The vampire’s boots entered my line of vision, and I glanced up at him. I couldn’t move. He crouched next to me before tangling his hand in my hair, yanking my head up.

“You’re fortunate I’m not the monster you think I am. I could rip your throat out, Kori, and believe me, a few days ago, I would have.” He released my hair, and my head hit the pavement. I had no strength to hold it up. “Stay away from me. Stay away from my family; we’ll do the same with you and yours. We don’t cause much trouble. It’s why we’ve lived undetected in this territory. That and we’re damned powerful. Best not to fuck with us.”

He was gone in an instant, leaving me shaking on the ground. I lay on the gritty pavement, rain steadily soaking my clothes, and considered my options. He was right. No one in his family had been linked to deaths in the area, or we would have been alerted to it.

Didn’t mean they were innocent. Bet if I did my research, he’d have a long list of victims, as would his brother. His aura was enough to tell me he killed. Maybe not every victim, but he’d killed. And just because they weren’t leaving bodies in the streets didn’t mean they weren’t hidden in a basement somewhere.

I’d need to find a way to get the upper hand and kill him. He couldn’t live.

I curled into the fetal position. Each breath caused a ripping pain in my chest. I didn’t have time to consider the fact that I was damned lucky he’d left me alive. I was still worried I would die anyway.

My magic alerted me to the problem, and what I found there made me heave.

My sister was in trouble. She was dying. The knowledge sank like a stone in my gut. I needed to get to her.

A witch could sense people they had a deep emotional bond with. Humans had a bit of it, too. That gut instinct that told you a missing family member was alive or that someone you loved was in danger. It was the psychic imprint they left when you loved them that hard. You could feel it across any distance. Some humans were more sensitive to it than others, and witches were more in tune with that sense. Magic made it far more accurate.

I gathered my strength and shoved myself to my feet. Using the wall as support, I made my way down the alley. My hotel wasn’t too far away. I needed to pack weapons and get moving.

I felt her power reach out over the distance, and I knew I’d never make it in time. She was fading too fast, broken and battered. I poured as much power down my end of the bond as I could spare, but I’d have to cut her off before I could drive. Or before she took me down with her.

I shoved the last of my magic down the bond, and my vision went white. I vaguely felt a sharp pain as my knees hit the pavement, but it was nothing compared to the sawing agony in my chest. “Hold on, Grace.”

I cut off the flow of energy. I’d done all I could. The weight in my chest vanished, and my headache subsided to a dull roar. I was still unsteady as I pulled myself to my feet. However, the dark pit in my stomach expanded. I didn’t even know where she was. If I could have left the bond open, I would have been able to find her, but without it, I was back in the dark.

I made it to my car and grabbed my phone. I wiped at the warmth that had spilled to my lips, and my hand came away with bright red blood.

“Please, let this be a dream. A fucking brain hemorrhage. Anything!” It was a reoccurring nightmare of mine. I dialed my sister’s number. “Gracie, damn it, pick up your phone. Please, baby sister, pick up.”

It went to voicemail, and I sank onto the sidewalk, resting my head on my knees. This wasn’t a dream. I reigned in the need to throw the damned phone down the street and dialed again. She wouldn’t pick up, but maybe someone would find her in time if her phone kept ringing.

I got into my car and drove to the inn I was staying at in a daze. I’d gotten a room near here in case the spell I worked for Pagan had taken so much out of me I couldn’t drive back to my friend Astrid’s house. My sister had felt the need to avoid my questions and took off after the spell. I’d stayed behind to hunt Alaric. Not that she knew that part.

What the hell happened in the few short hours I’d been away from her? I got to the hotel and started packing up my things. As I worked, I took out my phone and braced to dial the number I always hated calling.

I took a deep breath and tried to center myself. There was always a chance what I felt was incorrect. Magic could be tricky business. And psychology could be tricky business. I’d seen a lot of fucked up shit lately. Investigating those child murders in Atlanta had left a mark, and killing the vampire who committed them hadn’t erased it.

Now that I had some distance on the feeling, I could almost convince myself it had been one hell of a panic attack. “Maybe you’re having a mental breakdown. This call is just going to interrupt whatever your mother is doing, and she’ll be pissed.”

“McCormic.” My mother’s voice was sharp and cold over the line—nothing unusual about that. Maybe everything was fine. Our line of witches hunted vampires exclusively and attempted to deaden our emotions. Many people said my mother was the perfect hunter, but they were wrong. She felt, even if the only emotion she was capable of was anger—constant, white-hot rage.

“Hello, mother. This is Kori. Where is Grace?”

“She’s been damned.” Her chilly voice didn’t change as she said it, but I knew she wanted to do violence.

I froze. I had thought Grace was dead. Being a vampire was worse. I couldn’t have heard it right. “What?”

“She’s damned. She’s been turned into a vampire and hasn’t killed herself. She’s evil.”

I shook my head even though she couldn’t see the gesture. “How do you know that? I felt her in intense pain, near death. I didn’t feel her become a vampire. How do you know she was turned?”

