Eli looked down at his watch again. Nearly an hour, to the very second before those doors opened and Trixie walked out fixing her dress. The grim expression on her face made Eli rise to his feet.

“You left,” she admonished, tears shimmering in her eyes.

At a loss, Eli glanced past her to the ornate doors then back again. “You...you didn’t seem all that insulted. I...I didn’t want to impose.”

“You left,” she said again, fuming. “I—”

Manny’s approach cut her off. The former sovereign looked pleased with himself as he stepped past, slapping her ass. “Well, that wasn’t hard getting that info out of you. Huh, harpy? Let’s go get ourselves an audience with Legion.”

His laughter echoed throughout the hall.

When Eli met Trixie’s woeful gaze again, he cringed. “Trix....”

The harpy trembled and begged, “Don’t tell the boss. We’ve...it’s never gotten this far. But don’t tell the boss.” Tears shimmered in her eyes when she confessed, “Now I know why I can’t see past tomorrow.” She walked by him, following after Manny as she muttered, “He’s made certain there isn’t one.”

She snatched the pendant from her throat and threw it down; the honey was gone entirely.

A sinking feeling dragged Eli back to his senses. He’d left her. Slade’d begged, Trixie’d begged and for some stupid sense of morality...he’d left her. He’d left Trixie in the clutches of a manipulative prick who coaxed what information he wanted out of her. This was his fault.

Manny walked tall as he passed the front desk. The fawn was on his heels.

“Sir. The room and the matter of the minotaur. An unsated minotaur costs extra.”

The golden door bolted on their own and a wooden plank fell down, trapping them in place.

“Nobody leaves without payment.”

Manny came to a stop in front of the barrier and said, “Move this, or I move it.”

The smirk in his tone wasn’t lost on Eli who hurried to catch up. “How many runes?” Eli asked, rifling through his own belt of his kilt. “I’ve got a few.”

“You’ll need ‘em.” Manny leaned back, body turned forward. “We’ll not be paying anything else. Open up, fawn, before I open you up.”

The hostess gasped. “I knew it. I knew it.” She darted for her desk and pressed a button. “Vampire!”

Manny caught her by the throat in a flash. “Oh. Call for help all you like. But open up.” He squeezed. “Now.”

Eli scrambled for a way to save that woman’s life. “Do it,” he begged. “He won’t ask again. Just let him out. Please.”

Arms flailing, the hostess stretched down and pushed yet another button. The door unbolted and Manny tossed her aside, not looking as she slammed into the wall.

There was no point in questioning whether or not she’d summoned the brigade. This far from Dresden, wolves that they knew were unlikely so Eli kept his hands on his kilt, determine to shift and run no matter the odds set before him.

But Trixie’s words pounded in his mind. She couldn’t see past tomorrow. Meaning...there was no day after that for her. Slade had warned that any deviation from the original plans set by the Fates meant death. Trixie’s death.

With that, Eli left the kilt and resolved to weather what lay ahead. It might only buy her a day but it was a day they needed in order to find a solution.

They emerged from that establishment to the graying morning sky. Dawn.

Whether Manny noticed or cared, he didn’t let it show. He arched back, sucking in the morning air.

Dawn with a fully powered vampire, a distraught harpy, and no clothes. Eli scanned the parking lot to make yet another grim discovery. No Slade.

“Oi. All right. All right. No need to push. Ai’m going.”

The voice from behind them wasn’t one Eli knew right away. The dwarf, dressed in off white underwear and a top, stumbled out of the twin doors barefoot, clothes in hand. “I’m going. I don’t even know ‘em!”

Eli groaned in the back of his throat. Now what?

He had to think because that brothel’s doors didn’t close as they usually did once someone had entered or exited. Eli turned his attention back to Manny and the timid harpy at his side clutching her right wing. The vampire wasn’t moving. In fact, he seemed intent on waiting for someone—something.

“Oi,” the dwarf drawled. “Where’s my rig?”

To the naked eye, the lot was empty but Eli hadn’t taken that to mean anything beyond a spell of some kind—it wasn’t uncommon. Dwarfs liked hiding things. Eli blinked, and blinked again. He allowed a partial shift in order to benefit from his rune. The dwarf’s words were true—the rig was gone.

