Author: Theophilus Monroe; Michael Anderle Narrated Bycaitlin Davies
Date: 2023-02-14 00:00:00+00:00
Description: What happens to a vampire's soul when it dies? Hell if I know! The new vampire queen intends to lead her kind from the shadows, to dominate humanity. I'll be damned before I let that happen! I've taken down so many vampires already. You'd think we'd be making progress. Why, then, are the vampires getting stronger? I'm afraid this whole situation is about to bite me in the butt. Perhaps, even, literally.
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Rights: Copyright 2022 Theophilus Monroe. All rights reserved.

REVENGE OF THE SCYTHE

CHRONICLES OF ZOEY GRIMM™ BOOK TWO

THEOPHILUS MONROE

MICHAEL ANDERLE

This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

Copyright © 2022 LMBPN Publishing

Cover by Fantasy Book Design

Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

A Michael Anderle Production

LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

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LMBPN Publishing

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Version 1.00, April 2022
ebook ISBN: 979-8-88541-072-4

Print ISBN: 979-8-88541-073-1

THE REVENGE OF THE SCYTHE TEAM

Thanks to our Beta Team

Larry Omans, Rachel Beckford, Kelly O’Donnell, Jim Caplan

Thanks to our JIT Readers

Wendy L Bonell

Dave Hicks

Jackey Hankard-Brodie

Paul Westman

Zacc Pelter

If We’ve missed anyone, please let us know!

Editor

The SkyFyre Editing Team

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Author Notes - Theophilus Monroe

Author Notes - Michael Anderle

Books by Theophilus Monroe

Books By Michael Anderle

Connect with The Authors

CHAPTER ONE

"Are you sure there are vampires in here?"

Cerberus, my hellhound and sidekick, pawed my leg. He had three heads, but only one was visible at the moment. "Trust me, after our recent encounters with the bloodsuckers, I have little doubt."

I sighed and glanced at Kevin. He shrugged. He was a handsome man. A police detective. Also, I'd found out recently, a part-time vampire hunter who'd been working with my mother for the better part of a year before I met him. The pink glow from the neon Girls, Girls, Girls sign in front of us illuminated his face. "It's not a bad cover for a vampire if you think about it. A lot of drinking goes on in places like this. And the club probably doesn't even open until after dark."

I bit my lip and tilted my head. "You know, Kevin, you really look pretty in pink."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "I hate these places."

"You hate strip clubs? What kind of man are you?"

"A decent one," Kevin snapped. "Don't get me wrong. Some women go into this line of work because they honestly enjoy it. No judgment. But a lot of these clubs prey on vulnerable young females who are desperate for the income and attention."

"Spoken like a real cop."

"I am a real cop, Zoey."

I snorted. "Of course you are, Detective Schroeder."

Kevin chuckled. "You don't have to call me that, you know. ‘Kevin’ is fine now that you know the truth."

I smirked. "Sure thing, Detective Schroeder. Well, here's the plan. Cerberus will go invisible. He'll enter the astral plane. Once we identify the vampire—or vampires—here, we'll regroup. I'll put on my cloak, enter the astral plane, and take them out one by one."

Kevin shook his head. "I don't know, Zoey. In a public venue like this, summoning your scythe and killing vampires is likely to cause a panic. I'd recommend against reaping any vampires we find unless Katerina is inside. We need to capture one of the vamps and interrogate them so we can figure out where she is hiding now that her sire is dead and she's running things."

I narrowed my eyes. "I see the strategy there, Kevin, but why don't we just take out the vampires we find? If I reap enough of them, Katerina will have no choice but to come after us herself."

Kevin shook his head. "Trust me, Zoey. I've been doing this longer than you have. Plus, I'm a police detective. I know the best way to handle things like this."

I stared at Kevin blankly. "They seriously taught you how to handle vampires in the police academy?"

Kevin shrugged. "No, they didn't. I’m guessing your teachers at the Reaper Academy in the underworld didn't teach you how to reap vampires either.”

I placed my hands on my hips. "But I was at the top of my class at my academy."

Kevin grinned. "So was I."

"Look, Kevin. I'm not saying I should reap the vampires here publicly. I know how to be discreet. They trained me for that. Reapers always engage in the proper reconnaissance."

"But this isn't the same, Zoey. From what I understand, a Reaper can harvest a soul totally unnoticed. Only the person they sent you to reap could see you."

"How do you know about how that works?" I asked.

"Your mother knows a lot about how it works from what your father told her. You know, back before you were born."

I nodded. "Well, that's pretty much right. If it works the same way it does for regular Reapers of human souls, I should be able to handle a vampire without leaving the astral plane."

"You're the only supernatural Reaper that has ever existed, Zoey. At least so far as your father knows, and he should know. He's the Grim Reaper, after all."

"Your point?"

"The point is, we're still learning how your gift works, Zoey. You can't just go into a public venue like this and make assumptions about how it will play out."

I bit my lip. "Fine. I guess you're right. But how do you expect that we'll be able to abduct a freaking vampire any more discreetly than I could reap one?"

Kevin's eyes shifted back and forth. "All right, that's a fair point."

Cerberus pawed my leg. "How about we do nothing until we've completed reconnaissance? Zoey, you and I can go in there on the astral plane, ascertain the situation, then we can regroup out here and come up with a plan."

I scratched the back of my head. "That's exactly what we should do. I mean, that's what we were taught to do when it came to reaping humans. It's just, you know, when a Reaper is sent to harvest a soul, the target isn't usually an immediate threat to everyone around."

"It's still smart," Kevin said. "Vampires are generally discreet, too. If what Katerina told you is true and she has designs on creating more vampires so they can come out of the shadows and take over the world, she won't want them to reveal themselves until she has the numbers to execute her plan."

I cocked my head. "Then maybe we can use that to our advantage."

"How so?" Kevin asked.

"Now that the vampires know about me and what I can do, chances are whatever vampires might be in here will want to cut and run as soon as they see me. If they don't want to be seen, I can chase them into an alley or something. Somewhere no one will notice what's happening. If we handle this the right way, and we can predict where the vampires will run, you and Cerberus can wait there to capture them."

"Just one of them. Trying to manage multiple vampire hostages would be a challenge."

"We don't even know how many vampires might be inside. So, before we make any definite plans, we need to get a good head count. I'll reap any extras, but make sure at least one survives so I can chase him into your loving arms."

Kevin chuckled. "I don't lose much love for vampires, Zoey. I've learned enough from working with your mother the last several months, though, that I can probably handle a vampire, provided it's relatively young. I'll need to use garlic to subdue the monster. If these vampires are any older than a decade or so, garlic won't be so effective."

"How can we tell how old a vampire is?" I asked.

"That's a part of the problem, Zoey. Your mother and I knew about most of the vampires we were dealing with back in Kansas City. We watched them for months before we moved against them. Here? Well, we don't know squat about the vampire community. There's no way to know if the one you decide to chase my way will be young or old."

I sighed. "Well, what do you suggest?"

"I wish your mom was here."

"Well, she's not. She's back with Morty, protecting Sienna until her body has recovered enough that he can restore her soul."

"All right. Change of plans. Sort of. Depending on what you find out when you go in on reconnaissance. We might not need to abduct and interrogate a vampire if we can follow him."

"You think a vampire who thinks he's escaped my scythe will run back to Katerina?"

Kevin nodded. "I think that's a reasonable assumption. But only you and Cerberus might be able to move fast enough in the astral plane to keep up with the fleeing vampire."

I nodded and slipped my reaper cloak over my head. "All right, then. Well, Cerberus, let’s go in and see what we're dealing with."

CHAPTER TWO

I pressed myself through the wall next to the door, avoiding the bouncer and the obligatory cover charge. In the astral plane, when I was wearing my reaper cloak, I could move through solid objects. I had all the advantages of being a ghost without the misfortune of being dead. I was still learning how to use the cloak. It wasn't something we could prepare for at the Reaper Academy. We weren't allowed to go to Earth until we graduated, and the enchantments in the reaper cloaks didn't function in the underworld.

Thankfully, I had Cerberus, who by virtue of having three heads—one that engaged Olympus, another Hades, and the third, Earth—was accustomed to working across different planes of existence at once. I carried my cloak in a small backpack. At least, I did when there was a reasonable chance that I might encounter a threat. These days, it was more often than not.

When we both engaged the astral plane, we could see each other. For some reason, probably on account of his three heads, which had different kinds of sight, he could see me no matter what plane he was on. Unfortunately, I only had one head—or fortunately. Whatever. You know what I mean. Having three heads would be inconvenient, as bull-headed as I am. If I had three brains pulling me in different directions, I'd probably find myself in a constant state of cattiness...with myself.

One difficulty in getting used to working in the astral plane was that even in this realm, my body tended to respect physical barriers. It was why I could walk across the floor or up a set of stairs without falling through. Technically, there were no floors, walls, or barriers of any sort in the astral plane. But my mind, used to the physical world, created limitations that made it possible to navigate the astral plane. If that didn't happen, I'd probably find myself free-falling into oblivion the moment I put on my cloak.

Cerberus said that walking through walls was an act of faith, an intentional effort to recognize that it wasn't a part of the world I was presently navigating. It meant suspending disbelief. Mostly, it worked. And since, as Reapers, we could reap from within this state, there was something about my scythe when I summoned it that transcended all such planes of being.

It made sense. My scythe didn't come the way it did for most Reapers. If I wasn't in proximity to a supernatural ready to be reaped, when I touched the small sigil on my wrist that invoked it, it appeared like a staff with two sharp points on either end. It was a handy tool, I had found out.

But when I approached a creature like a vampire (so far, that was the only supernatural monster I'd tried to reap), the blade appeared in a blaze of hellfire. It engaged multiple planes at once, and I could wield it from Earth or the astral plane. It drew on hellfire, which meant it also engaged Hades.

Could it engage heaven or Olympus? No clue, but I knew it worked on Earth. That was how it managed to slice into a person's body without splitting them in two to cut the soul out of someone.

This was the first time I'd attempted to navigate the astral plane in a crowd. It wasn't as easy as I’d expected. Suspending disbelief when you're pressing through groups of people isn't second nature. When I moved through a wall or a door, I had to think about it. It took proper focus. The prospect of walking through a person was just a little freaky. I mean, ew, right?

Cerberus walked through a man who stood next to the stage, tossing dollar bills at a young blonde who was shaking her butt in his face. I sighed. I mean, she had a decent ass, but there's something strange about paying someone to stick their pooper out at you.

Yeah, yeah, I understood what these "gentlemen's clubs" were about. From the looks of it, though, there wasn't a gentleman in the place. Most of the dudes were acting like prepubescent boys who'd never seen more than what's exposed in a Victoria's Secret ad. Then again, those ads showed quite a bit.

I wasn’t sure what secret Victoria had, but she didn’t have many left. Neither did the girls in this place. I tried not to look since I'm not into chicks, but damn! I'd never been to a place like this. I was pretty flexible. I worked out a lot. But I didn't think my body could move like that. Not unless a few vertebrae were removed from my spine.

Focus, Zoey. You're here for a reason.

Until recently, I didn't think I'd ever met a vampire. If I had, I hadn’t known it. The ones I’d encountered recently were pale of complexion. I wasn't sure if that applied to all vampires. The vampires in Kansas City were Caucasian before they were turned. Even then, I'd seen and known humans equally pale. Also, the club was fairly dark except for the stage areas, SO identifying a vampire was going to be more difficult than I'd expected.

There were two other features in the vampires I'd seen that stood out. They had dark eyes, almost black. Again, I had to tell in this light how dark anyone's eyes were. The fangs would be the best giveaway. Even then, unless a vampire was foolish enough to walk around the place with a gaping mouth, that would not help me identify who of these people were genuine bloodsuckers.

"Cerberus, can you sniff out the vampires in here?'

Cerberus nodded his Earth head. "I can. The problem is the airflow in this place. The way the air is swirling, it's hard to tell where the vampire odor is coming from. I might need to sniff a few butts."

I snorted. "Well, you wouldn't be the only one here who enjoys that kind of activity."

"I didn't say I'd enjoy it, Zoey. It's just, you know, sort of my thing. I might not be your run-of-the-mill dog, but hellhounds are still hounds at the end of the day."

I followed Cerberus around the club as he randomly stuck his nose into people’s backsides. The problem? Being in the astral plane, he had to poke his Earth head into the material realm to do it. I wasn't sure how people would react if they noticed a dog head floating in midair, pressing its nose into people's asses. Thankfully, most of the patrons of this place didn't have great butts, not compared to the girls on stage. They garnered most of the attention. With those sets of twin hams jiggling in front of them, a tornado could have blown through, and most of the patrons wouldn’t have noticed.

I sighed. "This is going to take forever. We need to be more strategic."

Cerberus huffed. "I could do this all night."

I frowned and tilted my head. "I'm sure you could, but I'd rather you didn't."

Cerberus coughed. "I think that guy over there, the one in the black jeans and tank top, has been feasting on too much New Orleans gumbo."

"I don't want to know how you can discern that from what you're...sniffing. Like I said, we need a better strategy. I doubt any vampires who are here are as enthralled by the dancing girls as the other clubbers. If you were here, as a vampire, what would you be doing?"

"That depends. Do the vampires run this joint, or are they here looking to pick up a meal for later?"

I shrugged. "Maybe both. Either way, if we focus on anyone who looks like they are not here for the views, who aren't paying the girls on stage as much attention as everyone else, we might be able to narrow down the candidates."

"I already sniffed the guy. He's clean. Well, not completely clean, but he's not a vampire. You know what I mean."

I bit my lip and nodded. "Yeah. I knew what you meant, Cerberus."

A hard thud from behind almost knocked me off my feet. Someone walked right into me, and, since I wasn't visible to him and not in his plane of existence, he kept walking, unimpeded by our collision. I regained my footing and glared at the man. He was tall. He wore a suit complete with diamond cufflinks that caught the light. So did his head. It was pale, bald, and shiny. Probably waxed.

"Cerberus! That guy there! He's totally overdressed for a place like this. Check him out."

Cerberus started toward the man's backside, then stopped dead in his tracks. "That's it! He's a vampire."

"You didn't even sniff his butt. Are you sure?"

Cerberus nodded. "I don't need to. The smell is coming off of him like the stench of whiskey on a drunk."

"We should follow him. There might be more. He might lead us to them."

Cerberus and I followed the vampire around the perimeter of the club to the back, where he stepped through a door labeled Employees Only.

"Follow him through?" Cerberus asked.

I nodded and pressed myself through the door into a long, dark hallway.

Cerberus gagged. "Yeah, this is it. He's not the only vampire back here."

"How many do you think?"

"Hard to say. The stench is a lot stronger than that vampire produced alone."

I moved down the dark hall. It made a ninety-degree turn to the right, and a purple glow shone around the corner.

When I turned the corner, I gasped. The black lights gave a dozen or more naked bodies a strange glow.

But they weren't all vampires.

At least three of them were human—for now, anyway. The puncture wounds scattered over their bodies weren't random. I'd seen this before on the girl I'd rescued from Vlad's basement. He had been trying to turn her. Each of the victims had multiple vampires gathered around, feeding from their bodies. One on each wrist, another drinking from the neck. A few of them fed from the inner thigh of their chosen victim.

"We should get Kevin." Cerberus tugged the leg of my pants with his teeth.

I shook my leg free. "I don't know. There isn't an exit back here. We can’t follow through with the plan to chase one out of here without causing a scene in the club."

"Zoey, we can't take this many vampires at once. At least, we shouldn't."

I took a deep breath. Three victims. Nine vampires. Of course, the victims would become vampires soon. That would make twelve. How long would it take for them to turn? I didn't know. Kevin might. He'd learned a lot about vampires from my mom during the year they'd been working together.

I resisted the urge to summon my scythe and start swinging. Oh, it tempted me. The vampires wouldn't see it coming. They were all so focused on what they were doing we had the chance to take them off-guard.

Still, Cerberus was right. Attacking now would be too risky. Even with the element of surprise, the chance that I could reap all of them before some got wise to what was happening and attacked me was slim.

I nodded. "You're right. We need to regroup and come up with a plan."

I had just turned to leave when a blur shot past me. The vampire we'd followed into the room stood in the hall, blocking the exit.

"We need to go through the walls," Cerberus said.

I nodded and moved briskly toward one of the walls, then pressed against it. I couldn't get through. "What the hell?"

Cerberus growled.

I turned. The vampire at the exit was smiling at me. "You must be Zoey Grimm. We were told to expect you."

I stared at the vampire blankly. "You can see me?"

The vampire smirked. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Damn it, Zoey," Cerberus growled. "You thought about reaping them, didn't you?"

I sighed. In our cloaks, when a Reaper came to harvest someone's soul, the one they came to reap could see them. But these vampires weren't on a ledger somewhere, due to expire by the dictates of the Olympian gods. I was the only supernatural Reaper ever. Did my thoughts, my consideration of reaping them, create the same effect? It must have.

"How do you know who I am?" I asked.

"Katerina warned us you might be coming."

"Your walls... I couldn't..."

The vampire laughed. "These aren't common blacklights. Katerina said they'd prevent you from phasing through them. Oh, she'll be so pleased with me when I bring you to her!"

The other eight vampires surrounded us.

"I don't think they can see me." Cerberus tiptoed (or was it tip-pawed?) around me. "Be ready."

I nodded. "Well, isn't this delightful? I have to say, whoever you are..."

"The name is Vincent."

"As I was saying, Vincent, it's awfully convenient that you'd gather in a room like this. You have nowhere to run."

Vincent cocked his head. "I think you've failed to grasp the reality of the situation. We outnumber you. You might be good, but you can't take all of us."

"Can't I?" I asked. I touched the sigil on my wrist, and my staff formed in my hand. The blade of the scythe materialized on one end, blazing with hellfire.

"Damn!" Vincent exclaimed. "Impressive."

Cerberus left the astral plane, tripled his size, and growled at Vincent.

"See?" I asked. "You have nowhere to run."

"Bite her!" Vincent yelled.

As three vampires lunged at me, I gripped my staff and spun, slicing it through three of them.

Cerberus dove at Vincent from behind. He couldn't swallow him, but it gave me a chance. There were still five vampires, not counting the three who were transitioning behind me.

I'd take care of Vincent later. For now, Cerberus had the exit blocked and Vincent pinned to the ground with one of his oversized paws.

The other vampires moved fast. My cloak was still on. I couldn't phase through walls, but could I still use it to move through the astral plane? I wasn't sure. If it was possible, I could move as fast as they could. Maybe faster.

I started to run, but my cloak didn’t work under these damned black lights, or whatever the hell they were.

One vampire dove at me, and I swung. My scythe caught him in the chest and pulled his soul out of his body with a shower of golden energies.

As I turned, I kicked one of the three vampires I'd reaped before. His body turned to ash on contact. The ash churned through the air, casting a haze over everything.

"Zoey!" Cerberus shouted. "The lights!"

I nodded. If I could take them out, my cloak would work.

There were still three vampires in the room. They weren't as fast as Vincent or the one I'd just taken out. Perhaps they were younger. Kevin had said a vampire's powers grew with age. They were still faster than me, so I had to move fast.

The lamps in the room were mounted to the ceiling. I swung my scythe at the one just above me, shattering it. Then I threw my scythe at another. It was harder to throw with the blade on it than it was when it was just a staff. Still, it managed to take out another light.

I touched the sigil on my wrist. My scythe and staff disappeared and rematerialized in my hand.

The vampires thought they'd take advantage of the brief window when I wasn't armed. They hadn’t known I could recall my scythe like that.

They tried to backpedal when they saw my scythe return to my grip.

I charged and took them out one by one. These vampires weren't skilled. They didn't have any real training. They weren't a match. I coughed. The ash in the air was so thick I could barely breathe.

I blasted the remaining black light with my scythe.

Cerberus still had Vincent pinned to the ground. I stepped over to him, the fire from my scythe the only light in the ash-filled room.

I stomped my booted heel next to Vincent's head and he snarled at me, flashing his fangs.

"You were saying we were outnumbered?" I asked.

“Drop the weapon,” the vampire ordered with a twinkle in his eyes.

I cocked my head. “How about…no?”

"What the hell are you?" Vincent asked, furrowing his brow and tilting his head to one side.

I smiled. "Your worst nightmare, bitch."

I was about to bring my scythe down when Cerberus barked.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We have to keep one of them alive."

I sighed. "These victims here. You're turning them, aren't you?"

Vincent laughed. "Of course I am! You know our plans. At least, I've been told you do."

"The other vampires I took out."

Vincent grunted. "An entire week's worth down the tube. They were my creations."

"Where is Katerina?" I asked, lowering my scythe toward the vampire's face. "Tell me, or I'll slice your soul right out of your skull."

"You'll kill me eventually anyway. Why should I tell you?"

I bit my lip. "I don't know. I guess that's a good point. Tell me where she is, and I promise I'll give you a ten-second head start before I come after you."

Vincent laughed. "Rise, my children!"

"Zoey!" Cerberus shouted. I pivoted as Cerberus leaped over me and tackled the three newly turned vampires Vincent and the other vampires had been feeding on. When I turned back around, Vincent was gone.

"Well, isn't that just fantastic? Go after him, Cerberus. I'll take care of the baby vamps."

Cerberus jumped off the three new vampires he'd tackled. If he hadn't intervened, they might have managed to bite me. I quickly reaped the new vampires and left to follow Cerberus and, hopefully, track down Vincent.

My cloak was working again. I blasted through the hall and back into the club.

Cerberus was waiting for me. He'd returned to the astral plane.

"I thought I told you to chase Vincent down?"

Cerberus shook his head. "It's no use. He's too fast. If he was still here, I'd smell him. There's no telling where he's gone."

I sighed. "Well, I suppose we'd better go tell Kevin how our reconnaissance went."

Cerberus huffed. "Good luck with that."

CHAPTER THREE

"What were you thinking, Zoey?" Kevin asked, throwing his hands into the air.

I bit the left side of my bottom lip. "Well, I was thinking, ‘Holy crap! They can see me. I'd better kick their asses before they decide to initiate me into their bloodsucking club.’"

Kevin sighed. "I thought I told you to watch from afar. Get a head count. Regroup here, and then we'd come up with a plan."

"You did," I agreed with a nod. "But they had lights. Weird blacklights that exposed me despite my cloak. I couldn't use it to run back through the wall. I only had two options: kill or be killed. Reap or get reaped. Since death wasn’t the way I'd prefer to spend my tomorrow, I really only had one option, which was exactly what I did."

Kevin sighed. "All right, Zoey. I get it. But we still have a problem. The vampire who got away..."

"His name is Vincent. Ever heard of him?"

Kevin shook his head. "Nope. The problem isn't just that he got away, Zoey. The bigger issue is that he'll report back to Katerina. He'll tell her what he saw happen. She'll know that the lights worked. She'll also know you can handle yourself, even in a closed space with a dozen vampires."

"How do you think they knew what those black lights would do?"

Kevin shook his head. "I have no idea. This wasn't the first time you encountered Katerina. You reaped her host, Zoey. I'd be willing to bet that a vampire as old as she is has connections. And since Nosferatu had allies, all of whom probably want revenge for his death, there's no telling how she might have learned what you are or how she could use lights to reveal your presence."

"It might have also been because Zoey targeted them," Cerberus said. "A soul about to be reaped can usually see their Reaper."

I shook my head. "That's true. But if that was all it was, I still should have been able to use the cloak to run through the walls on the astral plane. Under those lights, my cloak was just a cloak. Its enchantments were nullified."

"We need to get one of those lights," Kevin said. "We'll show it to your mom. She might have a few ideas."

"If she doesn't, I could try asking my dad. I'd have to go back to Kansas City to open the portal to the underworld, though."

Kevin nodded. "If push comes to shove, we’ll do that. I have a feeling that things are going to escalate here faster than we thought. What little I know about Katerina, from her time in Kansas City, suggests that she's more inclined to act aggressively than her predecessor."

"Aggressively could also mean recklessly."

Kevin nodded. "It might also make things messier. With vampires involved, that isn’t a good thing. She might make mistakes along the way, but if those mistakes mean lives lost or people turned into vampires, it could be a problem."

"Did you see which direction he went?" I asked. "You were watching the doors, I assume."

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, sort of. It was just a blur. He left the club, turned right, and shot down an alley. After that? Well, there's no telling which way he went."

"I might still be able to track him," Cerberus said. "When I tracked Vincent in the club, I could tell his scent from the rest. He smelled more...savory...than the others."

I raised an eyebrow. "Savory?"

"Sure," Cerberus said. "I've been known to eat people, you know."

"But you can't eat vampires, Cerberus."

"I know that! I said he smelled savory. I wasn't about to eat him. You can poison a steak, and it will still smell amazing. I'm entitled to believe that Vincent smelled delicious while maintaining the common sense not to swallow him whole."

"Not terrible advice," I agreed. "I try to follow a similar principle with my men."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "I don't even know what that means."

I smirked. "We've only had one date, Kevin. I'm not inclined to gobble you up just yet."

"I'm not sure if I should be glad about that or disappointed."

"Oh, it's a good thing. I'd rather take my time and savor the flavor."

Kevin snorted. "Rather than swallow me and spit me up again?"

"She could poop you out too, you know," Cerberus offered.

I cocked my head. "Leave the metaphors of romance to us, Cerberus."

"I'm just saying. When you eat someone, you generally have to..."

"I knew what you meant, Cerberus."

Kevin chuckled. "Well, Zoey Grimm, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if you're something of a man-eater."

I shrugged. "I like to think of myself like that. But you know, I’ve only had one romantic relationship."

"Gabriel?" Kevin asked.

I nodded. "I'll just say he was a bit too sweet for my taste. I'm hoping my next entrée has a little more spice."

"I have an idea, Kevin!" Cerberus piped up. "You could douse your underwear in tabasco before your next date. You know, since she likes spice. That might help your chances."

I laughed. "Yeah, Kevin. Douse your skivvies in hot sauce. But when you do, make sure you record it. It’s going on TikTok."

Kevin shook his head. "I'm not that kind of guy. I wouldn't allow her near those spicy bits until at least our third date."

I snorted. "Yeah, right. I see the game you're playing."

"I'm not joking, Zoey."

"Uh-huh. Tell me you don't get in the bed with girls right away so that when we do, it makes me feel special, like you just couldn't wait. Like you just knew right away that there was no sense in waiting because we are special together."

Kevin chuckled. "If that's what you think, fine. But you're not getting into my pants after a second date, Zoey. No matter how hard you try."

"I think that's a challenge!" Cerberus said. "Take my advice and fetch that bone as soon as you can! Before another dog gets it."

I laughed. "Do you let a lot of dogs near your bone, Kevin?"

"No!" Kevin shouted, then calmed down. "That's what I've been saying. I'm not like other guys. Don't get me wrong; I'm no Goodie Two-shoes. And it's not that I'm opposed to getting a little freaky, eventually. But my spices, they need to marinate for a while."

"These food metaphors are getting weird," Cerberus said. "I'm going in to fetch one of those blacklights."

I snickered. "I think we might have made him uncomfortable."

"Honestly, I think he was just confused. I am too, honestly. I'm still not sure what spiciness means in this situation."

I smiled. "It has nothing to do with whips and chains or anything like that. I just need a man who embraces adventure and isn't afraid to take risks with me at his side. Not risks with me, specifically, but risks alongside me. I need a man who can handle his girl upstaging him from time to time when it comes to hunting vampires or whatever other supernaturals I might have to reap in the future."

"And you aren't sure I can do that?"

I shrugged. "Undecided. I mean, I'm a lot to handle. Do you think you could, Kevin?"

Kevin grinned. "I don't know, but I'd certainly like to try. Challenge accepted."

I nodded. "All right. Well, I don't think you'll have any problem getting up for the challenge. Staying up for it? Well, that's another matter entirely."

Kevin cocked his head. "I'm going to interpret that differently than the way it came across."

I smiled. "Interpret it however you like, Detective Schroeder. However you decide to make sense of it, well, I'm sure the principle applies."

CHAPTER FOUR

I made Kevin ride "bitch." I wasn't about to sit on the back on my own bike. I know, we could have taken Kevin’s rental car. We could have taken the Corvette, but my mom was using it. So, Kevin was stuck in b-position.

Cerberus, of course, ran beside us. I wasn't sure if he was engaging the astral plane. He could have run through Hades if he’d wanted to. With his three heads, he can navigate the different realms of existence as effortlessly as a mouse sneaks into a pantry.

He wasn't necessarily welcome in Hades, or Olympus, or even here on Earth, but there wasn't much anyone could do to stop him from weaving between one plane of being and another. He belonged to each realm as much as he belonged to any of them. He was a hellhound, but he was just as home on Earth.

Only when he was with my dad in the underworld was he outside his element. Perhaps that was why he enjoyed it there so much. Apart from having a unique bond with my father—we were still working on forging ours—being in a place where he couldn't go easily by nature must've been like a vacation to him.

Contrary to popular belief, the underworld where I grew up wasn't an off shoot of Hell or Hades. It wasn't connected to heaven or Olympus any more than it was to Earth. It was the great in-between. It was the domain of the Reapers and Charon, the boatman who ferried souls across the River Styx.

It was only an hour's drive north, depending on traffic and my inclination to push the speed limit, from New Orleans to the hospital in Baton Rouge. Getting the doctors to tell us how long it might take for Sienna’s body to heal was like trying to convince a cat to bark. The doctors had told us time and again that Sienna was brain-dead, that it didn't matter if her body healed itself; she'd never wake up. Still, when we pressed the issue, they admitted it would probably take weeks, if not months, rather than days, and there wasn't much we could do by staying at her bedside constantly.

Of course, the doctors didn't know the truth. We couldn't come clean, either. How does one even begin to explain that Sienna's injuries had been caused by an ancient vampire, now deceased thanks to yours truly, who'd hoped to turn her into his bride? My mother insisted that as long as the doctors did their best to help her body heal, there was a good chance she'd recover the rest of the way once her soul returned.

When we pushed the doctors, they admitted there wasn’t much wrong with her, strictly speaking, aside from being brain-dead. I mean, there aren’t a lot of things wrong with college boys apart from that very defect, so it wasn’t like it could be that bad.

What we were really waiting for was for the “vampire virus,” if you could call it a virus, to purge itself from her system. We couldn’t restore her soul until it was gone, or she might begin her metamorphosis or transition or birth or whatever the hell vampires called it when someone was becoming one of them.

How would we know when we’d waited long enough? My mom might have spent the better part of my life hunting vampires, but I doubted she'd ever encountered a situation like this. In fact, I knew she hadn't. My dad was the only Reaper she knew, and they hadn't seen each other since the day he’d taken off for the underworld with Morty and me to raise us as Reapers, his prospective heirs.

Without a Reaper at her disposal, even if my mom had met transitioning vampires before, there wasn’t any way to attempt something like this. Still, my dad believed it would work. To be honest, though, despite his centuries of success at harvesting human souls, this was uncharted territory for him, too. There was no telling what would happen once Sienna’s soul was returned to her body and she woke up—if she did.

Kevin had his arms around my waist as we raced up Interstate 10. I'm pretty sure he was slowly moving his hands up on purpose. Nothing like a cop trying to cop a feel, even if only with the back of his hand.

I didn't say anything. I didn't mind. It reminded me of the first time Gabriel had tried to hold my hand. We'd gone to see a movie. Yes, we had movies in the underworld. We had a whole class of Reapers who made it their priority to go to Earth and bring new technologies, music, television shows, and movies into our plane. I don't remember what movie it was—some superhero flick. But I do remember how he slowly, gradually, tried to inch his hand across the armrest. His pinky finger barely grazed my thumb before I took the initiative and grabbed his hand, interlacing our fingers together.

Kevin's move here was a bolder, more adult version of the same. He couldn't just grab and squeeze, not unless he wanted an elbow to the jaw and a faceful of pavement shortly thereafter. Still, I was reasonably certain his hand’s gradual migration northward had nothing to do with fleeing the southern heat.

I smirked as I accelerated. I got a kick out of breaking the speed limit by a good twenty miles per hour with a cop on my bike. What was he going to do, write me a ticket? If anyone was going to be handcuffed by the other anytime soon, it wasn't going to be me.

We pulled into the parking lot at the hospital in Baton Rouge. Kevin climbed off the back of my bike first and removed his helmet. Louisiana law, he insisted, required one.

Boo. I had a helmet in my apartment in Kansas City. Before he'd revealed his night job as a vampire hunter, he'd tried to tell me I needed to wear one. I’d ignored him. He hadn't mentioned it again.

There was an odd tension between Kevin and me. He knew "good boys" didn't do it for me. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t been able to reciprocate Gabriel's feelings. He was a good guy. Too good.

When Kevin and I first met, there was something taboo about our initial flirtations. Sure, I was still with Gabriel at the time. More than that, though, it was because he was a cop, and I was acting as a vigilante, attempting to take down what we thought was a human trafficking organization. Only later did I learn that these human traffickers were vampires, seizing humans, not for meals, but to become vampires. They'd targeted individuals with O-negative blood. People like Sienna. For some reason, universal donors were more likely to survive the transition to vampirism than others. There was probably a medical reason for that. If vampirism was transmitted by something like a virus, I suppose it made sense that some blood types might be more accommodating than others.

Why it was universal donors rather than universal recipients, I wasn't sure. Again, the science wasn't something I understood, and it hadn't been studied. Not by human researchers, at least. Vampires probably knew more about how it worked. The reason didn't matter.

Knowing who the vampires were likely to target, though, was something we could use. It had helped me figure out how they'd originally identified Sienna as a candidate. It also gave us a rough timetable for how long it might take for Sienna's body to purge itself of the virus so we could revive her.

The question we couldn't answer was what component of the blood the vampire virus attached itself to. A google search had shown that the body completely replaces its platelets in twenty-four to forty-eight hours after a donation. Red blood cells might take as long as twelve weeks to replenish.

This was with respect to donations. If the entire blood supply was tainted by vampirism, I imagined it took longer. If vampirism was a virus, the best we could tell, courtesy of Google MD, was that the body could produce antibodies and overcome a virus in one to three weeks.

In short, we were looking at anything from a couple of days to a couple of months.

In the meantime, Morty held Sienna's soul in his scythe. He couldn't reap anyone else until we cured Sienna. It was the only way he could extract her soul without any other souls mixed with it to return it to her body.

At this point, though, it was too risky to attempt to revive her. It had only been a few days since Nosferatu and Katerina had bitten her. There was a chance we could revive her now with no problem. There was an even greater chance that if we revived her, she'd become a vampire. The longer we could wait, the better. Provided, of course, her body remained viable.

Kevin and I entered the hospital, passed the front desk, and made our way to the elevators. I pressed the button.

Kevin moved in front of one of the doors. "Pick one. If I'm right, you pay for our next date. If you're right, it's on me."

I smirked. "You're on."

No sooner did I agree then a light illuminated over the door where Kevin stood and, with a ding, the door opened. I grunted.

"Looks like our next date is on you." He smirked.

I shrugged. "You're assuming I'll agree to another date."

Kevin chuckled. "Are you going to turn me down?"

"Now that I have to pay, I just might. I mean, are you really worth a hundred bucks? I could go get a massage instead. Maybe a mani-pedi."

Kevin smiled. "I'm not worried about that."

I raised an eyebrow. "You’re confident now."

"I've always been confident, Zoey."

I shrugged. "Well, I suppose you've called my bluff. I couldn't turn you down. But since I'm paying, I hope you enjoy the golden arches."

Kevin cocked his head. "You can't be serious."

"I'm a romantic at heart, Kevin. I'll upgrade your value meal to large."

"Large fries." Kevin shook his head. "You sure know your way to man's heart."

"Men are simple. There are two ways to win over a man. Both are associated with organs below the heart. The stomach, and, well, you can figure the other one out for yourself."

Kevin shook his head. "I'm not going to say that isn't true. Like I said, I prefer to move slowly in my relationships. But if you'd really like to work your way into my heart, a good home-cooked meal will go a lot farther than a burger and fries."

"Even large fries?" I asked. "Size does matter, you know."

Kevin cocked his head. "I'm going to refrain from saying anything. I can't think of a way to respond to that without it getting weird."

I giggled. "Well, trust me, Kevin. You don't want to try my cooking. The last time I tried to make boxed mac and cheese, I managed to screw it up. All the noodles stuck together in the pan."

"Surely you know how to make something decent," Kevin countered. "It doesn't have to be fancy, Zoey."

I grinned. "I make a killer Pop-Tart."

"It isn't about the quality of the meal, Zoey. It's about the gesture. I'll eat anything if you put thought and effort into it."

I nodded. "Well, okay. Fast food is out. When we get back to Kansas City, I'll make you something."

"I'll look forward to it."

Kevin stepped onto the elevator.

CHAPTER FIVE

I let Kevin lead the way to Sienna's room. Every now and then, I figured, it was good to let him be in the front. It was good for his fragile man-ego. After more than an hour riding "bitch" on my motorcycle, I had to be careful. Don't get me wrong. I'm a take-charge kind of girl, but I don't want a beta man who follows my lead all the time. There was no harm in letting him know that I was in charge, as long as he was allowed to entertain the illusion that he had a say from time to time even if it was something as minor as letting him lead the way down a hall. Baby steps. One day, might be I'd let him drive. Not my bike. Maybe another one. If he played his cards right.

Not that I played a lot of cards. I didn't like the rules. Who’d decided the king was supposed to trump the queen anyway? And why was there a jack but not a jill? The whole deck must've been stacked by the joker.

We stepped into Sienna's room. My mother was there with Morty, my brother. A large bouquet of flowers sat on a table next to Sienna. I didn’t know the different species of flower that well; all I knew was that it was quite colorful—vibrant oranges, blues, yellows, and whites. My mom had brought them in the day before. It wasn’t necessary. It wasn’t like Sienna was actually there. I suppose, though, it was a nice gesture.

What I didn't expect was that my father would be there, too.

"Dad?" I asked. "What are you doing here? I thought you had to get back to the underworld."

My father nodded. "I can't stay long. Still, I needed to let you know what's going on."

I cocked my head. By the looks on my brother's and mother's faces, they already knew.

"I'm being audited."

"You're what?" I asked. "You mean, by the IRS?"

My father laughed. "No, by the Olympians."

"The gods can audit you?"

My father nodded. "They said there are some discrepancies in the records. A few souls that shouldn't have been reaped."

I sighed. "That's my fault. It must've been the men you reaped when we were trying to rescue Sienna from Nosferatu."

My dad nodded. "That's what got their attention. It's not what I'm most worried about. When they audit the records, they'll be checking every reaping we've conducted for the last hundred years."

"Damn," Kevin said. "The IRS only makes you go back seven."

"The Olympians are a lot more anal than the IRS. The thing is, they'll be looking at every reaping that's gone wrong over that time. Any spirit who managed to evade the Reaper too long and now lingers on Earth as a ghost."

"That's bound to happen from time to time," I consoled.

My father nodded. "It is. It's always happened. If they're looking for a reason to discipline me, though, they'll use every fault they can find to justify their decision. More than that, if they discover that I made an arrangement with Athena behind Zeus’s back to extend Rose’s life…"

My mother shook her head. “I know why you did it, Azrael. Still, you shouldn’t have.”

My dad nodded. “I was afraid you’d hate me, Josephine. I wasn’t only taking our children away with me to the underworld, but your mother was slated to be reaped around the same time. I couldn’t bear to put you through the loss of your children and your mother at the same time.”

Josephine shook her head. “You didn’t have to do that. If it was her time, it was her time. I only saw her at the end. I couldn’t go to her before that.”

“Why couldn’t you?” my father asked.

My mother sighed. “I suppose we have a lot to catch up on. You’re probably wondering how I ended up hunting vampires…”

My father smiled. “I was going to wait and allow you to tell me that story when you were ready. I figured it had something to do with me.”

My mother snorted. “Seriously, Azrael? As if I was so distraught when you left that I found the most hazardous occupation possible in hopes that I might put myself in death’s path and see you again sooner rather than later?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Look,” I interjected. “I know you two have a lot of history to sort through. We have bigger problems right now.”

My mother nodded. “You’re right, Zoey. I only meant to say that the reason I hunted vampires was because after your father left with you and Morty, a goddess appeared to me.”

“Was it Athena?” My dad scratched the back of his head.

“The same goddess you made a bargain with to extend my grandma’s life?” I asked.

“It was Athena,” my mother confirmed. “She said the deal she struck with Azrael would be broken and the other gods would likely turn their wrath upon him if I wasn’t prepared for what you were destined to become, Zoey.”

I cocked my head. “You knew I’d be able to reap vampires?”

My mother shook her head. “I didn’t, but I was told what I had to do. Athena assured me that when you discovered your truth, you’d need someone who knew how to navigate that world. It wasn’t just vampires, either. Werewolves, trolls, banshees…you name it.”

