He dropped the water guns which clattered to the floor among the shattered glass. He reached behind him with both hands and drew two handguns from his waistband.

  My stomach turned over like I was going to puke. My heart turned cold as…well, it was already cold as death. But it felt painfully cold now.

  Time both slowed down and sped up. I saw Volos draw his weapons in slow motion, saw the glint of the metal, saw the barrels of the guns turn toward us.

  At the same time, it happened too quickly to stop it, too quickly to even yell more than one word and run more than one step.

  The gunshots echoed around the lobby, making it sound like they were never-ending. Ford crashed into my side like a brick wall, and I hit the floor with a grunt. He landed on top of me.

  I smelled blood and looked up to see tears in his tender brown eyes.

  My scream drowned out all other sounds. Ford rolled off me, one hand pressed to his ribcage as blood welled out between his fingers.

  I knelt over him, pressing my hands to his wound, seeing the pain in his eyes, and being unable to fix him, unable to help him.

  It was like Bradley all over again.

  I couldn’t do anything except watch Ford die.

  “Get out, run!” I yelled at Wim and Bob. They had to save themselves before I watched them die too.

  But they didn’t run. They did the worst thing they could have.

  They leaped between me and Volos’s guns, as though their dying would save me from bullets. Once they fell, he’d shoot me anyway…and the bullets wouldn’t kill me unless they hit my brain or heart.

  I’d have to watch them all die for no reason.

  “Volos, I’ll help you,” I shouted. “Don’t shoot them, and I’ll help you make vampires and create a kingdom of the night!”

  “Fire,” Wim hissed. I shot him a look of warning.

  Volos’s gaze locked on mine across the room. His eyes were baggy and bloodshot.

  “You’re tired, aren’t you?” I said gently. I kept my gaze on him as I slipped a hand into the pocket of my jacket and pressed the home button on my phone. From long, long hours bent over the damned thing, I was pretty sure I could tap the emergency call button blind.

  “I’m tired all the time,” Volos said and sniffed. “I had to get out of bed at seven am to hide up here.”

  “That’s unjust. I’ll help fix it. But only if you leave them alive, Volos.” I made sure to use his name so the emergency operator would hear.

  “Really?”

  “I promise,” I said. “There are better ways to fix society than killing people at an ice cream factory.” That was more for the emergency operator. Mention of murder should get the cops here faster. “I know other vampires. I can lead you to them.”

  Bob crouched and grabbed a chunk of glass from the floor. Clutching it hard, he pulled his hand back and threw it.

  It gleamed as it soared through the air and slammed into Volos’s forehead. He jerked and cried out, dropping one of the guns to the floor. Blood ran down into his eye as he pressed his hand to the wound.

  Shit! I fucking had the asshole calmed down.

  “Bob, Wim, run,” I ordered.

  Wim shifted. His body lengthened as he dropped to all fours and grew a thick coat of silver fur. In the blink of an eye, he became a mighty, massive wolf.

  In one great leap from his strong wolf legs, he soared across half the lobby toward the dropped gun. He shifted while in the air and landed with his human hand on the gun. Unlike when Ford shifted, Wim was fully clothed. With focus, shifters could change their clothing too.

  He scrambled to one knee and pointed the weapon at Volos above him.

  Volos aimed his gun back at Wim.

  “Freeze like ice cream, motherfucker,” Wim said.

  “Drop it, hairy monster,” Volos shouted back.

  Bob fell to his knees next to me and Ford, his hand bloody from the shard of glass he had grabbed.

  “Let’s get him out of here.” He slid a hand under Ford’s shoulders, hauling him upward. The other man groaned.

  I glanced back at Wim. Did he even know how to use that gun?

  “Go,” I told Bob and Ford. “I got a piñata to whack.”

  I stepped past them toward Wim. Volos’s gun swung to aim at me. Wim tensed. “Hurt her and die!”

  “I could hurt you, and what can she do?” Volos said. “I’m all the way up here.”