“I caught her with a vampire. I knew when I disowned her for not killing him, she would go running to him. I’ve watched them fight, and his love for her is stomach-churning. A pitifully twisted demon refusing to kill his mortal enemy. I’d hoped she’d do the right thing in the end. You must have cut yourself off from her if you didn’t feel her turn. What’s wrong? Can’t you sense her death without being worried you’ll be sucked under too?”

Another dig at me for being overly emotional. I should be able to witness my sister’s death dispassionately and not be so tied up that I died with her. I scowled at the phone. I was surprised my mother had enough feelings left to sense anyone. Though Grace was the favorite. If there was any soft emotion left in my mother, it would be for Grace. But she still had enough control not to die with her.

Bile rose in my throat. I swallowed hard and composed myself. Either way, the sister I knew was dead. Just because her body walked the Earth didn’t mean her soul was in it. Liam and the rest of his family would pay for this. Alaric said he’d leave us alone if we left him alone, and it hadn’t taken long for that pact to break. Hell, before he uttered the words, they’d been made into lies. A vampire’s word couldn’t be trusted. Subject to the whims of their inner monster.

“I’m coming home.”

“I was going to tell you to. She must be dealt with before she becomes a black mark against this family. With a fallen daughter, what will the rest of the coven think of this family? Even vampires will cease to think we’re a threat. We can’t have one of them associated with us. We would never be trusted to execute them. You would never get one of your ‘jobs’ again.”

My coven had a problem with me hunting vampires for money. They did the job because witches were meant to. We were the protectors of the humans. Keeping the balance between good and evil. Blah, blah, blah. Personally, I felt I had a specialty, and I should be paid for providing the service. Greedy of me, but at least I could pay the bills. And it never meant I refused to deal with a bloodsucker if I happened across one or if a savvy cop called for some assistance, like the case in Atlanta.

“As the eldest of the new generation, you’re expected to handle something like this, Kori.” I swallowed again, hoping I’d keep down lunch. I wasn’t sure I was ready, even with all I’d been taught.

She continued while I struggled with the facts. “But if you don’t have the stomach for it, I’ll be forced to. You’ll never be Matriarch of the line if you allow the task to fall to me, but I don’t believe you have the power to lead the witches when I’m gone anyway.”

Annoyance sparked in my chest. Like I gave a damn about the coven right now? I narrowed my eyes at the phone. Sometimes, I wanted to strangle her. I didn’t want to be the Matriarch. I’d taken off to get away from duty, honor, and the responsibilities that had been pressed upon me from birth. But I also didn’t want the position torn away from me. Things inside the coven needed to change. If I became Matriarch, I would have the power to force changes.

“I know what I’m supposed to do, Mother. I know that it’s not my sister in that body. Figure out her location, and I’ll take care of it.” Even if it killed a piece of me. My sister’s soul couldn’t move on as long as that demon inhabited her body.

“As far as I know, she’ll be at their house. I suspect the three of them will take her out of town as soon as she can be moved. You’ll have to be quick.”

“Three?” It finally clicked where I’d heard Alaric’s name before. “Like of the three brothers that decimated Europe in the Middle Ages? Murdered great-grandmother Sarah, among others?” Alaric, Jasper, and Liam.

It was old family lore. I’d forgotten much of the history, but if it was right, then Alaric’s family and mine went way back. He might not even remember. But once upon a time, he had killed a witch. An ancestor of mine. After that, her relatives and descendants decided all vampires needed to die.

“Yes. If they’d been smart, they would have murdered her children. Celebrate their stupidity and make the kill in the name of our ancestors. Don’t fail me, Daughter.” She hung up.

“Well, what a wealth of information you were.” But she’d told me all I needed to know. I could find out where the infamous band of brothers lived from my sources.

They were old, but not the oldest vampires walking the Earth. Still, they’d be the oldest I’d ever faced. Seven hundred years or more, and they were damned skilled. The rumors about them were ridiculous, claiming they had a body count that rivaled the Black Death.

It would be hard to kill her if they protected her. She was the priority. Like Pagan, she’d become a threat to any hunter she’d known, as well as innocent people.

My eyes burned, but I refused to let myself cry.

You didn’t kill Pagan. You don’t have to take down your sister.

I gritted my teeth and got in the shower. I was cold and wet, and my face was covered in blood from my nosebleed. I needed to firm up my resolve, or I’d never get this done. I hadn’t killed Pagan because Nyx would have crushed me. He was thousands of years older than Alaric and his family and could probably wipe me out with a thought.

I got dressed quickly, zipped the suitcase, and collapsed across it. My sister was dead. I hadn’t been able to save her. But then, had I ever saved anyone? The image of little limbs tangled together flashed through my mind. Those children had been thrown into a basement like they were trash. If I let my sister live, how many innocent people would she go on to kill? All vampires killed eventually. Even if they started out seemingly normal, they were a ticking time bomb.

I sniffled and pinched myself so I had a different kind of pain to focus on. It cleared my head a bit. The McCormic witches didn’t cry. The McCormic witches didn’t feel anything. But then, I’d never been like the rest of the family. My mother must have been proud. One vampire daughter and one weak, emotional, royal fuck up.

I shook my head and pushed myself off the luggage. There was time for self-pity and debilitating grief later. Right now, I needed to load up the car and head home. Or Hell, depending on how you saw it.