“Trolls?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Like Poppy and Branch?”

My mother chuckled. “Not quite. They aren’t as colorful, and they don’t sing popular music. Trust me, real trolls aren’t cute, and they don’t just wanna have fun.”

My dad grunted. "Why would Athena care about vampires and trolls? Even more importantly, why would she be concerned that you could help Zoey hunt them?"

My mom sighed. "I don't know. All she told me was that if I didn't do it, one day, one of our children would inherit this...ability...and they'd need me if they had any hope of succeeding. I've done this—hunted vampires and whatever else—for the last two decades because if I didn't, I was afraid of what might happen once the supernatural world learned what our girl could do."

I bit my lip. "Mom, are you saying you've been killing vampires for my entire life because you were afraid if you didn't, vampires would kill me?"

My mom looked at me, her lip quivering. "Zoey, I didn't know if it would be you or Morty. All I knew was what Athena told me. One of you would inherit a unique gift, and if you weren't prepared to handle it, if you started reaping supernaturals with no guidance, it would only be a matter of time before they'd kill you."

I shrugged. "I can handle myself."

"Thanks to the training you received at the Reaper Academy," my dad said. "But think about it, Zoey. You might be the only person ever who could reap the souls of immortal supernatural creatures. For the first time, there's someone out there who poses a threat to their ongoing existence. It's one thing to take down a vampire here or there. How long will it be, though, before word spreads about what you can do?"

"That's why you have to be careful, Zoey," my mom added, taking my hand. "If you reveal yourself to someone, you need to take them out. You can't let them get away and start spreading the word about what you do."

I scratched my head. "Well, about that."

Kevin stepped up behind me and placed his hand on my back. "Josephine, have you ever heard of a vampire in these parts named Vincent?"

My mom bit the inside of her cheek. "Heard of him, sure. I can't say I know much about him other than that he's more than a century old and used to serve in Nosferatu's courts."

"Well, we were tracking vampires in the French Quarter…"

"Why were you doing that?" my mom asked.

"Cerberus smelled them. We followed his head. The plan was to use my cloak, go invisible, and do a little recon. That was it."

Kevin cleared his throat. "But apparently, Vincent was ready."

"He must've known about my cloak. He had these lamps, almost like blacklights."

"Did you say blacklights?" my father asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, when he had them on, they inhibited the magic in my cloak. It didn't work. They saw me, and I had to fight."

"Considering that you're standing here," my mother said, "you took those vampires out?"

I nodded. "There were about a dozen. I reaped most of them, including a few who were mid-transition."

My mom raised an eyebrow. "Most of them?"

I sighed. "Vincent got away."

Mom shook her head as she took a deep breath. "He'll report to Katerina. He was loyal to Nosferatu. She was his dearest progeny."

"That's not my biggest concern," my father said. "Those lights weren't ultraviolet."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, really? Wow, wish I'd thought of that."

"There's no need for sarcasm, Zoey. I understand this is very frustrating. Those lights were infused with dark magic. Tell me, Zoey, where is the one place you've been where those cloaks do nothing?"

I tilted my head. "Well, in the underworld, they have no power."

My father nodded. "Somehow, the vampires have found a way to access the underworld. Common crystals, abundant in our home, can never be taken to Earth."

"I knew that," I said. "I always figured it was because we didn't want to bring anything to this world that was foreign. That people here might find and study it or whatever."

"It's more than that, Zoey. The crystals of the underworld emit the frequencies on Earth, the magic that sustains our domain. Whatever it is about the underworld that makes these cloaks not work there is exactly what those lamps the vampires somehow acquired emit."

"How did a vampire get into the underworld?" I asked.

My father sighed. "They couldn't. All I can think is that there must be one of our own, another Reaper, who has, for whatever reason, decided to help the vampires."

I cocked my head. "Who would do something like that? I can't think of a single Reaper I ever met who didn't support you, Dad."

My dad shook his head. "It's not me. They know you won't be inheriting my mantle. Most everyone believes that Morty will grow into his role, but there is a faction that thinks he is vulnerable. Once I'm out of the picture and my powers wane to the point that Morty has to take over, I suspect they intend to move against him."

I snorted. "Why would they help the vampires we're fighting?"

My father shook his head. "I don't know. But if they know you're facing vampires, if they know what's happening, they'll have all the ammunition they need to inform the auditors about what's going on. If they learn what's happening, that you are reaping vampires or other supernaturals, I don't know how they'll respond. I'm pretty sure, though, that they'd use that as a pretense to remove me from my position and give it to someone else."

I took a deep breath. "Who is the one most likely to take over if, for some reason, you were removed, or they didn't allow Morty to take over for you?"

"There are a few possibilities. I'll have to question the more advanced Reapers when I return. Even so, Zoey, it might not be the most likely Reaper to take my place who is responsible. It could be a lesser Reaper who is concerned about the future of the underworld under Morty."

Morty sighed. "Reaper politics. Unbelievable. Whoever is challenging our position, Dad, just needs to see what I can do. I've made a ton of progress over the last few months."

My father nodded. "I agree, Morty. But as long as your scythe holds Sienna's soul, we cannot allow you to return. If you take her soul to the underworld, you'll have to deliver her to Charon. It's forbidden to retain souls, and if anyone discovers you doing that, it's just one more thing that the auditors will have against us."

"But Dad, I have to do something. I have to prove myself to the other Reapers and put their worries at ease. I might not be ready to take over yet, but I'm a lot further than Zoey was—no offense, sis—when she graduated from the Academy."

"But you still have a lot to learn, Morty. I think you'd do well and advance much if you spent some time here with your sister. You might as well since Sienna's soul still lingers in your scythe. While you might be more advanced now than Zoey ever was as a traditional Reaper, she could teach you a lot about this world. So could your mother."

Morty shook his head. "If this is about the girl. Dad, we can't put the entire underworld in jeopardy for one soul."

"Sienna is my friend!" I protested.

Morty sighed. "I don't mean to sound callous, Zoey, but you have to understand what's at stake here."

"I do understand, Morty. I'm not going to let Sienna die. Besides, say you bring her to the boatman. It's not her time yet, is it?"

Morty shrugged. "Her name was in the ledgers."

"I forged the ledgers," my father said. "And you know that. I did that because I knew we'd need to reap her soul to save her. If we took her to Charon, it would send up another red flag to the auditors. If we fail and she becomes a ghost, that'll be on our record, too. She must be saved, Morty, and the way I see it, this is a great opportunity for you to refine your skill. The things you might learn on Earth could be pivotal when it comes time to defend your claim to the Grim Reaper's mantle."

My brother plopped down in a chair. "Fine. I guess it can't be all bad. More time to spend with Mom, anyway."

"That's the spirit!" Dad encouraged.

"We'll make the most of it," my mother said, fluffing her fingers through Morty's hair.

Morty winced. He didn't respond, but I could tell that my mother's head scruff wasn't welcome. To us, she might have been "Mother," but she wasn't “Mom.” It felt more natural to call her Josephine than "Mom." At first, it had been easier. There was a certain euphoria about finally meeting one another that made me want to embrace her, call her Mom, and let her take me out for ice cream. Then I realized I didn't know this woman. She gave birth to Morty and me, but she didn't know us any better than we knew her. She was trying to step right into being "Mom," but we were hesitating. Until I saw Morty's reaction to the head scruff, I wasn't sure I was the only one who felt that way. It was mildly relieving to see his discomfort at her unusual touch.

I didn't want to feel that way. It wasn't a choice. I didn't blame Josephine for leaving us. She didn't leave us, technically. My father took us away, but it wasn't like he had much choice either. There was a pit of resentment in my chest I couldn't identify. How can you have a resentment when no one in particular is to blame? I suppose I resented the situation. I was also grateful for it all.

They say you shouldn't mix acids and bases. I'm not sure you can be resentful and grateful at the same time without causing some kind of chemical reaction, but that was where I was with all that had happened.

It wasn't like I had time to sort out my shit anyway. I had a vampire I needed to take down. The longer it took, the more people she'd turn. If I didn't act fast, she'd amass enough baby vamps that she could implement her plan to overwhelm and enslave humanity.

They'd never have greater numbers than humans, but they had every advantage when the sun was down. A single vampire could terrorize dozens of people. Add to that the pressure of whatever the hell was going on back in the underworld. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I felt responsible. Dad had reaped those men prematurely to help me save Sienna. Every move he'd made that might end up getting him ousted by the gods, or at least might compromise Morty's claim to the Grim Reaper's mantle, had been for Morty's sake and mine.

My dad stood up, placed the back of his hand on Sienna's forehead, and stepped back. "Her body is recovering. I cannot say how long it will take. No matter. We can't afford more than a week or so."

I scrunched my nose. "One week? Dad, I don't know if that's long enough. From what we can tell, it might take Sienna's body a month or more to build up antibodies to the vampiric virus."

My dad shook his head. "We're still assuming it's a virus, Zoey. The truth is, we don't have a clue what causes vampirism."

"Your father's right," Josephine added. "Virus is a leading theory, but getting a sample of vampire blood to a lab isn't as easy as you'd think. The moment a vampire is staked, anything active in their blood that might be passed on to a new vampire goes dormant. I've tried to get samples analyzed before."

I grabbed Sienna's hand. "Dad, why a week? What happens in a week?"

"The auditors will want to examine our scythes. Since Morty is my heir apparent, they'll need to see his as well."

"And we have to get Sienna's soul out of there before that happens."

My dad nodded. "I'm sorry, Zoey. These circumstances are beyond my control."

"No, Dad. I get it. We'll just have to hope and pray that one week will be enough time."

"In the meantime, work with your brother. Show him a little about Earth culture. Teach him what you can. It will be an invaluable part of his training and education."

"This is a college town," Josephine suggested. "Why don't you find some folks around your age and entertain yourselves?"

"I need to hunt vampires!" I protested.

"Your mother is right," my dad replied. "They know more about you than we realize. Somebody is feeding them information from the underworld. Until we can figure out who has betrayed us to the vampires, it might be best to make yourself scarce."

I grunted. "Katerina could be turning dozens of vampires right now. Vincent had a couple in process at the club earlier. Who knows how many more vampires out there are breeding, or reproducing, or whatever the hell you call it when they make baby vamps, at this very moment? And you want me to take Morty to fraternity parties?"

Kevin placed his hand on my shoulder. "It's just temporary.'

I shrugged his hand off. "Temporary or not, you are mortal. You're vulnerable to vampires."

"Trust me, Zoey," Josephine said. "I know what I'm doing. We'll be fine. But if you go in with scythe a-blazing, there's no telling what will happen."

"Fine," I replied. "Morty and I will lie low for now, but the moment things escalate, I'm joining in the fight. I'm taking down those bloodsuckers once and for all."

Kevin smirked. "I'd expect nothing less of you."

CHAPTER SIX

I'd never been to a college party, mostly because I'd never been to college. Living in Kansas City, the closest thing I'd experienced was a happening night at one of the local clubs. I really didn't know what to expect.

I didn't see the point. I was supposed to show Morty what life was like on Earth by taking him to socialize with college kids? That was Josephine's idea. Still, I had to admit that after all I'd been through recently, a night to let loose wasn't unappealing.

Sure, part of me was put off by the notion that Morty and I should back off while the "grown-ups" investigated the vampires. I understood why. The incident with Vincent had everyone on edge. It wasn't because I couldn't handle myself; I'd proven myself on that front. It was because someone from the underworld was conspiring with the vampires.

Dad was going back to the underworld to cooperate with the auditors from Olympus while also investigating who the traitor was. Josephine and Kevin were digging into the vampire community in New Orleans to get a better lay of the land.

Morty and I were supposed to lie low. We had a week or so before we'd attempt to revive Sienna. In the meantime, well, the more I could show Morty about human culture, the better.

Morty hopped on the back of my bike. We rode up and down the streets of Baton Rouge near the LSU campus. It was Friday night. There must be a party we could crash.

We found what we were looking for. It was a three-story house with the three Greek letters, illuminated by the light of a full moon mounted on the overhang of the porch.

I was wearing my usual black leather pants, boots, and top. It was a style I'd embraced because I rode a sports bike. If I ever crashed, leather was supposed to keep the road rash to a minimum. So far, I hadn’t wrecked my bike. Even if I did, because of my semi-divine constitution as a Reaper, I'd heal faster than most humans. That didn't mean I was invulnerable, though. It just meant I was more resilient and resistant to injury than full-blooded humans. Morty had the same constitution. He wasn't nearly as stylish as I was, however.

I parked my bike on the side of the road a few houses down from the party house we’d spotted. Morty was wearing skinny jeans and a tight t-shirt. He was thin but relatively muscular. Even though he'd skated through the Reaper Academy by doing the bare minimum to pass his classes and graduate, he'd still engaged in the same rigorous training regimen I'd endured for the better part of my life.

He wasn't the most accomplished fighter among our peers, but compared to most human boys, he was a regular Conor McGregor. He even looked a little like the famous fighter, albeit with darker hair, finer features, and a less impressive dusting of facial hair.

A frat boy, identified easily by the forest-green sweater that featured the same three Greek letters that were on the front of the house, greeted us as we stepped up on the porch. He was holding two cans of Natural Light in one hand, one stacked on top of the other. He took a chug from the top can, then tossed it at a trash can in the corner of the porch. He missed.

"Hey, baby. I'm Mikey."

I cocked my head. "Hey, Mikey. The name's Zoey, not ‘baby.’"

Mikey chuckled. "Welcome to our Lumber Party!"

"What's a Lumber Party?" Morty asked.

"Like a slumber party, but without the sleeping. Here, everyone gets hammered and nailed!" Mikey exclaimed, laughing through his words.

I shook my head. "Lovely."

"Is this your boyfriend?" Mikey asked, clearly more focused on me than my brother.

I chuckled. "No, he's my twin brother."

"Sweet!" Mikey turned to Morty. "You mind if I hit on your sister?"

Morty smiled. "Good luck with that."

"I can handle a challenge!" Mikey protested.

I smirked. Mikey wasn't ugly. He was a few years younger than me, I'd guess. I was on the upper end of college-age. He had a baby face, and if it wasn't for the unkempt hair and bloodshot eyes, I'd probably find him cute.

Drunk guys, though, are a big turnoff. Don't get me wrong. Everyone is entitled to let loose from time to time, but in my sober state, I wasn't likely to reciprocate Mikey's advances. It wasn't because of Kevin, either. Technically, he and I had gone on one date. We weren't exclusive or anything like that. It was that sloppy drunk looks good on no one.

"Mind showing us around?" I asked.

"It would be my honor." Mikey grabbed my hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it as he looked at me with unfocused eyes.

"You two students here? I haven't seen you before, and if I'd ever seen you before, Chloe, I'd remember you."

I smiled. "It's Zoey, not Chloe."

Mikey tapped his temple with his index finger. "Sorry, Zoey. I won't forget. You're worth re-memberber…mebering."

I laughed at Mikey's stammer. "Had a lot to drink already? It's not that late."

Mikey laughed. "I started early!"

"Obviously." Morty sniffed. "Where's the beer?"

"We've got a keg down the hall. Help yourself, man."

"And to answer your question, Mikey, we aren't students here. We're just visiting from out of town and decided to stop by. It looked like a good time."

"I'll show you a good time, Chloe!"

I chuckled, choosing to ignore him screwing up my name a second time. I headed down the hallway. "Drinks this way, you said?"

Mikey nodded. "Free drinks for the ladies."

"Just the ladies?" Morty asked.

Mikey shrugged. "Look, man. We don't want this place to turn into a sausage fest. I'm sure you can appreciate that. You're welcome to drink, but it's five bucks to cover the keg."

I smiled, reached into my pocket, and handed Mikey a ten-dollar bill. "Don't sweat the change. I'll pay my share, no matter your policy."

"Cool, I can dig that. Come on. I'll get you a drink. One more condition, though."

"What's that?" I asked.

"To get started, it's your choice. Hit the bong or do a keg stand."

"I'll just take a cup," I replied. "I paid my share. I'll drink how I want."

"What's a keg stand?" Morty asked.

Mikey nodded at me and then at Morty. "Come on, dude. If you've never done a keg stand, you've never lived."

I bit my cheek as I followed Mikey and Morty to the keg. Morty didn't drink much. As the children of the Grim Reaper, we were cautious about how we behaved in public. It wasn't like we'd never drank, but we always took it slow in the underworld. If we made fools of ourselves, since we were basically Reaper royalty, the whole underworld would know about it. That wouldn't be the case here. No one here knew who we were.

No sooner did we reach the keg than Mikey whispered something to a couple of guys I assumed must be his fraternity brothers.

One of them, a tall guy with freckles and red hair, looked at Morty. "We have a keg stand virgin! Time to pop your cherry, buddy!"

"But first," Mikey protested, "a beer for the lady."

A few seconds later, Mikey handed me a full red plastic cup with a layer of foam on top. "Sorry, Chloe. I didn't mean to give you so much head."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

Mikey laughed. "Too much foam."

"Ah. Right. It's fine. Thanks, Mikey."

I looked at the group gathered around the keg just in time to see my brother lifted into the air, his legs toward the ceiling and his face at the spigot of the keg. One of them held the hose to Morty's mouth.

Then they started counting in unison. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine."

My brother gagged, and they set him down.

"Nine!" Mikey exclaimed. "Not bad for a first-timer."

I snorted. "Most guys don't last five seconds their first time."

Mikey cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. When he'd realized what he said, his eyes went wide, and he laughed. "Oh, that's funny! Ha! Five seconds! I can go all night, just so you know."

"I'm sure you can," I agreed. "But I'll have to take your word for it."

Mikey chugged his can, tossed it in another trash barrel (he didn't miss this time), and grabbed a cup and filled it. Then he took a sip. "Ah, now this is heaven."

"Why were you drinking Natty?" I asked.

"Same stuff in the keg," Mikey explained. "I have my own case. We were just between kegs."

I nodded. "I see. Heaven forbid you had to wait five minutes between kegs to get another beer."

"I know, right? Want to know a secret?"

I smirked. "I'm not sure I do, but you're going to tell me anyway."

Mikey grinned. "I haven't peed yet."

"Good for you. Though I'm not sure how you've pulled that off, as many beers as you've had."

"Once you break the seal, you'll be peeing all night long. I go as long as I can, but I think I'm at my limit. I'll be right back."

I nodded. "Good luck with that."

I looked around and didn't see Morty anywhere. I sighed. "Cerberus, you here?"

I felt a tug on my pants. He was here.

"Can you find Morty and keep an eye on him?"

Another tug on my pants confirmed that Cerberus had received the message. It struck me how stupid all this was. My dad thought it would be a good idea for me to show Morty the world. This scene hardly represented human society, though I suppose frat life was a sub-culture that wasn't uncommon in our age group.

It made sense, I guess. I knew what it was like to be out in the world for the first time without parental guidance. Without the pressure of trying to live up to Daddy's expectations. Most of these college kids were expressing their freedom.

They were enjoying a period of their lives where the most responsibility they had was to attend classes and try to keep up on their coursework. It was the beginning of a weekend. That meant no classes the next day. If I was a college girl, I suppose I'd party away most of my Friday nights, too.

There was a difference, though, between these college kids and my experience coming to Earth and living on my own for the first time. These kids were trying to figure out what they were going to do with their lives. This was the beginning of their training for the real world. I'd spent my entire life training for a job I’d thought I was predestined to assume. I thought I knew what I was going to do with my life—until I didn't.

When my scythe didn't come to my summons after I graduated, when I couldn't become a Reaper, I didn't go to Earth to let loose or experience freedom. I went to Earth mostly because I couldn't face the disappointment on people's faces when they realized I wasn't a Reaper after all.

I’d left because I couldn't imagine living my life with other Reapers who all expected that I'd one day take my father's place, that I'd assume the Grim Reaper's mantle, to do something mundane and meaningless.

When I discovered I was a Reaper after all, everything changed. Not only did I have a scythe, but it worked on vampires. It probably worked on other supernaturals, too. So far, I'd only tested it on vampires. I hadn't met anything else unearthly.

It also struck me that this college experience was hardly universal. Sienna, for example, worked her ass off just to pay for one semester at a time at the local community college. She probably mixed a hundred thousand drinks for every semester she afforded. She was focused on her craft, learning computer science and building a life for herself. She was responsible. Many of these kids were fortunate enough to have the resources to go to college, and a lot of them were probably pissing their experience away. In Mikey's case, it was literally true.

I wandered through the crowds. I caught more than a few pairs of eyes checking me out as I walked past. It wasn't unexpected. This was a "Lumber" party, after all, and from what I could tell, most of the frat boys here had already taken care of the getting hammered part. Now they were looking to get nailed. Most of them would probably spend the night stroking their wood.

A strange metaphor, now that I think about it, for a fraternity. I mean, did these guys really want to get nailed? Nails are long, hard objects that get pounded into things. Not that I was a judge. If these guys wanted to get "nailed," that was on them. I suspected they hadn't thought through the implications of their chosen party theme, though.

I went upstairs and through what I assume was one of their common rooms. Two people were making out on one of the couches. Another guy sat beside them, sipping a beer, his eyes dazed. Did he even realize that two people were grinding right next to him? Maybe he did but was too drunk to care. Or he was too wasted to notice. Either way, it was weird.

I made my way back downstairs just in time for Mikey to come bursting through the front doors of the house.

His eyes were wide. He was breathing heavily. Even stranger, he wasn't holding a beer.

I cocked my head. "You all right? I thought you went to pee."

"Bathroom...occupied. I..."

"Take a deep breath, Mikey. What's going on?"

Mikey took three quick breaths. "Something outside. Like a dog, but bigger. I went to pee in the trees, and it was just...there. Growling..."

I sighed. Cerberus must've left the astral plane and was watching from a distance. I placed a hand on Mikey's back. "It's probably nothing. You're drunk."

"I'm not sure I am anymore. Seeing something like that will sober you up quick. It was..."

I smiled. "You can't get sober by being shocked, Mikey. Though with your blood pumping so hard, it might make you feel like it for a moment. You're still drunk. It was probably just a dog."

Mikey shook his head. "It wasn't just a dog, Chloe!"

I snorted. "Again, it's Zoey. Why don't you go get a cup of water and sit down?"

Mikey nodded. "Right. Yeah. I'll do that."

I rolled my eyes as I stepped outside. I wasn't sure where Mikey had gone to pee, but I saw a line of trees behind the house and figured that must've been it.

I stepped over to the tree line. "Cerberus, you out there?"

Branches moved in the distance. He was probably running through them to me. Then I felt a tug at my ankle.

I looked down. "Cerberus?"

Cerberus appeared. "Don't go in there, Zoey."

"Wait! If you're here, then what the hell?"

"I can smell it. It's not a vampire, not exactly. But it's not a common wolf."

"An alligator? I think they're common around here."

Cerberus shook his head. "Not that."

A loud pop like a tree branch snapping in two startled me. I turned back to the woods just in time to see a massive figure covered in fur bounding toward me.

My training took over. I didn't know what the hell the thing was, but I wasn't about to wait for it to show itself to find out. I touched the sigil on my wrist. My staff appeared, and with it, my scythe, ablaze with hellfire.

Whatever it was, it was something I could reap. I swung my scythe, catching whatever it was in the jaw as it leaped out of the woods at me, snarling through its massive jaws.

A blast of golden energies settled on my scythe, then my blade disappeared. I released my staff and retrieved my phone from my pocket. With a swipe of my thumb, I turned on my phone light and examined the creature. The thing must've been eight or nine feet tall. It had the vague shape of a human, but it was covered in fur. Its face resembled a wolf’s.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed. "Is that a werewolf?"

No sooner did I ask it than a gust of wind struck us. The wolf's body turned into ash and disappeared in the breeze.

"I think it must've been," Cerberus agreed. "But why would there be a werewolf here?"

I shook my head. "It's a full moon. One of the frat boys inside saw it and ran inside. He was scared shitless."

"It didn't attack him?" Cerberus asked.

I shook my head. "It didn't. My best guess? It wasn't here for him. It was hunting me."

Cerberus huffed. "If a werewolf is looking for you, Zoey, it's not just the vampires who know about you."

CHAPTER SEVEN

If I was right and werewolves and the gods only knew what other supernatural nasties were hunting me, I couldn’t stay at the party. I couldn’t risk anyone else getting hurt. I couldn’t go anywhere. If that werewolf found me here of all places when I’d come here on a whim and selected the place at random, they had a way to track me. Perhaps by smell, maybe some other way. At least, since I assumed that werewolves only shifted during a full moon, it meant I only had to lay low for the night. Of course, after that, something else might come after me. If not vampires, then trolls, perhaps. Josephine said they were real—and real nasty.

First, I had to get Morty. Cerberus disappeared into the astral plane and ran alongside me as I headed to the back of the frat house. There was a deck on the third story. One of the fraternity members held what looked like a funnel with a large clear plastic tube attached to it. The tube was full of beer, and it dangled to the ground.

Beneath the tube was Morty, on his knees, with the tube in his mouth. The frat boys cheered as my brother attempted to gulp the whole damn thing down.

He didn’t make it. He collapsed on his back, and the rest of the beer poured out of the tube all over him.

“Party foul!” one of the boys on the deck shouted. “Stop the flow! Don’t waste the beer!”

I sighed as I ran over to my brother, grabbed the tube, and stopped it with my thumb. There was no point. Most of it had already escaped the funnel and soaked into Morty’s clothes.

“Morty, we have to get out of here.”

“Fuck that!” Morty shouted. “I’m drinking here!”

“Morty!” I screamed. “This isn’t a negotiation. It’s an emergency.”

Morty looked at me. “Emergency? Did they run out of beer?”

“Not that kind of emergency, you idiot. A real emergency. Something tracked us here and attacked me a minute ago.”

Morty belched and nodded. I helped him to his feet. His legs buckled beneath him. “I tink I’m a luhhh-little drunk.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” I did my best to steady Morty on his feet again. “You’re going to have to hold onto me on the bike. Can you do that?”

“I don’t want to go, Zoey!”

“Did you hear what I said? Something attacked me a minute ago. We can’t stay.”

Morty chuckled. “Probably just a frat boy trying to get into your pants. Chill out.”

“It wasn’t a frat boy, Morty. I think it was a werewolf.”

Morty snorted. “No, it wasn’t! Werewolves aren’t real!”

“I will not argue with you right now. It’s pointless. We’re leaving. Now.”

“Fine! You’re such a party pooper, sis.”

I sighed as I helped Morty to my bike. I wasn’t sure he was going to make the drive without face-planting off the side into the road at some point, but it was a risk we’d have to take. Besides, being a Reaper, he’d probably heal well enough.

I wasn't sure how well this was going to work. I drove slower than usual, close to the speed limit. I hadn't even finished my beer. Morty had more beer soaked into his clothes than I drank the whole time we were there. I was good to drive. He was hardly fit to ride.

I was surprised he'd gotten so drunk so fast. We weren't even there for an hour, and you'd think he'd been drinking the whole night. Given the way he was drinking, though, I suppose it should have been expected. I mean, who in their right mind thinks they could down an entire funnel with three stories’ worth of tubing feeding it? A drunk moron like my brother, apparently.

I took off down the road toward the hospital. My brother spread out his arms.

"I'm the king of the world!"

I just shook my head. We weren't even on a boat, and he was pulling the move from Titanic?

When that movie first hit the underworld, it had been out on Earth for a few years. It struck a different tone for the Reapers than it probably did for most humans who watched it, especially since my father had been the Reaper assigned to the Titanic case. It had been a mass-casualty event, and souls were prone to wander. Only the best Reapers were deployed to ensure that everyone appointed to die was ushered to another cruise, courtesy of Charon's rowboat, which carried them soon thereafter across the River Styx.

I don't think that was why he didn't like the movie. It wasn't because it was inaccurate. In fact, he said, it wasn't much different from what he recalled. It was that the movie featured young love interrupted by fate. It reminded him of the love he'd had for Josephine, one he’d lost and was powerless to recover.

Of course, my dad would never admit that was why he didn't like the movie. He said it was because some tragedies shouldn't be packaged for people's entertainment. I had taken his explanation at face value at the time. Now, though, the real reason he didn't like the movie was clear. His relationship with my mom, in fact, explained a lot about why he'd acted certain ways through the years.

I loved my dad, don’t get me wrong, but he spent more time working than he did with Morty or me. He spent hours withdrawn in his office in the spire of his castle in the underworld when he probably needed only half as much time to perform his regular tasks. I think it was his way of coping with his heartbreak.

Some people act out to cover up their pain. Others withdraw and isolate. My father did more of the latter than the former. I wouldn't say he was a neglectful father; he saw to it that we were well taken care of. But he was absent more than he was present.

I think one of the reasons I was so driven to excel, why I had pushed myself to graduate at the top of my class, was that success elicited attention from my dad. I was afraid if I let him down, if I ever disappointed him, he'd withdraw even more.

Everything had worked out. If I hadn't worked so hard at the Reaper Academy, I wouldn't have the skills I needed to fight vampires, werewolves, and whatever else was on my trail.

As I drove, it occurred to me that going to the hospital was a bad idea. The last thing I wanted was to lure anything dangerous to Sienna's room. We had to protect her. We had a motel room not far away. It wasn't the nicest joint in Louisiana by any means. It was one of those places with outdoor entrances to every room. I'd spent most of my nights in a chair next to Sienna. The doctors said they'd keep her alive, but I felt responsible for her.

Sure, if it hadn't been for me, she still would have been targeted and abducted by the vampires. She would be a vampire now, in fact. The first time they’d abducted her, they'd locked her in a shipping container and tried to send her to New Orleans on a cargo ship.

That time, I’d arrived in time to save her. This time? Well, by the time I’d caught up with Katerina, I was too late. The vampires had started turning her. If I'd arrived sooner, even five minutes before I did, all of this might have been avoided. If she didn't make it, if our plan didn't work, I wasn't sure if I'd ever forgive myself. She was the closest thing I'd had to a friend since I came to Earth.

Given Morty's state of inebriation, it made more sense to go to the motel. He needed to sleep it off.

I pulled into the motel parking lot and parked my bike in the spot in front of my room. I was sharing it with Morty. Kevin and my mom had a room, too. Two beds, nothing weird. Their relationship was purely professional. More nights than not, Kevin stayed with me at the hospital anyway.

Morty tried to climb off my bike but stumbled and fell to the pavement. I helped him up and led him to our room. I retrieved my key card from my pocket and inserted it into the slot on the door. A small green light indicated the door was unlocked. I brought Morty into the room and led him to his bed.

He curled up on top of the comforter. I took off his shoes. That was as far as I was willing to go. I wasn't about to undress my own brother. He could sleep in his beer-soaked clothes. Maybe if he woke up and realized what he'd done, he'd learn his lesson and go a little easier on the booze the next time he had the chance. I doubted we'd be hitting a frat party again any time soon. It wasn't safe.

I sat on the edge of my bed, pulled out my phone, and shot a text to Kevin.

Where r u?

It was a good thirty seconds before he replied.

Driving to the city. Why?

Just reaped a werewolf. Think it was hunting me.

This time, it only took him ten seconds to respond.

Turning around. Where are u now?

I texted back we were at the motel. He didn't respond again. He was driving with my mom in her black Corvette.

A few seconds later, I received a text from an unknown number.

It’s Mom. Don't go anywhere. Might not be safe.

I texted back a thumbs-up emoji. Cerberus appeared and jumped onto my bed. I scratched him behind the ears. "Well, Cerberus, I guess we aren't going to get much sleep tonight."

Cerberus huffed, lowered his head to the bed, and closed his eyes. Apparently, he was going to sleep even if I couldn't.

I was tired but also alert. After all that had happened, I couldn't have slept if I had tried. My mind was churning. Every sound outside made me jump. A door slamming. Footsteps past my door. I almost summoned my staff more than once. If that werewolf had tracked me to the frat party, how long would it take before another one found me at the motel?

CHAPTER EIGHT

I sat in near silence for what felt like an eternity. Morty started snoring more than once. I shook him each time to silence him. If anyone or anything, was approaching, I wanted to be ready. At least Cerberus was sleeping quietly. I had half a mind to wake him up and ask him to patrol the perimeter of the motel.

It would have been smart, but well, he was a stubborn pooch. He wasn't nearly as anxious about what was happening as I was. How he could sleep when werewolves were out there, probably hunting us, was beyond me. I suppose if you're a hellhound and you've spent as much time in Hades as on Earth, encountering insidious creatures isn't so shocking.

I almost jumped out of my skin when someone knocked three times on the door. I scurried to the door and pressed my eye against the peephole.

"Damn it," I said. The stupid thing was filled with condensation, and I couldn't see through it.

"Zoey?" a familiar voice called from the opposite side of the door.

I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding until I wasn't. It was Kevin.

I slid open the chain lock and turned the deadbolt.

Kevin and Josephine (aka, the woman whose womb I’d once inhabited) were there. My mom looked at Morty's passed-out body and cocked her head. "What's wrong with him?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's drunk, Mom. Great idea, you know, to catch a frat party. I think he had a good time, though. Not like he'll remember any of it."

"Did he see the werewolf too?" Kevin asked.

I shook my head and looked at my mom. "Josephine, what do you know about werewolves?"

"I really wish you'd call me 'Mom,' Zoey."

I shrugged. "I've tried. It feels weird. That's not important right now. Werewolves."

My mom took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed, running her hand up and down Morty's beer-soaked back. "I don't know much. We don't have many werewolves in Missouri. In these parts, they're pretty common in the swamps. At least, that's what I've heard."

I furrowed my brow. "So, let me get this straight. You spent the last twenty years hunting supernaturals so you could prepare me to reap them later, but you never thought to research werewolves?"

Josephine scratched her head. "I did research. The problem is knowing what you find on the internet is true and what isn't."

I stared at my mother blankly. "You did internet research? It never occurred to you to call Athena? You have access to the Greek goddess who gave you this task. Why not ask her?"

Josephine shook her head. "I haven't seen Athena in years, and unfortunately, not even 5G offers trans-dimensional service, Zoey."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you have 5G?"

Josephine chuckled. "Damn it. I knew I should have upgraded."

I smiled. "Well, the good news is, my scythe works on werewolves, so if push comes to shove, I can take them out. And, provided the legends are true, we only have to make it through the night. Once the full moon passes, we'll be in the clear."

Kevin shook his head. "I wouldn't say that, Zoey. This is just the tip of the iceberg. It might be werewolves tonight. An army of vampire younglings tomorrow night. Maybe trolls or goblins the night after that."

My mother stood up. "Katerina is trying to keep you busy, Zoey. She knows she's vulnerable to your scythe. If I were in her position, I'd do the same. I'm guessing she's spreading the word about you as far and wide as she can. She's trying to distract you."

I nodded. "Most likely. Still, what choice do I have? It isn't like I can just ignore it when werewolves or whatever come after me. I have to deal with them."

Kevin pressed his lips together. "We could try to lure them out."

Josephine squinted. "Are you suggesting that Zoey go out and try to get the attention of whatever is coming after her?"

Kevin nodded. "Yup. Look, we don't know the scope of what we're dealing with here. If Katerina's strategy is to create a distraction so Zoey can't come after her, the best way to deal with it isn't to run or hide. That's what the vampire wants her to do."

I grinned. "I like that idea. I hate sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop. I need to do something."

Josephine sighed. "I just thought it would be best if you stayed nearby with Morty. If you aren't doing anything that's a threat to Katerina, she might back off."

"’Might’ is the keyword. But what has Katerina done that would give any of us the idea she'd de-escalate?"

"She has a point, Josephine," Kevin agreed. "With Nosferatu out of the picture, everything Katerina has done suggests she's speeding up her plans."

"That could just be because she thinks she has to create more new vampires faster now that she knows about Zoey."

"All the more reason to be aggressive," I said. "We don't have time to lurk in the shadows and gather information. While we're trying to sort out her plans, she's busy taking things to the next level. If we find information and don't act fast, it might be obsolete before we can even take action."

Josephine sighed. "What about Morty? He's in no condition to fight werewolves or anything else."

"If they're targeting me, if I'm the one they want. We don't need to worry about him."

"Zoey is right," Kevin interjected. "As far as we know, Katerina doesn't know Morty is here."

"And Cerberus is more than capable of handling most threats. Plus, we have to work with my dad's timeline. He's going to need Morty back in the underworld in less than a week."

Josephine paced. I chuckled. I did the same damn thing when I was thinking. I couldn't just sit still when my mind was running. "You realize, Zoey, that if something did happen to Morty, there'd be nothing we could do for Sienna."

I nodded. "I understand that. He'll be fine. He's not going anywhere anytime soon. If he did, Cerberus would let us know."

"That dog looks like he's out cold," Kevin observed.

I smirked and looked at Cerberus. "Barbecue!"

Cerberus jumped up from the bed and started running around the room. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"

"See? He's never really asleep."

Cerberus stopped and stared up at me. "That was mean."

"Got you up, didn't it?" I asked, scratching the hellhound behind the ears. "Don't worry, Cerberus. Keep Morty safe, and I'll buy you a slab of ribs. If I can find decent barbecue in this town."

"Deal!" Cerberus jumped back up on the bed and curled up in a ball.

I grinned. "See? Morty will be fine. If the werewolves are tracking us, the best way to know for sure what Katerina is up to is to catch one."

Kevin raised one eyebrow. "You seriously want to try to capture a werewolf?"

I smiled. "They're as afraid of me as we are of them. That's why they're coming after me. If we can lure one out, presuming more come for me, all we have to do is be there when the sun rises."

"That assumes the thing will turn human again in the morning," Josephine countered. "With supernatural creatures, I've learned from hunting vampires that it's hard to know what part of popular lore is true and what's made up."

Kevin retrieved a pistol from an ankle holster under his pant leg and checked the chamber. "I'm loaded up. These bullets aren't silver, but, well, it's better than nothing. Hopefully, I won't need them. If our game is to capture a werewolf though, we need solid intel on the vampires. Since we lost Vincent, it might be our best chance to locate Katerina."

"Then it's decided," I said. "Who's driving?"

"I am," Mom stated. "And if those things are tracking you, we need to lure them as far away from civilization as possible."

CHAPTER NINE

"We should leave from Baton Rouge," Josephine remarked as Kevin and I hopped into the back seat.

I looked at the cop and raised an eyebrow. "You aren't going to claim shotgun?"

Kevin smiled. "I'd rather sit by you if that's all right."

I glanced at the rearview mirror. All I could see were my mom's eyes, but I could tell by the way they narrowed at the corners that she was grinning. She thought we were cute. I snorted. It wasn't like we were teenagers going to prom. I was in my twenties, and Kevin was almost thirty. My dad had never chaperoned me on dates. I didn't date much in the underworld. In the Academy, most of the boys found me intimidating. Date the Grim Reaper's daughter? It either had the potential up-side of getting on the good side of the person they thought would be their eventual boss or the downside of earning her everlasting scorn. After all, Reaper relationships rarely last forever. No one wanted to be the future Grim Reaper's ex. Plus, I was a force of nature. I carried myself with confidence which, in my experience, attracted a lot of men but intimidated others.

Things were different now that I was grown up. I still presented myself as a confident, take-charge woman. I had insecurities, of course—everyone did—but I rarely showed them. Years of pressure and living up to people's expectations had forced me to bury most of my anxieties. I couldn't show weakness.

On Earth, no one had expectations for me, not until I discovered I could summon a scythe and had the ability to reap supernatural baddies. Even then, no one knew what to expect. I was a one-of-a-kind, never-before-seen kind of Reaper. It's a lot easier to live up to expectations that aren't well-defined.

The way Josephine looked at me in the mirror as if to say, "Aw! Aren't they cute!" gave me the urge to either punch out the rearview mirror or vomit. I wasn't a little girl with aspirations of becoming a Disney princess. I wasn't under any delusions that I was falling in love. Not yet, anyway.

Falling in lust? Sure. I had plenty of that. Kevin was a fine man. When I first met him, there had been something taboo about him being a cop and me being a witness to one of his investigations that had fueled our mutual attraction. Now, though, it was this whole other life, this behind-the-scenes role as a vampire slayer, that provided just enough "bad boy" image to keep my interest.

He was a cop and a vigilante. It isn't a combination of seasoning one finds often, but on my palate, it was savory enough that at this point in our relationship, I was eager to take another bite and see where it led.

All right, talking about taking a bite out of Kevin might not have been the best choice of words, considering that we were dealing with vampires and werewolves, but you get the point. I was determined to play it fast and loose with Kevin. The same principle applied to my use of metaphors.

I raised my voice to make sure Josephine could hear me from the back seat. "You realize we're just getting farther away from where the first werewolf was. If we go too far, we might not leave them enough time to find us before night's up."

My mother shook her head. "I get that, Zoey, but we need to lure them as far from Baton Rouge as possible. We don't want anyone getting hurt."

"If we miss our chance, there's no telling how many people will get hurt in the long run."

