We pushed open the entrance doors and stepped inside, closing them behind us. I hoped that nobody had seen us enter. With the doors shut, it was eerily quiet. We stood still, listening and looking around the grand entry hall for any sign of life.

“You hear or smell anything?” I asked Micah and my mother.

They both shook their heads.

“No human blood?”

“No,” Micah said.

“If Micah can’t smell it, I doubt we’ll have much luck,” my mother said. “But we’re here now. Let’s check anyway.”

“We should check the dungeon first,” Micah said.

We headed toward the kitchen and forced open the trap door. As we descended the steps, a sickly stench engulfed us. We cast our eyes around at the empty cells, moving from one room to another. But we spotted no humans, or any other creature for that matter. The dungeons were empty.

“Let’s check upstairs now,” I said.

We exited the dungeons, passed through the kitchen and headed to the wide staircase leading up to the first level. I felt so jittery, I jumped even at the creak of a floorboard beneath our feet.

My mother held my hand, supporting me as we climbed. It was dark and except for the occasional lantern, I was relying on the moonlight trickling through the windows to see where I was going.

Reaching the first level, we hurried along the corridor, checking in each room as we passed by—at least all the rooms whose doors opened. We climbed level after level, meeting nothing but more silence. Finally, we reached the level of the spell room and stopped outside its deep red door. I stared at it, then slowly reached out and hovered my hand over the handle. The three of us pressed our ears against the wood, listening for any sign of life.

There was nothing.

“Now that Lilith is gone,” I whispered, “if we opened this door and stepped inside, I wonder if we would be doomed?”

Micah shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s not worth the risk. If there was anyone in there, I would sure as hell know it by now.”

And so he retreated from the door. We searched the rest of the floor and then the few levels above, followed by the roof. I pointed to the cage at the far end of the roof. “That was the cage I freed Hermia and her friends from.”

“And it’s a good thing you did,” my mother said.

Micah grunted as we left the roof and made our way back down the stairs. “I would have just left them there.”

Reaching the next level down, we stopped and looked at each other. It was time to concede defeat. There were no humans in this castle. There was so much blood in that lake, it was no wonder that it was empty.

We made our way quickly down to the ground floor again. Ten steps away from the second level, my mother and Micah stopped suddenly. My mother gripped my arm, pulling me back.

“What is it?” I asked.

My question was answered by a deep growl. It came from the bottom of the staircase. Straining to see through the darkness, I could make out a pair of gleaming red eyes and white teeth, shiny with saliva.

Oh, great. Not another one of Shadow’s siblings.

My mother shoved me behind her, extending her claws and preparing to approach it. But Micah brushed her aside with his head.

“Allow me,” he growled, fixing his eyes on the dog.

Although the vampire dog was enormous, Micah was still larger, his jaws wider. The two animals launched at each other and clashed in the air. They attacked each other so ferociously they were a blur before my eyes. But when the vampire dog let out a deafening howl, it was clear that Micah had won. They stopped moving so fast and I could make out that Micah had closed his jaws around the dog’s throat. Blood streamed down the sides of his mouth as he clamped down hard.

The vampire dog fell to the floor and writhed around as Micah lowered his mouth to the beast’s chest. He mauled through its skin before finally closing his teeth around the dog’s heart. He pulled out the giant organ and threw it down on the floor. I looked away, my stomach queasy. Even my mother couldn’t stand the sight.

“Let’s continue, shall we?” Micah called down from below.

Keeping my eyes firmly away from the mess that was left of the dog, we hurried past it toward the werewolf.

“You are gross, Micah,” I muttered.

“Thanks,” he said, licking his lips with his long tongue and grinning darkly.

We finished descending the staircases and reached the entry hall. Approaching the main entrance, my mother pushed open the doors slightly and peered out.

She looked back and nodded. “Let’s go.”

We stepped outside. Looking out at the battleground, I was pleasantly surprised by how few black witches remained. There were many bodies strewn around on the ground—none of our people, to my relief—and those who remained standing were badly injured and clearly on their last legs.

Aiden spotted us, having just finished slitting the throat of a witch, and approached.

“We’re almost done here,” he said calmly, looking over the area. “A lot of witches fled. They’re shadows of their former selves.”

I noticed that he had reddish skin like me. So did many of the other vampires that I could see. Although curses were hitting our people, they didn’t seem to be having any serious effects other than causing pain.

My attention was drawn to a billow of flames my father had just shot out. Our vampires, along with Corrine and Ibrahim, seemed to be working together to force the remaining witches into a circle where my father could scorch them all at once. The remaining black witches, obviously realizing what was happening, vanished.