The blood-thirsty vampyre stared me down as all the party guests crouched behind what little furniture we had. I suddenly wished Dad hadn’t put off that trip to Ikea.
Some of the guys growled, their eyes glowing gold and green and red.
They were ready to shift, but no one dared after what had happened to Lucas.
I was immobilized with fear as the vampyre closed in on me.
“Reyna, run!” Anya screamed.
“I bet you taste good,” he taunted, licking his lips. “So young. So fresh.”
Snow suddenly jumped between us and threw out her arms.
“Ah, the little fucking light bulb,” the vampyre sneered. “I suppose you’ll make a good appetizer before the main course…”
The front door swung open, kicked in by a heavy combat boot.
“Eve!” I shouted, finally finding my legs again. I grabbed Snow and ducked down behind a couch as the vampyre’s gaze shifted to Eve.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked cockily. “I didn’t order any dessert.”
“Get the FUCK away from my daughter,” Eve shouted as she propelled from the floor and shot toward the vampyre in a blur.
She grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the wall with such force that plaster fell from the ceiling.
The broken chandelier above swung dangerously loose from its chain.
Eve was more terrifying than I’d ever seen. Her hair bristled from a magic force, and her fangs were fully extended.
Both the vampire and the sorceress were here to play…
And they weren’t going to play nice.
I grasped my fingers tightly around the vampyre’s neck as it shot me a toothy grin. “You’re one of us. You should understand my thirst,” he said.
It was because I had control over my desire for blood.
This vampyre was completely erratic and deranged.
“Are you the one who has been killing all those teenagers?” I demanded, squeezing tighter.
“Werewolves are a succulent snack,” he rasped.
A wave of relief washed over me.
It was always a good day in motherhood when you received confirmation that your daughter wasn’t a sociopathic serial killer.
But I still had to deal with the one in my hands.
I threw his body to the floor and stood over him.
“This was your last party,” I said to the vampyre as I took off my ring and tossed it into the air. I caught my scythe and swung it in a swift motion, instantly beheading the bloody bastard. His head rolled along the floor like a soccer ball.
Everyone slowly stood up from behind the furniture, in shock from what they had witnessed.
Snow broke free from Reyna and ran to me, embracing me in a hug.
I knelt down and gave her a stern look. “Snow, you can’t keep running off like this. Why did you come here?”
She pointed to the headless vampyre on the floor.
She came because of that thing? Did she somehow know where to find the killer? But how was that possible?
“It was using its cloaking ability,” Reyna said, stepping forward. “I don’t know how Snow did it, but she revealed the vampyre.”
I turned to Reyna and Anya as they stood in the center of the mess that they had created. “Party’s over. Since you can’t be trusted alone, you’re staying at the pack house until your father comes back from his cruise.”
Anya looked like she was about to protest, but Reyna stopped her.
I wouldn’t let any of these girls go unsupervised again.
Like Kimbringe had said, there was something strange happening in Lumen…
And it was affecting us all.
Raphael and I sat by the fireplace in his office, drinking some much-needed wine.
“I’m concerned about that vampyre’s behavior,” he said seriously. “It’s out of character for a vamp to waltz into Lumen like it owns the place. This is the werewolf capital of the world.”
I watched the flames in our fireplace flicker and dance as I tried to make sense of it.
Snow may have been vindicated tonight, but something was off, and I had a feeling that whatever it was…it had to do with Kimbringe’s warning.
He told me to watch Snow closely…and he had been right.
This strange Haze that was happening seemed to be affecting her in unpredictable ways.
I was just relieved that she’d finally fallen asleep in her bed.
My feet were on Raph’s lap. He rubbed them tenderly, his thumb pressing into all my sore spots.
“Don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault,” he said, sensing the thrashing I was giving myself.
“I was supposed to be watching her,” I said, feeling frustrated. “And I let myself get distracted.”
“So I’m just a distraction?” Raphael asked, sounding a little annoyed.
“You know what I mean,” I replied, not about to stroke his Alpha-sized ego.
“Actually, I don’t,” he retorted. “Snow is my daughter, too. But when you saw that she was missing, you just flew out the fucking window without even glancing back. I would’ve torn that vampyre’s head off with my teeth.”
“I didn’t need your help. It was just a single vampyre. I handled it myself,” I said coldly.
Raphael stormed across the room and threw open the door. “I thought we were trying to be a family. Isn’t that what you want?”
His question caught me off guard.
Our collective unit had only been formed four months ago. Before that, I did everything solo.
Family was a foreign concept to me.
I couldn’t answer him because I genuinely didn’t have an answer. This was all so new to me.
He slammed the door behind him, causing the room to rattle.
His question echoed in my head as I continued sipping my wine.
I woke up alone; Raphael had left only his indentation behind.
I couldn’t exactly blame him for being angry with me. I couldn’t be the mate he needed me to be when I was still trying to figure out how to be a mother.
I’d never had to deal with these expectations before. When it was just me, I could only disappoint myself.
Now, I had two more people in my life to disappoint.
I saw my phone lighting up on the nightstand, and I grabbed it, reading my missed messages.
When I arrived at Kimbringe’s personal library, with Snow holding my hand, I found that his invitation wasn’t exclusive.
Raphael was there, still looking pissed about the previous night.
Jed and Reyna were there too, though I wasn’t sure how they fit into all of this.
Kimbringe greeted me with a kiss on each cheek and led me over to a circular table covered in maps and charts. “Eve, good to see you. Still fashionably late as always.”
“I have to maintain my mysterious persona,” I said, standing across from Raphael even though he was avoiding eye contact.
“I’ve gathered you all here because I’ve had a vision,” Kimbringe said, addressing all of us. “There’s an imbalance in the Haze—and it’s going to bring trouble to Lumen.”
“I knew there was something off about the Haze,” Reyna shouted. “I’ve been noticing it everywhere.”
“How is that even possible?” Jed asked.
“I’m not sure yet what is causing this imbalance, but it will affect all of us differently,” Kimbringe replied, looking specifically at Snow.
“In many cases, I fear that it will cause supernatural creatures to behave more aggressively. Even violently,” he said warily.
“The vampyre,” I said under my breath.
“So…this Haze imbalance is creating like…Haze monsters?” Reyna asked, simplifying Kimbringe’s explanation.
“Yes, that’s one way to look at it,” he responded. “The Haze is not only happening out of season, but it’s heightening all kinds of urges—especially dark ones.”
“So, how the hell do we fight the Haze?” Raphael grunted. “It’s not even a living thing.”
“Until we figure out what’s causing the imbalance, we can only combat the endemic that the Haze creates,” Kimbringe said. “And for that, we’ll need to establish a task force of sorts.”
“You mean like a gang?” Jed asked excitedly.
“Call it whatever you like, but our purpose will be to protect the citizens of Lumen from whatever the Haze throws at us,” Kimbringe replied.
We all looked at each other and nodded in unison. One by one, we placed our hands over the center of the table.
“Then it’s settled. We’re Lumen’s protectors,” Kimbringe announced.
As I was about to raise my hand, one more landed on top of the pile.
It was Snow’s. She looked up at me, beaming.
“So we’ll hunt these monsters down…” Raphael growled.
“And stop them before they can do any harm,” I said, finishing his thought.
Our three hands were touching, and Raphael finally looked into my eyes.
We weren’t a traditional family…
But we were united.
And we were going to kick some serious monster ass together.
