The dun colored wolf let out a howl that cut through the din of battle, attacking with renewed strength. Her foaming mouth clamped around the vampire's delicate wrist, and she snatched, fileting skin. Once the other wolves got him in their teeth, they yanked him farther down the corridor.

Darcy scrambled free yet again. I sensed the effort it took for him to keep evading us, but his voice whispered in my head: "Go on, wear yourselves out."

I shuddered in revulsion. "You first," I spat as I jerked the drapes from a nearby window. The vampire's arrogant laughter strangled into a roar of pain as he fled deeper into the shadows. But Haley's power vibrated the air around her, and a concentrated blast of sunlight shot after the Nightwalker from her hands. The heat scored the floorboards, leaving charred, smoking gashes.

"Where'd he go?" she asked when he disappeared.

"Down there!" I pointed.

Exhausted, I raised my aching sword arm and flew downstairs after him. The bruised and battered wolves ran with me, but I didn't know how much longer we could keep this up. It seemed no matter what we did, no matter how prescient my Empathy, Darcy Cyprian stayed one step ahead.

I dropped to my knees out of breath when I reached the ground floor. A shadow unexpectedly stretched over me, and I stared up into the striking face of a woman with dark hair. "Ms. Ashivant, I presume," I grunted, rising to full height. My Empathy folded around her and felt nothing, and I recoiled. That had never happened to me before.

"Indeed," she replied, "and you're not welcome in my home."

"But that monster is?" I gestured with the sword at where Haley and the wolves still battled Darcy. His lawyer gave me a bored stare. I wondered what she was, half-afraid to find out.

Pausing, she murmured, "You have no idea what's happening as we speak, and you're just in the way. I have an important meeting with the Council of Overlay Affairs here soon. I suggest you and your friends picked your battles."

Good. If the Council was coming, they'd bear witness to Darcy's unfolding crimes—namely kidnapping and killing a human detective whose murder could bring scrutiny to our world.

The lawyer whistled, and the grey and black wolf peeled away from the snarling pack with a whimper. "Loulou, go to Cherie!" she snapped.

For a split-second, Darcy had the upper hand. He fended off the other two wolves easily. I stared in dread as he gripped Haley by the throat and lifted her in the air. My stride ate up the distance between us, but I couldn't strike fast enough. Haley struggled as he squeezed the life out of her.

"You picked the wrong cause to champion," the vampire chuckled darkly. I feinted toward him with the Damascus steel sword, but Haley's dangling form shielded him. "It's not like you imagined, is it? Your moral high ground, your strong convictions, your righteous indignation—none of that can save you in real life."

"Let her go!" I shouted. The wolves paced restlessly around him.

"In real life, winning is arbitrary. Pure luck and happenstance," said Darcy. "For instance, you were lucky I chose Aurie instead of you, little teenage witch. Unfortunately, you had to interject yourself into my plans, and the more I think of it..." He hesitated.

I bared my teeth as I raised the sword higher. Darcy smiled at me over Haley's shoulder, his arm snaking around her waist to hold her closer. "The more I think of it," he whispered, "maybe I picked the wrong Edison sister after all."

With unbridled rage, the red wolf pounced from behind. Darcy cried out in shock. He was torn from his feet and hit the stairs, and Haley spun out of his grasp. I leaped on top of him before he could sprint away, and I pressed the hilt of the short sword to his throat. His fangs dripped venom. Eyes redder than hot embers burned with malice. I pushed the hilt harder, but he only laughed.

"Don't you understand? You can't kill me," he hissed. "Stop extending the inevitable."

"You want to know what's inevitable?" I sneered.

"Your demise," he choked out, "when I'm head of the Council!"

Haley leaned over him. "You deluded son of a bitch, let's see how your plans hold up to the light of day." Manacles shaped of glowing power wrapped around Darcy's wrists. He was chained to the stairs, unable to escape Haley's magic. Everytime he tried, Zyr and Aurie's wolves rained wildness and fury upon him faster than the vampire could heal.

