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  She jerked back out of reach, turned, and ran. Down the loud, echoing hall toward the bank of offices.

  I gave her a head start.

  A familiar sensation in my head stopped me in my tracks. Alexa.

  I let her see what I saw. Juliet fleeing me, her boots smacking loudly as she went. Alexa’s panic was immediate. It trilled through me, putting an extra spring in my step. I resumed my pursuit with my wolf watching as the distance between her sister and me grew smaller.

  ‘No!’ she shrieked, her voice shrill inside my head as if she’d screamed it in my ear. ‘If you want me, Arys, you can have me. Leave Juliet out of this.’

  ‘Sorry, sweet. Gotta run.’ With the entity cackling in my ear, I shoved Alexa out of my head with enough force to rattle her teeth.

  Now she would come.

  I caught up to Juliet as she reached the control room. She slammed the door shut, but I kicked it out of her grasp before she could lock it. With a yelp she jumped back as the heavy door smashed against the wall.

  One guy sat at a bank of monitors. He spun around in his chair, mouth agape. Juliet shouted at him to run, but he was too stunned. I grabbed his shirt and flung him from the room before slamming the door in his face.

  Flipping the lock, I turned to the quaking werewolf. “Now, where should we begin?” Quirking an eyebrow, I flashed her a fang-baring grin. “I’m not sure how much time we have before Alexa arrives, so we better make the most of it.”

  Back pressed to the control board in front of the monitors, Juliet held up both hands. “I know you don’t want to do this. Not really. Please, Arys. Stop.”

  Pausing to breathe in the fear she exuded, I said, “You really don’t know shit about vampires, do you?”

  If I let myself touch her, I might kill her too soon. Before I could coax all I wanted from her. Before I could have the pleasure of destroying her in front of Alexa. Restraint had never been one of my strong suits.

  “I know that you love Alexa more than anything, and even though you might hate me, you don’t want to hurt her like that.” Voice wavering slightly, Juliet held my gaze. The woman refused to play the victim.

  I could force it though. Have her on her knees before me, begging me to take her. The visual enticed me a little too much.

  Pinning the she-wolf against the control panel, I got too close, forcing her to lean away. “I plan to hurt you both in a variety of ways before I’m done.”

  She couldn’t resist. All I had to do was hold her gaze just so, and she fell into my eyes. Under the thrall with no more than a look, Juliet was a fighter, but she was still too green to take on someone like me.

  Her brown eyes went to my lips. She wanted me to kiss her. Not a shred of fight left. Too easy. It sucked some of the fun out of it. Over her shoulder I searched each monitor’s display, waiting to see Alexa appear.

  Dragging my lips over Juliet’s soft earlobe, I whispered, “Tell me what you’d like me to do to you.”

  A small gasp left her, and she ran a hand brazenly over my chest. “Anything you want.”

  Now that’s what I liked to hear. I chuckled, intrigued by Juliet’s inner bad girl. Curious, I wondered if she was as dirty as Alexa could be. “Get on your knees and tell me what a naughty wolf you are.” I released her with that command and stepped back. A shiver of delight crept up my spine when she went to her knees before me. “Tell me how much you love vampire cock despite your squeaky-clean persona. Tell me who you really are, Juliet.”

  She stared at me with glazed eyes. So far under. So completely mine. So many terribly wonderful things I wanted to do to her.

  I never got to hear her filthy confessions. By the time I felt the air move, Falon was already there. Already throwing a fist in my face. The immortal force it carried launched me off my feet and through the window that looked out into the main office.

  Of course she’d sent him ahead. The fallen angel was so deeply enslaved to Alexa, even he didn’t know the extent of it.

  None of that stopped him from kicking my ass.

  On me before I could get up, Falon grabbed my shirt and dragged me to my feet. Knowing better than to give me a chance to enthrall him, he smashed another powerful fist in my face.

  Pasting me against a fire extinguisher encasing that jutted out of the wall, Falon snarled, “You’re not finished yet, asshole. Otherwise I’d end you right here. Don’t fuck this up any more than you already have.”

