I want to roar, You are not my family, but the words won’t pass my throat. “Leave the students and get the fuck out of Blackriver.”

He regards me for a moment as if expecting a change of mind. When I rise and step forward, throwing open my hands, he shouts something at his men. One by one, they blur to the edge of the roof and leap, the vamps I sucked Flame from stumbling as they leave.

Radomir calmly follows, slinking backward, that amused smile still curving his lips. “Watch your head, precious youngling. We will meet again.” He glances down at my right hip. Or is it my pocket? “Your prince left you a gift. