The trio of wolves had decided to prowl the grounds together. It was a small comfort that they would help in this final confrontation. Plus they were staying out of the house, wolves tracked dirt everywhere.

Ann was only half together with a good portion of her attention fractured. Sudden movements made her jump if she noticed them at all. I walked in with Kahina in both arms much to the surprise of the members of the house. To their knowledge, Lady Rhodes had been secured downstairs in a secret basement somewhere.

Some were outraged. The first person to voice a complaint received my backhand. Members of the house were confused and stunned by the sudden aggression. Most of them barely saw any action out of me. Only a few knew how much I could bench on a normal day. The fact that Kahina's staff member got back up should be a testament to his ability to roll with a hit or a reflection on how weak I was right now.

"Complain another time," I said while the man stood up.

We took Kahina to a couch further in the house. This latest pausing point had been a sun room before heavy blinds were hung across the windows. Kurt was the only one besides Ann who dared to come in the room with me. He stood at attention, gun on one side, a barely covered cross on the other. The man was prepared.

"How's it look?" I asked him.

"Sir? Not too fucking good if you don't mind me saying." Kurt responded.

"Being blunt helps." I acknowledged.

"We're down to seven who aren't in emergency rooms. I can confirm what Myers reported earlier, no wolves have been seen today. No vampires either until-" He trailed off with an annoyed sigh.

"We showed up." I finished for him.

"Yeah. Thanks for that, sir." He was being a bitter ass. The last week hadn't been good for him either. Exhaustion etched his features.

"There were a lot out there too," I said.

"Not enough. You used us as decoys."

"We signed up for this, Kurt!" Another employee shouted from the doorway. "We knew this would get dangerous." Kurt didn't respond to the person's statements..

My head shook then I said, "Tonight this ends. We need a plan."

"We have plans. You'd know if you hadn't flaked off since you got here." Kurt ws clearly upset with me.

I wanted to snap at the man. I wanted to compare kill counts. To ask him exactly what he had done recently to protect Kahina. Was he willing to give up everything like I would? I didn't have the strength to argue about it. Any emotion I had was lost under the shit storm of events that had happened to me, to us.

"Give me the plan," I said.

"Keep Lady Rhodes in a secure location. Shut down the north and east wings of the house. Cross up their entryways. Funnel any attackers through the south entrances where we can use the long hallways to our favor."

"How many lives will that take?" How many of Kahina's people would die to buy a few minutes, a few hours?

"A good deal, sir." Kurt snapped at me.

"Options?"

"Nothing useful. A majority of our defenses have been shredded over the last few days." He replied.

"Shaggy?" I asked. Maybe the agent had an idea worth giving. She didn't respond to my question. "Ann, do you have an idea?"

The woman looked up puzzled and her brows pressed together. "No. No, I have no idea what to do."

"Nothing?" I asked. The undercover agent always had a plan.

"No, unless you have any weird tricks." She said.

I nodded and tried to figure out what could be done.

"Nothing?" Kurt echoed. "Not that anyone expected much. Lady Rhodes gave you a home here and not once have you done anything to earn it."

"It is my home, isn't it?" I asked with a slight sense of growing wonder. Kahina had never once treated me like a stranger here. She gave every courtesy, a room, let me roam the grounds. We walked the garden together more than once. It was home, had been home for months. Had she even realized it? Had she been quietly trying to make it our home without pushing me into anything? Maybe Kahina had been grieving too, torn between the loss of our best friend, and the demands of her life.

In the end, only my feelings on the location mattered. This was a second home. I looked down at Kahina and amended my thoughts. Home could be with a person too.

"Blades. Get me some blades." I snapped.

"Sir?" Kurt said.

"Throwing knives. I'll need those and crosses. We're going to funnel them through the tunnels below and use the security gates. Same hallway idea, better hallways." The Order of Merlin, vampires, to hell with it, throw wolves in too. I would take them all on with a smile on my face.

This was Kahina's home. It was her life and all the members of my woman's staff were in danger. My senses were slowly unfurling to match the perception of ownership. I felt nails holding floorboards together. The shuffle of our household staff as they tried to stay calm. Heartbeats thud against cloth as their attempts at serenity failed. Nearby a person was counting bullets into their magazine over and over.