As I watched him get ripped apart, I didn't feel my usual empathy. I planted the blade at the neck of the mass of evil writhing in chains of sunlight.

My gaze flicked to the woman in the high-backed chair. Her glimmering skin caught the candlelight, and she looked like a work of art. A cold, impassionate masterpiece. Still, she didn't lift a finger to help her client.

Wallace and Tegan ran into the foyer. I couldn't wait to collect my friends and get out of this nightmare house. "Finish it," I said to Haley. I readied myself to bring the Damascus sword sweeping down to cut off Darcy's head. She threw open the doo, and. I faltered.

There was a group of people waiting in the drenching rain. They stared in confusion at what was happening inside. "My word! What's the meaning of this?" Someone gasped. Behind them, a line of luxury cars were parked in the driveway, and one had an official seal. The Council of Overlay Affairs. They were finally here.

Suddenly, a flurry of blackbirds exploded from the staircase. The wolves gave chase, but the birds flew en masse out the door. Where the vampire had been, only dissipating wisps of smoke remained. "No!" I cried in panic.

I pushed through the bewildered crowd of councilmembers. Haley, Wallace, and Tegan met me in the driveway, and Kittie stepped from the car to see what was happening. Dismayed, we stared at the birds disappearing into the turmoil of the stormy sky. But Darcy couldn't have escaped. He couldn't survive the sun, not even with it hiding behind the black-grey clouds of a hurricane.

I pivoted to his lawyer standing in the doorway. "Where is he?" I asked.

She glowered at me. A portly balding man from the Council approached, and she lifted a hand in apology. "I'm afraid we will have to postpone our meeting, Mr. Distefano," she sighed. "My client is indisposed."

"You called us here, Mal," he huffed.

Ms. Ashivant's response was interrupted by the red wolf's violent quake. I hitched in a breath in wonder as a nude Aurie Edison unfolded from wolf form. "You were called here because of me," Aurie announced. Then she hit the wet ground with a start.

"Yokai!" I ran toward her.

Immediately, we realized what Zyr's last-ditch effort to save her hadn't been able to fix. The rain drummed in silence as Aurie grappled with being changed beyond repair. "What happened to me?" she asked, clutching the leg that had been amputated below the knee.

I knelt beside her. "The accident. Zyr thought he could heal you, but..."

"But he couldn't?" Her chest heaved as her eyes filled with swift tears.

I shook my head in regret. Richter Distefano, the head of the Council, snapped his fingers, and one of the councilmembers hurried forward with a coat. I draped it over her shoulders. Holding her, I felt such anger and despair. I could almost hear her inner thoughts: I played it safe, and now this.

But when Aurie dried her tears, she appeared more determined than before. "You were called here because of me," she repeated calmly. "Darcy Cyprian wanted the Council to meet his new bride." I helped her stand, noticing that Mal didn't contradict her, but the lawyer didn't look happy about the news, either.

"You are Mrs. Darcy Cyprian?" Mr. Distefano asked.

"No, I'm not because Mr. Cyprian's plans were foiled yet again. He drugged me, kidnapped me, and planned to put me in the body of a feral wolf so he could keep me under his command. He said a powerful witch would be an asset to getting elected. The problem with that is...I'm not a witch. I'm Aurelia Edison, and I'm sure you've heard of me."

"From Detective Zyr Ravani," I stated. "We're equally sure he informed the Council that Aurie isn't the only human Darcy has harmed. You know we were gathering evidence to petition you to initiate an official investigation." There was no way they could ignore us now. Kittie Cad joined us at the foot of the stairs, and we faced the Council down.

"Well, where's the evidence?" Mr. Distefano asked in clear annoyance.

I didn't know if his irritation was because he really didn't want to know what Darcy was up to or because we weren't taking the proper channels to get the information to him. Either way, we didn't have the evidence anymore. As I struggled for words to explain how the raid they had sanctioned had left us without the means to challenge the vampire, Tegan pushed forward, waving something.

"It's right here. All on a jump drive. Detective Ravani asked me to make a backup for safekeeping," she replied, and my jaw dropped in astonishment. She had come through for us.