Shay rose from Cody’s bed and went to her room. She tugged on a dark coat and put a flashlight, a bottle of water, and her cell phone in the pockets. Shay tucked a butcher knife into her boot. She hoped Coira wouldn’t miss it.

In the sitting room attached to Shay’s bedroom, she pushed the catch that opened the door to the secret passage. The air was musty inside. She moved as quietly as she could, knowing that some hidden doors opened to rooms throughout the castle, and the warriors had hearing like bats. It was like a tomb, save for the soft scuffing of her shoes. The light flickered with her movements, throwing shadows on the wall. Shay shivered, hoping she remembered the way. She came to the winding steps that led to the first floor. A din of voices sounded close by. She recognized the entrance to the library. The warriors must be gathered there. She couldn’t believe they brought a vampire to the castle.

She stopped at the section of stones where she had met Declan. She pushed the catch, and it opened to the tunnel. He said the far end was old and dangerous, but the vampire had used it, as well as Angus, the warrior who was killed. Shay hoped it held up for her, although what she planned was probably far more dangerous than a decrepit tunnel.

The passage narrowed after she passed the door where she and Declan had gone outside. She could feel the dampness and hear water trickling. She stumbled several times over fallen stones, but she concentrated on Cody, his face, the determination she saw there. If she didn’t stop him, he would die. Malek must be watching the castle, so Cody would be nearby too. Shay had caused him untold pain by severing a friendship because he tried to protect her, by hating him for something he hadn’t done. She wouldn’t let him die for her too. If Michael said it was her duty to destroy Malek, then by God, she would destroy Malek.

The darkness lightened, and she knew she was close to the end, finally. She stumbled outside and grabbed a breath of fresh air. She saw two warriors lying on the ground. Her heart sank as something sharp scraped her chest. “Nearly a thousand years in this dimension, and I thought humans incapable of surprising me. I guess I’m wrong.”

Chapter 20

The man was tall, the silver streak in his hair glinting in the moonlight. He traced a fingernail along the whitish lines of Shay’s scar. “I don’t know how you did it. You were as good as dead when I left you, just like your mother.” He raised his gaze to her face, showing a touch of awe. “You look like her, not your father. He was dark, like your sister. They couldn’t protect you. No one can protect you.” He moved closer, his eyes growing angry. “I won’t allow you to spawn my enemy.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” This must be Malek. He had the silver streak in his hair.

He smiled an almost serene smile. “You don’t know, do you? How sad. This god you serve doesn’t even bother to give you the basic information. A child born to you and Cody was destined to destroy me.” Malek’s smile faded into a sneer. “Alexander MacBain. But he won’t succeed. He won’t exist, not from a dead mother. I failed to destroy you the first time. I won’t fail the second.”

Shay fell back as if she had been hit. Alexander. It couldn’t be. What about her dream of Michael?

“Here I am, nearly a thousand years old… duped by humans. Now, tell me where you’ve hidden my book, and I’ll consider killing only you, not your entire clan.”

Shay looked at his immaculate disguise and wanted to rip his face off. He’d killed her mother and father and stolen her life. He would not get Cody or the clan. “If I give you the book, you will kill the whole clan,” she spat out.

He looked surprised, then spun at the screeching sounds coming from the woods. Men burst from the trees, moving so fast she couldn’t see their feet. Vampires. Shay backed away while Malek and his demons were distracted, and she bumped into something hard.

“The party’s just starting,” the vampire hissed behind her. Shay turned and drove her butcher knife into his heart before he could close his mouth.

He fell to dust, and another vampire cried out, “Rod!”

***

Bree hurried along the passage where she had seen Shay in the vision. She had to stop her. Damn these visions. This one had come too late. Faelan and several of the others had gone to the dungeon to question the vampire. There hadn’t been time to warn them. She had to stop Shay before she got outside the walls. He was waiting. She opened the door for the tunnel and heard a sound behind her. She turned, and her flashlight illuminated two garish figures. Bree yelped, and the figures screamed.

“Oh my God.” Matilda clutched her chest. She wore a lime green jogging suit that almost glowed in the dark. Her red hair stuck up like porcupine quills. Nina had on gray, her hair in pink foam curlers.

“What are you doing here?” Bree asked frantically. She had to hurry.