Outside Thomas howled again. I felt their voices vibrate through the air over the compound. This wasn't the same sound that his pack had given when Julianne died. This was a high and long cry, a warning, an invitation, a dare.

"Damned straight." I stood up and grabbed Ann by the shoulders. She looked at me, startled and confused. "This is our home, and I'll kill anyone who dares hurt this family."

Two more howls took up the first one and poured across the air together. Corey and Stacy were out there as well. It was almost like they picked up my thoughts and had given them a voice. Following the seriousness was a comical idea where I hoped they wouldn't shit all over the yard.

"Let’s get everyone ready," I said.

Kurt tried not to let amazement show. The mask of professionalism slipped for a moment, then he was all business. Ann gave a tired smirk.

I left Kahina with the undercover agent. She was together enough to wield a gun. The windows were reinforced so it was unlikely a vampire would burst in. In any case, the agent had her cross ready. Both vampires and Order members shouldn't be able to find Kahina right away.

Kurt followed in my wake. I gave orders like they were second nature. Each person was pulled back into the side rooms. They were told to ignore the vampires. Ann was operating under the assumption that da walking vampires were an anomaly of primal instincts. By nightfall, they would revert to their normal composed selves.

That wasn't quite right. The way they moved, those Shade faces. They felt similar to creatures getting inside an empty car and driving off. An occupation. Either way nightfall would bring the vampire spirits back from that other world and maybe kick the Shades out. We could trap them in the underground tunnels until sundown. It was a viable plan. Hopefully.

Our remaining allies were few. Lennon was hidden in a separate location, but come nightfall he would check in. Not-Quite-Keeper hadn't shown up yet, and the body he possessed, Anthony, was questionable in loyalty.

Kahina was moved again to the secure room that we first had her in. It felt ironic that we came full circle. The door was strong enough to deter nearly anyone. If we all failed outside than being in there would at least give her a few hours.

"Ann, you have to show me how to remove authorizations from this system." I stared at the locking mechanism that had stumped me a week ago.

"Already done." Kurt answered for Ann. "Lennon took himself and Anthony out of the system, no one else has access besides the Lady."

"And me?"

"You're still in there I think," He said.

"You should be, sir. Lennon didn't have access to remove you." Ann said. At least she was talking.

"You'd know." Kurt shrugged. He sounded increasingly cheerful as our plan came together. Especially since it didn't require the staff to sacrifice themselves.

Kahina would have been proud at hearing me finally take charge. The thought only made me miss the last step on some stairs. She would see another night and continue living, with or without me. I would see her at least one more time when she awoke. Even if I had to leave her afterward. Candy would be dealt with, and in the end there might be a way back. Those were problems for another day.

We started on our way out of the tunnel. The rest of the house would have barricaded the extra rooms with gates or metal braces that were designed to sit between the door and floor. Or used couches, beds, anything.

"Almost sundown," Kurt said.

"If they're going to push it'll be just before," Ann said.

"Day walkers?" He asked.

My head grew dizzy right before the house shook. I could feel the sensation of wood and plaster being torn apart. Ann and Kurt looked alarmed and put their hands out towards the walls.

"Come on." I strode off, not even worried about the possibility that the ceiling may fall in on us. "The Order is here." Vampires don't use explosives.

Ann motioned at Kurt for ammunition. He wordlessly handed over two clips and readied his own gun. My hand traced over the throwing knives someone had found me. They were well balanced.

"Is the Order human?" Kurt asked.

"Yes."

"They're humanity first whack jobs," Ann said.

"Jesus, bad enough we had to deal with wolves and vampires, now we have zealots attacking? Who thinks like that nowadays?" Kurt grumbled while checking his gun over again.

"They claim to have had visions of a world where all non humans are wiped out, not just some of them." Ann kept on talking.

I hadn't known that. Daniel had only given me hints. Ann had probably been on the phone asking for more information to figure out what she was up against. The house rocked from another explosion.

"Jesus," Kurt said again.

My head was ringing. It was hard enough getting a feel for a place I knew well. Kahina's mansion was huge compared to my apartment. The rooms felt odd, kitchens especially with all their metal.

