie tried to argue that she was healed enough again, but Mira had forced her to go back on Bell’s back again. I honestly wasn’t sure if she used mind control or not.

“I didn’t,” Mira said before she got into the car.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Didn’t what?”

“I didn’t force her to get on Bell’s back. Thought about it. But I figured you had seen and experienced enough mind control for tonight that I didn’t really need to remind you of it.”

I chuckled. “Thanks for the consideration.”

She hugged me. “I’ll see you later?”

“I’ll text—” I remembered that my phone was in pieces back in the Lazarus parking lot. “Yeah. I’ll be back later.”

She smiled and nodded.

Mikko, Annie, and Mira went to the car.

Just before Annie got in the car, she eyed Karhi. “You still owe me $600.”

“Get it from Sloane,” he shot back, pointing at me. “She stole thirty grand from me.”

She shifted her scrutiny from him to me. “Give me money.”

I rolled my eyes. “I will. Get in.”

She made a motion to let me know she was watching me and then she got in.

Mickey and Bell took a bit more coaxing to get in the car. They didn’t want to leave me with Karhi. After I threatened them with something physically impossible, they finally left.

As the car pulled away, Karhi said, “You know, Lunette makes a similar threat sometimes. But you need tentacles for that.”

I shrugged, watching the red lights on Mira’s truck shrink. When they were far enough that I knew none of them could hear me over the sounds of the car, I turned to Karhi. “I have somewhere I want to take you.”

“Oh?”

Neither the pastor nor I had ever believed it was coincidence that my mother had been buried directly in front of my grandmother. My grandmother and mother hadn’t paid for plots by each other. Mom’s friends had said that it was such a strange coincidence.

It wasn’t a coincidence, but what it was? I couldn’t tell you. I still can’t tell you. I don’t believe in divine intervention or anything of that sort, even if I do know the gods like to play tricks. But I was pretty sure that this was way too minor to belong to any deity.

I don’t know.

I hadn’t visited the graves in years. The last time may have been just before I left to live with Mickey and Bell to say goodbye.

And now I was here with Karhi.

My mother’s gravestone had been simple, made of white granite with black engraving.

Sheila Briallen

1953—1997

Loving Mother and Friend

I touched the granite. It was cold from the desert night. It was still dark out, dawn a few hours out.

“Why did you bring me here?” Karhi murmured solemnly from beside me.

I pointed to the grave behind my mother’s.

Karhi looked up, and I felt him stiffen next to me. He stepped away from me and went for my grandmother’s grave. Good. I wanted to be with my mom.

I sat in front of the gravestone and traced the lettering.

What were you doing that night? I asked her.

I brushed the lettering with my fingers. There was nothing behind it except the cold of the gravestone. But I had seen her once already after death. And tonight, we were on the cusp of the veil between our world and the next. Or so they said.

Why did you give that soulsilver to us? Why the dream?

I bit my lip, focusing on the engraving beneath my fingers.

But I didn’t get any answers.

“I know you could answer if you wanted to,” I sighed, standing up.

There were no profound realizations coming to me. There was no ghost voice of my mother in my head telling me exactly what I wanted to know.

I wasn’t in the type of story where the character gets epiphanies from beyond the grave at crucial, necessary points. I was in the type of story where the character bumbles through everything, coming to stuff only because they step in the middle of a wasp’s nest of epiphanies.

I rubbed the gravestone again and looked up.

Karhi stood before my grandmother’s grave, hands in loose fists at his side.

I watched him stare at the tombstone, as if he was afraid it was going to disappear.

Or wanted it to disappear.

I looked at the gravestone.

Elizabeth Seeley

1924—1996

Loving Grandmother and Mother

I startled Karhi when I slid my arm under his and held it to my side.

He looked down at me. “Sloane?” He seemed far away, but I saw no tears. There was a profound sadness in his features, but it was the type of grief that didn’t need tears—it was years faded.