“We followed Shay,” Nina said. “She came to my room. I think she was saying good-bye. I don’t know what she’s up to, but I’m scared. We heard the door to the secret passage shut when we got to her room. Matilda couldn’t remember how to open it. By the time we got inside, Shay was already gone.”

“I know where she’s going,” Bree said, “but you need to go back, get the men. I’ll go after her.”

“I’m not going back until I have Shay,” Nina said, puffing out her chest.

“And I’m not going back alone,” Matilda said, stepping closer to her cousin, waving her flashlight at the floors and walls, her eyes wide.

“Well, come on then. We have to catch her before she gets outside.”

They hurried through the narrow tunnel and finally reached the end. “She’s already out.” Bree’s head pounded with fear.

Matilda poked her head outside. “I think I see something.”

“Wait.” Bree grabbed Matilda’s arm. “You can’t go out there. It’s too dangerous.”

Matilda went anyway. “There are two men here. I think they’re dead,” she said.

Bree and Nina hurried over to Matilda. Bree didn’t recognize the warriors. They must be new ones who arrived from Ireland or France. “Does anyone have a phone? We have to call Faelan.” They needed help, but she couldn’t risk calling out to the guards.

“I do,” Matilda said.

They heard a scream, and Bree shot ahead, not waiting to see if Nina and Matilda followed.

***

Faelan’s cell phone rang. The number was unknown. He stepped back from the warriors surrounding the vampire’s cell. He was chained to the wall by hands, neck, and feet. Only his eyes moved, red, angry, flashing fire, and occasionally when they fell on Faelan, confusion. He’d refused to answer any questions.

“Hello?”

“Faelan, this is Matilda. Come quick. We’re on the demon’s trail.”

“What demon?”

“What’s his name, Bree?” Matilda asked, and Faelan could hear his bride’s frantic reply. “Malek.”

“Holy—quiet,” he bellowed at the warriors, and everyone, even the vampire, gaped at him. Faelan clutched the phone against his ear. “Where are you, Matilda?”

“Outside the secret tunnel. Malek has Shay. There are vampires and demons, too, and they’re all fighting. I have to go now. We’re going to try to rescue Shay.”

“Oh God,” he said, locking eyes with Ronan. “Malek has Shay. Bree, Nina, and Matilda are trying to rescue her. If that’s not bad enough, a bunch of vampires and demons are fighting.”

If Coira had been in the dungeon, she would have washed all their mouths out with soap. The warriors left two guards to watch the vampire, and the rest hurried upstairs. They grabbed weapons and yelled out instructions, deciding that ten warriors would follow the tunnel and ten would go through the woods. “Be careful. You can’t use your talisman, or we’re all likely to die,” Faelan said. His heart was in his throat. All he had lost, and now this. How could he live if he lost Bree?

***

Shay looked at the vampires circling her. At least twenty, fangs extended, eyes red. They were angry. The others were fighting with the demons in a nightmare of howls and screams.

“She just killed Rod,” the one with spiked hair said. “I say we drain her and tell the master we couldn’t find her.”

A brown-haired vampire shook his head. “You want to be the one to tell him she’s dead?”

What could she do against twenty vampires? She killed one at the cabin and one here, but she was only human. She had to do it. If she died, Cody would face Malek alone. She gripped her butcher knife and focused, allowing her senses to sharpen, calm to descend, and then she leaped, catching the spike-haired vampire off guard. From the corner of her eye she saw Bree rushing at them, moving as fast as the vampires. Nina and Matilda stopped, staring in shock at the scene.

“Kill her,” one of the vampires said, charging Bree.

No! Not her sister. Shay ran at the closest vampire and drove her knife into its heart. It crumbled into dust. Several feet away, Bree was doing the same. The sisters shared a glance, turned, and continued to fight. The vampires were at a disadvantage. They couldn’t kill her, for fear of their master, but they needed to keep her from killing them.

“Capture her,” the brown-haired one said.

Shay and Bree stood back to back as the vampires circled.

“Wait until they get closer,” Shay told Bree. “Then attack.”

***

After leaving Beauly Priory, Cody drove back to the castle and parked in the trees where the cameras wouldn’t see him. He slipped through the woods to the fence. He sent four young warriors guarding the most secluded boundary of the fence deeper in the woods to stand guard. They didn’t question him. Cody’s sword and gun were hidden in his boot, making him look weaponless. He knew Malek would come. Cody sat down to wait. He had to do it for Shay.