My mom sighed. "Fair point, Zoey. We have to strike a balance, though. It's called having your cake and eating it too."

I rolled my eyes. "That's the dumbest thing ever. No one ever wants cake if they don't want to eat it. Why would anyone say something like that?"

Kevin grunted. "I think that's the point. A lot of people misuse that phrase. It's meant to be ironic. Like, if someone wants something totally reasonable, but someone else is trying to cut them off? Heaven forbid, he wants to have his cake and eat it, too."

I scratched my head. "I don't get it. What else does anyone do with cake?”

Kevin sighed. "Never mind. I think the point, in this situation, is that your mother wants to try to get as far away from Baton Rouge as possible without risking that if the wolves are there, they won't be able to track you before night's end."

I looked out the rear passenger-side window. "So, we're going out to the bayous?"

My mother nodded. "We'll pull over shortly. I think we're far enough from civilization."

We pulled the rental car onto a gravel road and parked in the overgrown drive of an abandoned shack.

I stepped out of the car. "Well, I suppose this is as good a test of our theory as anything. If they find us out here, we'll know they've figured out a way to track me."

"It's curious," Kevin mused. "It's not like you smell bad or anything."

I chuckled. "Thanks. You really know how to make a girl blush."

Kevin chuckled. "It wasn't meant to be a compliment, but since you mentioned it, you usually smell quite nice."

I smirked. He was bullshitting me. I usually smelled like coffee. I never sprayed myself with fruity body sprays or perfumes. My shampoo smelled nice, but I don't think its odor lingered. I worked out a lot. Old habits from the Reaper Academy died hard. Get it? It's a Reaper joke. Died hard... The point was that if I didn’t smell like coffee, courtesy of my job at Cup-O-Joe's, I smelled of sweat, which was hardly the kind of scent someone was likely to compliment. Kevin didn't know what I smelled like. If he did, he was probably sniffing me when I wasn't looking, and that would be creepy.

My mother rolled her eyes as she got out of the car. "I don't think it's like that. If my suspicions are right, werewolves are likely being used to track you because they can pick up scents usually undetectable by humans."

"Could they really track me across dozens if not hundreds of miles?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. You never know. I'm not a werewolf expert. From what I've found online, those who claim to have seen werewolves have as many different and contradictory stories as those who imagine they've met real vampires."

I nodded. "It's hard to separate the pretenders who are looking for attention from those who’ve had real encounters with werewolves or vampires."

"Or Reapers," Kevin added.

I raised an eyebrow. "There are people who think they've met Reapers?"

"Is it that hard to believe?" my mom asked. "The Grim Reaper is well-attested in folklore and legend. Not to mention, as many Reapers as there are, I'm sure there've been spottings through the years."

I nodded. "There have been. We learned about those at the Academy. Nine times out of ten, if a Reaper is seen, which is exceedingly rare, we look like normal people if we aren't in our cloaks with our scythes dangling out for all the world to see."

Kevin chuckled. "That sounded like the description of a flasher. Wearing a cloak, showing off his...you know..."

I snorted. "Please tell me you aren't using the word ‘scythe’ to refer to your penis."

"Not mine!" Kevin said. "You know what I mean."

Josephine chuckled. "Well, considering your scythe only rises to the occasion when it's ready for action, it's not an inappropriate nickname for a man's...you know..."

I rolled my eyes. "You realize a Reaper's scythe is sacred."

"Most men think the same about their parts!" My mother started laughing.

I giggled. "I suppose that's true. And you know, the blade of the scythe is slightly curved."

"Oh, most men are, too. I mean, there was one man I was with. He undressed, and I immediately turned to the left. I had to see what the hell he was pointing at!"

I laughed so hard I snorted. "That's so weird!"

Kevin sighed. "See what I get for making a harmless dick joke?"

"I think you made him uncomfortable, Mom. I'm guessing Kevin doesn't point north and south."

"No comment," Kevin muttered.

Josephine grinned. "You call me 'Mom' when we're joking about man parts?"

I laughed. "Well, if we're going to bond over something..."

Kevin had turned so red that I thought he'd lost his head and replaced it with an apple. I suppose that was a good thing. Guys who are comfortable talking about what they do, or don't, have going on in their personal underworlds usually have a lot less there than they'd like you to believe.

I was about to suggest we pile back into the car and head closer to the city when a howl echoed in the distance.

"Do you think that's a werewolf?" I asked.

Josephine shrugged. "Could be. Or it might just be a common wolf."

Several more howls sounded, echoing the first.

I cocked my head. "I haven't encountered a lot of wolves. Okay, I'm not sure I've seen one since I came to Earth, so I'm no expert. But that sounds a little deeper and louder than I'd expect. If the werewolves are hunting me, you'd think they'd be a little more discreet about it."

"Unless they want you to hear them," Kevin said. "They might be howling to scare us into running away."

"And right into a trap," Josephine finished Kevin's thought.

I touched the sigil on my wrist, and my scythe-less staff formed in my hand. If the werewolves came closer, my blade might appear. Or maybe it wouldn't. I still wasn't sure how the thing worked. I didn't invoke my staff in hopes of reaping werewolves. If my blade did appear, though, we'd know they were close. If it didn't, they might still be close. But it was the closest thing to a werewolf detector I could come up with.

My mom popped open the car trunk and retrieved a crossbow. "I don't think this thing will be as effective on a wolf as it would on a vampire, but it's all I've got."

I nodded. Holding my staff in one hand, I reached into my pocket with the other and retrieved my phone. "We have an hour left until sunrise. If what we're hearing is werewolves, they'll act fast. I think I know a good way to deal with them. Presuming, of course, that they shift back again when the sun comes up."

"What's the idea?" Kevin asked.

"We run," I stated. "Don't engage them directly. Shoot a time or two to slow them down, perhaps. Mom, you can use your crossbow. Kevin, you can shoot them with your pistol. Aim for the legs. They might heal. It might not do anything. But if we move fast enough, I'm guessing that once sunrise approaches, they'll give up and retreat. Then, we turn on them and follow them. I can use my cloak and move in the astral plane fast enough that they won't be able to get away. If we can corner them when they shift back into their human forms, we might have a better chance of convincing them to talk."

Kevin nodded. "Not a bad idea. Do you really believe we can outrun them for an hour?"

I shook my head. "You probably can't. I can. You two need to get in the car and drive. Once they show themselves, take your shots and race out of here. Can you still track my location like you did before? Before I knew who you really were, and you were watching me from a distance?"

Kevin nodded. "Yeah. I've got your cell signal targeted in my GPS."

"Good." I grabbed my backpack from the back seat, unzipped it, grabbed my reaper cloak, and slipped it over my head. "Once the sun rises and I stop moving, circle back to my location. If all goes according to plan, I'll be facing off with a pack of unshifted wolves. You're a detective, Kevin. I presume you have good interrogation skills."

Kevin nodded. "Usually, they're more effective when we're in the precinct, and I have leverage to work with. But yes, I know a few ways to pressure someone into talking."

A warmth passed from my staff to my hands. It was like the sensation I experienced when my scythe formed at the end. The blade didn't appear yet, but something had happened. "I think they're getting close. Be ready. I'll take off running. When I throw up my hood, I'll go invisible. I should be able to play cat and mouse with them for an hour or so."

Kevin chuckled. "Cat and mouse? Wouldn't dog and cat be more apropos?"

I winked at Kevin. "Meow."

CHAPTER TEN

I heard them coming before they appeared. Splashing marsh water. The snaps of twigs. They didn't slow down when they blasted through the tree line.

I didn't have to tell them once, much less twice. There were three wolves. Josephine fired a bolt at one of them, striking its thigh. Kevin shot the second one in the knee. They both buckled over. I threw my staff like a javelin, catching the third in the gut.

"Run!" I shouted.

My mom and Kevin jumped into the car and took off while I sprinted in the opposite direction. The edge of the marshes was soft but not so muddy I couldn't get a decent footing. I wasn't sure how far I could go before I ran out of solid ground. I touched the sigil on my wrist, reforming my staff in my right hand.

Once I entered the astral plane, chances were they wouldn't be able to pick up on my scent, but I needed to keep them on my tail. I waited until I heard the wolves running behind me.

I threw my hood over my head, stepped aside, and let the wolves pass. Then I turned and ran back to the road, where I was sure I could move without getting stuck in the mud. I lowered my hood and whistled.

The wolves stopped and snarled in the distance. I repeated the same maneuver, disappearing from their sight into the astral plane, and took off down the road.

The wolves stopped and looked around, sniffing at the air.

It was working perfectly. All I had to do was to keep this up for an hour. I got a good head start and raced the other direction before lowering my hood again.

It took them about two seconds to pick up my scent. I let them chase me about twenty feet before I reached for my hood again.

Another wolf jumped out of the trees. I hadn't seen him coming, but I managed to disappear just in time. I focused my mind. I was in the astral plane, but if I didn't have my mind right, I'd feel the wolf strike me as if I were in the physical world. The same reason I didn't fall through the Earth when I moved through the astral plane would give the wolves a chance to hit me if they happened to pass through me where I stood.

I'd anticipated the collision just in time since the fourth wolf flew right through me.

It was a strange sensation, seeing a creature jump through my body.

How many more wolves might be out there, ready to pounce, when I least suspected it? I couldn't take any chances. I stayed a good distance from the tree line.

The four wolves gathered and again sniffed at the air. One of them howled. Another howled back from a hundred feet in front of me, in the direction I was running.

I had enough distance between the wolves and me. I pulled off my hood again.

It took even less time for the pack to bound after me, their paws smashing into the gravel road.

I laughed as I raised my hood again.

I could do this all night, and that was the plan. Thankfully, I only needed to do it for an hour or less before the sun rose. At least, that was my hope. I didn't know for sure if they'd shift back to their human shapes right away. Sometimes the moon was still visible in the sky after sunrise. Would they shift back with the sun or when the moon disappeared?

Either way, this would work. I just had to be careful to appear regularly enough to keep them in pursuit while not appearing close to any of them.

I lured them back and forth across the same stretch of road probably a dozen times. Then they fanned out. They might be werewolves, but they were smarter than your average canine.

They tried to surround me, but with only four of them, they couldn't cover enough ground to pin me down. Even if they could, well, I could walk right through them. Still, their ability to strategize was impressive.

I slipped past one of the wolves in the astral plane and watched as they closed around the spot where they suspected I was hiding.

They were wrong.

I lowered my hood and laughed out loud.

The wolves whimpered. This time, they didn't come after me. They ran in the opposite direction.

The sun was about to rise, and they knew it. They were retreating.

I smiled. The victory had gone to the mouse. Or the cat, if this was a dog-and-cat pursuit rather than a game of cat and mouse. Either way, the score was decidedly in my favor.

I used the astral plane to accelerate. There wasn't any limit to the speed I could run while fully cloaked. The only limit was my mind. I needed more practice to fully realize my potential, but I didn't have any problem moving fast enough to keep up with the wolves.

They made their way through the marsh. These wolves were anywhere from eight to ten feet tall on their hind legs. Even when they ran on all fours, they were nearly as tall as me.

It took a lot of focus to maintain my speed and pass over the water without sinking, but I managed. The more I did it, the more natural it became. Finally, the wolves settled on a small hillock in the middle of the marsh. This was going to present a challenge for Josephine and Kevin when they tried to join me at my position. Still, once the wolves shifted back, I'd have them where I wanted them. In human form, fleeing the marsh would be quite the ordeal, every bit as difficult for them as it would be for Josephine and Kevin to get there.

I remained cloaked as the wolves started to shift back into human form. It was a grotesque sight. Their bodies bent, and their bones snapped. They screamed in pain as their long snouts shrank and human faces reappeared.

They were all naked, too. I don't know why that took me by surprise. I should have expected it. I mean, hello! It wasn’t like they were wearing anything as wolves. If they had been wearing human clothes when they shifted the night before, based on the relative size of the wolves compared to their slender human frames, it was probably ruined.

They were also young, from eighteen to early twenties.

They laid there, curled up and shaking, as they regained their senses.

I lowered the hood on my cloak.

"Well, hello!"

The four looked at me, eyes wide. Two were females. Tears welled up in their eyes. "Who are you? Where are we?" one of the girls asked while the other rubbed her eyes and the male werewolves rolled over, trying to cover their private parts while shaking.

I cocked my head. "You don't know? You spent the better part of the last hour hunting me."

"I'm sorry," one of the girls said. "I don't remember a thing."

"Do you know what you are?" I asked.

One boy crossed his legs to hide his dangly bits, then looked at me. "I'm pretty sure we're werewolves. This is only the second time this has happened."

"For all of you?" I asked.

The girls nodded. "Please, can you help us?"

I sighed. "You were just trying to kill me. Now you want my help?"

"It wasn't us!" another girl pleaded. "Please, we thought we were going to be restrained. It was all arranged. We didn't know this was going to happen. I'm so sorry!"

I scratched my ear. "Arranged by who?"

The other boy shook his head as he turned toward us, holding one hand over his frank ‘n beans. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."

I smiled. "You might be surprised."

One of the girls, blonde-haired with a round face, responded, "We're students at the college. We were out partying a couple months ago in the woods when something attacked and bit us."

"That was when you became werewolves?" I asked.

The girl nodded. "It was."

The first boy shook his head. "We shouldn't tell her this. We don't know what he'll do to us."

"It's okay. Your secret is safe with me."

"It wasn't just him," the blonde girl said. "A man who called himself ‘Lycan’ showed up a couple weeks after we were bitten. He said he was our alpha, and we'd do whatever he commanded when we turned. It sounded crazy at the time, but he told us to meet him somewhere."

"Katie, no! Say nothing!" the second boy protested.

Katie shook her head. "I'm tired of the secrets, Caleb!"

"Where did he have you meet him?" I asked.

"We met at an old church in the middle of nowhere. I don't think it had been used in a long time. There was a guy there. I don't think he was human. We met him there the night of the next full moon after we were attacked."

"His name was Nosferatu," the other girl provided.

"Damn it, Lizzie!" Caleb protested.

"But it wasn't him this time," Katie said. "Lycan was there. I mean, I don't think that's his real name, but whatever. When we went there last night, it was another man."

"Vincent," Lizzie supplied. "His name was Vincent."

I sighed. "Are you sure it was a man?"

"Stop talking!" Caleb ordered. The first boy was quiet.

"He was a vampire, wasn't he?" I asked.

Caleb looked at me. "How the hell did you know that?"

A piercing whistle interrupted me before I could answer. I turned. Kevin and Josephine were standing a hundred yards away across the marsh.

"Who are they?" Caleb asked.

"Friends. Don't worry about them."

I waved at Kevin and Josephine. Then my phone dinged. I checked it.

You ok?

It was Kevin.

I texted a thumbs-up emoji back and glanced at the group. "It doesn't matter how I know about Vincent and the vampires. You can't trust them."

"Obviously not," Lizzie agreed. "They were supposed to restrain us."

"That Lycan asshole must've sent us out," Katie mused. "I'm so sorry. But we didn't know, and we didn't have a choice."

"I get it," I replied. "One more question. If you'd like, I can help you get out of here, but can you tell me where the church you were supposed to meet in was?"

"I don't think we should," the first boy offered.

"Like I said," I continued, "I can help you, but we need to know the truth. The vampires you're dealing with have big plans. I suspect they wanted you to kill me because I'm onto them."

"What the hell are you?" Caleb asked.

I smiled. "Every vampire's worst nightmare. You can call me Zoey."

"Nice to meet you, Zoey," Katie said. "As for the church, we don't have the address, but we can tell you how to get there."

CHAPTER ELEVEN

My first guess was that the abandoned church was the same place I first encountered Nosferatu. The place Katerina took Sienna after abducting her outside the blood bank in Kansas City. It wasn't. The directions Katie gave us didn't line up.

My mother and I headed there alone. Kevin said he'd take care of ensuring the young wolves made it home, had better plans for the next full moon, and things of that sort. We couldn't take in a pack of young werewolves, especially not those who were beholden to an alpha who was in league with vampires. I still didn't know much about what Kevin and my mom had been up to for the last year. In Mom's case, the last twenty years. I knew they’d hunted vampires in Kansas City. Did they have any other connections in the world of supernaturals? Anyone who might help these kids learn how to navigate what I assumed would be a life-long, perhaps an eternal-life-long habit of getting a little crankier and a whole lot hairier every full moon? I had a million questions for them, mostly out of curiosity. What did it feel like to shift? Were there any perks, like, did you shift back down an extra ten pounds? Could werewolves get braces, or would they get all mangled during the full moon? If you ate something as a wolf, would you regret it the next day? I could go on and on.

These young wolves probably didn't know the answer to most of my questions. They were still figuring things out themselves. They didn't have any recollection of being wolves, so they couldn’t say much about what the experience was like other than how it felt the morning after.

We knew Nosferatu had run an extensive network of vampires in New Orleans before he’d encountered the sharp edge of my scythe. That he'd acquired more than one old, abandoned building in the marshlands wasn't a surprise.

This place, though, only resembled a church on the outside. The stained-glass windows were boarded up, probably to prevent sunlight from getting through. There were no remaining pews or an altar. There were shackles and chains affixed to the cobblestone walls in the room I presumed had been the sanctuary. The place smelled of mildew. The air was damp and thick.

The shackles weren't old. They'd been made and installed recently. It was obvious since there wasn't any rust on the chains or bolts that mounted them to the walls. What was most perplexing was that there weren't just a few sets of shackles. There were dozens lining the walls. They were separated only far enough that, I assumed, any wolves bound there couldn't hurt each other when they shifted.

Josephine sighed. "They must be breeding werewolves."

I nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. It makes sense. If they can control wolves through an alpha who is on board with their plans, they could be a powerful ally for the vampires as they make their move to take over."

My mother grunted. "Of course, it comes with the caveat that the werewolves wouldn't be of much use to them except on full moon nights."

I bit my lip. "Maybe their plan is more nuanced than that. If they can control the wolves, why not send them to attack human cities? They could show up and reveal themselves, not as creatures of nightmares, not as bloodsucking fiends, but as heroes."

My mom huffed as she examined one of the shackles. "You're thinking it's a ruse?"

I nodded. "It's a possibility. I think it makes more sense, though, than raising an army that can't be deployed more than once a month."

"If what those kids said was true, if they were turned by a single bite, that could be a part of this, too. If they strategically let a number of packs loose at once, and they all went out biting people, there'd be a lot of desperate humans looking for answers."

I nodded. "Answers the vampires would love to provide. It makes sense. The number of vampires that would be needed to overtake the world by force would be astronomical."

"I was thinking the same thing," my mom said. "I don't know the numbers, but if they're only targeting people with O-negative blood for now, they could target anyone as far as we know to become wolves."

"There's no reason to conquer by force if you can do so through influence. With every full moon, the number of werewolves could multiply exponentially. If the vampires are the only hope to stop the spread, how many full moons would it take before the government ceded power to the vampires to deal with the problem?"

Josephine nodded. "Then again, why would they send the wolves after you, Zoey? If that's their plan, wouldn't they want to keep it a secret as long as possible?"

"That's a fair point." I tugged at the leather around my waist. In the humidity, it was hot and uncomfortable. "Though it might be better for the vampires to risk losing a few wolves. Think about it; they're still trying to figure out what I can do. Even if there is a Reaper who's feeding the vamps information, no one in the underworld knows what I'm capable of. This could have been a test. If the wolves killed me, I'd be out of the way. If they didn't, well, they'd know that I was a threat to the wolves as much as I was to them. They could prepare accordingly."

Josephine retrieved her phone from her pocket. "It looks like Kevin called a ride-share for himself. He's picking up some clothes for the wolves."

"Do we need to go get him?" I asked.

My mom shook her head. "I don't think so. He's going to rent a van or something so he can take them back to campus. He said he hopes to meet us back at the motel this afternoon."

"Speaking of that, we should get back and check on Morty. I bet he's still passed out. We really need to get that boy a phone. I didn't think it was necessary since he'd only be with us for a week, but given his behavior last night, I'm not sure it would be bad to keep tabs on him. I'd rather not drag him into situations like this. He might be trained as a fighter like I was, but he's as powerless against vampires as anyone."

Josephine nodded. "That's not a bad idea. I have an extra phone I can lend him. I do have a question, though. I hope you don't take it the wrong way."

I shrugged. "I'll try not to."

"Has Morty always been prone to, you know, acting out?"

I sighed. "Sort of. I mean, he's a good guy, but he's always been second fiddle. Dad hung all his hopes on me. He's been under pressure since I left the underworld to fill the shoes that he always figured were meant for me."

My mom nodded. "I can imagine he's pretty stressed. I know your father has always done the best he could, but I can't imagine it's been easy for him to raise you two alone."

I shook my head. "It hasn't been. But like you said, Dad tries. But he had a lot of responsibilities and raising two kids sometimes had to take a back seat to Reaper affairs."

"I can see why he'd want to let loose a little. That kind of behavior runs in the family."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not saying I was an alcoholic, Zoey, but I partied pretty hard when I was your age. Think about it. Last night was probably the first time that he felt he could drink and do whatever he wanted without having to worry about what other people thought of him, or how his actions might reflect on your father."

I chuckled. "I get it. Even so, a three-story beer bong is a bit much."

"Three stories?" Mom raised an eyebrow as she chuckled. "That sounds like the sort of thing college kids might do."

I laughed. "You're right. Let's just hope he got it out of his system. Given our Reaper constitutions, we heal quickly. Hangovers aren't nearly as bad as I imagine they are for most people."

Josephine laughed. "At your age, Zoey, hangovers are minimal. Still, I hope you're right. I don't think your dad's idea of him getting an education on the ways of humans and Earth culture this week was to spend the time wasted or paying homage to the porcelain gods."

I smirked. "The porcelain gods?"

"Trust me, Zoey. If he was drinking from a three-story beer bong, I don't care if he has your father's constitution. He'll be making a pilgrimage or two to the toilet before the day is over."

CHAPTER TWELVE

The first thing I noticed when we pulled up to the motel was that my bike was gone. If I hadn't known I’d left my keys next to the bed, I might have suspected it had been stolen.

"Damn Morty," I muttered, stepping out of the car. "The fucker took my bike!"

My mom cocked her head. "Has he ever ridden a motorcycle?"

I shook my head. "No. He hasn't even driven a car. We don't have cars or motorcycles in the underworld."

"Well, I admit it's impressive that he got it started, not to mention drove it away."

I snorted. "I might be more impressed after I finish kicking his ass."

My mom chuckled as I inserted my key card into the door and stepped inside. Morty's bed was still messed up. The maid hadn't been there yet.

"Cerberus, you here?" I asked.

The hellhound appeared out of thin air and jumped up on my leg. "What's for breakfast!"

I sighed. "Sorry, I forgot about that. Where the hell is Morty?"

Cerberus cocked his head. "He said you told him he could use your bike."

I exchanged glances with my mom before looking at Cerberus. "I didn't say that. Did he tell you where he went?"

"He said he was going for food. Said he'd bring me back a breakfast burrito!"

"We can track your bike, you know," my mom reminded me.

"You can?" I asked.

My mom nodded. "We attached a GPS device to it when we were following you before. Well, technically, Kevin added it, but I should be able to locate it."

I stared at her blankly as she looked through her phone. I wasn't sure if I was more upset to learn they'd attached a tracker to my bike or grateful that they had. At the time, I hadn’t even known my mother was watching me. I had been looking for her, and she'd had her eye on me the whole damn time!

More than that, I’d thought Kevin was just a hot detective investigating a human trafficking operation. I thought I had him hoodwinked into thinking I had nothing to do with rescuing Sienna after they abducted her from the parking garage near Cup-O-Joe's. Meanwhile, he had known who I was and what I'd done from the start. How was I supposed to know that the cute detective was secretly in league with my long-lost mother-turned-vampire-hunter?

Josephine shook her head. "It looks like he went back to that frat house."

I furrowed my brow. "How can you tell? I didn't tell you where it was."

Josephine laughed. "The tracker was on your bike last night, too."

I scratched my left shoulder. "You were watching us?"

"I just wanted to be sure you were okay."

I snorted. "You told us to go find a party or something. That's what we did. You realize I've been just fine without you watching me for most of my life."

My mother sighed. "I know, Zoey. But I have had my eye on you ever since I learned you came to Earth."

I shook my head. "Don't take this the wrong way. You might be my mother, Josephine, but you aren't my mom. I'm a grown woman, and I can take care of myself."

"I never said you couldn't, Zoey. You have to realize, though, that everything I've done for the last twenty years was in anticipation of your eventual return."

I grunted. "You weren't preparing to be a mother. You were hunting vampires so I'd be able to do it, too. That's a professional relationship, mother. You can't make up for your lack of guidance growing up by smothering me now."

"I'm not smothering you, Zoey. I'm the one who suggested you find a party to take Morty to."

I chuckled. "Which only proves the point that you suck at giving motherly advice. Congrats, Mommy Dearest. You helped turn Morty into a drunk!"

"It was one night, Zoey. That doesn't make him a drunk. And there's nothing wrong with letting loose when you're young."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we'll see how this turns out. I know my brother a hell of a lot better than you do. That boy is addicted to slacking off. This situation isn't going to help prepare him to take over for Dad."

My mother nodded and took a deep breath. "For what it's worth, the tracker is under your seat. Remove it if you'd like. Still, it's a good idea for us all to keep an eye on each other, given the enemy we're facing."

"Given the enemy we're facing, Mother, dealing with Morty's bullshit isn't going to make any of this easier."

My mother took a step back. "Very well, Zoey. I'll stay here if you think I'm making things worse. Go take care of your brother. You're right. You know him better than I do. I'm sorry if I overstepped."

I nodded. "I get it. You just need to realize that we're peers. We have to work together. Trying to establish a mother-daughter relationship isn't going to work right now. You can't make up for lost time by trying to be a mom to me twenty years too late."

"I'm not trying to mother you, Zoey. But I do have more experience navigating this world, and I've faced more vampires than you have. Consider my advice professional, not parental."

I nodded as I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Sorry. You realize, Mother, that I've had dreams and fantasies about you my whole life. I imagined you as a doctor, maybe a successful businesswoman. I sometimes pictured what my life would have been like if I'd grown up with you instead of Dad."

"If the truth is a disappointment, I understand."

I shook my head. "That's the thing. It isn't. It's probably better than whatever I used to imagine. It's still unexpected."

"It's an adjustment for both of us, Zoey. I've had my dreams and fantasies too, you know."

I bit my lip. "You're right. I'm not trying to be difficult. You should come along. I'm a part of everything about the underworld that Morty resents. I'm the sister Dad clearly preferred. You can't make that mistake. I get to work with you now, and Morty will have to work with Dad. Still, it's important that he doesn't think he's your second favorite, too."

"That's solid advice, Zoey. I appreciate it."

I splashed some water on my face and ran a brush through my hair. It had been a long night, and I was exhausted. There's only so much action one can endure while fueled by adrenaline alone. If I'd curled up in bed, I would have fallen asleep in less than a minute. I could have used a cup of coffee. For now, a little cold water to the eyes would have to get me by. I didn't even have the time or desire to freshen my makeup.

I hopped back into the passenger seat of the rental car.

We pulled up next to the frat house and parked behind my bike. I got out of the car and looked it over. One side was scratched, and the mirror was dangling from its wires.

"He crashed my bike!"

My mother shook her head. "Let's find out what he's doing here."

The front lawn was littered with empty beer cans. I doubted the university would look kindly on that. Given that most of the guys I'd met at the house the night before were under drinking age, I doubted they were supposed to be indulging at their official house.

I knocked on the front door. No one answered. I grabbed the knob and turned it. It opened. Of course, they didn't lock the place. I wasn't sure how many guys lived in the house, but I imagined they came and went at will. The house smelled of beer, vomit, and cigarettes.

"Anyone here?" I asked.

A few seconds later, a guy I didn't recognize stepped out of one of the rooms. He had a beer in his hand.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Drinking already?" I asked.

The guy shrugged. "It's the weekend. That's what you do."

I snorted. "I'm looking for my brother. Came here on the crashed motorcycle outside."

The frat boy chuckled. "You're Morty's sister?"

"I'm surprised you know his name. Where is he?"

"Not here," the guy snorted. "Left with Mikey. Best guess, they went to the bar."

"What bar?" I asked.

"There's a home game today. They have dollar pitchers for pregame at the Watering Hole three blocks to the west. Most of the guys are there, and Mikey never skips a pregame binge."

I rolled my eyes. "All right. Thanks for the info."

I turned to leave. The frat boy coughed. "Morty didn't say he had a hot sister."

I bit my lip and turned back to the guy. "I was here last night, same as him."

"Yeah, sorry. I don't remember much."

I raised an eyebrow. "But you remember Morty?"

The frat boy laughed. "Hard to forget a guy who downs the three-story bong."

I rolled my eyes. "He didn't. Half of it ended up on his clothes."

"The second time!" the guy said. "But he got the whole thing down his first try. That guy has talent. He's a legend here already."

I chuckled. "Well, someday, he'll probably be the death of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

“Nothing.” I smirked. "Thanks for the info."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Don't get me wrong. Partying with the future Grim Reaper was precisely the sort of thing I could imagine frat boys getting excited about. You know, if they realized that the Grim Reaper was real, or if they didn't sober up enough to consider the absurdity.

It wasn't all that shocking that Morty managed to drink so much. Given our genetic advantages, we didn't only heal fast, but we also metabolized alcohol more efficiently than most. It didn't surprise me that Morty would act recklessly. That he had stolen my bike, crashed it, and proceeded to go out drinking again, though, was a bit much, even for Morty.

Josephine drove past a bar with the words The Watering Hole on a small sign over the door. The frat guy had been right; the place was hopping. Offer dollar pitchers at a bar in a college town, and it's expected. We had to park a couple of blocks away. We'd have done just as well if we had walked from the frat house.

It didn't take long to spot Morty. He had a beer in his hand and a college coed on either arm. He didn't notice me. He set his beer down, stepped up in front of a dartboard, and tossed a dart right into the bullseye. Of course, he did. He might have been a slacker, relatively speaking, but he was a graduate of the Reaper Academy.

The crowd around him erupted in cheers. A tall guy, shaking his head, handed Morty some money.

I had half of a mind to summon my staff and blast the dartboard to smithereens. That would have gotten Morty's attention. I quickly dismissed the thought. I wasn't opposed to making a scene, but in this instance, subtlety was called for. I knew my brother well enough to understand that anything over-the-top confrontational would be met with an equal and opposite reaction.

I stepped up behind Morty. Mom was right beside me. He was too distracted by the girls on his arms, his beer, and the stack of money in his hand to notice us.

"It would be nice if you were as skilled at riding a motorcycle as you are at darts."

Morty froze, then turned around, cringing. "Hey, Zoey. Yeah, sorry about that. It was an accident."

"I didn't tell you you could take my bike, Morty."

Morty set his beer down. "Excuse me, ladies. I'll be right back."

The two girls shot daggers at me from their eyes. They didn't realize I was his sister. They probably thought I was competition. "What are you doing here, Morty?"

Morty shrugged. "Having a good time. These people are hilarious."

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm sure they are. Don’t forget, though, Morty. We only have a week."

Morty sighed. "About that. I'm not sure I want to go back."

I almost gagged on my tongue. "Morty! You have to! If you don't go back, who will take over when Dad ascends?"

Morty shrugged, grabbed his beer off the table, and took a sip. "Not my problem. I think I'm going to pledge."

"You can't pledge a fraternity if you don't even attend the university."

"Why not? It's not like these guys check school records. It's the best of both worlds. I get all the fun of a fraternity without the commitment of classes. Win-win."

"And who would take over for Dad?" I asked. "You know they're auditing him. He's back in the underworld now fighting for you! He's working hard to preserve his line of succession so you can take over."

Morty snorted. "Too bad he didn't see it that way until after we found out you couldn't reap. If he’d valued me, maybe I'd be more inclined to do it."

"Morty, it is your problem because it's everyone's problem. It's a matter of life or death for the entire human race!"

Morty dismissed my words. "Someone else will take over. I'm guessing Gabriel would jump at the chance."

"Gabriel Graves? My ex? You can't be serious."

Morty nodded. "If I was putting money down on it, and given my record with bets today, I'm tempted to, he's probably the one who is tipping off the vampires and got Dad audited."

I huffed. "Gabriel is a good guy, Morty. He wouldn't do that."

"That's my point, Zoey. He is a good guy. Maybe it would be better if someone like him took over. Humanity would be none the wiser, and I'd be able to do whatever the hell I wanted with my life. You know, sort of like you get to do now."

"What about Sienna? You still have to be there so we can save her."

"That's the beauty of it, right? If I don't go back, well, she can have more time to heal. I'll give her back her soul, Zoey. I'm not a complete asshole. But after that, I'm done."

I clenched my fist. "That's not acceptable!"

Morty rolled his eyes. "It's my turn. Give me a second."

I crossed my arms as Morty grabbed a dart and stepped up to the line. Just as he was about to throw it, I tugged on the back of his shirt. His dart went flying into the wall behind the target.

"Damn it, Zoey! That cost me fifty bucks!"

"Boo-hoo. Come on; we're getting out of here."

"I'm not leaving with you, Zoey."

My mom grabbed my arm. "Zoey, why don't you go sit down? Maybe have a drink. You need to cool off. Let me talk to Morty."

I huffed and stomped over to the bar. It took a whole two seconds before someone poured me a beer. I glanced down the bar. A college dude winked at me and raised his cup. It didn’t incline me to deal with flirty college boys, but I wasn't about to turn down a free drink. I needed it.

I nodded at the guy, then smiled and took a sip. I'd probably regret it. The guy would expect a conversation at a minimum in exchange for the drink. A minor inconvenience, given the situation. I turned back and watched as my mom talked to Morty. I don't know what she was telling him, but I could swear I saw my brother wipe a tear from his eyes.

How the hell did this woman we barely knew manage to talk Morty down off his high horse so easily? It struck me then. We'd never had a mother; I'd always played that role. I was always the one who put pressure on Morty to try harder. I always saw more potential in him than he realized, but then I overshadowed him at every turn. He probably resented me.

I'm not saying he didn't love me. I was his twin sister. But could I blame him for how he acted? He was jealous of me when I got all the attention in the underworld. Now, he envied the freedom I had now that I'd left all that behind. What he didn't realize was that I still had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I might not be the heir apparent to the underworld, but I was probably the only person who could stop the vampires from taking over the world.

I took another sip of my beer. Was he the one who resented me? Or did I resent him? He took my place in the underworld. He was handed everything I'd worked for my whole life. Now, on a whim, he decided to leave it all behind and make a new life on Earth. We couldn't allow that to happen, but what if he did it? He couldn't reap vampires. He could pledge a fraternity. He could do whatever the hell he wanted. He was in for a rude awakening, and once he realized that life on Earth was a lot harder than partying with a fraternity, he'd come to his senses. At least, I hoped he would.

"Hey." The deep voice speaking next to me startled me, and I turned. It was the dude who’d bought me the beer.

"Hey. Thanks for the drink."

"The name's Evan. I'm not good with cheesy pick-up lines or anything, but you're pretty. I saw you here and thought, you know, that's a girl I'd like to get to know."

I smiled. "That's sweet. It really is. Look, Evan. I'm sure you're a great guy. If you’d caught me on another day, I'd love to talk to you. I've just got a lot on my mind."

Evan shrugged. "I don't have any expectations. I'm a good listener. I can just sit here, and you can vent."

I laughed. "If I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me."

"That dickhead over there throwing darts. Is he your boyfriend?"

I chuckled. "Everyone asks that. He's my twin brother. He's not really a dickhead. He's just confused."

"Ah." The penny dropped. "Siblings. I don't have a twin, but I can imagine the dynamic is challenging at times."

I grinned. "You don't know the half of it."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Morty set down his beer and stepped out the door. My mother motioned for me to come over.

I smiled at Evan. "Thanks again for the drink, and thanks for listening. If the timing was better, I'd let you buy me another round."

Evan laughed. "Fair enough. Good luck with your brother."

I hopped off the barstool and went to the table where we'd confronted Morty. "Where'd he go?"

"He needs some fresh air. Don't worry about it, Zoey. I think he'll be fine. He's just under a lot of pressure."

I shook my head. "I hope you're right. Are we going to pick him up?"

My mom shook her head. "I might not be the best mother, Zoey, but I had a mom."

I smiled. "She was sweet."

"I wish I was there when you two met," my mother told me. "She let me have my space, but she also knew to step in when I was heading down the wrong path."

"That was what you told Morty? That he was following the wrong path?"

My mom put her arm on my shoulder and led me to the door. "Not exactly. I said that there's a lot more of a world out there he should explore. He spent one night with a fraternity and decided that was what he wanted. He was limiting himself. I told him he was too talented and gifted to box himself in like that."

I chuckled. "That's good advice. I'm surprised he agreed with you."

"I'm not sure he did," my mom said as we stepped out the door onto the sidewalk. "But he said he'd give it some thought after he got sober."

"Well, getting sober is a start," I agreed. "I have to say, I'm impressed he could shoot darts like that, given how much he drank between last night and this morning."

"He wasn't hitting it as hard today as he did last night. He's talented, like you said. He always has been. If he applied himself, he would make a great Grim Reaper. I just wish he could see himself that way, too."

"He isn't wrong, you know. You two didn’t have a lot of choices. Most kids sow their wild oats, so to speak, when they leave home. Most of them come back eventually."

"Well, let's just hope Morty does within the week."

A horn honked as a giant white van pulled up next to us.

"I don't want your candy, creeper!" I shouted.

Kevin rolled down the window. "Funny, Zoey. Hop in. I'll take you back to your bike."

I grinned. "It's at a frat house."

"The same one as last night?" Kevin asked as I climbed through the sliding back door and into the middle row of seats.

I nodded. "Long story."

"Morty is being difficult," Josephine explained. "Nothing we can't handle."

Kevin nodded. "Good. I think I got the wolves situated. How do you even begin to help a bunch of scared kids who've recently become werewolves?"

"You give them a bone!" Cerberus piped up from the row behind me.

"Cerberus! You're with Kevin now? I thought you were looking after Morty?"

"I was," Cerberus said. "But I had a feeling last night that you were in trouble. I came to help, and I found Kevin with a bunch of naked people in the woods. At first, you know, I figured I should mind my business. Humans do weird things."

Kevin laughed. "It wasn't anything inappropriate, Cerberus."

"Sure it wasn't," Cerberus agreed. "Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night."

I giggled. "I'm sure you know by now that they were werewolves who'd shifted for the second time the night before."

Cerberus huffed. "Yup. Sorted that out straight away. Talk about a whole new level of freaky!"

"Cerberus!" Kevin exclaimed. "I told you, I was just helping them. It was not freaky."

Cerberus placed a paw on my shoulder. "A likely story, now that he was caught."

I laughed. "He's telling the truth, Cerberus. Werewolves shift naked. It's just how it works. I was there when they shifted back if that makes it better."

"Ah, so you're into that sort of thing too, Zoey? I didn't realize!"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "You're too much, Cerberus."

"Look, I can't say I don't find werewolves attractive. You know, given what I am. It's close enough that I can roll with it. But for you two to be into that? Well..."

"He doesn't give up, does he?" Josephine asked.

I shook my head. "He doesn't. He knows it wasn't like that. He's just giving us shit."

"Any luck checking out that church?" Kevin asked.

I nodded. "It's pretty clear from what we saw that the vampires are breeding werewolves. My theory is they're hoping to unleash the wolves on the world so they can intervene, use the alpha who is working with them to control them, and show up when the time is right to save the day."

"So they can present themselves to the world not as fiends set on world domination but as heroes?"

"That's my best guess," I agreed.

Josephine said, "I think Zoey's idea is tenable. Knowing how vampires work, I wouldn't put it past them to try something like that. They know that even if they increase their numbers exponentially, they won't have enough to take on the whole world and its armies. They wouldn't fare well in an all-out war."

"Probably not." Kevin nodded. "Especially since they couldn't fight during the daytime. If humans learned where they rested while the sun was up, they could take them out using enough force."

Kevin pulled up next to my mom's rental car, and we got out. "Is that your bike over there?"

I nodded. "It is."

"Did you crash it?"

I shook my head. "That was Morty's doing. Again, it's a long story."

"You realize," Kevin said, "that we still have your father's bike. He left it with me when he returned to the underworld. I was going to have it shipped back to Kansas City, but it's still here."

I raised my eyebrows. "Really? Could you get it back for me? Maybe they could ship my bike back instead. Morty won't be using it much longer, and in its current condition, I'm not inclined to ride it home once we’re done here."

Kevin nodded. "I'll make a couple of calls and take care of it."

My mom smiled. "See? Everything works out."

"Did you know he still had Dad's bike here? I figured Dad must've teleported it back somehow."

My mom nodded. "I did, but you were so busy sitting by Sienna at the time that we didn't want to bother you with it."