Almost as soon as I got a grip on one piece of landscape it was disrupted by the blast vibrations. I had one hand pressed against the side of my head trying to keep focus on the here and now. I didn't want to feel the house, not completely, not yet.

"Got a sundown countdown?" I asked.

"Sir?" Ann checked her phone. "Twenty-three minutes."

"Security room says the day walkers are still out there, but unmoving."

"The vampires will be back soon," I said. It was hard to concentrate through all the vibrations around the household. Kahina's people were running one way. The Order of Merlin’s footsteps traveled a different direction.

"Aren't they vampires?" Kurt asked.

"No. Something else is in control." My teeth were grinding together and the pain behind my eyeball was worse than it had been.

Kurt stared at Ann for confirmation. She shrugged weakly and stared off into the distance. I couldn't figure out which was the greater risk. All the vampires operating with free will and possibly attacking us, or the ones that were controlled by Shades rushing in mass.

Sharp objects plow into wood and mortar. Cracks form in walls. Tears at my skin. Some stick like thorns. Others fly free through the air and into a far wall. Guns. Bullets. Such an item makes the inferior dangerous to us all. Father preferred swords.

The strange pattern of thinking swept over me. That other presence was completely awake. That was fine. It would be useful. Right now my other mind was running interference on the tactile sensations overflowing from our home.

"We need to get up there." Kahina's people were fighting to defend her. Here we were sitting downstairs in a tunnel which didn't help anyone. Not yet anyway.

"No." Kurt and Ann said at the same time.

"You remember the drills right? Your place has always been next to Lady Rhodes. Every time. Don't screw it up now." Kurt protested.

"But..." Of course, I had to argue.

"Look, you don't have a gun, the Order would tear into you. Even if they don't have silver. Too many bullets, even normal ones, and you're done." Kurt laid out the arguments.

Above us, there was another exchange of fire. It felt like it was in the main hallway now.

"Let them down here. Then secure the doors behind them. Don't get in their way." I relented. But if the Order was after me, and the Shades after Kahina, then both of us needed to be secure. If nothing else this keeps the household staff safer.

"Sir?" Ann asked.

"They're after me and Kahina. But they're not together." My response felt like a portent of things to come, me and Kahina, but not together.

"The day walkers and the humans?" Kurt asked.

"Same plan, let them both come down here, kill each other."

"We'll have to take out the explosives." The agent was gripping her gun while thinking. In fact, I don't think it'd left her hands after I disarmed her last time.

"That door won't hold long against anything major."

"Yeah." Ann looked thoughtful.

"Kahina wakes up, vampires stop, right?" I asked.

"In theory, sir. It's as much a test as anything else." Kurt looked annoyed at the whole prospect, but he didn't disagree with Ann's statement. Hopefully, the vampires would flee once their Shades were kicked out by the returning spirits. If they could be evicted.

Feet surge. Dozens. Like cats leaping onto thigh. Air strains against human sized shapes. Cracks asphalt and walls. Night Shades dare join the fray. Glorious. Will show them not to dare. Will triumph. Invaders must be punished.

I felt like screaming. Felt like ripping out chunks of the wall and smashing everything nearby. My body vibrated with a roar dying to be let out. It was only barely suppressed as I gasped. That other voice was spinning out of control, fighting against things I couldn't reach.

"Give me a comm." My first ever. I could help from down here. Somehow. Ann didn't even question and handed hers over. Kurt looked confused.

"Get going!" My head was splitting with rage about our home being violated. I pressed a thumb to the security door and it opened with a rush of air. "Keep everyone out of their way!"

I closed the door. The last thing I saw with my eyes was Kurt shouting into a headpiece and Ann clutching her gun like it was the difference between life and death.

It was difficult to focus on any one thing. This home was in danger. Barely filtered sensations ran through my body, describing everything in the building. For once I wasn't getting the feedback secondhand. Those other thoughts were more of a running commentary along with tactile responses. Distinctly separate yet still mine.

The Ticks move fast for such an unwieldy combination. Feel the Night Shades pass across the ground. Makes them impure. Not as intended. A violation of design. Two creatures that should not be one. Clever. Wrong.

Revelations passed through as that inner voice observed our attacker's movements. They were quickly absorbed in a rush of sensations. Everything in the house hit me. There wasn't enough time to ponder what exactly my thoughts meant.

