Sakhmet moved between us, hands raised, calming. “Kumarbis, please let her be. Regina, are you calm?”

I straightened, rounded my shoulders. Came as close as I could to meeting the vampire’s gaze without letting him trap me. Zora glared fearfully. She was the most vulnerable one here—at least she was smart enough to recognize it.

However, nothing fazed Kumarbis. “You show the power of Regina Luporum at every turn. You truly are her avatar.” He bowed his head, in a show of respect that I didn’t believe.

Even rolling my eyes wasn’t worth the effort. Not that Kumarbis noticed my annoyance. He saw what he wanted to.

I hadn’t thought about Zan, the wolf who attacked and infected me, in a long time. I thought about that night, sure, but I didn’t spend much time thinking about him, the person. I wasn’t sure I could remember what he looked like, man or wolf. He was a young guy, early twenties like I had been at the time, working odd jobs and trying to get by when he wasn’t being a werewolf, which he seemed to enjoy. Now, he was dead. So were Carl, Meg, and TJ, the old pack, the werewolves who took me in and made me what I am. That was a chapter I’d happily left behind, and my only regret was I hadn’t been able to take TJ with me. He’d died so I could escape. Him, I remembered clearly, gratefully. He’d had a chance to run, and he didn’t. He risked his life for me. Yes, I understood sacrifice.

And if TJ were here, he’d probably kick my ass for not running away when I had the chance.

That all seemed like such a long time ago.

Kumarbis whispered to Zora, who nodded and began bustling around the antechamber, gathering up a bag of items she’d stashed against the wall, lighting candles, dousing the camp lanterns, until all that was left was flickering, natural flame. The handful of yellow will-o’-the-wisp lights left the rest of the place in shocking, complete darkness. When Zora moved her candle, the faces of the others appeared like misshapen ghosts. Their eyes blazed.

“One more step remains in your initiation, before we can perform our ritual,” Kumarbis said.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Zora, her back to the rest of us, take off her shirt and pull on a long white tunic. She moved quickly, searching her bag for more items, making additional preparations, letting loose her ponytail, adding chains and jewelry to her ensemble.

The others lined up in front of me. “What?” I asked, wary. I thought that meant the ritual, the one they kept talking about, that Zora was obviously preparing to lead. But they weren’t making any motions toward the ritual chamber. So what else did they want? Did I dare ask?

“You join your blood with ours,” Kumarbis said.

Typical ritual stuff. Blood oath, I slice my hand, then what? My mouth was sticky, and instead of the snarky question I was thinking, I simply blurted, “How?”

They didn’t say anything, but Sakhmet gave me the cue. Her brow furrowed and she winced as if embarrassed as she glanced at me, then at the vampire. Vampire, blood … he had to be getting it from somewhere. Shit. We take turns, Enkidu had said.

Finally Zora turned back to us, and she had transformed herself. The floor-length tunic shone in the candlelight. Her blond hair was loose, hanging almost to her waist, and held back from her face by a gold-colored metallic band. She wore a New Age shop’s worth of amulets around her neck, arms, and waist. I had to admire her theatricality, but if she was trying to impress me, she failed. I’d seen Cormac work spells with bits of string he’d pulled from the pockets of his leather jacket. No more theatricality than changing a lightbulb. I knew which one of them I trusted more.

But this wasn’t a spell, was it? It was a ritual. It was a lifestyle.

I wasn’t one of them, I wasn’t with them, the taking turns didn’t apply to me, did it? But I had come back into the mine, I’d returned to help them … I was already shaking my head. “I only feed my friends, and only when they need it.”

“We are your friends,” Kumarbis said.

“I’m thinking we may have different definitions of the word.”

“Then we are allies,” he said.

Was he wrong? I didn’t know. I was cornered again, surrounded, with them making demands. My resolve was fading, after all that talk of martyrdom. I’d fed vampires before, wasn’t a big deal, and arguing was so tiring. But in my gut, Wolf was howling. This is too much to give …

I lunged before I realized I was doing it, hands out, curled, open mouth aimed for Kumarbis’s throat. It wouldn’t taste good, but it sure would be satisfying …

Enkidu and Sakhmet both rushed forward, grabbed my arms, yanked me up short, and held me fast while I thrashed, snarling.

“Stop it, stop it! You’ll ruin everything!” Zora cried, hands pressed to her head.

Sakhmet’s voice was next to my ear. “Calm, be calm, please. We need you for this. Please.” Her voice was soothing, like a purr. She and her partner had braced and weren’t going to budge. I could wrench my arms out of my sockets, and they’d keep hold of me. But she kept whispering, and Wolf settled, retreating back to her cage.

I trusted Sakhmet. I listened to her.

“We’re out of time,” Zora continued, pleading with Kumarbis now. “We need to do this now, or we’ll miss the proper phase and have to wait until the next full moon.”

Sagging in the lycanthropes’ arms, I stopped struggling and stared ahead like the caged wolf I was. “I am not staying here for another month. We’ll do this now.”

Zora stomped over to me, brave now that I was restrained. She brought herself close enough that I could have bit her nose off with a well-timed snap. I just grinned at her.

She said, “If you want to learn about Dux Bellorum, if you want to see him destroyed, then you must be initiated of your own free will. If you want to see our true purpose, then this is the only door into that realm.”

You must bring an offering of blood, if you wish to ask questions …

I had to remember why I was here. I relaxed, straightened. Tentatively, Enkidu and Sakhmet loosened their grips. I had to focus. Refocus. I didn’t bolt.

“I want to know about Gaius Albinus,” I said.

Kumarbis said, “He is a force of evil, with plans for domination—”

“I know that!” I glared. Kumarbis blinked, taken aback. He’d probably never had anyone interrupt him before. At least not for a bunch of centuries. “Tell me about the man. You turned him. You knew him when he was mortal. I want to know how you met. How you decided to make him a vampire. Can you tell me that?”