"Makes sense. I'm glad it's still here."

"No guarantees," Kevin warned. "I just haven't received a shipping update yet. That doesn't mean it's not gone, so don't get your hopes up."

I shrugged. "Well, worst-case scenario, I can fly back. I'm not riding back with the two of you in the Corvette."

"Speaking of the ‘Vette," Kevin said, "I need to drop this van back off with the rental company. They'll drive me back to the motel. At least, they said they would."

I nodded. "All right. Well, I need to get some rest. After that, I'd like to check on Sienna before we go after the vampires again."

"We all need a little sleep," my mom agreed. "After last night, we won't be in any condition to fight vampires if it comes to that. We need to be ready before nightfall, just in case."

Kevin's phone rang just as we were about to lock up the van. He raised his hand as if to tell us to wait.

I stood next to my mom as Kevin listened on the phone.

"I don't know," Kevin told the other person. "I'm out of town on a personal matter, and there's still a lot to wrap up."

After a few more seconds of listening, Kevin spoke again. "All right, I understand. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"What is it?" I asked as Kevin hung up his phone.

"It was the chief in Kansas City. There have been some new developments in the trafficking case. Multiple abductions over the course of the last two nights."

"Multiple abductions?” Josephine asked. "How many?"

Kevin sighed. "Fifteen people are missing. I don't know who is in charge with Vlad gone and Katerina presumably here in New Orleans, but the vampires are ramping up their efforts."

I bit my lip. "Do we know Katerina is still in New Orleans? We've found Vincent. The werewolves said it was him, not Katerina, who met them last night at that church before they shifted. Do you think she might have gone back?"

Kevin shrugged. "It's possible. I can't say."

"She's not the only vampire in Kansas City who could have picked up where Vlad left off," Josephine interjected. "We can't rule out anything."

"You two stay here. Do what you can. Hopefully, you can restore Sienna soon. And given what we've learned about the werewolves, the vampires are still working on at least one leg of their plan here."

"Exactly," Kevin agreed. "Find out what you can. I'll be in touch with anything I learn."

"Does that mean that I can take the ‘Vette back?" Josephine asked.

"Of course," Kevin said. "And I'll have your dad's bike sent to the motel before I leave town. I'm gone on the next flight I can catch."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I wanted to lean in and give Kevin a kiss before he left. We were barely dating, though, and weren't an official item. We were still at the stage where a kiss of any sort would be momentous. It had to follow a romantic evening, or perhaps a sweet gesture. Maybe even after a good vampire fight when our adrenaline was pumping, we'd seal our victory with a passionate kiss. I wisely decided to hold back. Kissing a guy just before he leaves town if you're only dating is a clear signal that the relationship is more than casual. It's ironic, right? A deep, passionate kiss after a date might conclude a nice evening but have very little meaning. A little peck at a moment like this could mean everything.

If Kevin hadn't been a gentleman and wanted to sleep with me, I wouldn't have objected. If he wanted to kiss me goodbye before flying home, I'd get nervous. If I didn't want things to progress that way with Kevin, though, why did I have the urge to do it?

Maybe I did want things to develop further. Still, they had to come in the right order. If Kevin jumped out of the van, pulled my body into his, and stuck his tongue down my throat, I'd likely reciprocate by tongue-lashing his epiglottis. I'd enjoy it. That had to come before we could progress to casual smooches.

Smooches are for grandmas or people in love. I wasn't Kevin's grandmother, though that would sure be a twist you wouldn't see coming, wouldn't it? We weren't in love, either. Not yet, anyway. How would I know if we were? I won't say I didn't love Gabriel, but I wasn't ever in love with him. I'd never been in love. Not really. No guy had ever made my heart skip a beat. I have never written a love letter. I haven't once had a sense of longing for someone when we weren't together. I never once shed a tear over a boy. I enjoyed spending time with Gabriel when we were together, but I hardly thought about him when we weren't.

It struck me as Kevin drove away that there was a twisty feeling in my chest I'd never experienced. I didn't want him to go. It wasn’t just because I could have used his help to deal with all we were facing in New Orleans. It was because I genuinely didn't want to have to go days or weeks without seeing him.

I considered shoving my finger down my throat to make myself gag. I'm Zoey Grimm. I am a strong woman who doesn’t need a man to make my world go around. But damn it, if I said I didn't feel something when Kevin left, I'd be lying. Sleep deprivation. That's what I'd blame it on. When I was well-rested, my heart would callous over again. I'd once again have a toeless, four-chambered foot beating in my chest, ready to kick out anyone who dared get inside.

My mom put her hand on my shoulder as I watched Kevin drive away. "You like him, don't you?"

I snorted. "Well, yeah. He's a good guy. I don't dislike him."

My mother chuckled. "You're a tough nut to crack, Zoey. You remind me of myself before I met your father."

I rolled my eyes. "I've read your love letters. My dad sent me to Earth with a chest full of them."

"Your father was quite the romantic. Before I met him, I'd mostly dated douchebags. Guys who only wanted one thing and didn't have the decorum to pretend otherwise."

I shook my head. "Not to change the subject, but I don't understand why the vampires are so focused on Kansas City of all places. If they need people with O-negative blood, they could find them anywhere. Why not just set up shop here? Why were they trying to abduct people from Kansas City?"

"I can't say why they’ve specifically focused on it. Still, there's a reason they tend to import people they'd like to turn from elsewhere. New vampires, scared about what they've become, might be tempted to run back to their families. That's more likely to happen if you turn people in the city where they live. Trust me, Zoey, having family nearby that you want to see but can't is hard. It's enough to drive someone crazy."

"You're talking about your mom?" I asked.

Josephine nodded. "I sent letters, but it was never the same. If I have any regrets about anything, it's the time I could have spent with her but didn't. I couldn't. Not without compromising the deal Athena had with your father."

"I can see how it might be like that for new vampires. They still have all their memories from their life before, I assume. I can't imagine how hard it must be to leave everyone and everything they've ever known behind."

Josephine sighed. "Leaving someone you love behind is the hardest thing anyone could ever have to do."

I cocked my head. "You're talking about me now, aren't you?"

My mom nodded. "You don't know how much it hurt when I had to say goodbye to you and Morty. I'd have gladly left behind everything I knew to go to the underworld with you, but as you know, a pure mortal cannot survive there, and I couldn't expect your father to send you back. It would have only been confusing for you to be raised in two worlds."

"I don’t blame you, you know. I realize I can be difficult. I get worked up when you try to act like my mom. It isn't because I hate you. It's because I hate that I didn’t get to grow up loving you. All I had was the idea of you, and that wasn't enough."

My mom sighed. "Still, there must have been a better way. No matter. I'm glad we're together again."

"I know I have a funny way of showing it, but I am too. I don't know what I was expecting to find when I came to Earth and started looking for you. It certainly wasn't this. Hunting vampires, I mean."

My mom laughed. "I suspect that was the farthest thing from your mind."

I sighed. "I think I need to stop judging you according to what I thought it would be like and what you would be like and be grateful we are together now, even if it’s under the strangest of circumstances."

"I feel the same way, Zoey."

I grinned. "I don't know about you, Mom, but as much as I want to go see Sienna, I need some sleep."

"I'm right there with you, Zoey. I'll set an alarm so we will awaken around sunset. That way, if we do end up having to fight any vampires, we'll be rested enough to stand a chance."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

My mom had the most irritating alarm tone on her phone. It was high-pitched and grating. I don't know how to describe the sound. Imagine if Gilbert Gottfried sang the National Anthem. It sounded nothing like that, but it rated just above that on the annoyance scale. The calls of a hyena in heat would be more tolerable.

I rolled out of bed and rubbed my eyes. "Turn that damn thing off!"

My mother rolled over, grabbed her phone, and turned it off before tossing it on the floor. "I could sleep for another eight hours."

"Me, too. I half-expected Morty would come back and wake us up before the alarm went off."

My mom sighed as she stood. "He needs his space, Zoey. He'll come around. Have a little faith."

I chuckled. "You don't know Morty like I do. I'm not saying I don't have faith in him, but, well, I guess that's exactly what I'm saying. He's a stubborn son of a bitch."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't calling you a bitch. I mean, not intentionally."

My mom chuckled. "I assumed you were talking about your dad. He can be a bitch sometimes."

I laughed. "That's the truth."

"I suppose we should stop by and check on Sienna. It also might be a good idea to take Cerberus back to New Orleans and see if he can track the vampires. There's no telling what they'll be up to tonight, but we shouldn't have to deal with werewolves this time."

"Yeah, there's that. Still, while the vampires might have needed the wolves to track us last night, that doesn't mean they didn't gather intelligence about our whereabouts through the night. I wouldn't be shocked if the vampires came here."

"It's possible," my mom agreed, slipping on her boots. "Like I said, we should get over to the hospital while we have a chance. It's dark outside, so the vampires are surely out and about already."

As we stepped out of the room, I saw a man standing on the back of a flatbed truck. My dad's motorcycle was on it.

"Hey there." I approached him.

"Are you Zoey Grimm?" the man asked.

I nodded. "Sure am."

The driver unloaded the bike and tossed me a set of keys. "Enjoy."

"Thanks. I will."

"Nice bike, by the way. Hard to find that vintage in such pristine condition."

I nodded. "It's my father’s. He's had it in storage for the last twenty years."

"Well, she runs like a charm. If he's ever looking to sell it, hit me up."

"I don't think he intends to, but I'll keep that in mind."

My dad's bike wasn't as fast as mine. My bike was built for speed. This was a touring bike—a Harley Davidson. I didn't know much more about it than that. Still, it glistened in the streetlights. I climbed on board. "You coming with me?"

My mom smiled. "I suppose I will."

We rode to the hospital. It was a short drive. The first thing I noticed was the rumble beneath my thighs. My bike purred. This one roared. I could get used to it.

We went to the visitors’ parking lot. I sighed when I spotted my dented-up bike in one of the spots. “Did you know Morty was here?”

My mom shook her head. “The tracker shows that the bike is… Damn, he must have figured it out and removed it. Probably threw it in someone else’s vehicle. This says your bike is currently heading south on Interstate 10.”

I sighed. “Well, Morty might be a lot of things, but he isn’t dumb. Still, I’m surprised he’s here.”

“Perhaps he had enough time to himself and figured he’d stop by and keep watch for a while.”

“Yeah, maybe. I don’t know.”

We entered the hospital and rode the elevator to the floor where Sienna was staying. We walked past the nurse's station to her room.

She was gone. The room was empty. The bed was made.

I went back out to the nurse's station. "Excuse me. Where did you move my friend? She isn't in her room."

The nurse cocked her head. "You didn't know?"

My heart sank. "Please tell me she didn't."

"Oh, she's fine. Better than fine, in fact. A miracle, if you ask me. That boy, the one who was with you before, showed up a couple of hours ago. I don't know what it was, but sometimes a familiar voice can wake someone up."

"And they left? You didn't keep her for observation?" my mom asked.

"We intended to, but they insisted. We don't run a prison here, ma'am. We couldn't keep her against her will. Still, if you find her, we'd like to run a few tests."

"Thanks for that." I walked back toward the elevators. "I can't believe Morty did that! You said he needed his space and look what happened. She wasn't ready!"

My mom sighed. "I didn't see this coming, Zoey. I can't believe he'd do that."

I shook my head. "Unless he's just discharging his responsibility. He wanted to get it over with so he could go back to partying without a second thought."

"We don't know that's what happened, Zoey. Still, your bike is still parked outside. He might be here somewhere."

I grunted. “Possibly. Even so, we have to get hold of Dad. I'm sorry, Josephine, but he needs to handle this. Morty is out of control, and if Sienna isn't well… If any of that vampire virus is still within her...”

"I'm not sure we can reach your father, Zoey. Isn’t the crystal you use to teleport to the underworld at your apartment in Kansas City?"

I nodded. "It is, but there might be another way. We are in a hospital, after all. It's only a matter of time before someone dies."

My mom shook her head. "That's a grim thought."

"That’s the point. If someone dies, a Reaper will show up. If I put on my cloak, I should be able to see them and get them to deliver a message to Dad."

My mom sighed. “Unless it's someone you’re certain you can trust, don’t tell them much. What’s going on here and the notion that Morty is questioning his position as your father’s heir could lead to a lot of problems in the underworld if people learned the truth. Especially since your father is being audited at present.”

I nodded. “I understand that. I will make something up if I have to. Really, though, if I tell whatever Reaper I find that it’s an emergency and to pass along the message, it should suffice. There are only a couple of Reapers I’m sure I can trust. Given that someone in the underworld is a traitor, I won’t say any more than necessary.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Mom couldn't come with me. She’d have to wait for me by my dad’s Harley. Random people walking around ICUs tend to raise questions. Besides, I needed to don my cloak to spot a Reaper. We both went to the elevator and rode it back to the first floor. I had my cloak in my backpack, but I couldn't just put it on anywhere. There was a camera in the elevator.

"You should put it on in the bathroom," my mom suggested. "It's illegal to put cameras in bathrooms. At least, I think it is. It would be weird if it wasn't."

I chuckled. "All right. Not a bad plan."

My mom nodded and turned to leave out the front glass-paned rotating door at the hospital's exit. "Good luck, Zoey."

I snuck into the bathroom. I had to wait until no one was in there. Some lady spent way too much time screwing with her eyelashes in the mirror. There was no way to hang out in a bathroom and do nothing, so I approached another sink and retrieved a small makeup kit from my bag. I hadn't had a chance to put on my face for the day, so it offered me an excuse. Not to mention, I don't think anyone in the underworld ever saw me without makeup on.

If I was about to encounter a Reaper, there was no telling if I'd know who he or she was. Since I was Azrael's daughter, they'd know me. The last thing I wanted was to start rumors about how "awful" I looked after being on Earth for the better part of the last year.

I knew it was silly. Why would I care what people said about me in the underworld? They didn’t have an impact on my life anymore. Still, when you’ve grown up trying to please people and exceed everyone’s expectations, it’s difficult to let go of it. When someone praised me or recognized my successes, it fueled me. Now I had to find new motives. People-pleasing wasn’t going to fly. Most people on Earth didn’t know what I could do—and it was best they didn’t.

It struck me that it must’ve had something to do with why we wore so much makeup. I didn’t like caking a bunch of crap on my face. How many people put on makeup when they’re home alone? I’m sure there are people who do, but not a lot. It’s one of many behaviors, social conventions, particular to humanity that is focused on the drive to please other people. To satisfy their expectations. It struck me during the course of my existence that trying to impress people was like taking a trip and never arriving at the destination. You were never done. There was always more to do. It meant I was always anxious. It meant I found esteem in the opinions of others rather than in how I saw myself. Life on Earth had slowly cured me of that ailment. While life was harder, and the shit seemed to hit the fan on the regular, I was happier now than I ever was in the underworld.

The woman at the mirror finally put her mascara in her purse, took a step back, looked herself over again in the mirror, and left, just in time for someone else to come in. Thankfully, the second lady headed straight for a stall. She couldn't see me. She wouldn't think anything of it if I was gone when she finished. I unzipped my backpack, unfolded my cloak, and slipped it over my head. With my hood in place, I was invisible.

I don't know why hospitals are so damn confusing. The people who design airports must also design hospitals. I couldn't ask for directions while I was traversing the astral plane. I had to rely on the little signs and red arrows that told me which direction to go.

I didn't know how often people died in hospitals. From what I learned at the Reaper Academy, though, any death here would likely be a level-one reaping. Most of the level ones were in my graduating class. That is, presuming someone would hurry up and croak. I had things to do!

I followed the signs to the cardiac ICU. It was a literal snooze-fest. Everyone was stable. I went to the NICU. Thank the gods, the babies there were doing well. When I was training to become a Reaper, that was what I had feared the most. Since I’d hoped to inherit my dad's position, I had to dabble in all the specialties. Some Reapers, for example, specialized in pediatric reaping. It's an important job. Children need to know they're loved and cared for. They need to know there are people who love them on the other side, and the Reapers trained to help them cross over required special training and a dose of natural talent. It was the one part of my education I struggled to get through. It wasn't that I wasn't sensitive enough to do the job. I knew what it took. I just didn't think I had the heart for it. Most Reapers get desensitized to the tragedy of death over time, like funeral directors or morticians. It becomes part of daily life. I'd never get used to reaping children, though. Thankfully, I’d never have to.

I was grateful I didn't find any Reapers there. I still had to look.

A loud beep sounded across the intercom. A woman's voice spoke. "Level-one trauma incoming. All designated personnel report to the ER."

The announcement was repeated three times. I didn't know what level one meant. Was one worse than two or three? No clue, but the urgency of the message and the crowd of nurses and doctors who ran past me in the hall suggested it was serious.

I didn't want anyone to die, but it was my best chance to encounter a Reaper. If this didn't work, I'd try to find a hospice.

It's funny how living on Earth as a human changed my perspective on death. It wasn't just business anymore. Even if I could go back and become the Grim Reaper, I'm not sure I would. Looking for people who might die had me twisted on the inside.

I followed the crowd of doctors and the nurses to the emergency room. Paramedics were already bringing in the patient on a gurney. There was blood all over the body. Was it a car accident? Most likely. I looked at the face.

I had a fleeting fear that it might be Morty since he'd crashed my bike once. It wasn't him. I exhaled in relief.

The tightness in my chest didn't go away. I didn't want this person, this stranger, to die, but I had to hope they would. It was a selfish thought, but that was why I was there. I'd never been so conflicted in my life.

"Zoey?" a familiar voice said behind me. My heart sank into my bowels when I turned and spotted Gabriel, my ex-boyfriend, fully cloaked, his scythe ablaze in his right hand.

I sighed. "He isn't going to make it, is he?"

"Do you know him?" Gabriel asked.

I shook my head. "I came hoping to find a Reaper. I didn't expect it would be you. I guess I'll count my blessings."

"What's going on, Zoey?"

"It's Morty. He's gone off the rails. I need you to tell my dad so he can come and knock some sense into him."

"Off the rails? What do you mean?"

"He's not sure he wants to reap. He likes it here, and more that… Well, just tell Dad that he took care of Sienna."

"Who is Sienna?"

I shook my head. "I can't say. I'm not sure what Morty did was according to protocol, and people could get into trouble if anyone found out. It's best you don't know, Gabriel."

Gabriel nodded. "I'll pass along the message. I trust your father will know what it means?"

"He will. I'm sorry. I know you have a job to do. It's sad, really."

Gabriel shrugged. "What is?"

"This guy doesn't look that old. Maybe thirty."

Gabriel nodded. "That's why I was sent. Younger souls, you know, are more likely to resist. This called for a level five or above."

I snorted. "You're level five now?"

Gabriel laughed. "I'm level eight, actually."

"Damn!" I exclaimed. "How'd you advance so fast?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Long story. I'll just say I've been working hard. I had a few difficult assignments beyond my level and handled them well. I was promoted."

"Yeah. Several times over! You were only level four the last time I saw you."

Gabriel nodded. "Good to see you, Zoey. I'll pass the message to your dad. I really need to get back to the task at hand. The boatman has a pretty strict schedule."

"Understood. Take care, Gabriel."

"You too, Zoey."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I didn't hang around to watch Gabriel reap that poor man's soul. When all I wanted to be was a Reaper, seeing a reaping in progress would be more exciting to me than a bra catalog in the hands of a twelve-year-old boy. Now, though, I couldn't be less interested. Was it because I'd forged relationships with humans? Perhaps. It could just as easily have been that since I had a scythe of my own, the prospect of harvesting human souls was boring and, more often than not, tragic. At least with my peculiar gift, if I was going to reap someone, I called the shots. I wasn't beholden to a dictate from the gods. If I was going to reap a vampire or a werewolf or whatever else was out of there that was vulnerable to my scythe, they'd deserve it. I wouldn't have to harvest souls of people who died too soon. I wouldn't have to do my job while families gathered around, shedding tears. If you were a supernatural villain and you crossed my path, I was the harbinger of a doom you’d brought upon yourself.

At least, "doom" was what I imagined was in store for the creatures I reaped. I didn't know what happened to their souls. Charon, the boatman on the River Styx, had told me before in what had struck me as either a riddle or the ravings of a lunatic that he couldn't take the souls I gathered. The souls I could harvest, the souls of supernatural beings, didn’t linger in my scythe like they did when regular Reapers harvested human souls.

Their souls disappeared in something like a glitter bomb, then they were gone. Did they cease to exist at that point? Did they go somewhere else? I didn't know, and I didn't really care. All that mattered was that wherever they went, the vampires I'd reaped couldn't hurt anyone anymore.

Still, I was curious. Since I was the first of my kind, there wasn't anyone I could ask, either. Not unless Athena showed up, but it wasn't like I could call her. Greek gods and goddesses didn’t have phone numbers. Hell, I wasn't even sure if they answered prayers. That's a Judeo-Christian thing. Regardless, apart from a revelation from the gods, I'd never know what happened to vampire or werewolf souls after death.

Gabriel might be my ex-boyfriend, but he was a good guy. He was as trustworthy as anyone in the underworld. I couldn't think of anyone who was better suited to deliver the SOS message regarding Morty to my father.

If it had been anyone else, I wouldn't have given him as many details. I wouldn't have mentioned Morty's problems. If news spread throughout the underworld that Morty was rejecting the Grim Reaper's mantle, there was no telling how folks would react. With my father already under the scrutinizing eye of the gods, public knowledge about Morty's doubts could become a pretense to transition power to another Reaper and his lineage.

“Let’s get out of here.” I lowered my hood.

My mom jumped and placed her open palm on my chest. "Damn it, Zoey. You scared the crap out of me."

I giggled. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you.”

"Did you find a Reaper?”

I nodded. “I did. I knew him, too. Gabriel Graves. My ex-boyfriend.”

"Graves?" Mom asked.

"I know. It's cliché, right? I'm a Grimm. He's a Graves. We all work in the death industry. I guess it's like a tailor named Taylor or a blacksmith named Smith."

“Or a proctologist named Butts?”

I laughed. “Exactly!”

"I have something to show you," she said, handing me her phone. An image of Sienna's hospital room was on her screen. Sienna was lying in bed, hooked up to the machines.

I furrowed my brow. "What am I looking at?"

"I hid a camera in the flowers I brought. I figured it would be a good way to keep an eye on things while we were away. Press the play button."

I touched the right-facing triangle under the image. The video feed started to play. I watched as Morty entered the room, walking slowly, his posture more erect than usual. He summoned his scythe and touched it to Sienna's chest. A blast of golden energies flowed out of the blade and settled into her body. A second later, she gasped. She sat up and looked around the room in a panic.

Morty reached over, pulled out Sienna's IV, and removed the electrodes from her skin. He said something to her, but the audio feed was poor. I couldn't make out the words. Sienna nodded and rubbed her eyes before getting out of bed.

A nurse came running into the room, the same nurse I'd met at the nurses’ station earlier. "Lay back down," the nurse said, her words muffled.

"We're leaving," Morty stated.

"We need to run tests. It's not safe to..."

"We're leaving," Sienna repeated. "You can't keep me here."

"I really must insist that you stay," the nurse said. "We need to do a thorough workup. You might not be well."

"I'm fine," Sienna insisted. "Please get my things."

I continued watching as the nurse returned with a drawstring bag. As Sienna changed her clothes, Morty turned away and looked right at the camera. He didn't seem to know it was there, but I could tell something was off. There was something in his eyes as if the fluorescent lights were reflecting back at us. He blinked, and the light disappeared.

Then, Morty took Sienna by the hand, and they left.

"Is that all there is?" I asked.

Mom nodded. "Did you see anything unusual?"

"The whole thing is strange," I said. "I still don't understand why Morty would do that. He isn't cold-hearted. He knew we needed to give her as much time as possible to heal."

"That's the thing," my mom said. "He wouldn't. You're right. Morty might be a little reckless and rebellious, but he wouldn't do anything to hurt someone. At least, I don't think he would. You know him better than I do."

"No, you're right. I can't figure out why he did this."

"Did you see when he looked at the camera?"

I nodded. "It looked like the lights were reflecting from his eyes."

My mom shook her head. "It wasn't a reflection, Zoey. I've only seen it once before, and when I did, I couldn't track down the vampire responsible."

I scratched the back of my head. "I'm not sure I follow. You're saying a vampire had something to do with this?"

My mom sighed. "That light was a signal, a mystic connection to a vampire who has the ability to manipulate minds. A kind of compulsion."

"You're saying that Morty was under the influence of vampiric mind control?"

"I am," my mother said. "Some vampires, especially older ones, have unique abilities. I can't say this was the same one I encountered before. It was almost a decade ago. I was tracking a vampire through the Plaza in Kansas City. A man approached me. His eyes flashed the same way. He told me to stand down. He said he'd leave, and no one would be harmed if I let him go."

"This man was a vampire?"

"He wasn't. In fact, no sooner did he say it than his eyes changed again. He was confused. He didn't know how he got there. He was three blocks away the last he remembered when someone, a man with dark eyes, approached him."

I bit my lip. "Did he tell you what this man looked like?"

"He had strange teeth, he told me. And a bald head. He described him as a sinister Mr. Clean."

I stared at my mom blankly. "It was Vincent. I think he tried something like that with me when I found him in that strip club. It didn't work. I didn't think much of it. It was just a flash. There was a lot going on."

"His abilities must not work on you, probably for the same reason you can reap vampires. You must be immune to his influence."

I shook my head. "Why would a vampire want Morty to waken Sienna?"

"I'm not sure. They wanted her before. Perhaps they still had a use for her and wanted her awakened before she fully healed."

I clenched my fists. "Then she's turned?"

"We don't know that. She didn't look like it. A new vampire, when turned, has to feed almost immediately. If she was a vampire, she would have attacked Morty or the nurse. She'd need blood."

"Then what would Vincent want with her? She's just a girl, a barista from Kansas City. Sure, she has the right blood type, but so do millions of other people."

My mom shook her head. "I wish I knew. She might not be in the clear, though. Just because she isn’t a vampire yet, if the virus was still in her system, perhaps she'll turn later."

"We have to find her," I said. "Is there any way to reverse the turn if that's the case?"

"Only if we do what we did before," my mom said. "We'd need a Reaper to harvest her soul again. Then she'd have to heal again. The process would have to start all over."

I nodded. "Well, the only Reaper I could maybe convince to do that is Morty, but he's clearly compromised."

"Perhaps. It depends on the extent of Vincent's compulsion. I've only encountered this once before. I'm not sure if he can issue a single command, a series of commands, or maintain his connection to someone he's controlling until he lets go."

"The time stamp on the video showed this all happened an hour before we arrived."

"Which was maybe three hours ago, Zoey. There's no telling how far from here they are now."

"We need to get Cerberus. He knows Vincent's scent. If Vincent is still in Baton Rouge, he'll be able to find him."

"And if he's not?"

"Then my best guess is we'll have to make a trip to New Orleans. He was operating in the French Quarter when we found him. If he took Morty and Sienna somewhere, my guess is it's there."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

We sent off Cerberus to search Baton Rouge. Chances were good that Vincent had taken Sienna back to New Orleans. He wanted her for some reason. He wouldn't have gone to such an effort to manipulate Morty otherwise. I was hopeful that the vampire had let Morty loose. He had what he wanted, after all.

It wouldn't take Cerberus long. He could move in and out of the astral plane fast, utilizing his acute sense of smell to locate them. He knew both and had their scent. If they were in or around Baton Rouge, Cerberus would find them.

Besides, we had to wait for my dad. Gabriel was on a deadline to deliver the soul to the boatman at the River Styx. It wouldn't take him long after that to make his way to my dad's office, maybe an hour. Probably less. Since Dad could create portals to Earth from the underworld, if we could find Sienna, he could send me into the vampire’s lair.

Of course, the vampires had lairs. They're vampires. They don't live in houses. Evil things dwell in lairs. If you're ever uncertain if someone or something you encounter is villainous, ask them if they have a lair. If they do, you know they're no good.

Good guys had bases or headquarters. That was just how it worked. Then again, maybe I'd watched too much television.

The point is that with my father's help, once we knew where Sienna was, I could get in and out of there with her fast. I couldn't use my cloak. They already knew how to silence the enchantment that allowed me to stay invisible and navigate the astral plane. If my dad didn't show up? Well, I'd have to sneak into the place like Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible. There’s' a reason those movies have that title. My chances of taking on Vincent, Katerina, and who knows how many other vampires and sneaking Sienna out of there unscathed were slim to none, especially since vampires moved fast and had a host of unusual abilities. If Vincent could compel people, there was no telling what skills the vampires he was working with had acquired.

I lay on my motel bed, staring at the ceiling. "What is taking him so long!"

My mom was sitting on the edge of her bed, scrolling through her phone. "Maybe your dad isn't in his office. He's got a lot on his plate right now."

I nodded. "You're right. I have no clue what an Olympian audit entails."

"It must not be going too poorly. I mean, you're still on good terms with your ex, right?"

I nodded. "Our breakup was mutual. There isn't any animosity between us. Not from my side, at least."

"If your dad was in any serious trouble, Gabriel would tell you, I suspect."

I nodded. "He would. At the very least, if he didn't think he'd be able to get to Dad, he would have said something."

"Then I suppose we have to either be a little more patient or imagine that your father has a good reason not to come."

A loud bark and scratching on the motel door got my attention. I sprang out of the bed. I knew the bark. It was Cerberus. I wasn't sure why he didn't just walk through the door. He could have. I opened the door.

He was about twice his normal size. He could grow several times larger than that if he wanted to. Sienna was clinging to his back.

"Oh, my God!" I said. "You found her!"

Cerberus stepped inside. Sienna slid off. My mom caught her before she hit the floor.

"Sienna!" I joined my mother to help her to her feet.

"Hey, Zoey," Sienna mumbled. "Good...to see you."

We helped Sienna over to my bed. She sat down on the edge. "I'm sorry. I'm weak. They took a lot of blood."

My mom brushed Sienna's hair aside and checked her neck. "Where did they bite you?"

Sienna shook her head. "They didn't."

"But they took your blood?" I asked.

Sienna nodded. "They strapped me to a chair and filled several bags. I don't know why."

I put my arm around her. "I'm just glad you're here."

Cerberus huffed. "I'm sorry. I couldn't get Morty. He wasn't himself."

"He was still under Vincent's compulsion," my mom mused. "Where are they?"

"They were at an abandoned warehouse, but they're leaving."

Sienna winced. "They're going back to New Orleans."

"Do you know what they want Morty for?" I asked.

Sienna took a deep breath. "I'm not sure. They tested my blood. I don't know what they were looking for, but the vampires were pretty excited about it. I think they want to use Morty to do the same thing to other new vampires that he did to me."

I bit my lip. "To extract their souls? Why would they want to do that? It prevents the transformation."

Sienna shook her head. "I don't know. I wish I did."

I reached down and scratched Cerberus behind the ears as he shrank to his normal size. "Thank you for saving her."

Cerberus nodded. "I just wish I could have done more."

"You can," I said. "You can help us track the vampires in New Orleans."

My mom leaned over Sienna. "Mind if I check your eyes?"

Sienna nodded and looked up at Josephine. She placed her thumb under Sienna's left eyebrow and shone her phone light into it, then did the same thing with her right.

"It doesn't look like you're a vampire," my mom said. "You don't have any idea why they wanted your blood?"

Sienna shook her head. "I'm sorry. I was scared, and they were careful not to say much."

"Apart from the blood loss and lightheadedness, do you feel normal?"

"I'm pretty weak. How long was I out?"

"A few weeks," I replied. "Do you remember anything?"

"Not really," Sienna said. "I had flashes. A lot of beer. For some reason, I dreamed about a party."

I chuckled. "Your soul was in my brother's scythe. You must've seen some of what he was doing."

Sienna nodded. "I'm sorry. All this is strange. Vampires and...your brother. You...what are you, exactly?"

"We're Reapers. Sort of. I mean, my brother is."

"I'm Josephine. I'm Zoey's mom."

"So, you're a Reaper, too?" Sienna asked.

"That would be my father," I said. "Josephine is human. It's a long story. I know it's a lot to take in, but I'll answer any questions you have after we save my brother."

"So, you reap people's souls?" Sienna asked.

"I'm different. I only reap vampires and other supernaturals."

"Other supernaturals?"

"Like werewolves." I shrugged. "This is all new to me, too."

"I'll go with you. I want to help."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Josephine replied. "Even if you weren't weak right now, we're facing vampires, Sienna."

"But we can't just leave her here, either. And we can't leave Cerberus with her. We need him."

"It's okay," Sienna told us. "I don't know how I know this, but I'm pretty sure they can't hurt me. The bald vampire warned the others not to bite me."

My mom pressed her lips together. "I wonder if you have antibodies of some kind? They were trying to change you into a vampire when we saved you before. Extracting your soul while your body healed was the only way we could prevent you from turning. Your body might have developed resistance to the vampire virus."

Sienna snorted. "I don't know. But he seemed to think I was the key to something important. I'm pretty sure they want to use that other boy, the one who woke me up, to try to duplicate whatever he did to me."

My mom furrowed her brow. "It's curious. I'm not sure why the vampires would be excited about antibodies to vampirism unless they're trying to come up with a cure. But that isn't likely. I've never met a vampire who had the slightest desire to become human again."

"There's only one way to find out," I offered. "We have to find Morty and break Vincent's compulsion over him."

"There's only one way you can do that, Zoey. We’d have to kill Vincent."

I smiled. "Well, that's convenient. I was planning to do that already."

CHAPTER TWENTY

My mom led Sienna to the ‘Vette. We figured, given her condition, riding an hour on the back of a motorcycle wasn't recommended. Cerberus ran beside me, occasionally appearing to let me know he was still there. Sometimes he ran through the astral plane. Other times, when he was up for the heat, he ran through Hades. Either plane allowed him to move at my speed.

Riding a Harley had a different feel than a sports bike. On my father's bike, I was a little more laid back. On my motorcycle, no matter how fast I was going, it was like I was racing. If you ride a Harley, you're more likely to be the kind of person who shows up to a fight and confronts your opponent straight-up. If you ride a sports bike, what they sometimes call a crotch rocket, you're more of a lurks in the shadows sort who attacks like a ninja and disappears with little bravado.

Both styles appealed to my personality. Without the use of my cloak, though, my usual ninja-like assault was off the table. I'd have to handle this fight the Harley Davidson way. Especially since, for whatever reason, my father never showed up.

Now that we knew we had no option to free Morty but to kill Vincent, though, the idea of sneaking in and grabbing my brother and pulling him back to the underworld wasn't tenable. Did Vincent’s compulsion work across dimensions? No clue. Bringing Morty back to the underworld, still under his influence, might be disastrous. This was only going to end one way—with Vincent’s soul sliced out of his body courtesy of my scythe.

The French Quarter was as busy as ever. It was a Saturday night. I imagined it was pretty crazy there even during the week, though. We parked near Jackson Square.

Sienna looked a lot better as she got out of the car. She was munching on a cookie. My mom must've gotten her some food when we fueled up before leaving Baton Rouge.

Sienna looked around as my mom locked the ‘Vette. "Wow, this place is really cool."

I smiled. "Yeah, the architecture is unique."

"Is Cerberus here?" Josephine asked.

I nodded. "Cerberus, mind making an appearance?"

The hellhound materialized out of the astral plane. He looked like a large dog—nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, if he allowed one of his other heads to pop out, he'd garner a few stares. Even that might not be enough to shock the revelers who populated the French Quarter.

It was late, so sobriety was scarce. Some were tourists. Wearing Mardi Gras beads when it wasn't the season for it suggested as much. There were plenty of street entertainers. Musicians. Fortune tellers. People in body paint attempting to hold a static pose as if they were a statue. Of course, there were buckets and open instrument cases set out with spare change and dollar bills inside.

"Cerberus, can you pick up Morty's scent?"

Cerberus huffed. "There are a lot of people here. It's not easy. Maybe if we get close to wherever he is, if he's even here, I'll be able to identify his location."

"Any vampires?" my mom asked.

"Too many," Cerberus said. "It's the same problem. Trying to identify Vincent amid so many won't be easy."

My chest tightened. "How many is too many?"

"Dozens of them. This place is swarming with bloodsuckers."

"We might need to wait until sunrise," my mom offered. "Even if we can locate Vincent, he'll be a lot harder to catch if he can run. He'll have to take shelter somewhere once the sun is up."

I nodded. "Then we need to use this time to gather intelligence. Reconnaissance is one of several necessary steps for a successful reaping."

"It's also important for any vampire hunt," my mom replied. "One thing about vampires, they're creatures of habit. Usually, I'll spend weeks monitoring a vampire's activities before I make a move."

"We don't have that luxury right now. Not to mention, if they have an alpha werewolf working with them, there's a chance he'll identify my scent. I don't know if he can do that when he hasn’t shifted, but it's a possibility. Once they realize we're here, any element of surprise we might have will be lost."

"I'd guess they're preparing for us anyway. They have your brother. They know Sienna is with us. They'll expect us to come for him."

"If Cerberus can't identify them, as long as we mingle with the crowd, if their werewolf ally can sense you, presumably he'll have the same problem. The best thing we can do is act like tourists and do our best to blend in."

We tried to act like tourists. We grabbed drinks. My mom got one of those spiked fruit-flavored seltzers. Since Sienna was underage and still recovering from blood loss, she got a Coke. I just had water. Nerves and carbonation don't mix well for me.

It wasn't that I was anxious, per se. I was worried about Morty and concerned about what the vampires were up to. I was hyperalert, expecting that a vampire would jump out at us. I needed to be ready.

I nodded and smiled at a man who was playing drums on buckets, using a shopping cart like a hi-hat. He grinned back at me. I felt obligated. I reached into my pocket, retrieved a dollar bill, and tossed it into a bucket designated for that purpose.

I had to hand it to him. He was good. I soon regretted it, though, because I didn't have another dollar, and the saxophone player who was swaying his hips to something jazzy deserved one just as much.

The air was scented by a unique blend of Cajun cooking, booze, cigarettes, and weed. Depending on where we were, different odors predominated. No wonder Cerberus was so confused. His snout darted back and forth as he sniffed the air. He'd said there were a lot of vampires out and about. It was strange to think about that. Given the dim lighting and the density of the crowd, I didn't see any I could easily identify.

A tall man, handsome, black skin, and a bald head, stumbled toward me through the crowd.

I raised an eyebrow. He was probably going to flirt with me. "Can I help you?"

The man showed me his phone. "What are these things? Do you know? I've been asking everyone."

I looked at the picture. He'd captured an image of little horseheads on poles.

"Horseheads on poles," I explained helpfully.

"Yeah, I know. But they're everywhere down here. I don't get it! What's up with the horses?"

I snorted. "I'm a tourist too. You're better off asking someone else."

"Let me look," my mom said.

The man showed her his phone. "Ah, I know what these are."

"Seriously? I've asked everyone! What the hell are they for?"

"For tying up your horse," my mom told him. "These streets are narrow. The buildings have been here a while. People used to ride horses here. Those horse heads are relics from a bygone era."

The man smiled, flashing his white teeth. I could smell booze on his breath. "Thank you! You made my day!"

I chuckled. "How'd you know that, Mom?"

My mom shrugged. "I don't know much about the vampire community here, but I've been here for a few Mardi Gras parades. A tour guide explained what those horses were for."

I looked around. Sure enough, there was a small box with several horse heads sticking up not twenty feet down the sidewalk. "Funny, I didn't even notice those."

Sienna elbowed me in the side. I turned. "What is it?"

"Is that woman staring at us?"

I followed Sienna's gaze to a woman sitting at a table in a narrow alley between two buildings. Her eyes were wide. Her hair was frizzed. She wore a plain white dress and was barefoot.

"Who are you looking at?" my mom asked.

"That woman at the table. I think she's a fortune teller."

My mom tilted her head. "I don't see anyone."

"Right there!" Sienna said, pointing at the woman.

My mom snorted. "I don't see anyone."

"Cerberus?” I asked. "Do you see the woman we're talking about?"

Cerberus pawed my leg. He wasn't talking now that we were in a crowd. His gesture signified that he saw her, too.

"You seriously don't see her?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I see an empty table and a few chairs. That's it."

The woman waved at us and gestured at the chairs in front of her.

I exchanged glances with Sienna, then shrugged. "Might as well talk to her."

"Be careful," my mom cautioned. "If you can see someone I can't, she probably isn't human."

"Why can I see her if you can't?" Sienna asked.

My mom sighed. "I don't know."

"Come on," I urged. "We won't know unless we talk to her."

"Come here, children," the woman requested.

I cocked my head. "We aren't children, but all right."

"Take a seat, both of you."

I bit my lip, then pulled the chair out and sat down. Sienna did the same.

"I haven't seen one of your kind in some time." The woman looked at me. "And you, child! You're something new. Something else."

"Something else?" Sienna asked.