Inside Kahina's resting place was cold. No lights were on. The power might have been knocked out or a switch turned off. Kahina should be on the bed. I made my way across the few feet without tripping over anything.

Senses were scattering between the far reaches of the property and my current location. A combination of the abrupt silence and being sightless merged with exhaustion and set me mentally reeling. I tried to calm myself down and focus on one item at a time. My small apartment was easier to manage. Kahina's home was like wearing a sumo wrestler body suit while trying to jog across the city at the height of summer.

Yes. I focus. I watch. Subjects defend as they should. We are ready. They visit my sanctuary. Death greets them in return.

I plugged the little communication device into my ear like Ann did. It was uncomfortable, but paled compared to all the other tactile feedback from my senses.

"Check," I said.

"We hear you, sir," Kurt responded.

"Good." I ranged out with my senses, trying to hone in on the portion of the house where Order members were going. "I'll tell you what I feel, listen close."

I had never done this in front of anyone else that I could remember. Yet, it felt natural. Second nature almost. That other presence was close by. Guiding our thoughts along the correct paths.

"Six, no, seven Order coming in through the west wing kitchen," I said.

It wasn't a big room and they were moving slowly due to being pinned down. Gunfire rang through the hallway. One of them unbuckled a round object that practically shook with energy as my senses touched it.

"Grenade," I said quickly.

I was watching the battle with my senses and talking back at my body. Splitting myself like this was new but easier than expected. Maybe this was how elves felt when they observed remote locations. My home shook from the explosion, but Kahina's people were clear at least.

"Back out of the hallway. Let them down." I said.

"Kurt?" An employee of the house asked over our comm line. Female, not a voice I remembered.

"Follow your fucking orders!" Ann was in the background of someone’s headset.

"Vampires?"

"Coming in the front door." Another new voice said.

"They'll follow the trail we took Kahina on. Keep clear of it." Ann was speaking loud enough for me to hear. None of our visiting vampires, partial or otherwise, would know the layout of her home. The Shades possessing them should know even less.

Feel the ticks cross the threshold. Snarls and leaps. Broken door frames and smashed walls. They bumble against each other down the hallways. The strength in their limbs is puny. Not fully converted. Incomplete.

"Clear the upper hallways. Corridor seven and eight let the human mercs through five." Kurt ordered.

"Bait them in," I suggested. "They'll assume we're guarding Kahina's position. The Order may not know she's in the tunnels." Were it up to me to hunt one person, the path of most resistance would be followed. People always tried to protect the good stuff.

"I'll do it," Kurt said.

His footsteps rattled down a hallway. The other four house members guarding that wing became scarce. In supply closets. In tunnels between rooms. Secret passageways that had been built into the house. Ones I never noticed before. Each movement happened like I was there holding their hands. Fingers pressed against their arms, feeling pulses, their rapid-fire heartbeats and deep breaths.

Great home. Superior to the old one. Room for lots of treasures. Must be cleansed first.

What useless commentary. I felt Kahina's people hold their breath in a collective pack like unison while the Order trudged by, checking rooms and finding them empty. Kurt lured them forward by firing from down the hallway. Random bursts that felt like someone fleeing before a storm.

"Burnouts are in the first room." The voice in our security room said. I hadn't noticed. My attention was on the Order members. They were a more explosive threat.

"Fourth Order member has a different payload." I couldn't get a perfect feel for it. That invader’s footsteps were a lot more weighty on the floor, but I couldn't feel air being displaced like he had a large gut. Extra padding carried across his side.

"C four?" Ann's voice rustled as she tried to talk and situate an ear piece.

"Unsure. Something different." I said.

"How's he doing that?" The other female asked. Her voice was faint now. I felt the air vibrate as Ann shrugged.

"Don't ask," Ann said.

How silly. Their words meaningless. Won't be allowed to remember. Not yet. Perhaps Little Hunter. Slippery presence. Stubborn.

"Okay." The woman's words were tiny and scared. Her knees unsteady and feet shuffling along the floorboards between walls.

"Kurt, can you stall them at thirty-six?" Ann asked.