  Without waiting for a response of any kind, he hit me with a blast that only an immortal could withstand. I went down. Out cold.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “Shit, shit, shit.” I held my breath as my Dodge Charger careened through a red light, fishtailing as I narrowly avoided a collision. Horns honked, and I didn’t have to see them to know several middle fingers accompanied the noise.

  Reckless driving wasn’t something I engaged in lightly. Nothing pissed me off like an asshole behind the wheel. But Arys had my sister trapped in a haunted hospital with an evil entity thriving on every move he made. I had to get there, red lights be damned.

  I raced through the city, trying to cut as much time off the drive as possible. In the passenger seat Gabriel watched the scenery speed by. If he was concerned with my driving, he didn’t show it.

  After getting the call from Shaz, I’d forced my way into my dark lover’s head. And what I saw shook me to the marrow: Juliet. Running from Arys. While he hunted her through the dank halls of the creepiest building in the city.

  Arys had let me see what he wanted me to see. Then he thrust me out.

  I sought Falon, ready to beg him to save Juliet. Never before had I been so jealous of the angel’s ability to immediately move from one place to another. I found him with Smudge, ensuring the hostages lost their memories of tonight’s events.

  I grabbed his arm. “Arys has Juliet cornered in the FPA building.” If he’d shrugged me off and told me it wasn’t his problem, I wouldn’t have blamed him.

  He responded with a sardonic, “Of course he does,” and promptly vanished.

  Now I raced over there, hoping against hope that I’d find my sister unharmed. I couldn’t let myself consider the alternative.

  Arys had gone out of his way to force our final confrontation. It would be tonight. His attack on Juliet served as his way of ensuring I’d come. He knew I would and that I’d be mad as hell.

  As my car roared through the night-time streets, I clenched the wheel and seethed. How could he do this to me? To us? Why should I continue to fight when he so readily gave in? Why should I care?

  I couldn’t care. Not anymore.

  This had to stop. We had to make it stop. I didn’t know how we were going to do that. I kept waiting for the fear to grip me. The end was nigh. Shouldn’t I be afraid?

  Because all I felt was done.

  That feeling only intensified when I screeched to a halt across the street from the old hospital. I shoved the gear shift into park and threw my door open, almost falling out in my haste.

  On the sidewalk just beyond the building’s property line stood Falon and Juliet. On the ground several feet away sat a pissed off and magically handcuffed Arys.

  My feet led me first to Juliet. Grabbing her shoulders, I looked her over, examining each visible vein and artery. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”

  “He’s a fucking psychopath, Lexi. He was going to kill me.” Voice shrill, Juliet quaked with the aftershocks of adrenaline. She stank of terror.

  I backed off as suddenly as I’d grabbed her. That smell was too much. I was too close to the edge.

  “We were just playing, my love.” Arys offered his calm version with a half shrug. Hands bound behind him in FPA issue cuffs, he regarded me with a devilish smile. “It was all in good fun. Just needed to pass the time until you arrived.”

  A surge of rage struck me, absolute in its darkness. It swelled up from within and burst out in the punch I threw at Arys’s smug face. “Well I’m here now. Is this what you had
in mind?”

  I faltered before I threw the next hit. Arys laughed in my face, so thoroughly entertained by my outburst. “It’s exactly what I had in mind. Although, this isn’t exactly fair play now, is it?” He held up his cuffed wrists. An invitation.

  Once they came off there would be no stopping what came next. The end of us as we knew it.

  I backed away from him, from all of them, needing space. Standing in the middle of the street, I tried to see through the haze of red-hot emotion driving me. Seeking clarity, I thrust my hands through my hair and squeezed my eyes shut.

  Where was the light? Where was that tiny spark when I needed it?

  The streetlights hit me just right as I raked my hair back.

  Arys made a noise of surprise. His smugness had weakened when he said, “There’s black in your hair.”

  My eyes snapped open, and I knew they were his midnight blue. He was taking over every part of me. “Surprised? I can’t imagine why. You’ve been slowly taking over every piece of me since the night we met. If only I’d been able to see then what I so clearly see now.” My shout rang through the otherwise quiet street. Those who lived close enough to this building to hear anything probably knew better than to come investigate.