"You're like something I know well, but you're different, aren't you?"

"What do you know about her?" I asked.

The woman chuckled. "Only that she's unique, child."

"Who are you?" Sienna asked.

"My name does not matter. I was a mambo once. A caplata."

I narrowed my eyes. "I don’t know what you're talking about."

"Never mind, dear. What I was is not the same as what I am."

I snorted. "We're looking for someone. Someone like me."

"A Reaper, then?" the woman asked.

I nodded. "How did you know?"

"I know many things, dear girl. I also see that you are different from the others. Your very existence is a threat to the balance, is it not?"

I cleared my throat. "I should hope not. I mean, the balance is a good thing, right?"

The woman shrugged. "That depends on your perspective."

"You said before that you haven't seen one such as me in some time. That means my brother, the one I'm looking for, hasn't been here?"

"I said I haven't seen one such as you in some time. You’re not a common Reaper, dear."

"So, have you seen Morty?" Sienna asked.

The woman chuckled. "I have seen him, and I shall again. I see all things."

I scratched the top of one hand. "Would you clarify what that means? Are you saying Morty is here now?"

"What is now? When is then? To me, there is always the evermore."

"Are you a ghost?" I asked.

"Of a kind. Also, a seer. An oracle, if you like. But you are not wrong, I suppose. I was human once. I evaded one of your kind, or I should say, one of the common Reapers who came for me at the end of my former life."

"So, you're a wandering soul?"

"No, dear. I do not wander. I remain here, there, and everywhere."

I glanced at Sienna, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "I'm still not sure I follow."

"Past, present, and future remain a stubbornly persistent illusion. What is, shall be. What shall be, has always been."

"You said I'm something else. What are you talking about?" Sienna asked.

"We are kin, child. You are more like me than those who walk the Earth."

"Are you saying she's dead?" I asked.

The woman laughed. "What is dead? Some would think I am dead, but do dead women speak?"

"But I am alive," Sienna protested. "I have a body. People see me."

"They do," the mambo agreed. "But your spirit is not unlike mine. Your flesh remains...similar to those who dwell in the world. Similar, but not the same. Alike, but different."

"Is she a vampire?" I asked.

"She is what she is. I cannot say she is. I cannot say she is not."

"So, I'm still human?" Sienna asked.

"Even as I am, or we all are. But you are more. I cannot commit to a label, child."

"We're looking for a vampire named Vincent. He has my brother. Can you help us find him?"

"The light will reveal the truth, dear. This was not why I bade you come to me."

"Then what did you want to tell us?" I asked.

"I wish to warn you, dear. There are others, some who would do you ill. Be careful with whom you speak here. Not everyone who seems to be your friend wishes you well."

"I know that. There are vampires here."

The woman nodded. "And others."

"What others?" I asked.

"I cannot say." the mambo opened her palms and laid them on the table.

I reached to put my hands in hers. She yanked them away. "Do not touch me! You mustn't!"

"Sorry, I thought..."

"Do not think! Listen only!"

I put my hands back in my lap. The woman replaced her open hands on the table, closed her eyes, and gasped.

"You must leave."

"Leave?" I asked. "Leave you, or leave this city?"

"You must go to where all began. That is where you will find what you seek."

"Where what began?" I asked.

"To the place where you first realized your truth, child."

"When I first invoked my scythe?"

The woman smiled at me. "Perhaps."

I grunted. "Well, thank you for the warning."

"Go with haste!" the mambo shouted.

I scooted my chair out. When I did, my leg slipped forward, and my calf brushed the mambo's foot.

A sharp pain settled in my leg. I winced.

"I told you not to touch me!" the mambo screamed.

"Leave now! Go! The balance of all things is at stake!"

I jumped back, and my wounded leg buckled under me. I caught myself. My leg was fine, but the pain! It was as if I'd been shocked by electricity when her foot brushed my leg.

Sienna stood up, too.

I looked back at the mambo. She was gone.

"What was that about?" my mom asked.

"I'm not sure. I think we're supposed to go back to Kansas City."

"Was it a ghost?" my mom asked.

I nodded. "And something more. I don't know. But she said what we seek can only be found where it began. Where I first realized I was a Reaper after all."

"To Vlad's mansion?" my mom asked.

I sighed. "I think so, but she wasn't clear."

Cerberus pawed my leg. I winced. He’d hit the spot the woman had wounded.

"Come," Cerberus said. "I have his scent."

"Morty's?" I asked.

Cerberus shook his head. "It's Vincent. He's not far from here."

"What do we do?" Sienna asked. "Do we ignore this crazy spirit lady, or do we leave and go back to Kansas City?"

I shook my head. "We'll do what she said. But can we trust her?"

"I wouldn't believe what a random spirit told you," my mom said. "And what happened to your leg?"

I bent over and pulled up my left pant leg. A bruise had appeared on my calf. "I don't know. She touched me. I mean, I touched her by accident. It hurts like hell."

"We know Vincent is here," my mom continued. "I say we investigate that first. If Morty isn't with him, I will call Kevin. He can check out that mansion for us. If Morty is there, we'll leave."

I nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"But what if we're wrong?" Sienna protested. "The mambo said we should leave in haste."

"If she's wrong, if Morty is here with Vincent, we can't leave until we know for sure."

"I agree," my mom interjected. "We can't trust what some ghost told you. She might have her own agenda. I haven't encountered a lot of spirits. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen one. What I do know, though, is that those who manifest usually have a reason to do so. And if touching the mambo hurt you like that, she must consist of some kind of negative energy."

"You're suggesting she is misleading us?" I asked.

My mom bit her lip. "What I'm saying is we should consider that as likely as the notion that she meant well. It would be foolish to take the spirit at her word."

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

My mom texted Kevin. He was probably asleep. He'd barely arrived. Still, we needed him to check out Vlad's old mansion as soon as possible. There wasn't any guarantee that Morty was there. It would have been quite a feat for the vampires to move him so fast. Still, it was a stone we had to overturn.

If there was any activity there, it would confirm that the ghost mambo wasn't off her rocker. At least, presuming I’d understood her correctly. I was supposed to go to the place where I realized my truth. It was where my scythe manifested the first time. What else could she have meant?

I glanced across the street. The man who'd asked us about the horseheads before was staring at a set of them, shaking his head with a wide grin on his face. He looked up as I was watching and waved.

I grinned and waved back. He knelt beside the horses, held out his phone, and took a selfie. He was proud that he'd managed to track down the answer to his horsehead mystery.

"Some people are easily entertained." Sienna chuckled.

I nodded. "I wish our situation was that simple. It seems like the more we look, the more complicated this situation becomes. Are you okay?"

"Sure," Sienna replied gamely. "I'm feeling a little better. The world isn't spinning around me anymore, at least."

I smiled. "That's good. I meant after what that mambo told you."

Sienna shrugged. "She was talking in riddles. I mostly feel like myself. I don't think anything profound about who I am changed."

I put an arm around her. "Well, if anything feels off, say something. I don’t want to see anything happen to you."

Sienna averted her eyes. "I should thank you, I think. I mean, you’ve saved my life more than once."

I chuckled. "I owed you. How many times have you covered for me at Cup-O-Joe's? You've saved my job several times over."

Sienna chuckled. "Saving someone's job and saving their life isn't equal. I don't think I'll ever be able to pay you back. You risked your life for me. I'm not sure I understand everything, but it sounds like your brother risked a lot, too, by helping me."

"Was that why you wanted to come along? To help save him?"

Sienna nodded. "That's part of it. I also didn't want to be left alone in a strange city."

"Cerberus, still have the vampire's scent?"

Cerberus huffed and pawed my leg. Usually, that meant yes. This time, though, he shook his head. I ducked back into the alley where we’d met the spirit lady. "What's up?"

"I lost his scent. He was near when you were talking to that ghost, then he vanished and blended into the crowd."

I sighed. "So, he knows we're here."

"I think so. I'll keep trying. At least we know he's nearby."

My mom pocketed her phone. "No response. I'm guessing he's sleeping."

I nodded. "Cerberus lost the scent, but we know he's here. And, well, Vincent knows we are, too."

My mom shook her head. "This is going to get complicated."

"Maybe. Look, even if Morty isn't here, if we kill Vincent, it will break the compulsion he's using on him, right?"

"Presuming he's the one that's doing it. I've only encountered this ability in a vampire once before. Still, I don't know when abilities like that come in. Maybe it has to do with age. If that's the case, Katerina can likely do the same thing."

"We know Vincent can do it. Worst-case scenario, we take care of a nasty vampire. And if we capture him and get him to talk, he probably knows where Morty is."

"I guess it's back to Square One. Maybe, if we're lucky, the vampire will turn up again."

We walked up and down Bourbon Street. All kinds of nonsense was going on around us. Since Vincent almost certainly knew we were there, we didn't have to try to blend in.

The weird horsehead guy was still indulging his obsession. It seemed like everywhere we went, he was there, checking out more horseheads and getting more pictures of himself with them.

"Do you think he's following us?" Sienna asked.

"He definitely is," my mom replied. "He's probably attracted to one of you."

Sienna snorted. "He's cute, but I don't do weird."

My mom laughed. "All guys are weird if you know them long enough."

I grinned. "I think that's common to all people. But if everyone is weird, does that make him strange?"

"It does," Sienna said. "Because people are different kinds of weird. This horsehead wanderer isn't quite right."

My mom shrugged. "Or the horsehead thing is an excuse to follow us around."

"Which is weird!" Sienna said. "If he digs me or Zoey, he should just say something."

"Who is to say he isn't into me?" my mom asked. "I'm hot."

“For an old person.” I chuckled.

"I’m not that old, Zoey! I'm in my forties."

"That's old!" Sienna and I replied in unison.

We laughed about it for a good fifteen seconds before Cerberus tugged my pant leg again and barked.

"Do you smell the vampire?" I asked.

Cerberus nodded and took off through the crowd. We pushed behind him. Every step felt like a hammer strike to my calf. I tried to focus past the pain. There wasn't anything wrong with my leg. It was a bad bruise, or that was what it felt like. I didn't have any reason to suspect it was worse than that, and thankfully, the pain was localized and wasn’t spreading.

I clenched my fist in an effort to take my focus off my calf. Cerberus was moving faster than we could. As a dog, he could weave between the people in the Quarter a lot easier than we could.

"I'm not going to lose him." I took off my backpack. "Plus, if I'm in the astral plane, this damn bruise shouldn't slow me down."

"Zoey, I don't know if that's a good idea."

"If anyone sees anything, they'll just do a double-take. I'm not letting Vincent get away, and if that mambo ghost was right, we shouldn't linger here any longer than necessary."

"We'll follow Cerberus and catch up," Sienna told me.

My mom shook her head. Before she could respond, I tossed my cloak over my head, lifted my hood, and entered the astral plane.

The pain in my leg disappeared. I wasn't sure why since I still had my body, but I wasn't going to question it. I accelerated through the crowd. Pressing through people was awkward, but I could do it. It just took focus. I fixed my eyes on Cerberus's backside as he ran. He couldn't disappear like I did since he was following Vincent's scent. Still, he was moving with purpose. The crowd only slowed him down a little. A few people looked at him in shock as he pushed past them. He was intimidating, even at his normal size.

Cerberus turned down an alley and disappeared.

Why the hell did he do that?

It became clear straight away. The pain in my calf returned. Three vampires stood holding miniature versions of the blacklight lamps that had dispelled my cloak's enchantments before.

Vincent stood there, his fangs glistening in the lamps’ light.

"There you are!" Vincent greeted.

"Where's my brother!" I shouted.

"Oh, come now, Miss Grimm. Why don't we go for a walk? Take off your cloak, if you don't mind. That way, my colleagues here can stop shining those damn lamps.

"Who gave you those things?" I asked. "I know their power comes from the underworld."

Vincent laughed. "I'll just say we've learned a lot in the last few weeks, Miss Grimm. The existence of your kind had given us a reason to change our plans. We have a much better strategy than before, I'd say."

"Who is helping you?" I asked. "You must have a Reaper feeding you information."

Vincent laughed. "You'll find out soon, Miss Grimm. The Reapers have reason to assist us, and I daresay, your interference is an unnecessary complication."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why would a Reaper help vampires?"

"Like I said, Miss Grimm, remove your cloak. Let’s go find a place more...public, where we can speak."

"Wouldn't it be better to talk in private?"

"And risk you calling forth your scythe? Follow me, Miss Grimm. I find it unlikely that you'd want to expose who you really are to the whole French Quarter."

I shrugged. "There's enough weirdness going on that I could probably get away with it."

"Trust me, Miss Grimm. Many here are far more insidious than my kind, and they are watching you. You don't want to expose your talents to them."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

Vincent laughed. "Why do you suppose creatures like us, or even werewolves, are immortal?"

"I don't know. Maybe so you'd have to live with your guilt without the reprieve of death?"

"Nice theory, but no. The truth is you and I are more alike than you realize. We vampires are not unlike Reapers. We have human bodies, but there is a spirit in us, a divinity that never dies."

"You're saying that you're gods?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As are you, Miss Grimm. But your kind, the Reapers, devoted yourselves to a task that is undoubtedly beneath them. Why should you care what happens to mortal souls? Why do you do the bidding of the gods and deliver the dead to the boatman?"

"It's what we do," I countered. "It's important. It's the only way people can rest in peace."

"So, you admit you've devoted yourselves to the subservience of humanity. You exist for the sole purpose of ensuring that mortal souls don't linger here. That they move on. It's pitiful, Miss Grimm."

I shook my head. "I don't see it that way."

"The biggest difference between a Reaper and a vampire is that we refuse to be ruled by anyone. We embrace what we are. We are the rightful heirs of this world. Some of your kind have started to see the light. They refuse to fulfill the whims of the gods who've abandoned this world. Instead, they've chosen to join us in our effort to claim it as our own."

I shook my head. "You're controlling my brother with your abilities. He wouldn't help you if you didn't make him."

Vincent laughed. "A temporary measure, Miss Grimm. Once he's heard our plan and agrees to join us, I'll no longer have any reason to manipulate his will. Many Reapers have joined us. You could, too."

I shook my head. "I'm not a common Reaper, Vincent. You know that."

"Have you ever considered that what separates you from other Reapers isn't that you reap what you call supernaturals rather than humans. It's that you harvest any who possess divinity. It is because we are immortal like gods that you can eliminate us."

"What's your point, Vincent?"

"When we take over, other divines might threaten us. You could be the enforcer for our new world order. You could prevent the gods from taking out their wrath on the Earth."

"They'd stop you! Why wouldn't I just let them do that?"

"The gods are not patient beings, Miss Grimm. If they are forced to come to Earth, do you really think they'll come to save humanity? They don't care about mortals. They'll destroy everyone, human, vampire, and Reaper alike."

I huffed. "I don't believe you."

"Believe it or not, Miss Grimm, it is the truth. The only way for you to protect humanity is to fight with us. We are not the gravest threat to the human race. We require them for sustenance. We will care for the world, probably better than humans do. But if we don't have your help, there's no telling what the gods might do."

"And you’ve told this bullshit story to other Reapers? They've bought into it?"

Vincent smiled, flashing his fangs. “We have those we require.”

“What are you doing with Morty?”

“Wait until the sun rises, Miss Grimm, and you’ll see the truth.”

I shrugged. “I don’t want to wait. Tell me.”

Vincent turned to leave. “I’m not telling you a thing.”

“Then tell me where my brother is.”

Vincent laughed. “Why would I do that, Miss Grimm?”

“Because I told you to, asshole!” I touched the sigil on my wrist. My staff and scythe formed in my hand.

“You really want to make a scene here? I told you, Miss Grimm, there are others, beings more powerful than I, watching you at this very moment.”

“I’ll take my chances. At least you’ll be gone, and your influence over Morty will be broken.”

Vincent shook his head. “Killing me will accomplish nothing for you, Miss Grimm. But if you do, expect not only the rest of my kind to turn against you. You might find that some of your own, those who’ve allied with Katerina, will turn against you and your father.”

“What do you know about my father?” I asked.

“Do you think it’s a coincidence that his authority is being called into question? Do you really think the gods cared enough about a few stray souls being reaped too soon that they’d threaten his order?”

“The Reapers who are working with you and Katerina. They’re putting pressure on my dad so you have leverage over me? Is that what this is? You’re blackmailing me by threatening my father’s authority in the underworld?”

“Why don’t you put away your stick, Miss Grimm? It is not too late to spare yourself, your father’s position, and the rest of this world from the destruction that might follow if you choose to act the fool.”

“Fuck you, Vincent!” I shouted, swiping at him with my scythe.

Vincent ducked. Damn, he was fast.

Another vampire grabbed me from behind for a second, then his grip loosened. I turned to see my mother plunge the stake in her hand into the vampire’s back. I wanted to crack a joke about how he took it from behind, but Vincent was on my opposite side.

Except he was running away. Until he wasn’t.

Cerberus appeared in the middle of the street, almost two stories tall. People started screaming. They didn’t realize that my giant terrifying hellhound was a good guy who was trying to stop a vampire.

I didn’t know how much of what Vincent had said was true. The only thing I knew for sure was that as long as he was alive, he could control Morty. If my brother wasn’t yet compromised, if the vampires hadn’t deceived him with their lies, we had a chance.

Cerberus grabbed Vincent with his jaws, and with a hard lash of his neck, threw the vampire in my direction.

I gripped my scythe with both hands like a baseball bat and swung. The second my blade struck Vincent, he fell to the ground, and his body turned into a cloud of ash. His soul blasted out like fireworks.

“Home run!” Sienna cheered from the sidewalk.

“Where are the other two?” I asked.

“They got away,” my mom told me. “But between us, we took down two, including Vincent.”

I nodded. “But we might have a bigger problem on our hands now.”

The screams weren’t as loud as they had been. Most of the people had fled the area. Cerberus had returned to his normal size.

Then, I saw the crazy horsehead guy staring at us and grinning. He held his phone in the air and waved it at us. Had he recorded everything? That wouldn’t be good.

I ran toward him. As I approached, he turned his head over his shoulder, smirked, and snapped his fingers. A cloud of smoke formed at his feet. When it dissipated, he was gone.

“Who the hell was that guy?” I asked.

My mom shook her head. “I don’t know, but I think he wasn’t as fascinated by the horseheads as he seemed.”

I sighed. “He was watching us. That ghost, the mambo we were talking to before? She said there were others here who might wish to see us harmed. Vincent also said we were being watched. That if I dared show myself, I’d have bigger problems than vampires. I hope he wasn’t right.”

“What kind of problems? Do you know what he was talking about?”

I shrugged. “He said something about how Reapers were joining the vampire, and if I didn’t join them too, we’d likely face the wrath of the gods.”

“Seriously?” Sienna asked. “The gods?”

I nodded. "I don't know how much of what Vincent said is true, but he did know a lot about what was going on in the underworld. He said that it was because of the vampires and the Reapers who'd allied themselves with them that my father's position was being scrutinized."

Josephine shook her head. "Vampires are nothing if not liars. We did the right thing, Zoey."

I sighed. "I sure hope so. This whole thing—the mambo, the horse wanderer, and now revealing ourselves to the entire French Quarter—has me on edge."

Sirens blared in the distance.

Sienna chuckled. "Someone must've called the cops. Told them Clifford was attacking the French Quarter."

My mom laughed.

I cocked my head. "Clifford?"

"The big red dog!" Sienna explained.

"I don't get it. Cerberus is black."

Mom chuckled. "Still, he's big. It was funny, Zoey."

"Well, getting arrested for unleashing our big black dog on Bourbon Street won’t be."

My mom sighed. "They have leash laws for a reason."

"Hey!" Cerberus called. "I won't be leashed. Not having it!"

I smiled. "Then we'd better get the hell out of here before the cops show up."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Kevin texted back to my mom. There was some vampire activity at Vlad's old mansion back in Kansas City, but he couldn't confirm if Katerina was there. It was a place to start.

Also, given the scene we caused in the French Quarter, with several ominous warnings looming from various sources, and Vincent no longer a threat, we figured it was best to skip town.

I was eager to get back home. I missed my bed. More than that, there wasn't a clear "next step" to take in New Orleans. I can't say that with Vincent gone another vampire wouldn't take his place, or there weren't other issues afoot, but rescuing Morty was the top priority.

Also, if we got back to Kansas City, I could finally go visit my dad and find out why the hell he never showed up. Did Gabriel give him the message? Were the problems he was facing bigger than all this? When I saw Gabriel, before, it was before we knew Morty was kidnapped by vampires. Surely if he knew that his son was in danger, he'd come. Not to mention, I wanted to run by him everything Vincent said. Could it be true? Were Reapers, as semi-divines, really allying with vampires? If that was the case, it suggested some kind of major war between the Reapers and the gods was brewing. If Reapers were defecting from the underworld and helping vampires, it couldn't be good for the audit my father was enduring. Losing a few souls in the reaping process was one thing. Losing Reapers was another matter altogether. I'd never heard of anything like that ever happening. Of course, until recently, I didn't know that vampires were real.

My mom had to take care of a couple of things, like returning the rental car and arranging for my wrecked bike to get hauled back to Kansas City. Sienna and I decided to get a head start before sunrise.

The sooner we got back, the sooner I could get in touch with my father and Kevin and come up with a plan. While we did that, it would give my mom a chance to catch up.

Sienna held on around my waist as we headed north on the highway. The sun hadn't quite cracked the horizon to the east. I don't know if I'd ever ridden so early in the morning when I wasn't in the city, going to work. Out in the open, with fields all around and morning dew moistening the edges of the highway, there was a freshness to the air. It was invigorating. I needed that. My days and nights were getting turned around. The nap I’d taken the day before wasn't enough. Energy drinks, or those five-hour get-up shots, were likely in my future.

I had my hair tied up. I didn't always. I figured the last thing Sienna wanted was to be lashed in the face by my chocolate locks.

The first glare of sunlight struck my right eye, then something yanked my head back. Sienna tightened her grip around my waist, and I felt a sharp pain in the side of my neck.

I skidded the bike to a halt, grabbed Sienna from behind my back, and flung her over the handlebars.

"Sienna, what the hell!"

She stood up and stared at me, her mouth agape. Her long fangs caught the morning light. Her eyes weren't dark like most vampires but had a golden hue to them.

She charged at me, snarling.

I parried to the side and caught her in an arm bar.

"Sienna! Snap out of it!"

She flailed, trying to get free of my grip. It took all my strength to hold on to her. She elbowed me in the gut.

It was enough for her to break free.

She came after me, and this time, I kicked her in the chest, knocking her flat on her back.

The light would reveal the truth...

That was what that mambo ghost had said. Vincent had alluded to something similar. Was this what they’d meant? Her body had been partially healed when her soul was restored. Did that mean she became a vampire, now, only during the day?

Sienna jumped up and came at me again, but I stepped aside. She flew onto the highway, and a semi-truck closed in on her.

"Damn it!" I shouted and ran after her, grabbing her behind the arms and dragging her off to the side of the road as the truck honked at us. Sienna struggled to nip my arms.

This was why the vampires were using Reapers. It's why they were so excited when they drew Sienna's blood and tested it. They were making...daywalkers.

That was the best name I could come up with in the heat of the moment.

"Sienna! Don't make me do this!"

Sienna stared at me, her fangs still visible. "I need to feed!"

"Look at me! It's Zoey. Your friend. You don't want to bite me!"

I rubbed my neck. One bite, from what I knew, wouldn't be enough to turn me. It still burned as if someone had doused the wound with jalapeno juice.

With a loud bark, Cerberus appeared beside Sienna. "Try your cloak!"

Cerberus jumped on Sienna and held her down. I unzipped my backpack and retrieved my reaper cloak. Would it even work on her? She wasn't a Reaper. I forced it over her head and pulled up the hood.

Sienna relaxed. Cerberus let her go.

I could still see her. As a Reaper, I could always see other Reapers. It didn't matter if I was wearing my cloak. She was probably invisible to anyone else. I took a deep breath.

Sienna raised her head, her face partially obscured by the hood. "Oh, my God! Zoey! I'm so sorry!"

I exhaled. "Thank God that worked."

Cerberus strutted around us. "Yep, yep. I saved the day. Who's your hero?"

I laughed. "You are, Cerberus."

Sienna giggled. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to a talking dog."

"I'm just glad you're back to yourself. It seems that sunlight triggers your vampirism. It's almost like whatever happened to you when Morty returned your soul made you a reverse vampire. A daywalker.”

"Daywalker?" Sienna asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "It's the first thing that came to mind."

Sienna shook her head. "Will I ever be able to go out in the sun again? I mean, without turning into...you know..."

"I don't know. We'll try to find a solution. We still need to get back. You'll have to wear the cloak until we can come up with another way to deal with this."

"How does this thing work?" Sienna asked.

"It puts you into the astral plane," Cerberus explained. "It might feel like you're on Earth, but there's no sunlight where you are."

I grinned. "That was quick thinking, Cerberus. Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Cerberus piped back. "I know I'm brilliant."

Sienna bent down and patted Cerberus on the side. "You're my hero, buddy."

I smirked. "What about me?"

"Oh, you too, Zoey. But he gets the praise at the moment. If you'd like, I will give you a treat later."

I laughed. "That's okay. I know this is a lot to get our minds around, but we really need to get back on the road."

I climbed onto my father's bike. Sienna started to climb on behind me.

"Hold on," Cerberus called. "You're wearing a cloak, you know. You could just run with me."

"Run with you?" Sienna asked.

"In the astral plane!" Cerberus clarified.

"He's right," I added. "You can move a lot faster that way, but it does take some practice."

"I say we give it a shot," Sienna agreed. "If I'm going to have to wear this thing during the day, it's probably a good idea that I learn how to use it."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

We made it back to Kansas City without incident. It took Sienna a little time to figure things out. Cerberus helped her. I couldn't always see him. I could see Sienna. I couldn't imagine how awkward this must've been for her. She had gone from being a barista who was trying to save up tuition money to a day-walking vampire in a matter of weeks. Her world had been turned upside down.

Coming from the underworld, I hadn’t been shocked to learn about vampires and werewolves. I had known about them from fiction and film. As a mythic being, raised with an awareness of the paranormal and supernatural, it was interesting rather than upsetting when I discovered something new.

Sienna had never encountered anything supernatural her entire life. She had been a normal, good-hearted girl with the hopes and dreams anyone her age might have. Now, she was something new. She was unique. I couldn't guarantee there weren't other daywalkers like her. There probably were. That was the plan or part of it.

I wasn't sure if my theory about the vampires trying to save the world from werewolves was true. It still could have been, but this was a central part of their agenda. If vampires were vulnerable during the day, claiming control over the world would be difficult if not impossible. If some of them could walk in the sun, though, they'd minimize their primary disadvantage.

It struck me that this was my doing. I had exposed myself to the vampires. I’d brought my Dad and Morty along to rescue Sienna. We had originally extracted Sienna's soul. The vampires saw me as a threat, but I'd also given them an opportunity, and they'd seized on it before my mom, Kevin, or I got wise to it.

When the world gives you lemons, they say you should make lemonade. When a Reaper comes after vampires, well, I guess they squeezed that threat into something a lot sweeter, from their perspective. How many Reapers had they convinced to join them? It wouldn't take many. It must not have been a large number, or they wouldn't have needed Morty.

The vampires also took advantage of me being out of town. The werewolves and even Vincent and his antics had largely been meant to distract me. They didn't want me to go home, not until they had the numbers that gave them confidence that they could handle me. Or until they had enough leverage to blackmail me.

They'd probably use Morty for that purpose, too. If they couldn't convince him to join them, could they bite him and turn him? They'd wanted to turn me. What would a Reaper become if turned? How would we be different from a run-of-the-mill vampire? I didn't know and didn't want to find out.

I parked my dad's Harley in my usual spot in front of my apartment.

"Holy crap, Zoey!" Sienna called as I dismounted the bike. "That was awesome!"

I grinned. "It is pretty cool, isn't it?"

"Hells, yeah!"

I chuckled. It was nice that Sienna had something to be excited about. It would distract her from everything else that had happened. At the same time, it wasn't like she could wear my cloak forever. There were still things she wouldn't be able to do. Going swimming, for example, or sunbathing, wouldn't be enjoyable while wearing a twenty-pound cloak. Still, we were holding her vampiric side at bay, at least for now.

"Let's go up to my apartment. I need to go see my dad. It shouldn't take long."

"Can I come with you? I mean, your dad's the Grim Reaper, right?"

I shook my head. "Technically, mortals can't go to the underworld."

Cerberus huffed. "She isn't a mortal anymore, Zoey. She'll be fine."

"See? Puppy Love said it would be fine."

"’Puppy Love?’" I asked.

"That's what she's been calling me," Cerberus said. "I hate it."

"Awe, come on!" Sienna protested. She was more chipper than she should have been, given her condition. "It's cute, right?"

"I'm not cute," Cerberus shot back. "I'm a hound of Hell. I'm supposed to be frightening."

Sienna giggled. "See, it's even cute when he thinks he's scary."

"He is scary," I said. "Didn't you see what he did in the French Quarter?"

Sienna shrugged. "Since he's on our side, it wasn't that frightening. Cool and badass, but not terrifying."

I grinned as I opened a door that led up a steep set of stairs to my apartment. Sienna and Cerberus followed me up the stairs and, after I unlocked the door, into my apartment.

"Don't we have anything to eat around here?" Cerberus asked. "I could really go for a slab of ribs."

I shook my head. "I have canned tuna."

"What do you take me for, a cat?"

Sienna giggled. "You don't have any dog food?"

"I'm not a dog! I don't eat that dried crap."

"They make wet dog food, you know," Sienna remarked.

Cerberus huffed. "Again, not a dog. Whatever. I'll eat later. Maybe when we go after those vampires, they'll have human lackeys working for them. People make for good eating."

Sienna's eyes widened. I'd never seen someone go from jovial to horrified so quickly.

"Yes, he eats people," I clarified.

Cerberus snorted. "Told you I'm not cute."

"But he's forbidden to. Even bad people. If he eats them with his Hell head, they'll go straight there."

"Damn!" Sienna exclaimed. "That's a rough way to go."

"They go down easy," Cerberus replied. "But when I eat them with that head, when their bodies come out the other end..."

"We don't want to know!" I tried in vain to stop Cerberus from continuing.

"It burns my butt hole," he added.

Sienna bit her lip. "Well, that's...delightful."

"I can send people to Hell. Tastes great, but I pay for it later."

Sienna shrugged. "So, it's like Taco Bell."

I rolled my eyes as I set up my crystal. I needed to place it on a pedestal and arrange it so it caught the sunlight. Artificial light worked too since refracted light is refracted light. Still, when I had sunlight, why not use it? When the light hit the crystal and divided according to the dictate of the crystal’s mystic structure, it formed a portal directly into my father's office.

I stepped through. Sienna and Cerberus followed. I did a quick check to make sure Sienna had made it in one piece. She was fine.

I turned back. My father was at his desk in a bathrobe with his bare feet kicked up and crossed on top of a disheveled stack of paperwork.

He jumped up. "Zoey! And...Sienna?"

Cerberus barked and ran to my dad. He opened my arms as Cerberus tackled him, sending the bottom half of my dad's bathrobe flying up.

"Oh, God!" I shielded my eyes.

Sienna took the hint and averted hers. "Well, that's not what I expected to see the first time I encountered the Grim Reaper."

My father chuckled and stood up, blushing as he straightened his robe. "Sorry about that. I wasn't expecting you. Sienna, how did you... Wait a second!"

"She's a vampire, Dad. Sort of."

"Sort of, yeah. I can see that. But she's different."

"Zoey calls me a daywalker," Sienna interjected.

My father raised an eyebrow. "A daywalker?"

"Sunlight brings out her vampiric qualities," I explained. "The cloak seems to protect her."

"I see." My father looked thoughtful. "How is Morty coming along?"

"Dad, didn't Gabriel come see you? I saw him on a reaping at a hospital in New Orleans. I told him to give you a message."

"He hasn't spoken to me. He's been taking double, sometimes triple, assignments. Perhaps he found himself overbooked. What's wrong with Morty, Zoey?"

"First, he went AWOL. Got wrapped up in the party scene, started ranting that he'd rather stay on Earth like me and didn't want to come back."

My father chuckled. "That boy's more like me than I'd care to admit. I had a similar experience the first time I went to Earth. Eventually, I came to my senses. He will, too. It's nothing to worry about, Zoey."

I shook my head. "Except after that, he went to check on Sienna. Well, a vampire got hold of him and used a compulsion on him to awaken her. Then the vampires took him."

My father's face, which was always pale, turned a ghastly white. "Where did they take him?"

"That's why we're here. We're not sure. We think they might have taken him back to Kansas City. They're using him, and apparently, other Reapers have defected to their cause. They are creating more daywalkers like Sienna."

"Reapers who’ve defected, you say?"

I nodded. "That's what one vampire told me just before I killed him."

My father shook his head. "I've had a number of Reapers, like Gabriel, requesting additional assignments. He's taken a bunch of level ones and twos under his wing."

"Dad, Gabriel wouldn't do that."

My father bit his lip. "Tell me, Zoey. What do you know about Gabriel's family?"

I shook my head. "Not much. I mean, he didn't talk about them a lot. They seemed nice."

"I mean his ancestry, Zoey."

"I don't know. I always figured that like any other family of Reapers, he had a history not unlike that of anyone else."

"Our family wasn't always in charge of the underworld, Zoey. Thousands of years ago, when the gods still inhabited Olympus in Greece and regularly traversed between worlds, the Grim Reaper was Gravius."

"Gravius Graves?" I asked.

My father nodded. "Reapers didn't use surnames back then. That's a recent development. Gabriel's last name is meant to pay homage to his ancestor, the last of his line to be the Grim Reaper."

"You think he's trying to take over the underworld?" I asked.

My father shook his head. "It wouldn't be the first time someone of his lineage has attempted to usurp our dynasty, Zoey."

I huffed. "I can't believe he'd do that. He's a good guy, Dad!"

"He is," my dad agreed. "But look at the facts. The underworld was going to pass to you eventually. At least, that was what everyone believed. If that were the case, you'd never be able to produce an heir of your own. You can’t carry a child to term in the underworld."

"You think he was dating me so he could angle for producing an heir for me?"

My father shrugged. "I don't know, but it made sense that he'd want to get close to you. I didn't think about it at the time. I figured you'd eventually need to find a way to produce an heir regardless, and that was as good a solution as any."

"But then I had to leave because I couldn't reap. Morty was supposed to take over."

"Which meant, I suppose, that his plan to reassert his family's claim over my throne was confounded."

"But, Dad, you're the one who allowed Morty to shadow him all this time. Why would you do that?"

My father shrugged. "What could he do? He was suited for the job. Besides, it's good to keep an eye on the Graves family.”

"You sent Morty to shadow him to spy on him?"

"Not exactly. I truly intended for Morty to learn from him. He is quite the accomplished Reaper, after all. He's taken the initiative to raise in rank since you left the underworld."

I clenched my fist. "So he could take over! He was the one who reported you to the gods, wasn’t he?"

"We don't know that," he warned. "It's just a theory, Zoey. I'm speculating right now. But you have to admit, if he received word that Morty was having second thoughts, he might have reason not to pass along that message to me."

"What about the vampires? A Reaper is helping the vampires. Do you think Gabriel has reason to do that, too?"

My father sat back and pinched his chin. "I cannot think of any reason he would do that."

"The vampire in New Orleans said Reapers and vampires are similar. We're both part-divine, part-human. He tried to say that, as Reapers, we are puppets of the gods, but the vampires are free. He suggested that some Reapers might find that appealing."

My father shook his head. "The ravings of a lunatic with an agenda. It's true; we do have that in common with vampires. It's why, I suppose, Sienna was able to come here."

"That’s what I said!" Cerberus piped up, hopping into my dad's lap.

"Good boy." He scratched the hellhound behind the ears.

"But you can't think of a good reason why Reapers would want to help the vampires?"

My dad sighed. "Not directly. But if Gabriel is with them, and this plan involves recruiting Morty to their cause, it wouldn't hurt if there were a few other Reapers who could convince him to go along with it. If your brother was complicit in the vampire's plans to create a new species of daywalkers, as you call them, it would call his judgment into question."

"And it would give the gods reason to appoint a different heir to the throne," I added.

My father nodded. "Again, this is my best guess, Zoey. That's all it is. Until we know for sure, we have to be careful. If we act against other Reapers without proof, it could raise additional concerns with the gods."

"The ones auditing you?" I asked.

My father nodded. "So far, they don't have anything on me that merits deposing our dynasty. Hell, they sent Dionysus of all the gods to conduct the audit, and he's spent as much time drinking on Gehenna Boulevard as he has examining my records.

“So far, it's like he's just doing due diligence so he can dismiss the concerns that were brought to the Olympians and leave again. But if he finds something solid like a Reaper working with vampires to create a new species of immortals, I don't think even Dionysus could ignore it.”

"Is this my fault?" Sienna asked. "I mean, it sounds like you guys risked everything to save me."

My dad shook his head. "Do not blame yourself. Had we been able to follow through with our plan, you would have become human again."

"But Morty is responsible for what I am. If what you're saying is true, if these gods or whatever find out I exist..."

"We must prove that Morty was acting under the compulsion of the vampire," my father replied. "But it's essential we get to him before he's convinced to make any more daywalkers."

I took a deep breath. "And if Gabriel is there with the vampires, urging him to do it..."

"He trusts Gabriel. He was his mentor. He will do as Gabriel asks."

"But if the gods believe Gabriel tricked him into doing it, wouldn't that come back on him? Surely they'd see through it!"

"Perhaps, Zoey. But you forget…if Gabriel was the one who reported me, he's likely already approached the gods at great personal risk. If they trust his word over ours, which is what it would come down to, he will prevail."

"But they're gods!" I shouted. "They should be able to see through his crap."

"The Olympian gods are not omniscient, Zoey. They tend to make quick and rash decisions. They do not like getting entangled in the affairs of those they deem to be lesser beings, like us. They only care that whoever is in charge of the underworld maintains the proper balance between life and death and our actions do not interfere with the life they enjoy on Olympus."

"Then we need to go! We have to get Morty before it's too late."

My father nodded. "You will have to go alone, Zoey. Dionysus is not as strict an auditor as some, but he will expect me to remain on task. Given all that's happening, I cannot afford any mishaps or failed reapings while he's still in the underworld. You can do this, Zoey. This is what you've trained for your entire life. Everything comes down to this moment. You need to save your brother, save the underworld, and probably the world."

I smirked. "No pressure, right?"

My father laughed. "You work best under pressure, Zoey. You always have. Why do you think I held you to such high standards?"

I pressed my lips together. "All right. We'll do it. But Sienna has my cloak, and that thing comes in handy. Can I borrow another one?"

"I'll do you one better," my father said, rising from his desk and walking toward his closet.

"I had these cloaks made by an enchantress several centuries ago, but the cloak wasn't the first device we enchanted. It was simply what I preferred. I was going to give this to you anyway, but you took it upon yourself to remove one of my cloaks without asking."

"What is it?" I asked.

My father rooted through a pile of junk in the back of his closet. "Ah, here it is."

My father turned around, holding what looked like a small gold brooch. He handed it to me. "If you wear this, it will have the same effect as the cloak. If you press the ruby at the center, it will activate or deactivate the enchantment that renders you invisible, like when you raise or lower the hood on the cloak. Still, while you’re wearing it, your body is technically between the material and astral dimensions. It should prevent you from being affected by sunlight."

"And you chose a black cloak over this?" I asked. "It’s exquisite!"

My father laughed. "It's gaudy! Not my style. I prefer the dark and broody look. It fits my manner of reaping."

I held the brooch and admired it for a moment. Then I handed it to Sienna. "You should have this."

"Zoey, I couldn't possibly..."

I raised my hand to stop her. "Sienna, you can wear this anywhere at any time. You can't live a normal life wearing a big cloak. I will get by just fine with the cloak. I insist."

"I don't know what to say."

I shrugged. "’Thank you’ will suffice."

"Wow, thanks, Zoey!" Sienna exclaimed. She removed the cloak and handed it to me. I noticed a tear on her cheek as she pinned the brooch on her shirt. "I love it."

"It suits you. Now, how about we go save my brother and kick some vampire ass?"

"I’m not sure how it will work for you, Sienna. But do not be alarmed if, while wearing it, you can see Reapers others cannot. This is to be expected.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“One more thing," my father said, returning to his desk and rummaging through a drawer. He pulled out a small leather pouch. "I don't have much of this. It is meant for emergencies in case I ever needed to disappear here in the underworld."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Something Charon retrieved from Hades for me. It's one reason why his price remains so steep."

My father handed me the pouch, and I peered at the black powder inside. "What is it?"

