“But drinking blood isn’t creepy?”

“No creepier than eating a dead cow.”

She shook her head. “Kieran said you wouldn’t be interested in detox.”

“Detox? From what? My friends?”

“From vampires. From this lifestyle.” She waved a hand at the treated glass.

“From alarm systems and night walkers and sword-fights.”

“Okay, first of all, I happen to love sword fighting. And second of all, what, your lifestyle of secret agent assassins is somehow suburban white bread all of a sudden?

Please.”

“Oh, Lucky, it’s not like that.”

“It’s Lucy,” I corrected her through my teeth. “And your people tried to kill my best friend, so you’ll forgive me if I’m not overly keen on learning the secret handshake.” She shook her head sadly. “You should be going on dates and hanging out at the mall. Not wearing stakes on your belt.”

I shrugged one shoulder. “The mall sucks.”

“I can help you.”

“Like you helped Solange? No thanks.”

“You can have a normal life. It’s not too late for you.” I nearly laughed. “You’ve clearly never met my parents. Normal was never an option.” I folded my arms and smiled at her sarcastically. “You could leave the Helios-Ra. We could help you stop trying to kill people just because they have a medical condition that you don’t understand.”

She sucked in a breath. “It’s not like that.”

“It’s totally like that. God. ”

“You’re so young. You can’t see the bigger picture.”

“I’m sixteen, I’m not an idiot.”

“We could use you.” She made it sound like it was something I should be excited about. “There’s so much we could teach you. You have the instinct for it, I can tell.” The thought made me shiver. “No.”

“The offer stands. If you should change your mind.” She looked young, with her ponytail and her round cheeks. Still, her eyes were old, knowing. I was spared further conversation when Bruno came striding out of the wooded area bordering the lawn.

“Are you daft, lass?” he asked, accent thickening with disgust. “It’s nearly dusk.

Get your arse inside.” I hadn’t noticed the sky had turned to lavender and pink, the edges burning like tissue paper set on fire. He glowered at Hope. “And you, get inside and close that window. If you run, we have ways of fetching you back. You won’t like them.”

“I’m not a prisoner,” she reminded him gently. “I’m here as a gesture of good faith.”

He snorted but didn’t answer, preferring instead to nudge me back inside like a great big Scottish bully.

“All right, all right, I’m coming,” I muttered. “Someone had to let Mrs. Brown out.” He shut the patio door behind me and locked it. His eyes were smudged with bruises of fatigue. Mrs. Brown chased Byron around the living room until he hid under the library table, whimpering. That, at least, made the night feel more normal. It wasn’t long before Liam and Helena came downstairs to join us, followed by Geoffrey, Sebastian, and a rumpled Nicholas. For some reason when he looked at me, I felt myself blushing.

“Still no word from Hyacinth,” Helena said grimly and without preamble.

Bruno shook his head, confirming. “We can’t track her phone. It’s possible she’s out of range.”

Liam shook his head. “Not likely. I talked to Hart and he claims none of his people came into contact with her.”

“And we believe him?” Nicholas asked, leaning back against the mantel and yawning.

Liam’s phone rang from the depths of his leather jacket. He answered it, listened, and said only one word. “Good.” He looked at his wife. Her shoulders lost some of their tension and then the front door burst open to the rest of the Drake brothers.

They rushed in, covered in mud, clothing torn, faces angry.

“Where is she?” Logan asked. “Where’s Solange?”

“We don’t know,” Liam answered him.

Logan closed his eyes briefly, his face pale as lily petals. Quinn swore viciously.

Connor punched the wall, denting the plaster.

“Where’s your cousin?” Helena frowned, after giving each of her sons the once-over to be sure they were unhurt.

“London took off ,” Marcus sighed. “She locked one of the grates behind her and just took off.”

“What?” Nicholas pushed away from the wall. “You’re kidding. She got you into this mess in the first place.”

Logan dropped into a chair. “I think she was embarrassed. Or confused. She loves Lady Natasha, you know that.”

“And what about Solange?”

“The good news is that Veronique gave her a vial of blood to help her through the change. The bad news is the little idiot gave herself up to the Helios-Ra to save us.”

“Not quite,” Liam told them starkly. “Your sister gave herself up to a rogue unit currently unrecognized by Helios.”

“Well that’s just freaking great.”

The Drake brothers put a rioting soccer stadium to shame when they got going.

And there was nothing like the news that their baby sister had sacrificed herself for them to someone worse than Helios-Ra. The language currently blistering the air would have made the proverbial sailor blush. Helena had to whistle around her thumb and forefinger to make the yelling subside. She was on her feet, her long black braid hanging behind her, her pale eyes like summer lightning.