  “He can capture vampires for you,” I said to the idiot hanging from the chandelier like fucking mistletoe. “And I can find them. I know where we vamps hang out.”

  Volos hesitated, glancing between us.

  “I’m tired too, Volos,” I said, and that at least was true. Being ancient was exhausting. “The world needs to make room for night owls.”

  The big heavy front door crashed open and a SWAT team rushed in.

  My body tensed. Their uniforms were similar to the men by the gate who were helping Volos. The moron said he had connections, after all.

  “Drop the weapon,” one of them boomed out, aiming her gun at Wim.

  Wim dropped the gun and put his hands in the air. “He’s not the shooter!” I yelled. “He’s not the shooter!” But they didn’t seem to listen or care.

  An officer grabbed Wim’s wrists and twisted them behind his back, locking my wolf in cuffs.

  I rushed toward them, but another cop pushed me back. “You assholes! The shooter is up there!”

  They listened to that, at least, with a handful of cops turning their guns to the chandelier.

  But Volos was gone.

  Chapter 11

  The next few hours passed in a blur.

  They arrested Wim. Paramedics hauled Ford away. The police dragged Bob and me, still stained with Ford’s blood, to the station to give statements and wait while they held Wim in a cage.

  While Ford could be dying in the hospital.

  Bob offered me his hand while we sat and waited at the station…and damn it, I took it. I needed the warm comfort. His injured hand had been bandaged by the paramedics at the Weatherhouser offices.

  “You’re a great glass thrower,” I said softly among the noises of the cop shop.

  “I play baseball on weekends,” Bob said. “Pitcher since high school.”

  I knew so little about him, and yet he had risked his life for me. “What other hobbies do you have?”

  “Ballet. It’s a good way to stay fit.”

  “You just got hotter,” I said and forced a smile.

  Finally, between security footage and Bob and my statements, the police realized Wim was innocent.

  My wolf rubbed his wrists and frowned deeply as he marched out of the back of the station. The knees of his jeans were tattered and bloodstained from where he had knelt on the floor among broken glass.

  I leaped up and threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He pressed me to him in a bear hug.

  “Did you beat up the toughest guy in jail to establish your place in the hierarchy?”

  “I was the toughest guy in there. I don’t know how I’ll ever adapt to life on the outside now.”

  I snorted, and Wim chuckled against my hair. “How’s Ford?”

  I pressed my lips together. “I don’t know yet.”

  “He’s stronger than he looks…or speaks…or acts.”

  “He better be, or else I’ll have to turn him into a vampire just so I can kick his ass for dying.” I pulled away from Wim and glanced at the waiting officer.

  “You’re free to go,” she said. “We’ll be in touch if we need more info or have any updates for you.”

  “Did you catch Volos?” I asked.

  She frowned and shook her head. Wim growled deep in his throat. “The chandelier contained a staircase that led to a room in the ceiling. It was for cleaning the massive thing without having to lower it. He escaped before we could get up there. We have leads that we’re following.”

  “Are you checking out Westerbrook?” I said.

  “We’ll talk to him,” she said. “In the meantime, I can arrange for someone to drive you to the hospital to see your friend.”

  My heart clenched. “That’s not necessary,” I said and whirled, slamming my way through the station’s door. I cringed at the sunlight and slipped my sunglasses back on.

  “Where are you going?” Bob said, rushing out of the station with Wim on his heels. “We have to visit Mr. Weatherhouser and see…” his voice choked in his throat.

  And see if he was dead or not.

  “I’m going home,” I lied. I just wasn’t going to the hospital.

  “Fire, he saved you,” Wim said.

  “I can’t…I just can’t,” I said. “I can’t see him dying like Bradley or hooked to machines and waiting to die like…” like my parents. I had stood in the room, watching the nurses pull the plug on my brain dead family. I had listened to the beeps of their hearts slow and then stop.

  I wouldn’t do it again.

  “You can’t skip out this time,” Wim said.

  “You know why I can’t do it,” I hissed.