"The soil of Hades. If you sprinkle this on your cloak or on the brooch, it should recalibrate the enchantment to hide you from those lamps. The energies of the underworld will not dispel your cloak if you're using it. It took me more than a century to convince Charon to retrieve it, and I do not think he'll be inclined to do so again. Use it wisely. There is enough there to work once, maybe twice. If you both use it, you'll have one chance. And it won't work for more than a few minutes. You'll have to act fast."

I nodded. "Thanks, Dad. This is helpful. This stuff will make it like we’re in Hades?"

My father shook his head. “Not exactly. It will orient you to a single plane, maybe Hades. It could just as easily lock you into the Earth dimension. Hades is, in a sense, a prison. The soil there has an effect that makes traversing out of that realm difficult. For anyone apart from Cerberus, that is.

“It will lock you into the dimension you are in. You won’t be able to move back and forth easily. It also means you won’t be able to flee easily, so use it with care. I secured it originally so that if I needed to, I could go to Earth, cloaked, use it there, then return here and retain my invisibility. I never had cause to use it, but I thought I might someday. You might have a better use for it. Do not use it, though, unless you’re certain it’s the best strategy. Remember, I can’t easily acquire more.”

I nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. It might be useful.”

My father stepped over and wrapped his arms around me before kissing me on the cheek. "You can do this, Zoey. I've always believed in you."

"Love you, Dad."

"Love you, too. Now hurry. It will take time for Morty to replicate what happened to Sienna. The bodies that house the souls he harnesses will need to recover for a time before he redeposits their souls. Still, it might not take as long as we think. The sooner you get to him, the better."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Wow, that was surreal!" Sienna exclaimed. Her feet were firmly planted on my apartment floor as I disabled the portal.

I nodded. "That's my dad. Not what you expected?"

"Hardly!" Sienna laughed. "Nice guy. I mean, I didn't believe in the Grim Reaper before all this. I thought he was just a myth, you know?"

I nodded. "There's truth in most myths. Bullshit, too."

"So, how do we do this?" Sienna asked.

I shook my head. "Are you sure you want to? You aren't trained to fight, Sienna. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Look, Zoey, I've been through a lot of shit on account of these vampires. I'm not going to sit here and do nothing."

"I admire your eagerness, but vampires are fast. I don't want you to get hurt again."

Sienna shrugged. "They won't hurt me. I'm their golden child!"

I sighed. "But they could make more. At least, that's what they're trying to do. If they think you're a threat, they won't hesitate to kill you."

"To stake me, you mean?"

I shrugged. "We don't know what your weaknesses are. All we know right now is that in sunlight, you get blood cravings like any young vampire."

"I also have some advantages, though. Like, I don't think I need to disappear to run fast. Check this out."

I watched as Sienna ran around the apartment in a blur, then stopped in front of me.

"Impressive, but these vampires have been using their abilities for years or centuries. You've barely gotten your feet wet."

"Let her help," Cerberus offered. "I'll keep her safe. We can create a distraction so you can get in."

Someone knocked on my door three times. I checked the peephole. It was my mom.

I opened the door.

"Hey, Josephine!" Sienna called.

My mom nodded and sat down. "So, what did I miss?"

I filled my mom in on what we'd learned about Sienna and what my dad thought of the situation. My mom listened, then stood up.

"Well, he's right. We have to act fast."

I nodded. "Sienna wants to fight with us."

My mom cocked her head. "Fight? Do you know how to fight?"

"Not really," Sienna replied.

"But she and I can cause a distraction," Cerberus piped up. "That's what we were discussing when you showed up."

"Not a bad idea," my mom agreed. "Zoey, are you sure you're ready to face them? What if your father is right and Gabriel is working with them?"

"We don't know if Gabriel will be there. He can't move freely between worlds. He can only go where an assignment takes him."

"What if he is, Zoey?"

"Then I'll kick his ass. What's the point?"

"You and he were together for a long time. Are you sure you're up for that?"

I nodded. "I can take him. Maybe. I think. I mean, he outranked me, but I have better skills. Plus, he doesn't have my scythe."

"You're really willing to reap your ex-boyfriend if it comes to that?"

"If he really betrayed us, I'll do it in a second. No hesitation. If Dad's theory is right, he's been playing me for years. Using me just to get a chance to claim the underworld for himself. I have plenty of motivation to do what needs to be done."

"You don't think he'll be there?" Sienna asked.

"Look, there's always a chance. If he neglected his duties, in theory, he could go on an assignment and miss his appointment with the boatman. It would be a black mark on his record, but it happens to every Reaper occasionally. No one has a perfect record. As far as I know, though, his record is good. One missed reaping isn't going to cause a stir."

"Wouldn't they notice if he doesn't return to the underworld?" my mom asked.

I nodded. "If he doesn't show up to take his next assignment, it will. But if he's finished for the day, he could have most of the evening before going back, and no one would notice."

"It's still early in the day. Would that make a difference?" Sienna asked.

I shook my head. "Not really. People die at all hours, so there isn't a schedule. It just depends. He could be done for the day, or he might still have several reapings to do. Look, it doesn't matter. If he's there, we'll deal with him. Either way, we need to get Morty out of there."

"The biggest problem is that we don't know for sure he's in that mansion," my mom interjected. "Kevin has been watching it, but he said none of the vampires who came and went last night resembled Katerina. They were mostly younger."

I sighed. "This might be harder than I expected, then. I say we go there anyway. We know there are vampires there. They might know where Katerina is. If they do, I suspect Morty will be there too."

"I've interrogated my share of vampires over the years. They're just as likely to lie to you as tell you the truth. Even if we get a vampire there to talk, since he’ll figure we're going to kill him either way, there's no guarantee the information he gives us will be legit."

I tugged my left earlobe. "Well, Cerberus can try to track Morty. If he's in the city, Cerberus will find him eventually. In the meantime, we might as well start turning over rocks. I can't think of a better place to start than that mansion."

My mom cleared her throat. "From what Kevin said, vampires there are pretty sloppy. It might be a good mission for Sienna to see what it's like."

I bit my lip. "Mom, mind if I talk to you in private for a second?"

My mom nodded. "Of course."

"No big deal," Sienna said, grabbing one of Cerberus's toys—a rubber turkey leg—and tossing it across the floor. Cerberus bounded to it and sank his teeth into it, then released a series of grating squeaks.

I pulled my mom out the door into the hall.

"Mom, Sienna isn't a fighter. She has no training. She thinks she's going to go in there like some badass and save the day."

"She just wants to help, Zoey. She feels responsible."

I shook my head. "None of this is her fault."

"I agree, but she sees how much you, Morty, and your father risked to save her. She wants to help save Morty because she feels like she owes him."

"That doesn't make it smart. Look, I don't have the heart to tell her she should just hide and do nothing, but can you take her under your wing? You've spent years fighting vampires. You can teach her more than I can. I have some skills. You have skills and experience. I'm confident I can handle myself, but that's only because if I make a tactical error, I am capable of fighting my way out of it again. Without having fighting skills, if Sienna is at my side, I can't guarantee that she'll be safe. Trying to keep from being hurt could even become a liability."

My mom smiled. "Of course, Zoey. That's wise. But I don't think it would be a good idea to discount her desire to help. Given what she's become, as we learn more about it, she might end up being a much more powerful ally than we anticipate."

I nodded. "If push comes to shove, though, we need to ensure she's out of harm's way. She can help. Especially with reconnaissance. But once we have solid intel on Morty's location, I can't delay for a second to accommodate Sienna's desire to help."

"Understood. I think she understands that, too, Zoey. But you can't sideline her."

"Thankfully, I was in the mansion before. I'll bring her in for recon. Then we can regroup and figure out the best course of action."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Sienna rode with me again. My mom followed not far behind. We parked several blocks away from what used to be Vlad's mansion. Kevin was going to meet us there. Since it was daytime, we didn't need to worry about vampires lurking in the streets. At least, not yet.

Once they created more daywalkers, it would be another story. Meanwhile, Cerberus was searching the city for Morty. If he found my brother, not much else would matter. Our plans would change. For now, all we intended to do was check the mansion and find out what was going on inside.

The next place we'd check was the blood bank the vampires had operated out of, then the freight yard where they took Sienna the first time they abducted her. Chances were good that Morty was somewhere else. The vampires likely would not hide him at a location we knew about. That didn't mean they would not leave hints, or we couldn't observe some chatting about plans from afar and get the intel we needed.

Mom was meeting up with Kevin, and we'd regroup with them after we investigated the mansion.

I threw on my cloak, and Sienna pressed the jewel on her brooch. We entered the astral plane and approached the mansion. We'd know pretty quickly if they had the same lamps to expose us that Vincent had had in New Orleans. If they did, we'd leave and reconsider our approach. We wouldn’t waste the dust my father gave us on this effort. We'd save that for when we were closing in on wherever they had Morty.

"Did Cerberus tell you how to walk through walls?" I asked, unsure how much she'd learned on the run to Kansas City.

"More or less. Knowing how to do it and actually doing it are two different things, though."

"Just focus. The walls aren't where we are walking. We see them, but our bodies aren't on the same plane of reality. Once you have that idea in your mind and you can visualize yourself doing it, you should be able to walk through the door."

Sienna nodded. "All right. You go first. I'll try to follow."

I pressed through the door and stepped into the foyer. Bloodstains from our first fight were still on the floor. I didn't see any vampires and, more importantly, no lamps that would dispel the enchantments on my cloak and Sienna's brooch.

I watched the door as Sienna stepped through it.

"Woot! I did it!"

I chuckled. "Good job. If there are any vampires here, my guess is they're down in the basement. That's where Vlad was working. I don't see any on the main floor."

We moved through the closed door to the basement and slowly made our way down the stairs. Still no lamps. Dim lights—single lightbulbs dangling from wires in the ceiling— gave the room enough glow that I could see what was going on.

Three male vampires were sitting in chairs around a table. On the table was a body. Medical instruments were set up around it.

"Is he dead?" Sienna asked.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. Probably trying to turn him into a daywalker."

"Where's the Reaper?" one of the vampires asked. "It's been hours. He was supposed to be here already."

"Be patient," a vampire with long black hair said. His arms were crossed. "Katerina said it might take more time than we initially anticipated."

"What Reaper are they talking about?" Sienna asked. "Do you think it's Morty?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. Maybe. Let them keep talking."

"Do you really think it's possible?" asked the third vampire, a blond who looked no older than sixteen.

"That we can make vampires immune to sunlight?" the first and oldest vampire asked. His hair was cut close to the scalp, and he had a goatee.

"It's possible," the long-haired vampire replied. "The reports from New Orleans were conclusive."

"Have they found her yet? The new vampire?" the youngest of the three asked.

"I'm not sure they're looking for her," the long-haired vamp replied. "They think it's just a matter of time before she returns to us. Once she realizes what she's become."

"Provided that bitch doesn't kill her."

I smirked. I must be the bitch. I'd been called worse.

"She won't kill her," the long-haired vampire stated. "She'll try to save her. Besides, so what if she does? She was just an experiment anyway. We learned what we needed from her."

The youngest vampire shook his head. "I don't like this. It doesn't feel right."

"Look, Katerina said this one was a longshot. The Reaper has to deal with his own bullshit if he isn't going to get caught. If this one doesn't turn, it's not the end of the world."

"Worst-case scenario, free food," the vampire with the goatee offered.

"Not until we're told," the long-haired vampire cautioned. "We need to give the Reaper time."

Sienna grunted. "This is disgusting. Who is the victim?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

Sienna walked around the perimeter of the room and stepped up to a table. It was full of weapons. Knives. A few guns. Even a sword. "We could take them out, you know."

I shook my head. "Too risky. Don't think about it, Sienna."

"They wouldn't see it coming. We could stake two of them before they realized what was happening. Then it would be two against one."

"Sienna, don't!"

"We have to, Zoey. They're killing people!"

I rushed over to where Sienna stood, but she'd grabbed the sword off the table.

The vampires noticed. We might be invisible, but floating swords are hard to ignore.

They leaped to their feet, turned, and snarled.

"Who's there?" the long-haired vampire shouted. "Show yourself!"

"They can't touch you, Sienna. Not if you focus. Remember, you aren't on this plane of existence. You aren't really holding that sword. Focus on that, and it will fall from your grip."

The long-haired vampire pulled a string, and ultraviolet light illuminated the room. We were visible.

"Shit!" I shouted, touching the sigil on my wrist.

The vampire with the goatee grabbed Sienna from behind and forced the sword out of her hand.

My scythe formed in my grip. "Let her go, or I'll send all of you straight to Hell."

The long-haired vampire laughed. "You must be the one they told us about."

"Good to know I have a reputation, but we're here for one reason. Let Sienna go and tell me where I can find my brother. We'll leave and won't harm any of you."

"I think you fail to appreciate the situation," the goateed vampire replied as Sienna struggled in his grip.

"Oh, I understand the situation. Like I said, tell us what we want to know, and we'll be on our way."

Sienna screamed, reached down, and grabbed the ‘nads of the vampire who held her. She squeezed and twisted.

The vampire screamed. Good to know that male vampires are sensitive, just like human men.

I swung my staff and took out the blacklight with the butt.

Sienna took the hint, touched her brooch, and disappeared. Before I could flip up my hood, the long-haired vampire dove at me.

I twirled my staff and brought the blade of my scythe across his body. He collapsed. The vampire who'd grabbed Sienna took two steps back. The third vampire ran up the stairs.

"You guys can't get far." I watched Sienna go up the stairs. I could only hope she wasn't going after the vampire and was taking the opportunity to leave. It wasn't likely.

"My first proposition still stands. Tell me where I can find Morty. I'll leave, and no one else needs to get hurt."

The vampire narrowed his eyes. "I haven't seen him."

"But you know where he is."

The vampire shook his head. "Assuming you were here before, you know we're as in the dark as you are. We were expecting a Reaper, but he isn't the one you're looking for."

"Who is he?" I asked.

The vampire laughed. "Hell if I know. We haven't been formally introduced or anything. All I know is that Katerina has an arrangement with him."

"Then where is Katerina?"

The vampire chuckled. "I imagine she's preparing the next candidate."

"The next victim, you mean?"

The vampire shrugged. "You say potato, I say potahto."

I narrowed my eyes. "First, no, you don't. No one around here says ‘potahto.’ Second, have you considered what the advent of these daywalkers means for you?"

"What do you mean? It means vampires can fight for our cause during the day."

"It means you'll forever be an inferior kind of vampire. How long do you think it will take before the daywalkers take over and you old-school vamps lose control? Survival of the fittest. You really think, once these daywalkers exist, that you'll be the ones ruling the world?"

The vampire narrowed his eyes. "I see what you're doing. You’re trying to convince me that Katerina isn't fighting for us. You're trying to turn me against her so I'll help you. Clever, but I'm not going to bite. Well, on second thought..."

The vampire made a dash to the weapons table and reached for a gun. I leaped over a chair and brought my scythe down on his back as he turned to shoot.

He dropped his gun, then fell to the floor and turned to ash.

"Damn it!" I shouted. "Sienna! You upstairs?"

"Yup! Come here!" Sienna shouted from the main floor.

I ran up the stairs. Sienna had the vampire pinned to the floor and her fist plunged into his chest.

"What the hell!" I exclaimed.

Sienna giggled. "I passed through him, like, you know, he wasn't really there. Not on my plane of existence. Then, I touched my brooch and materialized. I think my hand is acting as a stake."

"Damn! Gruesome but impressive."

Sienna touched her brooch again and pulled her hand out of his chest. She pressed the brooch and rematerialized, her arm covered in reddish-black vampire blood. She shrugged. "I improvised. Badass, right?"

I laughed. "I'd say so. Come on; we need to get you out of here. I'm going to hang around for a few minutes. If that Reaper they're expecting shows up, I will confront him."

"Do you think it's your ex-boyfriend?" Sienna asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out one way or another."

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Even when she wasn't on the astral plane, wearing the brooch kept Sienna's vampiric nature at bay. I was grateful for that. I wasn't sure how well it would work, but the cloak had worked that way, too. My mom and Kevin were parked next to each other a few blocks away.

"What happened?" Kevin asked.

"We kicked ass!" Sienna contributed.

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you could say we did. Still, Sienna, you shouldn't have grabbed that sword."

"Lesson learned," Sienna said. "I didn't think about how they'd notice an object moving through the air like that."

"And they had a lamp. It just wasn't on when we arrived."

"Did you at least get any good information?" Kevin asked.

I smiled at him. "Nice to see you too, by the way."

Kevin grinned back at me. "It is good to see you, Zoey."

"To answer your question, they had a body. Its soul was already reaped. They were waiting for a Reaper to return, presumably to restore his soul and create a daywalker."

Kevin shook his head. "I can't imagine what will happen if they succeed."

"Vampires who aren't averse to sunlight will be incredibly difficult to stop," my mom remarked. "Everything about their tactics, their behaviors, will change."

"But they'll all be younglings," I countered. "New vampires aren't as hard to kill, right?"

"There is that." She took a deep breath.

"Either way, I'm going back in. They were expecting a Reaper to show. I don't know if he will. They had doubts since he was late. Still, if a Reaper does show to do the deed, I need to be there to confront him."

My mom nodded. "We'll wait here. Good luck, Zoey."

I went back to the mansion and sat. Cerberus went with me this time. He sat, too. Lots of sitting. Waiting. At least, as far as folding chairs went, the ones the vampires had been sitting in were comfortable. They had a good quarter inch of padding. Better than hard metal.

I aired out the basement as best I could. Ash had flown everywhere. The man’s body on the table was still viable, although he didn’t have a soul so I couldn’t heal him. Could I just leave him there? It felt wrong. I knew that whoever the guy was, he wasn’t actually there. Did he have family looking for him?

Kevin would be the best one to handle that…after we gave the Reaper enough time to show.

Heavy metal music played somewhere in the basement. It was one of those songs that featured a lot of low screaming and growling, like the singer thought he was a demon. It was cliché, I admit. You’d think if vampires had some taste in music, it would be one of two genres: classical or death metal. They’re polar opposites, but as old as many vampires are, it’s quite likely they’d have refined taste. Thus, classical music made sense. Newer vampires? Just as likely that in their human lives, they listened to pop, rap, or even country. Still, death metal fit the vibe.

I scrounged through the ash on the floor, searching for the source of the sound. Eventually, a subtle light caught my eye. Of course, those vampires had phones. Who was calling? I almost slid my thumb across the screen to pick it up, but I thought better of it. The caller was labeled “Kat.” Surely, it was short for Katerina. My gut told me to pick it up, give her a piece of my mind, and hope that she’d reveal her location. My head told me that was dumb. If I picked up the phone, she’d know what had happened. Hell, there was a fair-to-average chance that she already did. There could be cameras in the basement, for all I knew.

It took every ounce of self-control I had—which, admittedly, wasn’t as much as you’d think a well-trained Reaper-turned-vampire-assassin might have—and let the call go to voicemail. I wasn’t great with smartphones or technology. I knew how to operate one about as well as a grandmother. I could call and text and perform internet searches. I knew how to add apps to a phone. I could even drag them around and sort them into file folders. Oh, and I knew how to take selfies. I had the essentials down. What I really needed was an expert. Sienna was studying computer science. She was a whiz when it came to things like this. And Kevin had resources at the department he could use to trace a call.

Would Katerina suspect something when the vampire who owned the phone didn’t answer? Probably not as much as she’d realize if I answered. I guessed the phone belonged to the long-haired one since he’d presented himself as the leader of the trio. Would she leave a voice message? I hated voicemail. My inbox was always full of messages, mostly from scam callers I’d ignored.

Scam callers were the worst. When I first got to Earth, some jerk with an accent I couldn’t identify called me and told me that they were making a courtesy call to tell me the police were on their way to arrest me for defrauding the IRS on my taxes.

I didn’t know what was up. I just figured that since I had a social security number that was hardly ever used, my sudden appearance had triggered them. Then the guy on the other end of the line said he could call off the police if I settled my payment on the phone—by purchasing five hundred bucks in Target gift cards and giving him the codes.

Look, I might have been naïve when I first came to Earth, but I’m not an idiot. Do people fall for that sort of thing? They must, or the scammers wouldn’t do it.

I stared at the phone for forty-five seconds or so. Then there was a ding.

Abort. Change of plans. Dispose of the package. Rendezvous at rally point at sunset.

I couldn’t just ignore the text. That would be suspicious. I sent back a thumbs-up emoji. It was one of those recommended replies, and it seemed reasonable.

The message likely meant the Reaper wasn’t coming. Was she talking about Gabriel? Perhaps she was bringing Morty. Had they figured out I was there, or were there other complications? Dispose of the package meant I should eliminate the body. Where the rally point was, I didn’t know. Maybe Sienna or Kevin could figure it out by analyzing the phone.

I pocketed the vampire’s phone and texted Kevin.

Vamps aren’t coming. Body inside. Need to do something about that. Found one of their phones. Should I bring it out to you?

NO!

He followed that text with another one. It must’ve been urgent enough that he didn’t want to risk me doing anything before he could explain.

Phone might have location monitoring via GPS. Do not bring it into daylight. It would be a red flag to the other vampires.

I smiled. See, that was why I surrounded myself with good people. Okay, so it wasn't like I had chosen my little team of vampire-slaying misfits, but I couldn’t have done much better if I had. Sienna had surprised me with her resourcefulness in taking down that vampire. It hadn’t been the cleanest move, but it was effective. Of course, she also made the mistake of alerting the vamps to our presence.

Still, it was difficult to get used to what you could or couldn't do in the astral plane. The rules were wonky. I hadn't thought to tell her that manipulating physical objects like a poltergeist was a bad idea. She was smart enough to have figured it out, but in the heat of the moment, sometimes passion gets the better of rational thought.

She recovered well, at least. A fist full of testicles and one through a vampire's heart later, and I was confident she'd make a good partner. Eventually. It wasn't like I needed or wanted a sidekick. I didn't intend to keep doing this reaping crap after we saved Morty and the vampire threat was eliminated. Of course, there was no telling what the future would hold.

Then there was Kevin. He was hot. Being a cop as well as a part-time vampire hunter gave him a mystique that piqued my curiosity. He was also more capable than I’d imagined the first time I met him. He wasn't a bad boy, exactly. He wasn't a momma's boy either, though he took my momma's lead more often than not. I couldn’t say I had feelings for him. Nothing I felt above the waist, at least, but I could see potential there. More potential than I ever felt for Gabriel, and we’d been seeing each other for years before I left the underworld.

Then, of course, there was my mom, Josephine. What were the chances that my long-lost mother had turned out to be a vampire hunter? More than that, she’d been doing it for the sole purpose of helping me adjust to my abilities once they manifested. She knew what I’d become. My dad never had. She didn’t know me well, but she’d known more about who I was meant to be than anyone else.

I can’t say I was disappointed in her, although she wasn’t what I’d expected. I figured she’d probably remarried at some point and had another family, and when I found her, I’d meet a whole den of half-brothers and sisters.

But she hadn’t. She’d dated, but nothing had stuck. She was still in love with my dad. He was still in love with her. However, Fate dictated that they could never be. It was a tragedy.

I sat waiting in the basement. Eventually, Kevin showed up with Sienna and Mom. Sienna led the way since she’d just been there and knew where I was. Kevin grabbed the phone.

“There isn’t much I can do with this without taking it to the station and running it through diagnostics.”

Sienna shook her head. “Like I said, I wouldn’t recommend that.”

I smirked. It was Sienna, not Kevin, who’d initially had the forethought to realize we shouldn’t move the phone. That girl was proving her worth at an impressive rate.

“Good thinking, Sienna,” I told her. “Can you do anything with it?”

Sienna pressed her lips together. “Unfortunately, no. You reaped those two vampires, so their bodies are dust. What if the other vampire, the one I killed upstairs, had a phone? We could use his thumbprint or facial recognition to unlock it.”

My mom chuckled. “It’s worth a shot. Good thing you were there, Sienna. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have a lead.”

I nodded. My mom was right, though I still had reservations. Sienna needed to gain combat skills. She was crafty and, frankly, brilliant even in the heat of a fight. Still, she made mistakes. I can’t say I wouldn’t have made the same mistake in her situation. Grab a sword and plunge it through a vampire’s chest before he realized she was there. There was a fair chance that a sword moving through a dark room wouldn’t be noticed. It just so happened, in this case, that Sienna’s luck fell on the wrong side of chance.

“I’m going to stay here and find out what I can about the body,” Kevin offered. “I’ll cross-check it with missing person reports.”

I nodded and led the way up the stairs, with Sienna and my mom following. I wanted to go first. We approached the vampire’s body Sienna had…fisted. “Staked” didn’t work. I don’t think saying she “fisted” a vampire to death was the right choice of words either. What she did had been nasty, but it hadn’t been what it sounded like. I’d have to work on my verbiage.

The vampire’s corpse was gruesome. The wound in his chest still oozed black blood. Sienna reached into his pocket and retrieved a phone. “Score!”

I chuckled. “Any luck?”

“Let me see. He has thumbprint recognition turned on. We’re in luck, provided his thumb isn’t too cold to make it work.”

Sienna grabbed the vampire’s hand and pressed his thumb to the screen. “Yup, too cold.”

I cocked my head and watched as she slid the vampire’s hand up her shirt, then shivered. “Damn, it is cold.”

I shook my head. “You’re letting a dead vampire feel you up?”

Sienna giggled. “Yeah, it’s creepy, but I need to warm up his hand enough for the touch screen to recognize his print.”

“Hunting vampires gets weird.” My mom shrugged. “What would you expect?”

Before I could respond, Sienna pulled the vampire’s dead hand out of her shirt and pressed his thumb to the screen of the phone. “Hell, yes! Sienna, one. Dead vampire, zero.”

“You’re in?” I asked.

“Uh-huh!” Sienna muttered, scrolling through his phone. “You said the other vampire had a text?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it came through on his notifications. How did that work without me having to get past the security settings on his phone?”

“Depends on his settings,” Sienna said. “It was an Android phone. You can set it up to allow some notifications to go through even when the phone is locked.”

“Dumb move on his part,” I remarked.

“He probably didn’t expect to be reaped,” my mom added, laughing through her words.

“No one expects it when the Reaper comes for them.” I smiled. “Well, unless you’re really old or sick. Then it’s a reasonable assumption. But the kinds of folks I reap? Yeah, no one sees it coming.”

Kevin laughed. “The dramatic effect would have been better if you hadn’t added the qualification and explanation.”

I shrugged. “I like to be precise, and I hate drama. It works.”

“Bingo!” Sienna exclaimed, almost jumping out of her skin. “I’ve got Kat’s number.”

“You can’t be serious!” I exclaimed. “Katerina has a phone number that we can identify?”

“Yup.” Sienna pulled out her phone and took a photo of the dead vampire’s screen. “Unfortunately, she doesn’t have tracking on any apps to locate her.”

“Kevin should be able to track her number,” my mom stated. “That’s a pretty good start. I suspect if we can locate Katerina, we’ll find Morty.”

I nodded. “Presuming he’s the Reaper they were expecting. I have to wonder, though, what caused them to abandon the plan? Why did she tell the vampires who were here to abort the mission?”

“Hard to say,” my mom replied. “You’re right, though. It’s curious. Perhaps Morty isn’t being as compliant as they’d hoped he would. If the vampires were expecting a Reaper to show up at any time, since the sun is out, it could mean the vampires were not going to deliver the Reaper. They were expecting him to come on his own.”

I sighed. “It could be anything. If it’s Gabriel…well, since my dad suspects him, he might have taken him off an assignment.”

“We should look into it,” my mom suggested. “We should also get going. Kevin will have to figure out how to address this John Doe situation with the department. We need to get him Katerina’s phone number and see if he can get us a location.”

“It wouldn’t be bad to check with Dad again,” I added. “It might be a longshot, but whether it was Morty or not, a Reaper harvested the John Doe’s soul. It would be interesting to find out if the man was already on the schedule and if Gabriel has delivered any souls to the boatman recently. Or if any other Reapers haven’t returned with their souls in time. Whatever the case, this guy’s soul is lingering in a Reaper’s blade, presuming he hasn’t delivered the man to the boatman and hasn’t released the spirit as a ghost. Whatever the case, there should be something in my dad’s records that will help us sort this out.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Sienna stayed behind while I set up the portal to my dad's office. For once, he wasn't at his desk. What was he doing? I knew it was absurd to wonder what someone was up to if they were not at their desk. Even Death had a life, if not much of one. He was so addicted to his work and focused on his job that finding him anywhere apart from his desk was a rarity.

There were two options. He was somewhere in the underworld, dealing with the auditors or investigating our traitor, or he was on Earth reaping a soul.

He was probably in the underworld. As he’d neared his ascension, his reaping abilities had declined. He could still do it better than most, but he wasn't his usual badass self. It was said that in his prime, he could reap an entire defeated army with a single swipe. Not anymore. If he reaped, it was one soul at a time. In a pinch, he could handle two or three, but no more than that. There was no reason for him to go out in the field when there were other high-level Reapers who could do the job just as well.

My father said Dionysus had been frequenting Gehenna Boulevard, the Bourbon Street of the underworld. Reapers aren't as prone to debauchery as some people assume. We aren't demons; we're closer to angels. Closer, but we have our sins and indulgences like any human. We are half-mortal, after all.

I considered using the powder my father had given me to go invisible. It wasn't the first time I'd been to the underworld. I had come back to visit Gabriel once a month before we broke up. Still, I could get from my father's office to Gabriel's apartment without being seen by many people. Going to Gehenna Boulevard would garner a lot of attention. The return of the princess who couldn't reap.

There weren't a lot of people I trusted in the underworld. Until recently, I’d thought Gabriel was one of them. Now, I wasn't sure. Harley, the bartender at my favorite spot on Gehenna Boulevard, made my shortlist. As a bartender, he also had an inside track on the underworld’s rumor mill. If anyone was talking about anything, he picked up on it.

I wasn't looking forward to setting foot in that place again after all that happened. It was going to be humiliating. Everyone had seen me as the future. They’d celebrated me. When I’d completed the final test to graduate from the Reaper Academy, their belief in my abilities was at an all-time high.

In a matter of days, it all came crashing down. Surely, everyone knew by now that I couldn't reap human souls. At the very least, they knew I'd left the underworld. Best-case scenario, they thought I'd abandoned them. They probably assumed I’d shirked my responsibility, my unique opportunity to become the Grim Reaper, simply to live a common human life.

My heart almost fell out of my ass when I stepped into the bar and Harley made eye contact with me. His jaw dropped so far it almost unhinged.

"Well, I'll be damned to Hades!" Harley exclaimed. "Zoey's back!"

The place erupted in cheers.

"Drinks on the house!" Harley declared.

I blushed. This wasn't the reception I’d expected.

As I approached the bar, Harley slid a dirty martini in my direction. I pulled out the sword-shaped plastic toothpick and ate the green olive. "Thanks, Harley. This is quite a surprise."

"Is it true?" Harley asked. "Can you really reap vampires?"

I snorted. "It is. I didn't think anyone here would know that."

Harley laughed. "Your boyfriend can't stop talking about it."

I rolled my eyes. "My ex-boyfriend, you mean?"

Harley cocked his head. "Since when?"

"We broke up more than a month ago."

Harley shook his head. "That's a shame. He was in here just last night, raving about you."

"Did you say last night? He's still in the underworld?"

Harley shrugged. "Why wouldn't he be?"

I bit my lip. "Nothing. I heard a rumor."

"He's never been busier. We hardly see him here anymore. I mean, he's taken on five new graduates."

"Five?" I asked. "Most Reapers can't stand having one amateur shadow them, much less five."

"Apparently, Gabriel has a knack for mentorship."

I pressed my lips together and nodded. Then I took a sip of my martini. I used to hate martinis, but I had grown to like them. No one made a better one than Harley. "Any idea where my dad is? He wasn't in his office."

Harley shook his head. "Not sure. He doesn't come here."

"What about Dionysus? He's doing the audit, right? Where's he?"

Harley shook his head. "He spent almost his whole time in the underworld here. He returned to Olympus last night. We had a farewell party for him and everything. It was insane. That god really knows how to party."

I chuckled. "I bet. I'd say I'm sorry I missed it, but I've had my fill of over-indulgent partiers of late."

"Earth parties get pretty crazy?" Harley asked.

I traced the rim of my martini glass with my index finger. "Not so much crazy as stupid. Humans can't hold their liquor for shit."

Harley laughed. "I can imagine. I've reaped a few drunks in my day. While it sometimes makes for a good story, it's a pain in the ass most of the time."

I raised my glass. "True that."

A buzz of chatter spread through the crowd. People started filing out the door.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Harley tossed the rag he was using to wipe the bar down into the sink. "Hey, Damon. Why's everyone leaving?"

Damon, an older Reaper I'd only spoken to a few times, turned back. "Azrael is outside!"

"My dad is here?" I asked.

"That's right, Zoey," Damon confirmed. "We'd be amiss not to pay our respects when he passes."

I rolled my eyes. The Grim Reaper was the king of the underworld; don't get me wrong. He didn't make public appearances often. When he did, though, it was always a big to-do.

I downed the rest of my martini. "Thanks for the drink, Harley."

"Don't be a stranger, Zoey. You're always welcome here."

I nodded and headed for the door, then stepped outside and pressed through the crowd that had gathered on the sidewalk. We didn't have wide streets in the underworld. Gehenna Boulevard was intimate.

When I reached the street, I saw my dad. He was waving at the crowd. Gabriel and Morty were on his right and left sides, respectively.

"What the hell?" I said louder than I intended. A Reaper I'd never met turned and looked at me, confused.

"Sorry," I backpedaled. "What the Hades?"

The Reaper, an older woman, nodded and smiled. “Hell” was a bad word in the underworld. Hades was just fine. That never stopped me from using it, but elderly Reapers have old-fashioned ways.

Not any Reaper could get away with it, but I was still, in the words of Avril Lavigne, the mother fuckin' princess. I could get away with it.

"Zoey!" my brother said, seeing me first and breaking ranks to give me a hug.

I squeezed him back.

Everyone cheered even louder than before. After the reception I'd received at the bar, I suspected it was for me.

"Holy crap, how did you get here?"

"Gabriel saved me!" Morty said. "Busted into the vampire's lair and took me back."

I glanced at Gabriel. He nodded and flashed me a close-lipped smile. I nodded back.

My father looked concerned. "Zoey, what are you doing here?"

I shook my head. "I needed to share some info with you, but I'm not sure it matters now. I mean, it does, just not the way I thought."

"We'll gather in my office," my father stated. "I'll fill you in on all that's happened. You should join us. You still have many admirers here."

This little parade was a bit much. It wasn't the first time I'd had to endure one. From what I understood, my first such parade had happened when I was a baby. My father had been celebrating the birth of his potential heirs. After that, Morty and I made a yearly appearance during the Reaper Festival. It was our version of Mardi Gras. No one flashed breasts for beads, but as reaper festivities go, it got pretty rowdy.

This parade was ad-hoc but just as celebratory. "What's the meaning of all this?"

My dad glanced at me. "The audit is over. I was cleared. Then Gabriel brought Morty back, and it seemed fitting to make an appearance. There were rumors of your brother’s absence. I had to do something to inspire confidence."

Gabriel took a few steps back as I took the place on my father's right side that he’d occupied. We passed a road that led to Gabriel's apartment, and he broke ranks. I grabbed him by the arm. "Where are you going?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Home. Where do you think?"

I cocked my head. "Why are you still telling people we're together?"

"I'm not," Gabriel protested. "But people ask questions. I've only said good things about you, Zoey."

"Including spilling the beans about what I can do!"

"The people love it, don't they?" Gabriel asked.

I sighed. "I suppose. And I guess I should thank you for saving my brother."

"Don't mention it," Gabriel said. "See you around."

We made our way to my dad's office, which included a long trek up a steep staircase. We didn't say much. With the echo, conversation in the stairwell wasn’t possible. We stepped into the office and my father leaned against his desk.

"What happened, Dad? I thought you suspected Gabriel was working with the vampires."

My father nodded. "I was wrong, Zoey. I called him to my office after he returned from his last reaping and confronted him. He asked how he could prove his loyalty. I told him if he brought Morty home, it would do the trick. I gave him access to my universal gates."

"The gate in your office?" I asked.

My father shook his head. "I have others, Zoey."

"And he has access to them?"

"He needed to be able to go anywhere to find Morty. It was necessary."

"Can you revoke his access?"

"The gates will recalibrate in a month, Zoey. It's not a big deal. The gates sync with the lunar cycle on Earth. He'll lose access in a few weeks."

I snorted. "In a few weeks."

"You still think he's responsible?" my father asked.

"I don’t know what to think. Maybe? I just don't think it's a good time to have gates available to anyone other than us. What if he offered to save Morty just to get access, Dad?"

"Gabriel rescued me, Zoey," my brother said, his hands on his hips. "I'd think you'd be more grateful."

"I am glad he saved you, Morty, but you know as well as I do what we're facing. And there's still a Reaper out there who is working with the vampires. You aren't looking at this clearly. You're biased because you see him as your hero right now."

"And you're biased because he's your ex-boyfriend, Zoey."

I snorted. "Am not!"

"I think you are," my father told me. "Be that as it may, you're right. We need to figure out who is helping the vampires."

"You were there, Morty. Do you have any idea?"

"I don't know who the Reaper who’s helping them is. I didn’t reap anyone while I was there. I think they were going to make me do it eventually. They’ll be looking for more Reapers if they don’t have any in league with them now. Still, given that most Reapers only appear when someone dies, meetings between vampires and Reapers don’t happen often."

"They don't have to appear anywhere specific to help the vampires. There are vamps around the world. With the internet, a quick e-mail or a text and they could arrange anything with the vampires."

"I'm being very selective about the Reapers I send to Kansas City and New Orleans," my father stated. "Since we know Katerina is in Kansas City, we can limit her access to Reapers."

"Wait, we know she's in Kansas City? I thought she might be, but that was just a guess."

"I can confirm it," Morty replied. "In fact, I can tell you where she's hiding. You'll have to act fast. I imagine now that I've been rescued, she'll move as soon as the sun sets."

I scratched my head. “That’s helpful. How are you doing? Are you back on track with becoming the Grim Reaper?”

Morty glanced at my father and nodded. “I’m back with the program.”

“No more desire to pledge a frat?”

Morty shrugged. “Well, if I hadn’t been partying so hard, I might not have been so vulnerable to the influence of that vampire. I guess you can say I learned my lesson.”

I wasn’t sure if Vincent’s compulsion abilities were more or less effective depending on his target’s blood alcohol content. If that was what Morty thought, though, far be it from me to correct him. The problem was solved. At least, that one was—for now.

“Where is Katerina, Morty?”

Morty shook his head. “I didn’t see much. They blindfolded me. But we were in a manmade cave. A lot of trucks came and went. Things were brought in and shipped out.”

“Do you know where the caves were?” I asked.

“Somewhere in Kansas City,” my father said. “That’s where Gabriel went to locate Morty.”

I nodded. “I’ll talk to Mom and see if she knows more. It’s something. Thanks. I’m really glad you’re fine, Morty. Also, for what it’s worth, that three-story bong was pretty impressive.”

Morty laughed. “I know, right?”

“Wait!” my father exclaimed. “What happened?”

I twisted my fingers at the corner of my lips and dragged them across as if zipping my mouth shut. “Mmm.”

Morty smiled. “What happens on Earth stays on Earth.”

“That’s not a thing,” my father protested. “You need to tell me what happened. It’s important.”

“Uh-huh. Sure, Dad,” Morty said, biting the inside of his cheek.

“Look, Dad. We know that they’re operating out of Kansas City. That’s something. Do you have a list of the Reapers who have gone to Kansas City recently?”

“That’s a pretty long list, Zoey. People die all over the world every day. What I can say is that I can ensure that no one who was sent there recently goes again. Not until this matter is handled.”

I nodded. “Well, that’s something. It’s counter-productive, though.”

“How so?” my father asked.

“Think about it, Dad. If the traitorous Reapers aren’t going back, it will stop them from working with the vampires until the vampires relocate their operation, but it won’t do a thing to help us identify them.”

My father nodded. “Still, it’s the best I can do. We’ll have to find another way to identify the Reapers involved.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

My mom, of course, was overjoyed that Morty was back, even if he wasn't back with us. At least we knew he wasn't being held and tortured by vampires. Morty and my dad thought Gabriel was a hero. He'd proven his loyalty.

Was Morty right? Did I doubt Gabriel only because he was my ex? I didn’t think so. I’d had a long and good relationship with Gabriel. I never fell in love with him because he was too good. I could not have imagined he'd be involved in a plot with vampires, much less a plot to claim the throne of the underworld. My father, who'd first turned on my suspicions toward Gabriel, believed he was wrong. I still wasn't convinced.

"Let's consider the facts," my mom suggested. "The vampires you two fought at Vlad's old mansion were waiting for a Reaper. Plans suddenly changed. They were to dispose of the body. Then, you go back to the underworld and see that Morty was rescued. That can't be a coincidence. I have to believe Morty's escape had something to do with the change of plans."