“Sophie,” Eli hazarded. “Are you doing something stupid?” Like going back to see about a halfdead gorilla? And she was low on power, traveling a magical tunnel meant for creatures with runes to trade in exchange for speed.

Even the most basic human had some runes, albeit low, but none...that was death. Vampires were already in a state of disarray, what would become of her if she used up all of her life runes? Could she even walk after that?

Asking for help was a longshot but it was one Eli had to take. He rushed to Manny, swallowing down the urge to punch the bastard, and informed in, “Your sister’s gone.”

“Is she?” Manny said, arching back. “Sure she did not get picked up by the whore house and traded about somewhere?”

The casual tone meshed greatly with those terrible words.

Eli wore a scowl, “So is the rig.”

“Yeah. I did notice that.” Manny stretched. “Ga, I’m tired.” He leaned back and called the Trixie, “You wanna keep showering me?”

When she hung her head, he laughed.

“Thought so.” He tasted his mouth then spat. “Why do you guys even have feathers in a place like that? S’not like nobody’s looking.”

She took a step back and Eli shoved him.

“Stop it.”

Manny met his gaze finally. “You can no more get a vampire to speak against his thoughts than you can get a harpy to shut up.”

But Trixie had shut up. Judging from her grim expression, maybe not fast enough.

“You risked her life,” Eli said. “Do you realize that?”

The raised eyebrow accompanied by the smirk was the last injustice. Eli punched. Something caught it and wrapped his arm around his own neck.

Manny’s speed was unfathomable. Using Eli’s arm, he brought it up to the werewolf’s throat with more force.

“Do it, dog. Give me a reason to snap your neck.”

It wasn’t a natural pose and the strain pushed more against Eli’s arm than his throat but he reminded Manny, “And give Slade a reason to hunt you in the sun? She’s weak enough to and she’d know where to look.”

Manny shoved him forward.

Eli stumbled, landing on his hands and knees.

“I’d like to see her find me.” As the sun closed in, Manny watched the horizon. “Gonna miss seeing the sun, huh, harpy—”

A gasp left him.

What drew his focus caused Eli to slow in his efforts to stand. Trixie. Coat sprawled around her in her collapse, she lay taking shallow breaths.

“What is this?” Manny asked. When she gave no answer, he directed the question at Eli. “What is this? What’s happened to her? What’s happened to my fucking crystal ball! Get her up.”

That was easier said than done. Trixie writhed.

“Oh dear,” the dwarf drawled, “that’s not good.”

“What’s not?” Manny demanded. “Talk, idiot. What’s not good!”

“That...it’s transforming, innit?”

Eli was cautious as he stepped close. He wasn’t sure what was happening to Trixie but he could form one conclusion and only one—she was in pain.

“Transforming?” Manny growled, “Into what? What’s worse than a fucking harpy?”

He, and even Eli, looked to the dwarf for help. What they received was a vacant shrug as the man—er—woman fixed the last of her clothes.

“Whatever it is, we’re about to find out.”

Manny regarded Trixie again and growled. “Shit.”

A howl broke through the night taking their attention away from the helpless harpy on the ground who curled into a ball, weeping.

Eli recognized that brigade. “Lomos. Why’s Lomos out this far from home?”

Manny gathered up Trixie’s jacket. “Because this is where I sent them. You think it’s coincidence I chose Bayern? München wolves don’t answer to me. Help me get this up.”

Eli rammed him and he fell on his ass. “Stop saying it. You fucker. She’s a person and you’re the one who’s done something to her. At least have some fucking decency. You won’t even pick her up!”

Though the strongest of the three of them, Manny stared back at Eli rather than attack.

He struggled with something to say but eventually confessed, “I can’t help what I am, no more than you can help your fixation with my sister. That’s the way of our kind. Anything I say, even a kind word won’t ever lead to a kind result. That is our covenant. We have no compassion left. So even if I touch her, I’ll hurt her. So which would you prefer?”

Eli stared down at him, half tempted to grab hold of him and anchor him into oncoming sunlight somehow while he still had the bastard by surprise.

Trixie shrieked. Her skin tore at the shoulders and feet.

