“Surely you can see the danger in refusing to serve him?” Kamen said. “He will grow furious and attack you. It is better that you have the power of the joined Nightwalker races to protect you.”

“And all of the Nightwalkers are banded together?”

“All but three. The Wraiths, the Mysticals, and the Phoenixes. They are next on my list. Once I convince you, I will move on to them. I thought I would start with the most difficult first.”

“Wise choice. If we fail to strike this accord then it is fruitless for you to go to the others.”

“No. I will go anyway. Eleven united races are better than nothing. But old testaments show that only together can we break this curse and defeat this god.”

The Doyen moved farther into the room then took a seat on a chair. He crossed his legs and leaned back comfortably.

“I’ll tell you what. If you get all eleven races together, then the Wraiths will join you as well. But I have no fear of this happening. The Mysticals and the Phoenixes are insular, selfish races. They will not want to join you any more than I do.”

“That is your answer then? If I get all eleven races to come to the table you will join as well?”

The Doyen seemed to think on it a moment.

“You have a point, you know. When Apep hears we will not serve him he will attack us. I must do something to protect my people from this. If joining your band of merry men is the only way, then I am open to it. But it is as you say. We must all come together and I do not think you will be able to pull it off.”

“I will. I will and I will prove it to you,” Kamen said strongly.

“Take the half-breed with you on your journey to the Phoenix and Mystical courts. Half-breed, you will report to me when you verify all eleven races have come to the table. Do you understand? Fail me and there will be repercussions.”

“I-I will not fail you,” Viève said meekly.

“Good. Now get out of my house.”

Viève didn’t waste any time. She pushed off with her feet and before he knew it he was rushing upward…through metal, through earth, through sand. They popped up to where they had started and Kamen felt the need to let go of her hand and draw a full breath. Moving through earth like that was disconcerting.

Suddenly, Viève rounded on him.

“What have you gotten me into?” she spat at him.

“You have gotten yourself into this. You could have denied me at any time.”

“You didn’t give me much choice!”

“You had many choices. You made the right ones, Viève. This peace accord is vital to all of our species. Because of you we can begin to bring it together. We can begin to fight the god Apep. You have brought hope where before there was none. You have opened your people up to a new way of living.”

Viève’s mouth dropped open a little. “I’ve done all of that? All I did was bring you here.”

“You’ve seen peace in me. You’ve imagined peace for your people. Otherwise you would never have brought me here.”

Viève thought on that a moment, then she gave a reluctant nod. “I suppose that’s true. If I didn’t believe you none of this would have happened. And I do want there to be peace between our people. I would like to live in a world where we aren’t afraid of one another. Maybe I would fit into a world like that a little better.”

“You don’t fit into the world now?”

She shook her head. “You heard him. I’m a half-breed. Half-breeds are not held in much esteem.”

“Half-bred with what?”

“A Wraith and a human.”

“And how did that work?”

“My mother was a Wraith, my father human. She says it was a moment of weakness. That she craved him at first sight and came to him as if in a dream. She says she wishes she had never done it because ever since she has been branded with her half-bred child. She would be quit of me if she thought any other house would have me. So…I keep my head down and try to make myself useful. The useful half-breed instead of the plain old derided half-breed.”

“That is a terrible way to live,” Kamen said.

“As long as I look different, it is the only way for me.”

“But you have all the abilities of a Wraith. The only thing different about you is the way you look. That is all.”

“It is enough,” she said with a simple shrug.

Chapter 4

Jasmine was lying indolently on her bed as she watched her husband, Adam, walk out of the bathroom, fresh from his shower. A cloud of steam followed him out of the bath and she smiled. He was a Water Demon, which meant that he had control over everything H2O. He could create it out of thin air, he could manipulate it into any shape, he could make it rain or make it fog. Anything from mist to downpour—although not a hurricane. He would need to work in unison with a Wind Demon in order for that to happen. But he could freeze it or boil it.

That allowed him to make his shower as hot as he could possibly bear, which was pretty damn hot. It created a fair amount of steam.

He was tall and huge in comparison to most men. Much larger than his more athletically built brother Jacob, an Earth Demon. But the brothers shared the same brown—almost black—hair color and very similar, though far from identical, facial features. In Jasmine’s opinion, Adam was the more handsome of the brothers, which included Kane, their youngest brother, who sported the same coloring and similar features.

Kane, a Mind Demon, and his Druid wife, Corrine, a curvaceous redhead who was sister to Jacob’s wife, had arrived at the compound in Portales, New Mexico, only a week earlier. They had been sent there by Noah, the Demon King, who felt that there needed to be more of a showing of the Demon and Druid races just in case this god Apep decided to appear. Maybe next time they would have a sporting chance against him.

Jasmine sat up in bed, crossing her legs and propping herself up with straight arms behind her. She gave her husband a once-over, taking in his damp skin and the white towel slung low over his hips. She traced the provocative line of hair leading down from his navel until it was cut off by the white of the towel.

Darn, she thought.

“I know that look,” Adam said with a grin.

“What look? I don’t have a look.”

“Yes, you do, my Vampire bride. You have that look that kept us in our room for the entire two weeks of our honeymoon.”