"Fourth bedroom?" He asked back on the mic. Then another round of gunfire spat forth. I felt an empty clip hit the floor with a slam.

"Yes." Ann's voice was quiet. Her feet shuffled along the corridor between bedrooms.

"I think so." Kurt nodded.

"Burnouts are moving towards the main office." Came the update from our security room. "Maybe two minutes before they figure out the secret door and head down," They said. Hopefully, Shade creatures couldn’t understand hidden doors.

Something tugged at my guts. A feeling that had been forgotten in the recent madness. I pushed it away and tried to focus on what Ann was doing. She had almost crept down the entire hallway. The Order members ducked into various rooms for cover. Some in a bathroom, one in a closet, others in spare bedrooms that house our visitors.

"Myers?" Kurt asked.

"She's too close to talk," I said.

"What's she doing?" Kurt asked.

"She's going to take out one through the wall," I said.

"How is he seeing that? I can't even see that." The voice in the security room said. I didn't have an answer for why I felt the entire house as a part of my own body. Well, there was an answer but Evan hadn't given it yet.

"I don't know," Kurt said.

"Ann, move your gun to the left six inches," I said. She needed to hit him with the first shot and then get the hell out of there. The gun shifted and pressed against the new location.

"This is bullshit!" The security room voice protested.

"Perfect." I ignored them and focused on Ann's fingers across the gun. Clenching and unclenching. She pressed both hands and braced her back against the wall. The muzzle was held back from the wall so it wouldn't backfire. Only plaster and some wood separated her from the Order member crouched on the other side.

"There's another two next to him. Take your shots and move down to the right. It should keep you clear." I hoped. "Kurt, give her a distraction."

Ann clutched her cross. Calloused hands nearly smashed the poor thing. Her lips brushed against the air in a silent prayer. Then she took a breath, pulled the trigger twice, and fled in the direction I'd given her. The Order members were distracted by gunfire from Kurt and didn't even notice until it was too late. One of their own was dead. A moment later someone fired at them from the rear, forcing them forward.

The Pink Meats complain. Mad that they left behind their vaunted explosives. Should grow stronger instead.

"Vamps are at the office door," I said. We were lucky they hadn't encountered anyone else. Most of the main household was hidden in alcoves around the Order members.

"Kurt, get out of their way," Ann said.

"Happily." The male responded.

"Ann?" I asked.

"I'm okay." She sounded winded but unhurt. "Keep pressure on them from back here. They need to move quicker to the day walkers." Her words were a whisper into the microphone.

"We'll keep them moving." Another somewhat familiar voice was on the communications with us. "Just stay safe."

"Kurt?" Ann said.

"Clear," Kurt responded.

"Burnouts got the door figured out, ripped it clean off. They're headed into the tunnels now. I can't see shit down there so good luck." The staff member watching the cameras sat in one corner of Kahina’s compound. I could feel him eating chips while glaring at screens.

"It's okay," Ann said.

Somehow this was working. None of our people had died. We had close calls and grazes that would leave conversation starters. Best of all the Order members and partial vampires were on a collision course. If we were lucky the Order would come up behind them and take a few out before dying themselves. At this rate, the worst problem would be an outrageous repair bill.

That tug came at me again. Stronger. Closer. Like the tide pulling against the moon. I knew that feeling. Knew the hunger. It was thrilling and terrifying all at once. Focus on the household was lost. My senses retracted like a balloon deflating.

Dangerous Mate? Feel her body pull towards mine. Hungry. Eyes not open. Her lips part with a gasp.

"She's alive," I whispered.

Kahina was waking up from her transformation. I turned around and looked at the bed. It was still dark and not an ounce of light in the room beside a soft glow from one light on the comm device I'd gotten from Ann. It was difficult to adjust from feeling everything to seeing things weakly.

"Sir? Are you talking about the Lady Rhodes?" Ann's voice was puzzled.

For a moment, I saw Kahina in that other world. My vision slipped even further away from the here.

She stands on the top of the valley's lip. Unafraid. Watches the distant sun with excited eyes. Fiery sky above fades. Her arms held high in celebration. A soundless cry of joy. Triumph. Want to shout with her. She slowly fades from this strange world and I follow.

Her spirit vibrates the air. Brushes against my senses. Feel her slam back to life. Takes me a moment to return. She sits still.