Panicked, Eli hurried to her. The dwarf was the only one calm, “Earth runes come fast. That’s for sure. But painfully,” she scolded. “This one was right dumb to use so many runes so quick.”

Heartbroken, Eli snatched the jacket and threw it over Trixie’s crouched frame. “Trix. Trix, what’s wrong? What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong?”

“Break it,” she wailed. “You must break it. Break it. Please. Break it. I don’t have the heart. Break one!”

“Break it?” Eli looked around for an answer.

“Oh,” the dwarf said, easing Eli aside. “I think I know.”

She reached under the jacket and searched for something. “Oh whoa...it’s huge.”

“What? What is?” Manny reached them, his ghoulish face paler than usual. “What is it?”

The dwarf looked up at him and said, “An egg.”

Both men recoiled. Eli jumped to his feet and stood back. Sure enough, a large white egg came from under the jacket once the dwarf stood. It resembled a football in size. Worse yet, once it was out, the harpy wailed harder.

“Break it! Break one! You must break one of them.”

Eli looked from Manny to the dwarf. “Does she mean there’re two?”

The dwarf shook her head. “Nope. Just the one.”

Judging by the screams, Trixie didn’t agree.

Eli sighed and crouched. “I’ll look.”

“The fuck you will!” Manny dragged him up by his hair. “That’s my fucking harpy.”

Forced onto his toes, Eli fired back. “Then you fucking check.”

“I can’t check. I told you. Good things don’t come from vampires.”

“Then what?”

The dwarf was already crouched down trying to feel around. She dropped the egg but Manny caught it. The look he gave Eli suggested this was a mistake.

“Break it.” Trixie turned, face pressed into the asphalt as she wailed, “Please.”

Once the dwarf stood, she attested, “There is no other. That’s the only one.” Her brown eyes shifted from the egg to Manny. “Will breaking it help her?”

Trixie’s skin cracked, a red light peeking through.

“We...” Manny began.

Eli gasped, appalled, “We’re not breaking it, you fucking monster.”

“Wait. Maybe it’s a twin. A duality.” The dwarf looked up at them. “Heard once you bring two offerings. One you kill, the other holds power. Is she supposed to have two?”

But from Eli to Manny, neither were any help.

“Somebody say something,” the dwarf demanded.

She snatched at the egg but Manny zipped back. The scowl he wore meant he wouldn’t comply, maybe not until he was sure it benefited him.

The egg didn’t break, but Trixie surely did. She flipped over, body arched back. The feathers started to shed.

And then it stopped.

All movement stopped. All molting stopped. And her breathing...stopped.

The pack of wolves to empty into the lot came with a black car, tinted for the purpose of transporting a vampire.

Wolf after wolf shifted and secured their kilts. Moments later, they pulled their guns and trained them on Eli and company.

The limousine’s driver door opened and a werewolf masquerading as a law enforcer stepped out.

Eli gasped. “Lomos.”

The man fired. Eli dropped, immobilized.

Voices closed in. “Sir, sir. Are you all right? Sir, are you all right!”

But despite those sirs, no one came Eli’s way. In fact, they stepped over him and hurried toward the car.

“Sir.”

“I’m fine,” Manny said. “Here, take this and put it in the limo. Make sure nothing happens to it. It might be useful. Gimmie your kilt.”

Someone must have complied because the limo door opened and closed soon after.

The car roared to life but didn’t otherwise move. Manny hesitated.

“And...and...and put the harpy...put the harpy in the trunk.”

Lomos asked, “Sir?”

“Just do it. The dwarf, too. She’s seen too much.”

“And Eli?”

Manny scoffed. “Fuck Eli.” He called to the driver, “Lomos?”

The trusted wolf brigaded captain hurried around the car. “Yes, Sovereign?”

“Relay a message to the boys. I had to maim Louis the second. It’s dead by now. Prepare Louis the third.”

“But...but he’s too young.”

“Yeah. You figure it out then. Get me the fuck out of here.”

Footsteps patted around. Feathers cascaded to the ground when the wolves hoisted Trixie up.

“Oi. Get your hands off me. I have rights. I’m a respected member of the work’s guild. They’ll be hearing bout this,” the dwarf protested. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer—”

The dwarf’s cries ended with a thud. A trunk slammed shut and the tires cried out before the car sped into the dawn.