  “Deal with it for his sake,” Wim hissed back. “I’m handling my issues with this whole mess. You can do the same.”

  The rage that flared in my chest was hotter than fresh blood burning in my gut.

  “We’re all unhappy here,” Wim said. “We have to ride it out until this mess is over, and then we can angst.”

  “My parents and partner died in front of me, and you’re calling that angst, as though it doesn’t matter? My friend almost died in front of me, and that’s nothing but angst to you? Like this is all some bullshit high school drama that I should get over?”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “What do you mean?” I crossed my arms.

  Wim crossed his arms too while Bob looked between us like a kid caught between fighting parents.

  “Look, I’m chained to you and these two men because of some fucking mate spell,” Wim said. You think I like it? We’re all fucked, but we have to stick together for now.”

  Chained? Being with me was like being caged? Well, fuck him. “Pfft, you think you’re the fucking victim because you have to put up with us?”

  “At least I’m not walking out on Ford.”

  “I’m not walking out on him either,” I snapped. “I’m just not watching him die.”

  “We don’t know if he’s…you know…until we go to the hospital,” Bob said.

  “So, he might be fine this time, but maybe he’ll die in the next attack or accident or from sickness or old age. All of you will, eventually. And I won’t stand around and watch it!”

  “So what? I’m standing around watching you fuck other men,” Wim muttered.

  “That’s not the same thing, you dickhead! I can fuck whom I want. Who I want? Whom? Anyway! You don’t get to order me around like your shitty father does to your mother.”

  Wim’s eyes turned cold and angry. Good. “You leave my family out of this.”

  “Why don’t you just get over them?” I said in a mocking tone. “Why don’t you stop seeing mates as a trap you can’t leave because of destiny? After all, you think I should get over my crippling trauma.”

  “Fuck you, Fire.”

  “You won’t get to again. I’m leaving and you can fuck off.”

  “Then maybe we should go our separate ways,” Wim said. “I never wanted a mate.”

  Bob rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “Life has been…hard since I met you, Sapphire,” he said quietly. His hands shook.

  His words were like needles in my heart. “You were only a meal, anyway,” I said.

  Bob’s eyes went wide and watery. “I guess this was never going to be real. Tinder dates never are.”

  It hurt to see that sad expression on his face, hurt in a way that made a heaviness lodge in my chest.

  “I don’t need either of you.” I turned on my heel and marched down the street.

  Even now, with the rage burning in my chest, something ached at the thought of not seeing them again, of not cuddling or joking or fucking.

  I had to get away from them. They were only pain, like I knew they would be. That was why I kept my distance from people, but this fucking curse had ruined all of that.

  “When I find out who cast this curse, I’ll make them reverse it and then eat a jar of cinnamon as punishment,” I called behind me. “Until then, we’re officially over, no matter what bullshit you feel.”

  The heaviness in my heart burst and filled my chest with searing pain, as though I had been doused in boiling water.

  “Fuck,” I cursed through clenched teeth as I doubled over, gripping my chest. My heart shattered like a dropped mug. It was like the pain of watching Bradley die but somehow worse. Somehow more, as though my shattered pieces shattered again.

  Through the haze of pain, I heard Wim and Bob cry out. On shaky legs, I turned toward them. Bob had dropped to his knees on the pavement, and Wim doubled over with one palm on the wall to hold himself up.

  Bob’s gaze found me, his blue eyes begging for answers.

  I tried to step toward him, but my legs wouldn’t answer. Again, I couldn’t do anything.

  I couldn’t help.

  Just as suddenly as the pain had hit, it vanished. Leaving not even a tingle or an ache. Despite the heartbreaking pain, I felt…fine.

  Normal.

  The overwhelming squishy love feeling that had been drowning my heart for the last day was gone. So was the never-ending low-level horniness between my legs.

  I met Bob’s eyes, and his adoration was replaced with surprise. Wim lifted his head, and his forest-green eyes locked on me with a scowl. I quirked a questioning eyebrow at him to ask if the love had vanished from him, too. He knew what I meant with that look and nodded.