  My attack was personal, cutting right to the bone. I saw it slash across his face only for a second before the darkness slipped back over him, hiding any semblance of humanity.

  “If only,” Arys agreed, tone seductive and sinister. “You played your own role, Alexa. Everything about this, about us, you wanted it. Right from the start. Don’t pretend you’re different. Better. We’re the same. You thrive on darkness. You fucking love it. But you can’t accept that you’re not so squeaky clean, so you blame me for your own filthy urges. You’re down here in the dirt with me though, aren’t you, my love?”

  An image flashed through my mind. Brief. A flicker and then gone. Salem and Lilah, in their memories. Hurling the same emotional weapons, harboring the same internal war of love and hate.

  I thought we’d succeed where they had failed. I’d been wrong.

  Without thinking I drew back a hand that blazed with deep blue light and prepared to throw it in the smirking vampire’s face. If he wanted to end this, we’d end it alright.

  A strong hand caught my forearm. Shaz shook his head, his expression imploring. “Lex, don’t. It can’t end like that. It would be suicide.”

  I dropped my hand, letting the power fall away. Across the street Jenner leaned against the car they’d driven here, the Jag that usually sat in my garage until Arys had swiped it a few nights ago. Jenner kept his distance, but his crossed arms and tight posture revealed his unease.

  Aside from Juliet, everyone here had been present the night Arys killed me. Why shouldn’t they be here now?

  “I’d prefer to call it self sacrifice,” I half joked, trying and failing to break the tension. “It was always going to come to this, Shaz. We knew that. We were just stupid enough to think we had more time.”

  Shaz glanced at Arys who sat there watching us with a cool detachment. Emotionless.

  “You can’t just kill each other,” Shaz insisted. “That’s insanity.”

  My gaze strayed to Falon who stood several feet away, hands shoved in his pockets, looking bored and uninterested. He thought I didn’t trust him. I’d lost track of how many people had told me not to. That he was a traitor. Yet he’d bared the wounded parts of his soul to me. He’d seen the ugly parts of mine as well a time or ten. There had to be an element of trust during such exchanges.

  Falon had gone after Bane to protect me. So why would he wish to see Arys kill me after that? Try as I might, I just couldn’t find a reason he’d want me dead.

  Our gazes locked for just a moment, but that was long enough. Silver collided with blue, and something tightened in my chest. I was putting a lot of faith in him here.

  “We’re not going to kill each other,” I said, choking on my next words. “Arys is going to kill me.”

  There it was. The flicker of light. Tiny as a match flame now. We didn’t have much time.

  Shaz searched my face, like he couldn’t be sure of what he’d just heard. Capturing that black lock of my hair between his fingers, he heaved a deep sigh. “I can’t lose you, Lex.”

  Again my gaze darted to Falon whose expression revealed nothing. It was a lie. A mask to hide his true thoughts and feelings, whatever they might be.

  “You won’t.” Falon spoke up, drawing every gaze his way. “When she reaches the brink, where life meets death, I’ll stop him from taking it any further if I have to.”

  My stomach flip flopped.

  Juliet plopped down heavily on the sidewalk, as far from the rest of us as she could get without leaving. She listened to this with wide eyes.

  Shaz groaned and rubbed his forehead. “How can this be the best way?”

  “It’s the only way,” Falon supplied, so matter of fact.

  Touching Shaz’s jaw, I drew his focus back to me. “I think he’s right. I command light and dark. I have to go to the place where they meet. If that doesn’t restore the balance between Arys and me, nothing will.”

  A snicker floated from Arys. He stood, the motion smooth despite his arms being cuffed behind his back. “Is that what you’ve been concocting with your angel, my love? A way to restore the balance? It’s too late for that.”

  Just looking at Arys was enough to set me off. His cocky smile was back in place.

  Hungrily, he eyed Shaz, ensuring the wolf saw the killer’s intent in that predatory stare.