"Sir, did you say she was alive?" Ann sounded desperate.

"Did I hear that right?" Voices were shouting across the comm line. There were cheers and celebrations. Pointless ones considering the burnouts and Order were down here somewhere. I could only focus on Kahina. She still hadn't taken a breath to taste the air.

"I'm here," I said. "I'm here just like you wanted." My feet unconsciously moved closer to the bed.

Fingers and hands banged on the door in the background. Gunshots tore into walls around us. Separating chunks of concrete from each other. Screams and hisses came from outside. I felt these things in a detached sense. My eyes, my true attention, were focused on Kahina.

Her skin was nearly flawless. Remade into something new. Something that only looked human. She'd be happy that there'd be no further need for makeup to cover the uneven tones. Kahina's hair was almost alive, wild, the perfect kind of mussed up look that would captivate the attention of any man. It was unnatural and alluring compared to what it had been before.

Then her eyes opened. I could barely see them. Hell. They had been red before. Now they were like smoldering coals. If I looked too deep I would burn in pools of lava.

Very Dangerous Mate.

I took her hand into mine and ignored the noise and feelings coming in from around me. The bullets were still going, screams, crosses weakly held up in defense against an onslaught of vampires destined to die no matter what happened tonight. Burnouts. Then the slice of metal cutting through everything. A scream as one man's body was split in two. The Order had made it to the tunnels.

Kahina's hunger was more intense than all these items combined. Like waves lapping heavily against a shore. Her head turned towards mine with a primal expression. I banged my head standing up quickly. She was hungry, stupid me. There had to be a pouch in here, or a power bar, mini fridge, something. There had to be. I tore out the few drawers in this place looking for anything to help her.

People were shouting across the comm lines. Ann and Kurt gave orders to clear out the hallways. Someone screamed that Anthony had returned but was unresponsive. A countdown to nightfall went out. Three minutes.

My apprehension was growing stronger. Kahina needed me to find a way to help her before she turned towards me as a source of food. Then I saw a set of red eyes blinking on the wall. The mouth thin. My barely suppressed fear wasn’t coming from a desperate need to help Kahina. No, this was the fear from those Shade creatures. One was in the room with us. The seal was airtight yet it had slipped through. I blinked, and another handful sat on the wall looking down at us.

"Nightfall in two. How are you holding up, sir?" Ann's voice came through the microphone. I couldn't respond.

Kahina made a noise behind me. My limbs refused to turn about. Both eyes were glued to the wall. There wasn't just one glowing face on the wall. There were a dozen, maybe two. One per dead partial vampire outside. Each with peering eyes and a scowling jagged two-dimensional mouth. Each projecting fear that made it hard to focus on any one thing.

I expected them to leap off the wall and devour me whole with their jagged smiles. A wild cackle of maniacal children's voices brushed against my senses. Angry chattering. Questions and pelting words that went too fast. My brain split in two as my tactile senses catapulted into the other realm again.

Pillars loom overhead. Tall. Unforgiving. Displeased.

"They are confused." Anthony's voice was muffled through the door. I felt more than I heard.

Swirls of gray against the dying fires above. Other world grows cold.

"We ask you why?" Kahina's Second remained possessed somehow. The words slowly came out and battered against the torn up hallway.

"We hold the pact, Spawn of Jor." The winding down child's toy voice sounded perplexed. It might have been worse than his normally smarmy tone Anthony had.

Anthony's fingers clawed at the great door. I could hear fingers pressing the keypad repeatedly in frustration. I was between Kahina's barely repressed hunger and the maniac with a sword outside who could kill me in an instant. Trapped with a mob of angry shadow creatures who apparently questioned my adherence to an unknown pact.

Kahina. She had been too long without blood. Her awakening would make it hard to control herself. The woman completely ignored the Shades and went for the nearest source of blood, my neck. Her teeth were long and extended. It was the kind of horror depicted on television.

She had me like a deer in headlights. Frozen. Petrified. Kahina captured me. I hung there with her arms wrapped around my sides. Even if I had the energy to struggle there was no way I could have. The stress between my shoulder blades drained out quickly along with my energy. It was like going to sleep after a long workout. My body gave up.

