These men weren’t cloaks. They were vampires.

But not any old vampires; these nine were from De Luca’s den, and they had sworn to kill us in revenge for their maker’s death. Obviously, our statement that we couldn’t actually claim that scalp hadn’t yet sunk into their thick skulls.

One of them spotted me and roared an order to attack. I unleashed more of the mother’s fire, and pain hit so hard that I stumbled and fell, sliding for several feet on hands and knees, skinning both before I came to a halt. I didn’t move; I couldn’t move. I just sucked in air, my whole body shaking with the force of it, fighting the cold lethargy assailing me, fighting the pain and the need to give in, to let go. To heed the siren call of the mother’s energy and become one with her.

True death lay that way, and it was one from which there would be no coming back.

Maybe one day I’d be so tired and worn by this world and the constant lifetimes of heartbreak that I would answer that call and fade away, but I wasn’t anywhere near that point just yet.

Besides, I needed to get back to Rory. Needed to be there for him.

A scuff of movement caught my attention, and I looked up. There was sweat in my eyes, and my vision was swimming in and out of focus, but the figure that approached was familiar enough—Jackson, not the vampires. Not the cloaks. Which was just as well; I had very little fire left and certainly couldn’t have even held a damn gun right then, let alone used it.

He dropped down beside me, and it was all I could do not to reach out, to grab all the fire that had been leashed within him by the drug, and draw it into my body.

“But that’s exactly what you need to do,” he said, placing one hand over mine. “You’re close to the edge of fading. Hell, you are fading. You need fire, Em, and right now, I’m your only source.”

I didn’t move; didn’t take. But his fingers were molten against the ice of mine, and they felt so damn good . . .

I licked my dry lips and somehow said, “I could kill you.”

“I’ll stop you before it ever gets that far.”

No, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Not if I got lost in the rapture of feeding, and that was a distinct possibility when I was so close to the edge.

“We can’t. Not here. Too dangerous.”

“The cloaks are gone, the vampires are either unconscious or dead, and there’s no one else around other than the people you saved. You have to do this, Em. Trust me. Please.”