  Shaz was no longer so easily threatened or intimidated by the vampire’s tactics. Putting a hand on my shoulder, he ignored everyone but me. “There’s nothing I want more than for you to restore the balance. If you’re sure about this, then you have my support. Just please, be sure. I love you.”

  I kissed him, lingering just long enough to say what I couldn’t say, but not so long that it could be mistaken for a just-in-case goodbye. I couldn’t let my thoughts go down that path. Too recently I’d said goodbye to Kale. I was not leaving Shaz. Not tonight.

  “And I love you.” I had to pull away before the twisting and churning in my gut could manifest as blood hunger. The smell of wolf and man was just too much.

  Arys stretched his neck from side to side, the cracks especially loud in the quiet. “So you’ve got this little plan all worked out, and I’m supposed to just play my part? That would imply that I want to restore the balance.”

  Now it was my turn to laugh like a smug jackass. My feet were moving of their own accord. “You think you have a say in the matter? Either way you’re going to try to kill me the first chance you get. The rest is out of your hands.”

  Arys watched my approach with growing intrigue. “We’ll see about that.”

  With both hands on his chest I shoved him. Hard.

  He stumbled backward and fell, onto FPA property. The dead grass crunched beneath him. On his ass, his jaw muscles twitching, Arys’s amusement disappeared. Replaced by a cold mask of indifference and mania.

  The entity had him. It had to be in his head. I could feel it lurking, seeking opportunity.

  I had to make sure his killer nature outweighed his desire to destroy us. It wasn’t him who didn’t want to restore the balance. It was the darkness. Restoration would force it back to the halfway point, nicely matched with the light. We would be us again. Rational and in control. But better. Renewed.

  Lilah may have ruined that for her and Salem, but I would not allow anyone to ruin it for Arys and me. Not her, not Arys. Nobody.

  I stood over him, glaring down into my dark love’s eyes. How I adored him, and yet I wanted to boot the sneer off his face. “Get up,” I hissed. “We’re doing this.”

  Shame on me. I made the mistake of turning to ask Juliet for the key to the cuffs. I wanted Arys free and able to fight.

  “I was starting to think you’d never ask.” The telltale chink of metal preceded the hit that knocked me on my
ass. Arys held up each wrist, a cuff locked on each, the chain broken. “Nobody will ever be able to say we didn’t end with a big finish.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  The ground beneath me thrummed with the evil entity. It murmured something next to my ear, but I was too stunned by Arys’s stunt to listen. Those cuffs were spelled. They’d held every vampire I’d known to wear them, me included. Only Falon had broken them with little effort.

  In my peripheral view I saw Shaz start forward. Falon held him back with a hand on his shoulder and a low spoken word I didn’t catch. He couldn’t help when Arys advanced on me with vicious glee lighting up his face in a maniacal mask. Like someone I didn’t know. Had never known.

  Lies. The darkness spoke lies into me, wanting me to believe. The tiny match flame wavered but did not go out. I got to my feet with hands raised. Deep-blue energy sparked from my fingers. It jumped with the barest streak of gold, but that was enough for me.

  I faced Arys, the inevitable showdown we’d always known was coming, and I steeled myself to see this through.

  The wolf within wanted me to shift and tear his throat out. No part of the beast understood why I’d be willing to let him kill me. It momentarily tore me in two. A fight to the death, the wolf wouldn’t accept anything less. The darkness agreed. It wanted nothing more than to consume me completely.

  Yet I still had that flicker.

  The entity’s slimy voice muttered something, but it didn’t speak to me. It spoke to Arys. The dark flame, so like its queen. Not good.

  When I saw him pause and tilt his head to listen, I darted forward and slammed a fist loaded with power into his chin. The blow snapped his head to the side, and he almost went down. Recovering quickly, Arys came at me with a flick of his wrist that struck me with a pure dark blow.

  My chest tightened as the power coiled around me, like a snake trying to crush the last speck of light from my soul. The suffocating sensation made it hard to tap my power. Our power. Anything Arys threw at me was mine too. When I remembered this and calmed enough to focus, I easily made the coil fall away.