  The curse was broken.

  Chapter 12

  The decommissioned furnace room under the castle was the perfect place to mope in dank darkness. I stayed there after my shift in the gift shop until I fell asleep, tucked into a recess in the stone wall. Damp, dark, cold. Probably haunted. Just how I liked it.

  There was only one problem.

  “Are you a ghost?” A high-pitched kid’s voice startled me from my nap.

  “Ah, fuck shitter,” I said. A bunch of kids giggled and an adult gasped.

  I groaned and unfolded myself from my nook, hauling myself to my feet.

  “Do you need an ambulance?” said a middle-aged woman from the other side of a velvet rope. She held a red coffee cup in one hand. A gaggle of kids surrounded her.

  “Nope, no hospitals. I was just waiting for a tour group to come through.” I cleared my throat. “Umm…so this is the old coal furnace,” I gestured grandly around the stone room. “It took a team of twelve men, probably, to run it. They were shirtless and sweaty as the condensation on a glass of beer. Also, hot as hell because they shoveled all day.”

  “You mean the temperature was hot,” the teacher said.

  “Sure, that too. If you continue down this tunnel, you’ll reach the old barn and another tour guide.” I paused. “Thank you.” I bowed, and the kids clapped, slow and uncertain.

  I stepped over the red rope and snatched the teacher’s coffee from her hand. She blinked at me, holding her now-empty hand in front of her.

  The kids gasped and giggled as I marched down the underground tunnel.

  I sipped from the cup. “Urgh, chamomile tea? Really?” I yelled behind me.

  Somehow, I dragged myself up a set of stairs and into the gift shop. I trashed the tea and grabbed a pair of cheap sunglasses off a rack. I put them on with the tag hanging in front of my eyes.

  “Long night?” asked Fara from behind the counter. She was my only employee in the gift shop. She was perky because she was young and fresh out of school. Unlike Bob, who was perky because he was Bob.

  “Why do we sell sunglasses in the basement of a castle?” I said.

  Fara pushed her long black hair behind her ear. “You look hungover again.”

  “Pfft,” I said. Hungover would be easy. I leaned against the counter and pulled my phone from my jacket pocket.

  “Walk of shame?” she asked. “You’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday and the day before…”

  “Cancel that phrase. There’s no shame in fucking,” I grumbled.

  I pulled up the local news on my phone and thumbed through. Nothing about Volos or more ice cream murders. That didn’t mean none had happened. Vampires didn’t leave bodies behind, after all.

  “So, who’s the lucky man you’ve been spending your nights with?” Fara said.

  “No one.” I tapped my phone to open Instagram. It displayed the profile I always left open. The most recent photo was from four days ago. It showed a handsome man with a pouty face, no shirt, and pajama pants with little croissants on them.

  Wim hadn’t posted anything since that day, even though Internet model was his job and his only source of income.

  Was he okay? Was he alive?

  I pushed the thought away and closed the app. He wasn’t my problem anymore.

  “Was that your boyfriend?” Fara said, leaning over my phone. “He’s cute.”

  “Why don’t we serve coffee here?” I said to change the subject.

  “If you’re not seeing Mr. Croissant Pants, can you send me his profile? Are his DMs open?”

  “Hell, no,” I said, and then cleared my throat and stood up straighter. “I mean, sure, I’ll send it. I’m not seeing him. Nope, not ever. But why bother meeting someone? You break up or die. No point in the end.”

  “I don’t know why,” Fara said. “It seems like it would be nice to have someone to cuddle with at night…and then blow like candles on a birthday cake.”

  I laughed. “I remember why I like you.”

  “Aren’t you trying to find someone? I’ve seen you with Tinder on your phone.”

  At the mention of the app, my thumb hovered over it…. If I tapped on it, I could pull up Bob’s profile and see his grinning face and our old messages.

  I shook my head and put the phone in my pocket. “Relationships are pointless, and forever is a horrible lie. Either you die, or we would grow to hate each other. Death or disinterest always win in the end.”

 

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