I looked at the gravestone. “Makes it real, doesn’t it? Seeing the grave?”

He followed my gaze. “Yeah,” he said after a moment.

“That’s how it was for Mom. Her death didn’t feel real until I watched them put the coffin in.”

He didn’t say anything. Silence prevailed between us, only the sound of locust drones breaking up the night.

“How did you know about us?” he asked after some time had passed.

“She told me, not long before she died.”

“What did she tell you?”

“That she was with a vampire. That she couldn’t stay with him. She had to leave him.”

He nodded somberly.

“She was devastated.”

Karhi looked up sharply. “What?”

“She didn’t want to leave you. But she couldn’t leave her family. She loved them too much.”

He didn’t say anything.

“She loved you, though. I saw it in how she spoke. She never wanted to leave. She told me that she couldn’t love you how you needed.”

He sighed, reaching out with his free hand to touch the grave. “It was brief, but it was . . . she meant a lot to me.”

I leaned against him and waited. I could feel that he had something he needed to say before he could leave.

I waited.

“I loved her,” he finally said.

“I know.”

He nodded slowly.

We stood in silence until he finally turned from the grave. He started towards the parking lot, through which we had entered, and I followed him.

We stopped at the edge of the cemetery. He couldn’t seem to force himself to step onto the concrete. I could feel the heaviness inside of him.

“How are you?” I asked.

He blinked, and I felt his surprise and confusion as dull pushes against me. “Me?”

I nodded.

“I’m not the one who was gutted and left for dead. And then threatened with more or the same.”

“No, but we just visited the grave of the woman you loved.”

He shook his head. “That pain is old. Seeing that helped me finally put that to rest. You’ve had way more going on.”

“So have you.”

He didn’t have an answer for that.

“Look, I’ve had my people hug me and help me grieve. I talked to Mickey and Bell. I talked to Mira. I’ve been able to process bits of it.”

“What did you do with your uterus?”

A twinge of regret niggled at the back of my head. “By the time I was awake, it had petrified.” That was something vampire organs did when left outside of a vampire’s body for more than a couple hours. “I burned it in Mira’s backyard. I didn’t want that reminder.” I looked away. “It was the only thing I could think to do.”

“I think that’s appropriate,” he murmured. Then he chuckled in a self-deprecating way. “I mean, I don’t have a uterus, so I don’t get much of an opinion. But it seems fitting.”

I looked up at him and saw a gentle smile on his face. I felt the tug of his emotions like gentle waves against me. Something about the emotion he was feeling was off. I hadn’t felt it before, and it took a moment to place it.

Affection.

He was feeling affection towards me.

I wrapped my arms around him and rested my forehead against his shoulder.

He tensed and surprise washed over the affection. But the affection didn’t fade.

After a moment, he hugged me back. He rested his head against mine. It was a minute before he voiced what I had felt from him when he hugged me. I felt the thrum of his words in my ears as he spoke them.

“I’m not doing okay.”

I hugged him tighter. “I’m sorry for what you’ve been through.”

He nodded against me but didn’t say anything. I felt as a dozen emotions bubbled up, usurping the affection but not completely squelching it. It stayed as a base emotion in the back of his mind.

But at the forefront was anger. Sadness. Loss. Confusion. Pain. Helplessness.

I couldn’t help with any of that. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he had been through in the past few days. The kidnapping. Ilona’s threats and actions. Whatever had happened to him after Ilona had crashed his car and taken him.

I couldn’t imagine what the past five centuries had been for him.

But I could be there for him. I could listen if he wanted to talk. I could just stand silently with him.

He squeezed me to him as thoughts and feelings roared through him.

I stayed there with him until the sun started to peek over the horizon. I dried his tears when he pulled away. I combed his hair back from where it stuck to his face. I took his hand when his embrace finally loosened.

“Let’s go,” I said.

We had a newfound freedom to explore.