I felt the cold slide into the room. Ice clawed at my back. Kahina moved her head, stopped feeding for a moment and stared behind me. Probably at a Shade. Feral irritation shot across her face.

It was difficult to make anything out. My senses were dwindling from the rest of the household to just Kahina. She was alive. Alive. We had made it.

A frowning face and red eyes stretched across the wall next to the bed. Too close for Kahina's comfort. She protected me, in the same way a lioness would protect her kill from hyenas. With anger, with roars of protest, and finally with an attack.

Her face snarled and a hand shot out. Cut through the air with a frightening speed. Her hand sunk right into a shade creature hanging on the wall with barely any pause. It wasn’t physical strength, somehow the woman’s limb actually went into a reality sideways from this one.

Approve. Very Dangerous.

The creature had no time to sway out of the hand's way. It wiggled and the face went through rapid changes. It opened wide to silently screamed in terror. Both red cartoon eyes were large, panicked, then finally closed from pain.

"Are we free?" Anthony's mouth made the words come forth. He still stood outside, only my senses gave me any hint as to the possessed vampire's actual words. They vibrated down the hallway, among the bodies of dead Order members. His movement was nothing compared to the Shade's writhing. I barely registered the words.

Kahina's face was screwed up in anger and rage. Her hand sunk deep into the shadow, clutching at the heart of a creature that barely existed in this world. I couldn't feel her hand in the wall itself. No, it was somewhere else, somewhere between this world and that one.

"Free?" It asked again. It almost danced as she twisted her hand to the side.

Pillars. Darkness’ home. Crumbles. She severs the link. Dangerous Mate calls down fire from above. Burns. She stands in it like one born to flame. Familiar. Hard to see. I tire. Numb. Can't feel.

My head throbbed. The feeling wasn't painful, every part of me felt beyond worn out. Like a great drum beat slowing down at the end of a powerful solo. Funny, I hadn't done a damned thing this time either.

"Jay?" Kahina tasted the air.

"Hey." My word was weak and took time. Everything took on a fuzzy outline. Walls felt indistinct. Each of my limbs felt like a stranger's.

Thoughts slipped in and out of my mind. I could feel Kahina rustling around, feel the slide of her body against mine as she lifted me up to the bed. Her fingers traced across my face and down to the wound. I couldn't muster the strength to move my body. To reassure her that I was alright, but I wasn’t.

Kahina was rocking back and forth. My head in her lap in a pleasant reversal from last few weeks where I had cradled her in worry. I could see the hurt look on her face. She had completed the change and could still manage a completely undisguised look of sadness.

"No, Jay, no. No no, you have to live." She was speaking. Lights snapped on and blurred my vision.

All I could do was stare. I had forgotten how beautiful she looked. Those eyes were mesmerizing. A crimson outer edge and at their core was a new fire dancing deep within. A hint of the sky in that other world.

Blood dripped from Kahina’s face. Some of it mine. Some of it hers. The only kind of tears that would ever be available to her anymore. Her face was a mess from where she had latched onto my neck, draining my body like a squeeze pop.

I tried to reach up and brush away the tears. My arm didn't work right. It didn't even twitch. I couldn't manage a simple frown at the failure of my body. All of my energy was devoted to holding my eyelids open and looking up at my girl's face.

"You promised me, Jay, you promised. You have to stay with me. You have to, Jay." Kahina was babbling. Broken. Maybe part mad from her long nap.

An image of Candy loomed over Kahina's shoulder. It was fuzzy, either from the blood loss or due to her own exhaustion. She was ragged, her face covered in sweat. If there had been an ounce of makeup on her face it would be in rivers. She stood without a hint of teasing posture. In her hand was a sign with three simple words.

I warned you

"Congratulations, my dear. You've made it." Keeper, actual Keeper was somehow in the room with us. I faded in and out while the scene around me changed. Nothing else was clear.

Footsteps sounded down the hallway, a breeze rushed by. Just enough to make the hair on my arms stand up. I was riding on a device with wheels. Their rhythmic noise occupied my thoughts. People were rushing me somewhere. Racing against the claiming darkness. I could hear Kahina sobbing with dry heaves.

Dying was worth it. My life for hers. That was love. Right Crummy?