"I agree," I told her. "Morty also said he hadn't reaped any souls while he was in the vampires' custody. They'd wanted him to do it, but he hadn't done so."

"Did Gabriel have any souls lingering in his blade?" my mom asked.

I shook my head. "If he did, Dad would know."

"I don't know how this stuff works," Sienna said. "But if we have a location for Katerina, I say we focus on that."

"I agree," I said. "He said something about manmade industrial caves. Some massive place in Kansas City."

My mom pinched her chin. "I know the place. It's no mistake that the vampires had access to the shipping containers in the freight yards. They infiltrated the shipping industry years ago. I've tracked more than a few vampires over the years to those caves."

"If Katerina is there, we have to move before sunset."

"Yes, Zoey. But it's more complicated than that. Those caves aren't small. They consist of an extensive network of what's basically underground warehouses. They call that place Subtropolis; that will give you an idea of how big it is. I believe it’s the largest such facility in the world."

Cerberus jumped on the couch. "I can sniff them out."

"That's not the problem. Yes, the caves are huge. They're big enough that large trucks can move in and out of there. If Katerina wants to move, she doesn't have to expose herself to sunlight to do it. She has vehicles with tinted windows to protect her. She could even move in the back of a large semi. Chances are good that she's already left."

I sighed. "Well, damn. Just when you think you've got an advantage."

"I'm not saying we shouldn't go," my mom stated. "But I wouldn't count on finding her there. And you'd better believe they'll have those lamps all over the place to make it impossible for you to sneak in and out."

"I'll go in first." Cerberus leaped off the couch before licking his paw. "I'll handle reconnaissance. Then, we'll go in. Those lamps don't work on me. I'm trans."

"Transgender?" Sienna asked. "I mean, that's cool and all, but you're a dog. Is that really a thing? And how is it relevant?"

Cerberus huffed. "Trans-dimensional."

"What he means to say is that his ability to navigate different realms is a part of what he is, not an enchantment bound to something he's wearing."

"And for your information, there are transgender dogs out there."

Sienna cocked her head. " If gender is a social construct, why would dogs be transgender?"

"Dogs have societies. They're called packs. There are humpers and humpees. It's not necessarily bound to the gender a particular dog might be assigned at birth."

"Who assigns dogs a gender?" I asked.

"The Puppyarch!" Cerberus stated triumphantly.

Sienna and I giggled. "Well, good for you," Sienna said. "Whatever you are, it's good to embrace your truth."

"Knowing your truth is hard enough if you have one head," Cerberus commented. "Try having three, each with a mind of its own. And for what it's worth, my Olympus-bound head prefers the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them.’"

I smiled. "We'll try to remember that."

"Sort of makes sense," Sienna reflected. "’They’ and ‘them’ since there are three, even though they are one."

"My pronouns are he and him," Cerberus murmured.

"Don't worry, Sienna. He almost always uses this head on Earth. In the underworld, all three are often out at once."

"How does that work?" Sienna asked. "If your heads don't agree on what to do?"

"On Earth, this head has veto power. I make the decisions. The other heads become alpha in their respective realms. In the underworld, it's a majority vote."

"So, in the underworld, you're a democracy unto yourself?" Sienna asked.

Cerberus nodded. "Most of the time. It works well when there are only two options in a situation. Not as well when we have three conflicting opinions. So, in the underworld, we tend to do nothing but chew on things. We always agree that that's a desirable activity."

I nodded. "Now that we have that sorted out, I say we go. We'll see if we can track down Katerina. If she's there, we’ll attack. If she's not, we’ll regroup."

"I think that's wise," my mom agreed. "Take it from someone who has spent two decades hunting vampires. You can stake a thousand vampire lackeys and never make any progress. To really damage their plans, you have to cut off the head. You have to go after the leader. That's why until Zoey arrived, my efforts were often futile."

"Because you couldn't handle the older vampires?" I asked.

My mom nodded. "They're much faster and harder to kill. Like Vincent, they have different abilities that younger vampires either haven't developed or haven't learned how to control."

"Is Katerina the only older vampire left in Kansas City?" I asked.

My mom shook her head. "It depends on how you define 'older.' She's the oldest. Best I can tell, she was born in Germany during the Protestant Reformation."

"Wasn't Martin Luther's wife named Katerina?" Sienna asked.

I shrugged. "No clue. Earth history is hard."

My mom laughed. "I believe that was her name, but that's not the same Katerina. However, like Luther's wife, Katerina was once a nun."

I raised one eyebrow. "Seriously?"

My mom nodded. "And she remained one after she was turned. She opposed the reformation, though not for religious reasons. That Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation provided a lot of vampires in those days with a cover for their habit of drinking blood."

"How did that work?" I asked.

"Today, vampires call their communities covens. In those days, they were convents. They conducted rituals and placed the drained blood of their victims in the chalice. Outside observers would be none the wiser, and since the laity wasn't permitted to drink from the chalice, it worked."

"That's crazy!" Sienna exclaimed. "You said older vampires have unique abilities, right? Do you know what Katerina can do?"

My mom shook her head. "No. She was too elusive to track."

"That was before you had a hellhound who could sniff her out." I bent over and patted Cerberus.

"And before we had a Reaper who could destroy her with a single swipe of her scythe," my mom added. "I like our chances. If she moved, she moved, but we should investigate those caves."

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

We parked a couple of blocks away to avoid being seen by security cameras. Cerberus went in ahead. His agenda was simple: locate the vampires if they were there, identify them, and see if they had any of those lamps that negated the enchantment in my cloak.

Cerberus took a whole two minutes to patrol the cave. Pretty impressive considering that what they called the "Subtropolis" covered more than a thousand acres within the bluffs over the Missouri River, or that was what Sienna's internet search of the caves had revealed.

The hellhound could move fast. It was going to take us humans and hybrids a while to make it through the expansive subterranean industrial complex. True or not, the Wikipedia article on the caves called it the world's largest underground facility.

"Katerina is here," Cerberus stated. "I can't believe it, but she is. She isn't alone, though. And you won’t encounter many of those lamps until you get closer to the vampires. They only have them in the rooms where they’re operating."

"How many other vampires are we talking about?" my mom asked.

"Five. All newly turned."

"You're certain? How can you tell?"

"The scent. Younger vampires, I've discovered, have a sweet scent. They smell like Sienna did when she was in the sun. When her other nature revealed itself."

"They're daywalkers?" I asked.

Cerberus shook his head. "I can't say. I don't think so. I mean, Sienna only turned when she was in the sun, and she doesn't smell otherwise."

My mom pursed her lips. "Taking out five younglings will be difficult. One or two, no problem."

I shrugged. "I've handled that many at once before."

"You have, but not in the company of an elder like Katerina."

"They were with Vincent the first time I encountered him."

"Vincent was a powerful vampire, but he's nothing compared to Katerina. She's at least twice his age."

"So, double the age, double the power?" Sienna asked.

Mom shook her head. "It doesn't work that way. At a certain point, a vampire's strength grows exponentially. Zoey, you handled Vincent with relative ease. Katerina will pose a much greater challenge."

I smirked. "I encountered her before. If she hadn’t had a dozen other vampires around her at the time, she wouldn’t have been that tough."

"Don't underestimate her, Zoey. That's what she wants you to do. Vampires, especially the older ones, are masters of manipulation. They understand how human minds work and use that to hunt and seize their prey. If she shows a vulnerability, it's because she wants to. It's so she can invite you into her trap."

"Got it, Mom."

"I'm serious, Zoey. You need to be careful."

"How many times do I have to tell you you're not my mom? I don't have a fucking mom."

Josephine stared at me, then turned away. I had regretted it the moment I’d said it. It wasn't the first time I'd uttered similar sentiments, but it was the first time I'd said it in such a hurtful way.

That wasn't my intention. My mom doesn’t know me. I have to go into a situation confident. That's how I roll. If I have fears or trepidations, warnings won't help. But if I go in a hundred percent convinced I'm going to kick ass and when I'm done, my enemies will be shaking in their boots—if they exist—I'll think too much. I won't trust my instincts, my reflexes will slow down, and I'll make myself vulnerable.

It didn't matter how dangerous Katerina was; I had to stop her. She was a threat not to only the human race but to the Reapers. Katerina could have been Godzilla, and I'd still go in there with my scythe ablaze, ready to teach her a lesson. A short-lived lesson, of course. She'd learn it just before I harvested her soul. But a lesson nonetheless.

I knew that wasn't my mom's intention. That was the problem, though, and why it angered me so much. Josephine didn't know me. If she had, she'd know I couldn't afford to second-guess myself. I couldn’t dwell on exercising excessive caution.

I wasn't her, although she wanted me to be more like her. She'd always had to be careful as she grew into her role as a vampire slayer. She was vulnerable, but I wasn't my mother's daughter. The only thing we had in common was our appearance. She was blonde, I was brunette, and she had a couple of decades of life on me. Other than that, we were twins.

The similarities ended with appearance. I was the product of my father's high expectations, and to a point, his absences. I became self-sufficient because I couldn't depend on my dad to be there to teach me how to reach the ridiculous standards he held me to, so, I figured it out my own damn self. I pulled myself up by my bra straps—bootstraps too, but without a mom, pulling my "self" up by them was something I had to do on my own.

I wasn't a bitter bitch or a whiny child like all those people who go on daytime talk shows and tell the hosts sob stories about how they were raised. I didn't blame my mom for what happened, but she wasn't there. If she acted like a normal colleague and didn't go out of her way to urge me to be careful all the time, we'd get along fine.

We did get along until it came to facing vampires, when she thought she needed to bring all her experience to the table. She did have valuable experience hunting vampires; that much was true. But she'd said it herself; until I showed up, she and Kevin had not stood a chance against the older vampires. They never went after them. She had less experience facing Katerina head-on than I did.

That was true. I could justify being put off by my mom's attempt at helicopter parenting, or in this case, helicopter vampire slaying. Why, then, did I feel so bad after I snapped at her? Maybe it was because it's just shitty to treat people like that, even if you have justification, especially when they're trying to help.

"Mom," I murmured. "I'm sorry. I didn’t mean..."

"No, Zoey. You're right. I didn't mean to overstep. I just thought, you know, all my years of training and learning how vampires work, act, and think might be helpful. I did this for so long to be ready to help you now."

"I know, Mom. Like I said, I'm really sorry. But when a girl grows up without her mother, she has to learn how to mother herself. When you try to mother me, my gut says you're telling me I've never been good or competent enough to handle myself."

"That's not what I'm saying, Zoey. I'm proud of you. You're a tough girl who’s a lot more skilled than I was at your age or am today. I guess I just thought that since I missed out on so much of your life, we could finally share something, even something as unconventional as fighting vampires."

I smiled a little. "You're right. I do appreciate this time, Mom. But who wouldn't have issues regarding their parents if they were raised by a single dad who worked all the time? I know my situation could have been a lot worse, but it wasn't easy, either. And you know what? I turned out pretty well despite it all, so forgive me if I'm a little coarse at times. That's how I've learned to thrive. It's who I am."

My mom nodded. "And I look forward to getting to know you better. For now, though, what do you say we take down Katerina together?"

I nodded. "Together."

"Together!" Sienna cried after having stood there awkwardly, forced to witness my exchange with my mom.

"Together!" Cerberus echoed.

I couldn’t help but smile. "Damn, that was corny as hell. Let's go kick some vampire ass."

CHAPTER THIRTY

Getting Mom past the security guard at the entrance presented a small challenge. Sienna and I could just go invisible, walk right past, flip him off, show him our boobs, whatever, and he'd be none the wiser.

Not that we'd do that. I'm just saying we could. This wasn't Bourbon Street, after all.

My mom didn't have that luxury. Though now that I think about it, maybe if she’d flashed him, he'd have let her through. Men were so easy to manipulate.

"Go ahead, you two. I'll be right behind you."

"How will you get in, Mom?"

She grinned. "I have a few skills of my own, Zoey."

I smirked. "All right, be that way. Remain mysterious and all ninja-like."

"Damn straight." She winked. "What kind of ninja would I be if I shared all my secrets?"

I smiled. "All right. Cerberus, will you be able to pick up Mom's scent in there?"

Cerberus snorted. "Yes. She smells very nice. No one in there does."

My mom chuckled. "Thank you, Cerberus. That was very kind of you."

"It was?" I asked. "Usually, if some dude tells me, 'Hey, you smell nice,' I steer clear. I figure anyone that preoccupied with my smell is either a dog—no offense, Cerberus—or legally prohibited from loitering within a hundred feet of a school."

"Not true," my mom protested. "There's nothing wrong with being complimented on how you smell. It means they notice you."

I snorted. "I don’t wear perfume. I don't use fruity body lotions. If I smell, it's like feet."

My mom shrugged. "Some men like that smell."

"Ew! Weird, Mom!"

"Not that weird," Sienna said. "My ex-boyfriend liked feet. Free foot rubs whenever I wanted."

Josephine smiled. "I've dated men like that. It has a few perks as long as they respect your limits."

"Riigghtt," I drawled. "Like no toe-sucking."

Sienna raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever had that done to you?"

"No! Never have, never will."

My mom shrugged. "Don't knock it until you've tried it, Zoey."

"All right, I'm going to go puke right now. When I'm done, I'm putting on my cloak, and we're doing this thing."

I tossed my hood over my head and disappeared. Sienna joined me in the astral plane. "Puking in the astral plane? That's one way to avoid the cleanup."

I chuckled. "I wasn't actually going to puke. I just think all that stuff is gross and weird."

"I thought you preferred bad boys. Guys who are a little adventurous?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Not like that. When it comes to my body, I prefer my men stick to the standard attractions."

"Like the Matterhorn?" Sienna asked.

"I suppose. I don't know what that is, but it sounds like it might fit."

"It's a ride at Disneyland. Don't tell me you've never been to Disneyland."

"I've never been to Disneyland."

"Holy crap. Well, you won't get my next joke then."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I was just going to say the only attraction I've ever experienced when touring my ex-boyfriend was It's a Small World After All."

I chuckled. "How horrible."

Sienna shrugged as she and I continued walking through the cave. "He's someone else's tiny problem now. I don't know what it was. In our relationship, he always came up short."

I shook my head. "You know, you never talked about any of this stuff at Cup-O-Joe's."

"Because we were working, Zoey. Duh!"

I grinned. "Okay, fair point. Damn, how big is this place?"

"I told you already," Sienna said. "Subtropolis covers more a thousand acres or fifty-five million square feet."

"Stop your yapping." Cerberus turned around. "Y'all are worse than Chihuahuas. If you'd focus, we could use the astral plane and move through here a lot faster."

I nodded. "All right, Cerberus. Lead the way.”

He growled, “Just remember, once we enter the room where Katerina and the vampires are, they'll be able to see you.”

I nodded. "Got it, Cerberus. Sienna, maybe you should stay outside the room."

"I told you, Zoey. I want to help! You saw how I fisted that vampire."

"You punched him in the chest, Sienna. You didn't fist him."

Sienna giggled. "Well, you know what I meant."

"Your advantage is your ability to be invisible. Besides, if any of the vampires try to leave, I need you to stop them. When I faced off with vampires in a situation like this in New Orleans, Vincent got away. I need someone on the lookout for strays. If you see any, fist them."

"Got it. I'll punch their hearts out."

I grinned. "You can do that, too."

"How big is the room the vampires are in?" I asked.

Cerberus grunted. "Pretty big."

"Any chance I could enter and reap Katerina before she notices?"

"I can sneak in first and try to locate her. If she is close to a wall, you can walk through. It's possible but not likely. It wasn't a standard room. It was like a big underground church."

I raised an eyebrow. "A church? Vampires and churches. My mom said Katerina used to be a nun, so that makes sense. She still practices old-school vampirism."

Cerberus nodded. "That said, it's one really long room with two rows of pews and an aisle between. There's a chancel up front, and an altar."

"Let me guess. A human meal is tied to the altar?"

"Not when I was here before, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they usually do."

I nodded. "That's how they tried to bind and feed from Sienna when they kidnapped her before."

Sienna winced. "They're very religious, but it's not like they're praising the Christian god. When they had me before, they were revering the Dark One."

"The devil?" I asked.

Sienna shook her head. "That's what I assumed, but maybe not."

"It could be one of the Greek gods. Hades, perhaps."

Cerberus snorted. "Possibly. He's a real prick, that Hades."

I smiled. "I can imagine. All right, Cerberus, head in there and try to get me the lay of the land. Is there any other way out than these doors?"

Cerberus shook his head. "One way in and out for the bloodsuckers."

"Good. Sienna, wait near the door. Do your thing if any vamps run through."

Cerberus ran through the closed doors into the underground cathedral. He appeared again five seconds later.

"Good news," Cerberus said. "Katerina is still in there. The bad news is she's praying by the altar. Also, she's alone."

"Where are the five young vampires you mentioned?"

Cerberus shook his head. "I'm not sure. They're scattered around the caves."

"Damn it. If Mom doesn't know to expect them..."

"She can handle herself, Zoey. Especially with new vampires."

I nodded. "Right. I mean, she said she could. I have to trust that. You think they're out on patrol or something?"

"That is my guess," Cerberus agreed. "But they move fast. No sooner do I catch the scent of one than it's gone. With all of them moving around, trying to find one of them is next to impossible."

"No matter," I said. "Cut off the head, and the beast dies. We can deal with newbie vamps later. Katerina is the one we're here for."

"She'll see you as soon as you walk in," Cerberus warned. "And she's too far away from the walls for you to take her by surprise."

I nodded. "In that case, we'll do this the honorable way. Chick against chick. Face to face."

"You've got this, Zoey," Sienna told me.

"And if she tries to run, you've got this, Sienna."

"No problem!"

I knew I could walk through the doors. I thought about using the bag of Hades soil, which was more like powder than dirt when I examined it, to avoid the lamps. The problem? If I used it, I couldn’t phase through the doors. If I entered by opening the door and walking in, she’d see me anyway.

Once I got in, though, my cloak's enchantments would not work. Cerberus had said the whole place was illuminated with those blacklights, which were fueled by a chemical drawn from the soil of the underworld. Toss the Hades powder on myself and it might give me an advantage, but I could only use it once, or maybe twice. I couldn’t risk using it if I wasn’t sure it would work.

As soon as I passed through the doors, the feeling of walking on air that I usually experienced in the astral plane disappeared, and the heaviness of my regular form returned.

Katerina stood up from the altar where she was kneeling and smiled at me.

"Miss Grimm. It's about time. I've been waiting for you."

I cocked my head and touched the sigil on my wrist. My scythe formed in my hand. "How did you know I was coming?"

"Did you think your brother's escape was an accident? I knew he'd lead you to us, and as headstrong as you are, you wouldn’t be able to resist coming after me."

"Then you know why I'm here. Katerina, it's over. Time to join your sire and Vincent and Vlad and all the rest I've eliminated."

Katerina laughed. "You don't know what you're doing, do you? Tell me, Miss Grimm. What happens to a vampire's soul when you reap it?"

I bit my lip. "It goes away. It's gone. That's all that matters."

"Is it?" Katerina asked. "It's rather impulsive, don't you think, to come after us with that scythe when you don't know what it does."

"Bullshit." I stepped closer to the vampire. "You're just trying to make me second-guess myself."

Katerina smiled. "In that case, why don't you finish what you came here to do? I want you to do it."

I furrowed my brow. "You want to be reaped?"

"Like I said, you don’t know what happens to us when you reap our souls. I do. Go ahead, Miss Grimm."

I grunted and swung my blade, but when it would have struck Katerina on her right shoulder, her body turned translucent, as if she had phased out of the material world. Then she reappeared.

"What the hell?"

"Exactly, Miss Grimm! Hell...or perhaps Hades. The domain of the Dark One."

I bit my lip. "So, when I reap vampires, they go to Hades?"

Katerina laughed. "Suppose we do."

"That's a-ok with me!" I swiped my blade through Katerina again. She phased a second time.

"Call it a gift from the Dark One," Katerina mused. "You aren't the only one who can navigate different dimensions, Miss Grimm."

In fury, I swung my scythe at Katerina again and again. Each time, it passed through her. She stood still, laughing. "Oh, stop. It tickles."

"Funny, but I'll get you eventually. When you don't expect it."

"I expect you'll try," Katerina agreed. "Your blade might work on others of my kind, but you've yet to meet one as devout as I, as blessed by our maker. The Dark One, Miss Grimm, is not only my father. He's yours."

I shook my head. "My dad wouldn't help you."

"I'm not talking about Azrael," Katerina said. "I'm talking about his father—the father of your kind. The god who created you, the Reapers, also made us. We are not as different as you'd like to imagine."

I snorted. "Vincent said the same damn thing before I sent him to Hell."

"What he told you is true. Why should we be at odds with one another, Miss Grimm? We are cut from the same cloth. We were both created to serve the purposes of the same Lord."

I snorted. "The Dark One? You mean Hades?"

Katerina smirked. "You call him Hades. I call him Satan. I was, I’m sure you've learned by now, once a nun. The high priestess of the Church of the Dark One."

"Sounds like a bullshit religion to me."

Katerina laughed. "I like you, Miss Grimm. It's a shame you won't give me a chance. We could be great friends. I do have friends, you know."

I sighed. "Yeah, we've figured out that there's a Reaper helping you. Who is it?"

Katerina smiled and turned around. I swiped at her again, and the attempt to reap her failed again. She smiled at me over her shoulder. "Why would I tell you that? Until you embrace your true nature, your heritage, I owe you nothing."

"You're making daywalkers. You intend to use them to take over the world. I'll ask you the same thing I asked one of your lackeys right before I killed him. Why would you want that? If you created a superior vampire that was immune to sunlight, wouldn't that leave you and your kind behind? You'd be inferior second-class vampires. Eventually, they'd take over."

Katerina laughed. "You know so much, Miss Grimm, but at the same time, you know very little."

"Then enlighten me."

Katerina narrowed her eyes. "How about I offer you a demonstration instead?"

I gripped my staff and was about to attempt another swipe at the vampire when she ran around me and out the doors. Her body blurred due to the speed at which she moved.

I followed as fast as I could and saw Sienna, her extended fist caught in Katerina's hand.

"I don't understand."

"She can see you!" I shouted. "She moves between dimensions. I don't know how!"

Cerberus dove at Katerina. With a swipe of her hand, she sent him flying back. He crashed to the floor with a whimper.

Katerina grabbed the brooch off of Sienna's shirt and tossed it aside. Lights flashed around us—bright white lights.

Katerina's skin started to blister. She grinned.

Sienna's eyes turned black, then she snarled and bit Katerina on the neck.

"Yes!" Katerina shouted. "Bite me! Complete the gift!"

"What the fuck?" my mom asked, shooting a bolt from her crossbow at Katerina.

She phased again, and the bolt passed through her and struck Sienna.

"No!" I screamed, running to my friend as her body collapsed.

"It feels incredible!" Katerina exclaimed. "Come, my children! Witness the gift that shall soon be yours!"

Even though the sunlight lamps were still shining, Katerina's skin was no longer blistering. She was now a daywalker.

The lights went out again, and five vampires descended on our position.

I laid Sienna on the floor. I still had my scythe in my hand, and I slashed it at the first vampire as he dove at me.

My mom fired a bolt at one of them, then turned and aimed at me.

I spun to see the bolt hit a vampire who was coming at me from behind get hit in the chest.

Katerina was gone. Cerberus, back on his feet, dove at another vampire, expanded his body, grabbed the vampire in his massive jaws, and tossed it through the air. I swung, destroying the vampire with my scythe in a cloud of golden energies and ash.

The sole remaining vampire took off running. "I'll go after him," my mom called. "Check on Sienna. I don't think it hit her heart, but you'd better be sure."

My mom kicked Sienna's brooch toward me. It slid across the floor, and I caught it and pinned it on her chest.

Then I pulled the bolt out of her body. My mom had been right. It was just above the heart, close to her shoulder.

Sienna gasped.

"Thank God!" I wrapped my arms around her.

She squeezed me back. "I'm sorry, Zoey. I tried to kill her, but…"

"I know, Sienna. I know. I tried, too. I'm not sure she can be killed. Not easily, anyway."

Sienna gagged, then turned and vomited black vampire blood. It splashed the concrete floor. "Remind me never to bite a vampire again."

I nodded. "We now know more of their plan, at least. Your bite turns regular vampires into daywalkers. If that's the case, they won't need to make many. They'll only need enough to turn the rest of the vampires."

"That might take a while," my mom said, walking toward us.

"Did you get him?" I asked.

"I did. He didn't stand a chance."

I nodded. "Well, Katerina is not only able to dodge my scythe, but she can also walk in the sunlight now. I'm afraid she's going to be very hard to kill."

My mom nodded. "It sure looks that way. But they will need to make more daywalkers."

"At least we know they haven't made any more yet," I stated.

"How can you be sure?" Sienna asked.

"Katerina lured us here on purpose. If there were other daywalkers, she wouldn't have had to use you. She could have used a willing daywalker."

"Then we'd better find out where the next Reapers will be going," my mom said grimly. "We know enough about how daywalkers are made to understand that a Reaper has to be involved twice—once to retrieve the soul of the body that was bitten, and again to return the soul to the body."

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Someone followed us as we left the caves. Every time I turned around, the footsteps I heard stopped, and no one was there.

"You guys hear that?"

"Didn't notice," Sienna responded. "Still in shock."

"I heard it," my mom replied. "Curious."

"Cerberus, anyone back there?"

"Just workers," Cerberus said. "Nothing supernatural. Whatever it is, probably no one to worry about."

I huffed. "Nothing is nothing anymore, but you might be right. I'm probably being paranoid."

"We know Katerina isn't here anymore. Where she went is anyone's guess."

I nodded. "We have to find where the vampires are keeping the victims they hope to turn into daywalkers. I don't know if I can kill Katerina, but if we can stop them from spreading this daywalker virus, or gene, or whatever it is, we have to try."

"I agree." My mom sighed. "I'm just not sure where to look. We've checked the standard locations."

"We could try the freight yard," Sienna suggested. "Those big metal crates, the ones they threw me in when they kidnapped me the first time, are the ideal place to hide bodies."

"And I wouldn’t be able to smell them through the metal. We can start there," Cerberus added.

"You’re right; we don't have a lot of other options."

No sooner did we get outside than all three of our phones dinged. Well, Sienna's meowed. That was apparently her notification tone.

Cerberus narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head.

"The messages must've come through while we were in the cave," Sienna stated.

I nodded. "Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?"

My mom nodded. "Kevin said multiple persons were taken to the hospital. They were unconscious and had puncture wounds in their necks, wrists, and thighs."

"That was where the vampires bit me when they were trying to turn me," Sienna explained.

I nodded. "Do you think the vampires would be so foolish as to create daywalkers in hospitals?"

My mom scratched her head. "It's brilliant if you think about it. There's a reason that when you were trying to contact your father in New Orleans, we went to a hospital, Zoey."

"Because Reapers are often dispatched there," I muttered. "But if these people weren't slated to die..."

"It's still a good lead," my mom said, typing a text on her phone. "I've asked him to meet us there. It'll make things a lot easier, for me at least, if we have a police escort."

It was a group text, apparently. Mom's message caused my phone to ding and Sienna's to meow.

Cerberus growled.

A message from Kevin came through a few seconds later.

The victims are at St. Luke's on the Plaza. Meet me there in an hour?

I sighed. "All of them in one place? That makes it too damn convenient for the vampires and the Reapers working with them."

"Maybe," my mom replied. "But it also means we know where they'll appear. If the victims were in different hospitals, we might be able to prevent one from turning, but not the rest. This gives us a chance."

"True," I agreed. "I suppose you're right. We'd better get there fast. Do we know how long it has been since these victims were bitten?"

"We don't even know how long the body needs to start healing before they'd become daywalkers when revived. Too long, and they'd just stay human. Return their souls too soon, and they'd become regular vampires."

"We know a range," I offered. "Based on how long Sienna was hospitalized, it could be a while."

My mom nodded. "We'd better get there soon. We could wait an hour, or a week or more. Either way, we have to be there when it's time. When the Reapers show up to restore their souls."

When we arrived at the hospital, Sienna and me on my bike, Mom in the ‘Vette, Kevin was waiting for us by the doors.

When he saw me, he looked me up and down, undressing me with his eyes. I couldn't be upset about it. I was doing the same thing to him. He was in his dark-blue police uniform. I don't know why, but whenever I imagined him naked after taking off his uniform, he was a lot fitter and hotter than when I imagined his body beneath regular clothes. There was something about a uniform.

"Good to see you, Zoey," Kevin began. "You too, Sienna. Josephine."

We all nodded. "Good to see you too, Detective Schroeder."

Kevin snorted. "Aren't we past that?"

I shrugged. "You're on duty. We have to maintain formalities."

"Right." Kevin smirked. "This way. We have them all in the same wing."

"The closer together they are, the better," my mom said. "We have to watch them all until the Reapers arrive. We can't let any of them out of our sight."

"They're in the same wing, not the same room. I can try to get the hospital to double them up."

"They’d do that just because you ask them to?" I asked.

Kevin smiled. "I'll tell them it's for security reasons. We believe their condition isn’t accidental, and it will be easier to protect them that way."

I grinned. "It's cute when you abuse your authority."

Kevil laughed. "It's not abuse if it's true, Zoey. How I'll explain your presence here is another matter."

"How'd you find these victims, anyway?" my mom asked.

"I didn't. They were brought here in a van and left outside the ER."

I shook my head. "So, the vampires wanted them brought here."

"It seems that way," Kevin agreed. "Perhaps they were concerned that they didn't have the medical expertise to keep their bodies viable long enough."

I shrugged. "Whatever the reason, we're here for the long haul."

"I'll come up with something to tell the hospital staff. Just try to stay out of their way, and don't do anything that would raise red flags."

"Me do something that might get people's attention? I'd never."

"Right," Kevin said. "You're as subtle as an elephant in a china shop."

I raised an eyebrow. "That wouldn't be subtle."

"Exactly my point." Kevin grinned. "You have a way of making your presence known, Zoey."

"I can behave." I smiled. "At least while we're here. Later, I don't have to if you don't want me to."

My mom cleared her throat. "Can you two talk about things like that when I'm not around, please?"

I giggled. "Sorry, Mom."

Sienna smiled. "I think they're cute together."

"I agree," Mom replied. "I just never imagined they'd...you know..."

"Why not?" Sienna asked. "They're both hot. It makes sense."

"And we're both still standing here," I reminded them.

Kevin laughed. "Follow me. Just be good, Zoey. I'd hate to have to cuff you."

"Please do!" I shot back.

"Please stop!" my mom retorted.

Kevin and I chuckled. We hadn't done more than hold hands yet. We hadn't even kissed. Still, the attraction between us was off the charts. It had been like that since we met, only now, it was blatant and direct. Before, it had been subtle and playful but open to interpretation.

He was still playing hard to get, sort of. Then again, so was I. The sexual tension was through the roof. It was only a matter of time, or so I hoped, before it exploded in a mutual exchange of passion.

That would have to wait until after we finished our stakeout and prevented the creation of new daywalkers.

"I have an idea," I blurted. "I can wear my cloak. Sienna can activate her brooch. We can wait here while invisible."

"For days?" my mom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If that's what it takes."

Kevin nodded. "That would simplify things."

"We might be able to use that to our advantage,” my mom mused. "If the vampires and Reapers know we're here, they will probably not show. I mean, these are just human lives to them. I know it sounds harsh, but there's nothing special about these people other than perhaps their blood type that makes them essential. If the vampires think we've found them out, they might abandon the victims and move on to other candidates."

I nodded. "I agree. The only problem is that the Reapers will be able to see me once they arrive. Still, they won't know I'm here until they show up. If they follow standard Reaper procedure, they'll start with reconnaissance."

"Then you should be better at hiding from them than they are at finding you," my mom told me. "At least until they reveal themselves and you have to intervene."

I nodded. "Despite the whole elephant in a china shop thing, I know how to do stealth. It was part of our training at the Reaper Academy. And since I know how Reapers do recon, I will have the advantage."

"What about me?" Sienna asked.

"The Reapers don't know you," I replied. "At least, none except Morty do, and he's not the one who’s doing this."

We rode the elevator up three floors to where the potential daywalkers were being held. The nurses nodded at Kevin and smiled. Of course they did. Batting their eyes. Strutting around in their scrubs.

What the hell? Why was I jealous? It wasn't like he was sleeping with them. He wasn't even sleeping with me. We were dating, sort of, but it wasn't like we were a couple. When a nurse passed us and I caught her looking over her shoulder at Kevin's ass, why did I have a sudden urge to beat the shit out of her?

I sighed. I didn't like that feeling. Did it mean anything? I'd never been like that before. Not even with Gabriel. Other reaper girls checked him out all the time. It had never bothered me. Why was I suddenly overwhelmed by an irrational urge to demonstrate my dominance?

I laughed. That was the key; it was irrational. That meant I didn't have to dwell on it. It was probably just hormones.

"I assume they're all O-negative?" I asked.

Kevin nodded. "They are."

"The doctors must be perplexed. When Sienna was in the hospital, the doctor there thought it was rare that her body was so healthy, but she couldn't wake up. These people are fighting off a contagion they can't test for."

Kevin nodded. "This is all pretty new. I'm sure they'll do scans and whatnot to try to sort it out. So far, though, the doctors and nurses have focused on stabilizing the victims."

"This is how I was when my soul was in Morty's blade?" Sienna asked.

I nodded. "Just like this."

"It's weird. I still get flashes of memory. Not my memories, but Morty's memories of things he did while I was in his blade. Nothing that makes sense. Disjointed moments. Flashes, mostly of that fraternity party. I remember the keg stand and the three-story bong."

I laughed. "I'm guessing his state of inebriation left his mind open. Since his scythe is technically part of him, it makes sense you were part of him at the time, too."

My mother chuckled. "Well, if we got every Reaper in the underworld wasted, we could wait until the daywalkers rise and ask them who reaped them."

"Right. Well, the vampires are banking on the notion that these daywalkers will be loyal to their cause."

Kevin scratched his head. "That's a good point. How can we be sure that's the case? I wonder if these people knew what they were getting into before they were bitten."

"It's not unthinkable," my mom replied. "The vampires are offering immortality and power. I'm sure there are a lot of people, especially people whose lives might not be going as well as they'd like, who'd accept that invitation."

I nodded. "Katerina seems to know what she's doing. Somehow, she knew that if she could awaken Sienna, she'd bite her and pass along her daywalker abilities."

Sienna sighed. "When I turn, I have irresistible urges I can't explain. It's like I have no control."

My mom brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face. "All it took was one bite and Katerina changed. That suggests the contagion a daywalker passes on is more potent than the normal vampire virus. That raises another question. If these daywalkers rise, how many people will they each bite? How many of them will be turned in kind? This thing could spread fast."

"Katerina didn't rage out, though," I said. "She was still of sound mind."

My mom nodded. "Older vampires are accustomed to managing their urges and cravings. Younger vampires, not as much."

"If everything you're saying is true," Kevin interjected, " this must be part of Katerina's plan. She won't need more Reapers to do what she wants. All she has to do is take these five daywalkers, move them around the world to various places, and let them multiply."

I nodded. "It might be the same thing I suspected she was planning to do with the werewolves. I'd thought that if werewolves were unleashed on the world and the vampires used their ally wolf to tame them, they could emerge as the heroes. Could she do the same with these daywalkers?"

My mother leaned against the wall and pinched her chin. The machines hooked up to one of the victims made a variety of noises. "If she's the one who bit them, she's their sire. She can control them."

"She wasn't the only one who bit me," Sienna countered. "That other vampire, the one you killed, did too."

"Nosferatu," I clarified. "I suspect he would also have control over you if he was still alive."

Kevin closed the door of the room as a group of nurses walked past. "Do you think the vampires predicted we'd try to save Sienna by reaping her soul?"

My mom shook her head. "I don't know how they could predict that. I think they learned what was happening and exploited it."

"Katerina told me a few things when I confronted her earlier. She said that we Reapers are children of the Dark One. That he made us even as he made the vampires. If this devil or whatever he is made both of us, he must've known this was possible. Do you think he was the one who developed this plan and charged Katerina to carry it out?"

"I don't know," my mom responded. "All this stuff about the Dark One is new to me. It would explain how the vampires have managed to manipulate this situation to their advantage."

"First things first. We have to stop the spread of the daywalkers. I fear, though, that even if we succeed, it won't be the end of Katerina's plans. Especially if she has a god like Hades directing her."

My mom nodded. "It makes me wonder if Athena saw this coming when she charged me to start hunting vampires."

I shook my head. "In the underworld, we believed in the gods. We knew they existed, but I never trusted them. They always had an agenda of their own."

My mom nodded. "Athena wouldn't tell me much more than that I needed to be prepared to help you adjust to your abilities. You're right, Zoey. I think the gods are pulling strings, using us as pawns for some kind of war between themselves."

"We'll find out soon enough. For now, we wait. I have a feeling we'll be here a while."

"Anyone hungry?" Kevin asked. "I'll order a pizza."

"Sounds good to me," I replied. "I'd like to eat before I go invisible and sit here twiddling my thumbs for the gods only know how long."

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The pizza showed up an hour later. Kevin went downstairs to pick it up and brought it to one of the rooms we were monitoring.

"I'm so hungry." I walked more briskly than I typically did toward the pizza and opened the box.

"What the hell is this?" I asked.

Kevin shrugged. "It's pizza. What do you mean?"

"There's pineapple on it."

"Pineapple and ham. It's called Hawaiian pizza."

I snorted. "People in Hawaii eat pizza like this?"

"I don't think so. I think they just call it that because of the pineapple."

Sienna pressed past me and grabbed a piece. "You should try it, Zoey."

"It's pineapple and ham. Aren't you fostering stereotypes about Hawaiians?"

Kevin snorted. "What kind of stereotypes? That they like pineapple? Heaven forbid."

"Who doesn't like pineapple?" Sienna asked. "It's delicious."

"That's beside the point. I never saw it on pizza before."

"What do they put on pizza in the underworld?" Kevin asked.

I shrugged. "The usual. Fingers. Toes. Every now and then, some eyeballs."

Kevin looked at me in shock. I started laughing. "I'm joking, dumbass. They put the regular shit normal people like on their pizzas. Pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, olives, peppers—things like that. We don't eat body parts."

Kevin chuckled. "You know, Zoey, I've never been to the underworld. I don't know what to expect."

I nodded. "Well, as long as you're fully human, you won’t be going there either. The humidity is bad for your hair."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Good thing I have excellent conditioner."

"Joking again. You couldn't survive there for more than an hour. The air is too thin for normal humans."

"You require less oxygen than I do?" Kevin asked.

"I don't know. Maybe. I honestly don't know if that's why humans can't go there. All I know is that it's forbidden, supposedly for their own good."

My mom chuckled. "I asked your father once if I could visit. When he said he had to leave with you and your brother, I begged him to find a way to work it out. He wanted to. Said he'd write every day. He did. I didn't get all his letters at once, but by the time I received them, Athena had shown up. Said it would be best if I didn't answer. She said your father needed to move on."

"That’s how much the gods know," I quipped. "He still isn't over you, Mom."

A slight grin formed at the corner of my mom's mouth as she looked down, trying to hide the expression on her face. "I know, Zoey. I wish I could say I'm over him, but we still can't be together."

I grabbed a piece of pizza and took a bite.

"Holy crap!" I exclaimed. "This is incredible!"

Kevin laughed. "Told you so."

"No wonder Hawaiians eat this stuff all the time!"

Keven rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "Just don't eat too much. We have to split this between the four of us."

Cerberus, who'd remained in another dimension the whole time we were there because hospitals don't appreciate having animals on the premises, poked his Earth head out of whatever realm he was lingering in and growled.

"Sorry," Kevin corrected. "The five of us."

Cerberus appeared, expanded his body so he was big enough to reach the pizza, took two pieces in his mouth, and disappeared again.

Kevin grunted. "Maybe I should have ordered two."

"It's okay," I soothed. "As good as it is, I'll stick to one piece. I have to be ready to fight. You know what they say, you shouldn't slay vampires for at least thirty minutes after eating."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "No one says that."

"You bet they do," I protested. "No slaying vampires. No swimming, either. Those two things don't usually go hand-in-hand, though now that I think about it, I was wading in a swamp when I killed Nosferatu, so there's that."

"Well, then you should put that piece down. They could show up at any moment."

I took a second bite.

Kevin shook his head, chuckling.

"Vampires are gross," I continued. "Killing one might make you puke."

"I haven't ever heard that rule, Zoey. But you might want to eat a little more. You'll have to stay invisible here for a while. You might not have a good chance to eat." My mother smiled.

"If Cerberus can pull it off, I'll find a way."

"Just saying. You can have my second piece." What a motherly thing to do.

I grinned. "If you insist!"

"Sienna can have mine," Kevin said. "You'll both need to stay up here. To keep an eye on all the rooms at once will take two of you."

"Couldn't we just watch the elevators?" Sienna asked.

"The vampires have to come that way," I agreed. "But Reapers can form portals anywhere. We need to keep the victims in sight. I'll watch the three on this end of the hall since it is closer to the elevators in case any vampires do come up here, and you can watch the two at the far end."

Sienna sighed. "This is going to be boring. You know what's the worst about all this?"

"What?" I asked.

"When I activate my brooch, my phone loses service."

I grinned. "I know. It's a travesty."

Sienna giggled. "The sacrifices we have to make to save the world. I'll tell you what."

“One more thing.” I reached into my backpack, retrieved the little bag of powdery Hades soil my dad had given me, and handed it to Sienna. “I don’t know what to expect, but if Katerina shows and has some way to dispel our cloaks, a portable lamp or whatever, use this so you can stay in the astral plane.”

“Why would I need to do that?”

“In case it’s not safe. If you have to get out of here.”

“I won’t run away, Zoey. I’m not as fragile as you think.”

I sighed. “That’s not what this is about. You’re the only daywalker we know about. We can’t risk you being captured. Katerina manipulated you to bite her before. Apparently, her bite isn’t contagious. At least, not yet. Otherwise, she wouldn’t need to make more. Regardless, we can’t risk you being captured.”

Sienna scratched her head. “I get it, but you might be able to use this.”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure how. Like I said, it’s just for emergencies. We can’t get any more of it, so be careful. Remember, too, if you do, it will lock you into whatever plane you’re in when you use it.”

Sienna nodded. “I will.”

We stayed on the astral plane all day and through the night. The next morning, my mom and Kevin came back to allow us a bathroom break. It was a nice thought. Hospital rooms have bathrooms, though, and being in the astral plane, I could pee anywhere. At least, I assumed I could. I hadn't tried it since I was afraid it would stay on the astral plane with me and I'd have to endure the smell of my own urine for the duration of our stakeout. That would have been a pisser.

I took advantage of the break and did my business the usual way. Kevin and my mom also brought us breakfast and water. Pop-Tarts, really. Not the best breakfast in the world, but it filled the hole.

I thanked them, and they left. If they were there when the Reapers showed, it might spoil our plans.

We spent another full day staring at the walls. All the victims were stable. Nothing had changed. We spent the following night and the next day, too.

I'd like to say I was in good spirits, but I was getting downright cranky. Not that it was a problem; I could be as bitchy as I wanted in the astral plane. No one would notice except Sienna, who was every bit as restless as I was. Oh, and Cerberus. He wasn't into bitches. He insisted he was gay. Most dogs like bitches. I'm not sure if he was really gay or just asexual. Then again, there weren't a lot of hellhounds roaming the Earth. If he was in Hades, he'd break a lot of houndish hearts.

There was an average of two hundred and thirty-two ceiling tiles in each hospital room. Yes, I counted them. Twice. I counted partial tiles as half-tiles. I wanted to ensure my figures were as accurate as possible because, you know, when you're bored stupid, shit seems important.

Occasionally, the nurses entered the room to replace the bags of fluids they were using to hydrate the victims and check their vitals. Every time a new nurse arrived, I made it a point to examine their eyes. The same with the doctors. Vampires have dark, almost black eyes. It struck me that if a vampire wanted to sneak into the hospital, dressing in navy blue scrubs would be the best way to do it.

Then again, the vampires were hoping to take over the world. Secrecy might not be as high on their list of priorities as it used to be.

The last I knew, based on what Kevin and my mom had reported the last time they checked in, Katerina hadn't done anything noteworthy since she became a daywalker. At least, nothing that would draw anyone's attention. That wasn't a surprise. She needed more daywalkers, so she needed these victims to turn.

There was no telling, if she succeeded, how long it would take before the vampires made a move against humanity. I imagined it wouldn't take them more than a week or two. All they'd have to do is disburse the daywalkers and get them to start biting other vampires and maybe other humans who they wanted to turn. New daywalkers would spread the condition further until they had enough of an army to challenge the hegemony of humanity.

There was always a chance that these victims were meant to be a distraction. If that was the case, though, the Reapers who were working with the vampires would have to do something with these people's souls. They might just let them loose.

Kevin and my mom were busy trying to find out if there were other victims, other missing persons reported who might have fit the demographic—namely, the blood type—the vampires required. In this case, no news was good news. We hoped that meant the vampires and Reapers would show up here sooner rather than later.

We reached Day Four. I knew every nurse's name. I even knew who they were dating because, well, nurses chat about a lot of crap. I knew which nurses were screwing which doctors, too. One of the doctors was married, and not to the nurse he was doing the nasty with. Of course, they didn't do it in the hospital. This wasn't Grey's Anatomy; it was the real world. Even if trysts did happen from time to time on hospital grounds, the rooms on this floor were full.

After the morning rounds on the fourth day, a golden light appeared at the end of the hall. It was a Reaper portal.

"Thank God!" I ducked behind the nurse's station. I was in the astral plane, but being a Reaper, the arriving Reapers would be able to see me. They were in their cloaks too.

I couldn't see who they were at first. Their hoods were up. One of them emerged first. Five others followed.

All six touched their wrists, forming their scythes. Every Reaper has a unique scythe. It's like a fingerprint. The five who came in after the first carried blades aglow with golden light, which suggested that they held human souls. The first Reaper didn't bother summoning his, but when he turned around, there was no mistaking who it was—Gabriel.

“Cerberus,” I whispered. “You need to find my mom and Kevin. Find Dad, too. They all need to know what’s happening.”

“I could stay and help.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Gabriel is working with the vampires, so my father needs to see this for himself. We could use my mom’s help. Kevin’s too.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

It made sense. Gabriel had five junior Reapers, all graduates of my class. That meant he could go on all his regular missions and handle the scheduled reapings while his apprentices did the work for the vampires.

Gabriel walked down the hall alone, leaving his five lackeys by his portal. Reconnaissance. He looked around.

"Zoey, I know you're here."

I sighed. Of course he did.

"There's no reason to hide. I need to talk to you now.”

I bit my lip. Why did Gabriel need to talk to me? I figured he'd want to do the job fast and get out of there.

I sighed, pressed the sigil in my wrist, and formed my scythe, targeting Gabriel. If I was going to show myself, he had to know that I was in control. If push came to shove, I'd end his treacherous life in a second.

He saw me as I stood up, my scythe in hand.

Gabriel laughed. "There's no need for that."

"You fucking traitor!" I shouted. "How could you? All this to try to take over my dad's position!"

Gabriel shook his head. "Of course you'd think that, Zoey. I can't say I blame you. I know how it looks."

"What was I to you, anyway? Just a ticket to reclaiming the throne?"

"it wasn't like that, Zoey. I loved you. I still do."

"You sure have a funny way of showing it. You realize what will happen here, don't you? When you make these daywalkers for the vampires, it's just a matter of time before they try to take over the world."

Gabriel nodded. "Look, Zoey. If I didn't do this, if I didn't play along with their demands, other Reapers would have done it instead."

"My father trusts you, Gabriel! He didn't for a minute there, but then you saved Morty. What was that? Just a ploy to get access to the universal portal?"

He shook his head. "It was more than that, Zoey. You realize, if I didn't do that, they were going to force your brother to create these daywalkers, as you call them."

"How noble of you. You spared my brother of that so you could do it and get on the good side of the vampires and their Dark One."

"I did it, Zoey, because if your brother did it instead, even if he was forced to by the vampires, the auditors would find out. It would compromise your brother's chance to ascend to the throne."

I shook my head. "Then why not just save Morty and be done with it? You didn't have to do this for the vampires. We could have fought them."

Gabriel nodded. "Then I wouldn't have had this chance to bring Katerina to you."

"I tried to kill her before. It can't be done, Gabriel."

"It can, Zoey! At least, I think it can. You can move between the realms. So can she. You just have to make sure when you strike her that you're in the same dimension."

"She'll see it coming, Gabriel. And what are you going to do with these people whose souls your apprentices are holding?"

"If you stop Katerina, Zoey, we'll stay here and restore their souls when their bodies are ready."

"But you'll be gone from the underworld for too long," I countered. "If a Reaper goes rogue for that long, it’s an automatic demotion."

"Better me than your brother," Gabriel replied. "I'll earn my way up the ranks again."

I shook my head. "This seems fishy. I'm sorry, Gabriel. I'm not sure I trust you."

"What choice do you have?" he asked. "Are you going to kill all these Reapers, including me?"

"If I have to."

Gabriel sighed. "Just give me a chance. Katerina is on her way. I arrived five minutes early on purpose. She'll be here any second. Hide. Unless she moves into the astral plane, she won't see you coming. Take her out fast. We're going to make it look like we're about to restore the souls to these people's bodies. She'll be transfixed by the process. That's your chance."

I sighed. "All right, Gabriel. For the sake of everything we used to mean to each other, I'll trust you for now. But one false move, and I'll take you out. Understood?"

Gabriel nodded. "I'd expect nothing less, Zoey."

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Sienna was staring at the new arrivals intently. "I take it those are Reapers."

I smirked. "What gave it away, the dark cloaks and glowing scythes?"

"Pretty much."

"I didn't know you could see them."

Sienna shrugged. "Apparently, I can."

"That means they can also see you. Be careful. The one I was talking to is my ex."

"Gabriel?"

I nodded. "He insists he did this only to lure Katerina here."

Sienna bit the inside of her cheek. "And you believe that?"

"I'm not sure." I sighed. "Unless they start trying to deposit souls in people's bodies, I'm going to tentatively trust him and see how this plays out. You need to hide. It's daytime, so I don't think there's much chance any other vampires will show up apart from Katerina, but I need you to keep an eye out and watch my back."

"Could they reap you?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so. Still, that doesn't mean they couldn't stab me in the back. Anyone tries anything, shout, but only if necessary. I'd rather not alert Katerina or anyone else to your presence."

"Got it." Sienna nodded. "On the bright side, they probably won't have any of those lamps here."

"Right. But it doesn't matter. If Katerina phases into the astral plane, she'll be able to see us. I wouldn't put it past her to do that. She knows we could be hiding here, and she'll want to survey the area to make sure I don't interfere."

Sienna ducked behind the desk at the nurse's station. There were nurses there, but they wouldn't know of our presence as long as she had her brooch activated.

The elevator at the end of the hall dinged. I ducked into one of the patient rooms and watched as Katerina stepped out of the elevator doors.

Gabriel approached her. They exchanged nods.

"Your Reapers are prepared, I presume?"

"They are.”

"Good. Now, I'm not going to pay you much attention. I'd rather do this as inconspicuously as possible. Once my new vampires arise, you may leave."

"Then what happens?" Gabriel asked.

"You leave. I just told you, Reaper."

"I mean to the people here. If these new vampires awaken and need to feed..."

Katerina smirked. "Then they will feed. It is not your concern. The Dark One will fulfill his promise and crown you as the new Grim Reaper, assuming all goes according to plan."

Gabriel nodded. "Understood."

I bit my lip. The Dark One would make him the Grim Reaper? My stomach turned. I was less sure I could trust Gabriel now. This wasn't just an effort to undermine Morty or my father, but a direct path to give Gabriel claim to my father's throne.

It took every bit of patience I could muster to refrain from leaping out and trying to take out both of them. I didn't want to kill Gabriel, but if he was fixing to betray my father, I wouldn't have a choice.

Gabriel waved at the five apprentice Reapers and led them into one of the rooms. "Should we do this one at a time or all at once?"

Katerina pressed her lips together. "Let's do one first. I want to be certain they are ready and the process will work. If it doesn't, if they haven't healed enough to transform, I'd rather delay my plans than have to start over with new candidates."

Gabriel and Katerina walked toward the room where I was hiding, so I moved into the small bathroom connected to the patient's room. I left the door cracked and the light off. I could walk through the door if need be and take Katerina down if I had the opportunity. As small as the room was, I just had to make sure she was in the right position and act fast.

Four of the Reapers remained outside. One of them, a former classmate named Carmilla, followed Gabriel in, her scythe aglow with the patient's soul. I knew the girl. She and Morty had an on-again off-again fling back in the Academy. He hadn’t mentioned her recently, so I didn’t know if they were currently on or off.

Carmilla's lips quivered, and her hand shook as she gripped her scythe. She wasn't an incapable Reaper, but clearly, this wasn't something she'd trained for at the Academy.

She positioned herself on the opposite side of the patient's bed. I grinned. That left the other side of the bed, the side closest to the bathroom where I was hiding, open. Katerina stepped on that side and grabbed the patient's hand.

When this patient became a vampire, one of the first daywalkers, he'd be Katerina's child. Her progeny. She was prepared to welcome him into the world anew. I was prepared to prevent it from happening.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Katerina asked.

"Nothing, ma'am. Sorry, I just want to make sure I do this properly."

I took the cue. It was the only chance I might have. I focused my mind and pressed myself through the door of the bathroom, my scythe ablaze with hellfire.

It was enough to distract Carmilla. Her eyes shifted toward me as I slashed my scythe at Katerina.

She phased out of the way.

She turned and looked at me. "Nice try, Zoey."

Then she snapped back around to Carmilla. "Thanks for the tip."

"I didn't... I... Oh, my God, Gabriel! I'm sorry!"

Gabriel shook his head. "Never mind it. You can't do this, Katerina."

"Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel. You had such promise."

"Stop it, Katerina! Waken this daywalker, and I'll reap him before you can leave."

Katerina laughed. "I won't allow that, Miss Grimm."

"It's not your choice!" I screamed.

Katerina reached for me, but Gabriel grabbed her from behind. He pulled her back, but she phased through his hands, turned, and plunged her fist into Gabriel's chest.

"No!" I screamed as his eyes went wide.

Katerina retrieved her fist from Gabriel's chest, holding his heart. She squeezed it, and it turned to ash. So did Gabriel.

"You bitch!" I shouted, swiping at her.

She phased again. Carmilla turned to run out of the room. Katerina moved between her and the door. "Where do you think you're going, young lady? You have a job to do."

"I... I can't..."

"Unless you'd like to end up like your mentor, you will."

Katerina extended her hand and pressed a mark on her wrist. I couldn't make out the shape, but a sword formed in her hand.

"What is that?" I asked.

"A gift from the Dark One. I told you, Miss Grimm—your kind and mine are more alike than you know. As you've just seen, you can be killed in the same manner as a vampire. And it just so happens that the Dark One has given me a blade to challenge yours."

I tightened my grip on my scythe and swiped at the vampire. She blocked it with her blade. It was a small room, so we had little room to maneuver.

"It's no use, Miss Grimm. I can avoid your scythe as I always have. You won't be able to do the same. This blade can cut across multiple dimensions, I can assure you."

Katerina jabbed her sword at me. I jumped to the side and swiped at her again. Predictably. she phased and it passed through her.

"Zoey!" Sienna shouted. "Catch!"

A small bag flew through the air—the dust my father had given me. If I used it, it would lock us into the same dimension.

I opened the bag, tossed some into the air, and blew it at Katerina.

She coughed. "What is this?"

I tossed some on me, too. That way, we'd be locked in the same dimension. "Call it an equalizer. Now it's a fair fight. Your skill against mine."

Katerina didn't waste any time. She pivoted and crouched, then swiped her sword at my legs.

I jumped over her strike and kneed her in the chin. She fell on the patient's bed. We were on Earth. Nurses and doctors were gathering around. Someone was probably calling the police. I could only hope Kevin would take the call.

Katerina came at me again. Holding my staff in both hands, I blocked her strike and delivered a sidekick to her chest.

Sienna came at her from behind. She was still in the astral plane as she attempted to thrust her fist at Katerina's chest. The vampire was fast and moved out of the way.

Sienna missed, but it gave me an opening. With a long swipe of my scythe, I caught Katerina in the chest. This time, she didn't phase out of the way. She couldn't. She collapsed, her jaw agape. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Game over, bitch." I twirled my scythe and slashed her a second time. Her body exploded in a shower of golden energy and ash.

I coughed and waved my hand through the air.

"You did it!" Sienna exclaimed.

I nodded. "We did it."

Carmilla tilted her head. "Zoey? Oh, my God! Gabriel said you could reap vampires. I never imagined..."

I smiled. "Nice to see you, Carmilla. Gabriel is gone, but I'll make sure you get home. First, you'll need to hang out a while longer so we can save these people."

Carmilla nodded. "I'll tell the others."

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The nurses and doctors cleared the floor. The other Reapers dropped their hoods so we were all on the same plane. I didn't know how long that powder would work, but I was stuck in the material world until it wore off.

I couldn't believe Gabriel was gone. I'd gone from suspecting him to trusting him to not being sure how I felt about him so quickly that when he died, it was like everything became clear.

He could have taken Katerina's deal. He could have restored the Graves name to the throne of the underworld. He didn't. He chose to give his life in an attempt to save me. To save humanity from the vampires.

Gabriel had died a hero.

"Did you know what was going on? Did Gabriel tell you?"

Carmilla shook her head. "Sort of. Not everything. He just said we were doing a good thing. We'd be saving lives. Funny, since as Reapers, we normally do the opposite."

I grinned. "I know the feeling."

"I'm sorry by the way, Zoey."

I shrugged. "For what?"

"I glanced in your direction when you came through that door. If I hadn't, you could have killed Katerina right there. Gabriel would still be alive."

I shook my head. "We don't know how it would have panned out, Carmilla. For all we knew, Katerina was expecting me. I mean, think about it. Bringing all these people to the hospital. She had to know it would get our attention."

Carmilla shook her head. "That was Gabriel's doing. He insisted the vampires didn't have enough expertise to keep the bodies alive long enough."

"And she went along with it?" I asked. "She must've realized I'd find out and be here waiting for her."

Carmilla shook her head. "I really don't know."

"She's arrogant," Sienna interjected. "Katerina. She was, I mean. She was prepared for you. She didn't have that sword before. I saw her wrists when I bit her. That was new. She expected you to be here."

I nodded. "She thought she could get rid of me, the biggest threat to her daywalkers, and then she'd raise them and proceed with her plans."

The elevator dinged, and Kevin and my mom ran out. Then they saw me. They took deep breaths of relief.

"Zoey!" my mom cried.

Kevin turned to the doctors and nurses behind him. "It's all fine. Tend to the patients."

The hospital staff members who usually worked the floor hurried to the patient in the room where we’d fought. From what I could tell, he was fine.

"Mom, Kevin, this is Carmilla. She's my former classmate."

"Hello, Carmilla."

Carmilla cocked her head. "You met your mom, Zoey?"

I smiled. "I did. How cool is that?"

"It's an honor, Mrs. Grimm!"

My mom chuckled. "The name's Collins. The Grim Reaper and I never married. Besides, I don't think he uses that last name."

"Yeah. I mean, obviously. I knew that. Sorry. I’m a little nervous about meeting you. It's very cool. You wouldn't believe how amazing your daughter is. She was the best in our class.”

I smiled and shook my head. "I don’t know about that, but thanks for saying it."

"You're right, Carmilla. Zoey is very special, and I look forward to getting to know my daughter a lot better."

Kevin put his arm around me. "I was worried about the worst. I shouldn't have been."

I shook my head. "We weren't without casualties. Gabriel is dead."

"Dead?" my mom asked. "What happens to a Reaper when he dies?"

I sighed. "I don't know. Probably the same thing that happens to vampires. We might never know. I'd rather not find out for a good long time."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kevin told me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "He was a good guy. He loved me until the end. I regret that I didn’t love him back. He died a hero."

"I'm going to be busy for a while," Kevin remarked. "How long until it's safe to revive these people?"

I shrugged. "No clue. Do you know, Mom?"

"We'll have to check with your father. He'll know. It is a good idea to touch base with him anyway. He'll want to know what happened."

I nodded. "He needs to know about Gabriel. And he has to know about the other Reapers—that we'll have to keep them around a little while longer. If we revive these people too soon, then all this will be for naught. I'd rather not have to reap a bunch of newbie daywalkers if it can be avoided."

Kevin nodded. "I'll want you here when we do it just in case."

"Of course," I agreed. "We need a place for the Reapers to stay."

"I'd like to keep them close. I'll be securing this area."

"What are you going to tell the doctors and nurses?"

Kevin shrugged. "Need to know, I guess. I'll just tell them what I need from them and that it’s to keep everyone alive."

"My apartment isn't far from here. I hate to suggest it, but Carmilla, I have some floor space. Not a lot of beds, but it's better than nothing."

"That sounds like a plan," a familiar voice said from behind me.

"Dad!" I said. "How'd you know to come?”

"Cerberus came for me," my dad explained. "Hello, Carmilla."

Carmilla stared at my dad. "Oh, my gods. Your Highness!"

"Dad, you should know that Gabriel didn't make it."

My dad nodded. "Cerberus told me. I'm sorry to hear that, Zoey."

"How is Morty doing?"

My father smiled. "He's doing quite well. He's getting stronger all the time and handling a lot of solo reapings now. He’s assuming most of my responsibilities—usually with my oversight, of course, but he’s more dedicated than ever. It hasn’t been long since he returned, but I’m cautiously optimistic. I think he learned a lot from his time here with you."

I snorted. "Not sure I had much to teach him."

"Still, he learned to appreciate what he's been given. I think he'll do well when the time comes for my ascension. If that still happens."

"Hello, Azrael," my mom greeted.

My father smiled. "Dearest Josephine."

"Would you like to help us? We need to figure out how long it will take for these bodies to be ready. Your Reapers will have to stay with us until then."

"Very well," my father agreed. "If they're here, I'll stay as long as I can. Morty can handle my more pressing duties while I'm away. I need to be here for my Reapers."

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Over the course of the next week, I had a constant sense of someone watching. I didn’t know why. Objectively, there was no reason for my suspicions. Kevin told me it was common for people who'd experienced trauma, but I wasn't traumatized. At least, I didn’t think I was, though seeing my ex's heart ripped out of his chest in front of me was...bothersome. Maybe Kevin was right. I was a little traumatized. Just don't tell him I admitted that.

The truth is, Katerina wasn't the only ancient vampire out there, but she had an agenda and a special relationship with the so-called Dark One that most vampires didn't. How long would it take until other vampires who learned about a Reaper who was out to dispatch their souls to Hell or wherever they went when I reaped them came after me? It wasn't irrational that I suspected people were following or watching me. It was very likely.

Joe allowed Sienna to return to work. He offered me my job back too, but I couldn't bring myself to accept it. I sucked at making espresso drinks. I enjoyed the time I spent there with Sienna, but now that she was technically a vampire, albeit with her nature rendered dormant by my father's brooch, and I was the only one who knew her truth, we were bound to remain friends.

You can't go through something like what we did without getting close. I'd never had a bestie before. In the underworld, it was hard, what with being the princess and all. Everyone acted like they were my friends, but very few were. Most people behaved the way they did because of who my dad was, not anything to do with me.

Sienna was heading in for her first shift and I was driving her there since she'd been staying at my apartment since we’d returned to Kansas City. I suppose, like me, she didn't want to be alone. I wasn't fearful, really. Neither was she, but when you're alone, it's funny how many little sounds you hear that you'd usually ignore.

Coincidentally, the victims were ready to be restored. My mom had stayed with Dad for the week. I tried to keep my distance. It was the first chance they'd had to really spend time together in twenty years. It wasn't the best of circumstances, but I could give them their privacy. Mom texted me as Sienna was dismounting my bike.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Sienna asked.

I shook my head. "I think we'll be all right. It's up to you, really. I mean, if they come back as daywalkers, you're probably the only person in existence who knows what that's like. My dad had Morty send extra reaper cloaks in just in case."

Sienna nodded. "Then you'll be fine. You helped me adjust. Besides, do you think there's much risk of that happening?"

"Not really. My dad is pretty sure Cerberus would be able to smell it if there was any vampire virus left in their bodies. Today was the first time Cerberus smelled nothing."

"Well, my fingers are crossed. Text me and let me know how it goes, all right?"

I nodded. "Will do. What do you say to splitting a bottle of wine tonight after your shift?"

Sienna grinned. "Sounds good to me."

"It'll be nice to just kick our feet up and relax for once. I'll pick you up at five."

"See you then!"

I got back on my bike, headed to the hospital, and parked in the visitors’ lot. For much the same reason, but in reverse, the plan was to do as Katerina was planning, to return their souls one at a time. If the first one didn't work, we'd know. If we tried to restore all of them at once, and something went wrong, things would get nasty fast.

I could probably handle five newborn daywalkers. I couldn't guarantee I'd be able to stop them before someone got bitten. Given the potency of their bites, if Sienna's bite of Katerina was sufficient evidence, we couldn't risk it. One patient. One soul. One Reaper at a time.

Much to my surprise, Morty was there. He and Carmilla were holding hands. I cocked my head. "When did this happen?"

My brother smiled. "It's new. I've been coming and going for the last week."

"I've had a crush on Morty for as long as I could remember," Carmilla explained.

"And I always thought she was hot."

I laughed. "Well, there you go. You've got your hands full with this one, Carmilla."

"Oh, trust me, I know. But he's worth it."

"Just remember, Morty—after you're the Grim Reaper, you'll have to find someone to give you an heir. I know it's premature, but do you really want to commit yourself to a relationship?"

Morty rolled his eyes. "That won't be for, like, a thousand years, Zoey. I think we have time to sort that out."

"Worst-case scenario," Carmilla added, "I'll spend nine months on Earth. I have a friend here, you know."

I chuckled. "Well, if I'm still alive in a thousand years, you'll be welcome to stay with me."

"Who says we should wait that long?" Morty asked. "You see how lonely Dad was all this time. It might be nice to have a family. It'll keep me grounded."

"Well, that would be unconventional. But what is the convention, really? Dad's example? I don't think a precedent of one is an unshakable tradition."

"I support it," my father said, his fingers interlaced with my mother's. "My one regret is that the woman I fell in love with, I could never be with. If my son can love and produce an heir with one of his own, that's his choice."

Camille smiled at Morty. My brother nodded. "Thanks, Dad. But right now, we're here for a reason. I wanted to be here to support Carmilla."

Carmilla released my brother's hand.

"Are you ready to do this?" my father asked.

Carmilla nodded, touched her wrist, and invoked her scythe. The golden glow was as brilliant as ever. We approached the body, the patient she'd nearly been forced to prematurely revive a week before.

Cerberus gave the body a quick sniff to double-check that there wasn't a hint of vampire odor left in his body.

"Doesn't smell great. The guy needs a bath. But I don't sense any vampire virus."

"Then let's do this," my father suggested.

Carmilla nodded, lowered her scythe to the man's body, and released his soul. It settled into his chest. For a moment, his body shone. The glow faded.

The man gasped and gagged. Kevin brought in a nurse, who removed his feeding tube.

I leaned over. "What do these doctors and nurses think about all this?"

My mom shook her head. "Kevin is taking care of that. They're pretty cynical."

"Do we know if the people agreed to this?"

"We'll find out soon. I'll be questioning this man. Eugene Wentz is his name. I suspect Katerina convinced them to cooperate. She likely made them some pretty extravagant promises. I doubt Eugene and the others will be as thrilled to discover that they're still human as you'd think."

"Do you think they will be a problem?"

My mom shook her head. "I don't think so. From what I can tell, these were all desperate and lonely people. Katerina exploited that. Unless another vampire shows up with a similar plan and makes them a comparable offer, I imagine they'll just go back to their lives."

I frowned. "It's sad that someone would be so desperate or sad to be willing to cooperate with Katerina's plans."

"We don't know these people's stories, but I'll work with them to make sure they all get the help they need."

We went from room to room. The other Reapers repeated Carmilla's actions and restored the other victims. All of them became human again. It worked. Crisis averted. Go, team.

I'd seen enough. I wasn't in the mood to hang around and celebrate. At the same time, Gabriel had given his life for a reason. I was grateful it had worked. If it hadn’t, his sacrifice wouldn't have been as significant.

It hadn’t just been a sacrifice, though. Gabriel hadn’t given his life willingly. He had been murdered. I had avenged his death, but I was still pissed about it. I wasn't in love with Gabriel, but he was a good man. He deserved a chance to be loved with the same fervor with which he had loved me. I could only hope that wherever he was in the afterlife, he'd find happiness.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

I gave Kevin a kiss on the cheek before I left. "Call me later."

Kevin nodded. "I will."

I also hugged my parents and my brother. I was tired. I'd hardly slept in weeks. For the first time in all that time, I felt like I could exhale.

I picked up a pinot noir at the supermarket and swung by Cup-O-Joe's to pick up Sienna after her shift. I didn't have a lot of money left. I'd have to find a new job soon. I still didn't want to rely on Daddy's money.

Tonight, though, I wasn't going to worry about it. Tomorrow could worry about itself. I wanted nothing more at the moment than to put up my feet with my best friend and have a glass of wine.

So, that was what we did. Cerberus was waiting for us when we arrived. "Sorry, buddy. I didn't realize you'd be back. Are you hungry?"

"Nope. Your dad got me two pounds of burnt ends earlier. I'm stuffed and tired."

I patted the hellhound. "You deserve a chance to rest as much as we do."

Cerberus sauntered toward my bed, jumped up, and curled up at the foot.

I grabbed two wine glasses from the cabinet, along with my corkscrew, and opened the bottle. I poured both and handed one to Sienna, then kicked off my shoes and plopped down next to her.

"How was work?"

Sienna shrugged. "Not the same. Everything I did before seems meaningless now."

I nodded. "I know what you mean."

"Damn!" Sienna exclaimed, swirling the wine in her mouth. "This stuff is great."

I took my first sip. "You're right. I don't drink much and didn't have a clue what I was buying. The bottle looked nice."

Sienna laughed. "I'm with you, girl. I don't know the difference between cheap and expensive wine, but this is nice."

"Do you think you'll go back to school?"

Sienna nodded. "Eventually. When I can afford it. We have to live our lives, you know?"

I extended my glass. "To our futures?"

"To our futures," Sienna said, clinking her glass with mine. We both took a sip.

Five knocks on my apartment door almost startled me out of my skin.

Sienna raised an eyebrow. "Are you expecting anyone?"

I shook my head. "I'm not."

I got up and answered the door.

I'd seen the man before—a tall, bald black man wearing a black suit with a black shirt and a white tie. I almost didn't recognize him, but he had a look in his eye that I couldn't forget.

"You? You're the guy from Bourbon Street."

The man chuckled. "The wandering horseman. Yes. My apologies, Miss Grimm. That act was all I could come up with at the time. I've been watching you."

I cocked my head. "Who are you?"

"Mind if I come in? I have a proposal for you and your friend."

I shrugged. "It would be rude to say no after you've followed us all the way from New Orleans, but no funny business. I'm not in the mood."

The horseman laughed. "Trust me, Miss Grimm. After what I've seen you do, I wouldn't dare cross you."

Sienna almost choked on her wine when she saw the man. "Holy crap. You're the crazy guy from the French Quarter."

"You can call me ‘Horseman.’"

"What's your real name?" I asked.

" I'd prefer to remain anonymous. Suffice it to say I'm a man in need of your unique skills."

"Our skills?" Sienna asked.

The man nodded. "Do you have another glass by chance?"

I smiled, retrieved another wine glass from my kitchen cabinet, and poured him a half-glass. He took a sip.

"I belong to an organization that is in charge of monitoring supernatural activity in North America. I know what you are, Miss Grimm."

I raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

The horseman nodded. "And I know what you've become, young lady."

Sienna snorted. "What of it?"

"I'm not here to harm you. I am here because I represent a number of clients who could use your assistance."

"What kind of assistance?" I asked.

"Vampires aren't the only supernatural nuisance that plagues people's lives across the continent and the world. There are those who would pay handsomely to have their...pests...handled."

"You want to hire me to reap monsters?" I asked.

"I'd like to hire both of you. As I said, I've been watching you from a distance since we encountered one another in New Orleans. You work well together, and you've both proven your skills. To think you successfully killed four of the most notorious vampires in the world, not just North America, and you didn't endure so much as a scratch."

I sighed. "We weren't hurt. Others were."

The horseman nodded. "But many more would have died if you two hadn't intervened."

"How did you follow without us noticing?" Sienna asked. "I mean, it's impressive. Don't get me wrong."

The horseman laughed. "I too am more than I appear to be."

"What are you?" I asked.

The horseman smiled. "Something of a guardian angel."

"You’re an angel?" I asked

"I said something of one. I'm not, but I am interested in the safety of humanity. And as I said, I have a number of clients who are willing to offer you significant compensation."

"You want to hire us?"

"My clients do, yes. Consider me the middleman."

"Cool!" Sienna exclaimed. "How much are you talking about?"

The man grinned. "If you agree to help my clients, you won't have any money problems for the rest of your lives."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "How do we know we can trust you? We met a mambo, a ghost maybe, in New Orleans who said there were those watching us who wished to do us harm."

"And she was right," the horseman agreed. "But I am not one of them. It is those of whom she spoke that my clients would like you to eliminate."

"In New Orleans?" I asked.

"Perhaps in time. I have plenty of clients here in Kansas City whose requests should keep you occupied for a while."

"We'll think about it," I told him.

"You need work, do you not?" the horseman asked.

"We do. Well, I do, at least. Sienna has a job."

The horseman took a big swallow from his glass and set it on my coffee table. "I'll be in touch. Be ready."

"Yeah, sure. How will you get in touch with us?"

"Allow me to consult with my clients. Some cases take priority over others. I'll find you. Remember, I managed to keep tabs on you all this time, and you didn't even realize it. I'm not the sort of man you can find, so don’t bother looking for me. I'll be in touch within the week. You should enjoy your time to rest and recover. I'll be keeping you busy for a while."

"One question. Did you really not know what those horseheads in New Orleans were for?"

The man laughed. "I didn't have a clue. They were strange, weren't they? It makes sense now that I know."

I nodded and the horseman turned and left, closing the door behind him. I went over to lock the door, then, on a whim, opened it and looked down the hall. The horseman wasn't there. He’d disappeared, just as he had after he saw me reap Vincent in New Orleans.

"How weird," I remarked.

Sienna chuckled. "Well, I suppose we should be careful about toasting our futures. Look what it brought us."

I bit my lip. "Do you think he was telling the truth?"

"About the jobs?"

"About any of it. About what he is."

Sienna shrugged. "I don't know, but he's going to pay us. Think about it, Zoey. This is a chance to make a living doing what you're best at. You could use your skills, and presumably, you could help a lot of people."

"He wanted both of us, Sienna."

"He did." Sienna smiled. "I’ve already decided. I'm doing it."

I snorted. "Are you sure?"

"Paying tuition by making lattes isn't the most efficient way to realize my dreams. I'm going to have to wear this brooch for the rest of my life. I have to live with what I've become. I can't even take a shower without it."

I winced. "I hadn't thought about that."

"I can pin it in my hair. I figured that out the first night we were in Kansas City."

"That's good, I suppose. You really want to do this?"

Sienna nodded. "The way I see it, I can look at what's happened as a blessing or a curse. It's also an opportunity. I say we make the most of it."

I smiled, took a sip from my glass, and sat down, crossing my legs, which were propped on my coffee table. "Partners, then?"

"Hell, yeah!" Sienna exclaimed. "And I think I'll have another glass."

THE STORY CONTINUES

The story continues with book three, Reaper For Hire.

Claim your copy today!

AUTHOR NOTES - THEOPHILUS MONROE

APRIL 15, 2022

I hope you’re enjoying Zoey’s story! I just finished writing the third book in the series, “Reaper for Hire.” These books are getting more fun to write with each release!

The popularity of this series (and we’re only two books in) blows me away. So, first thing is first. Thank you for reading! I’m eternally grateful and always humbled that you’ve invested a portion of your life reading my stories. This book was fun to write on several levels.

Some of Morty’s frat-party experiences mimicked some of my own during college. That includes the three-story beer bong. I want to take this time to emphasize that this stunt was performed by a trained fictitious professional. It should not be attempted at home (or anywhere else on earth). Attempting such a task will surely result in great personal injury (to the ego), much embarrassment, and a killer headache.

I’d also like to pay homage to a friend of mine (he’d prefer to remain anonymous) whose own experience in New Orleans inspired the “Horseman” episodes. Those little horse's heads really are all over the place in the French Quarter. If you look closely on the cover, you’ll see one shadowed in the opening of the initial “R” in the title. My friend spent half an evening, while celebrating his birthday in New Orleans, asking anyone he could find in the French Quarter what those little horse’s heads on sticks were for. When he told me the story (as many of my friends and family members often find out) he knew he was risking it would show up in one of my books. That’s a hazard that comes with the territory of knowing an author. You never know when something you tell them might appear in a book!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with me, or haven’t been following my newsletter (which you can sign up for at theophilusmonroe.com), I’m a husband and a father of three boys: Elijah (8), Ezra (4), and Elliot (3). I write full time from a small office in my backyard that I built myself. Writing inside the house (with so many little ones) is impossible. We also live out in the country on several acres. I grew up in the city. Now, more of my neighbors are bovine than human. If I am ever in need of inspiration, there’s always something nearby to mooooove me.

Yes, that was a dad joke. I can’t help myself.

When I need inspiration, I find that strolling through a field, listening to the wind blow through the trees along with the sound if wildlife, provides an infinite source of creative energy. Now, I can’t figure out what else to write in these author notes. I think I’m going to go take another walk and start the next Zoey Grimm book on my agenda!

Best!

Theo

AUTHOR NOTES - MICHAEL ANDERLE

APRIL 14, 2022

Las Vegas, Nevada

Thank you for not only reading this book but these author notes as well. Without you supporting us (by reading our books either through Kindle Unlimited or purchasing them), we wouldn’t have the time or incentive to make new ones!

Family is a bit organic…

Like many of our stories, family is made up of people who you are related to and those whom you bring into your sphere of relationships by choice.

Recently, one of those people I chose to bring into my sphere passed away. If you have read a few LMBPN books, you have probably read something she edited. Her name was Judith Forsyth, although she went by Judah internally here at LMBPN.

She was one of the powerhouse editors responsible for working to provide manuscripts so clean you could eat off them.

Well, not really, but you get the idea.

I want to share a little story about her if I could.

So, I get a message one day that Judah has unfortunately taken a fall and has been admitted to the hospital due to broken bones in her leg(s).

She is in there a couple of weeks, and we decide to Zoom to update on some story stuff.

No matter HOW OFTEN or HOW LOUD we got, when speaking to Judah about “taking time to rest” her answer was ALWAYS the same.

“Ms. P won’t let me just sit here and watch television. No, I have things that need to get done and by golly, I will just have to get them done.”

You learn after the first–or if you are slow, the second time–that when Judah said: “Ms. P” (a nickname for the side of her that might be said to have a little attitude), you just got on board with her.

It was always easier in the end.

So, I have a habit of cursing, and unfortunately, I didn’t think much about it as we spoke until–during our ZOOM–Judah asked me to try and refrain.

I was MORTIFIED! I apologized profusely, and she just looked at me like I was a bit slow before she explained, “It’s not for me. I don’t care what you say. However, I’m in an open room with nothing but cloth separating me from those around me, and everyone else will hear you cursing. I’d rather we didn’t get in trouble.”

Even bedridden, unable to walk, she was working in the hospital, and that was Judah. Come hell, high water, broken bones, or bad internet connection, she was going to get whatever she set her mind to accomplished.

I can honestly say that I never understood the absolute perseverance she showed every single day, no matter if she was healthy or hospitalized.

But I admire her for it and internalized it as a takeaway as something that I can strive to accomplish in my own life.

I hope you have a great week or weekend. I look forward to chatting with you in the next book!

Regards,

Michael Anderle

BOOKS BY THEOPHILUS MONROE

Chronicles of Zoey Grimm

(with Michael Anderle)

Family Squabbles (Book 1)

Revenge of the Scythe (Book 2)

Reaper For Hire (Book 3)

Deadly Beasts (Book 4)

The Elven Prophecy

(with Michael Anderle)

Who Let the Dogma Out (Book 1)

Old Dogma New Tricks (Book 2)

Three Dogma Night (Book 3)

Junkyard Dogma (Book 4)

Dogma Days of Summer (Book 5)

Dogma of War (Book 6)

The Druid Legacy

Druid’s Dance

Bard’s Tale

Ovate’s Call

Rise of the Morrigan

The Voodoo Legacy

Voodoo Academy

Grim Tidings

Death Rites

Watery Graves

Voodoo Queen

The Legacy of a Vampire Witch

Bloody Hell

Bloody Mad

Bloody Wicked

Bloody Devils

Bloody Gods

The Legend of Nyx

Scared Shiftless

Bat Shift Crazy

No Shift Sherlock

Shift For Brains

Shift Happens

BOOKS BY MICHAEL ANDERLE

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For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:

www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/

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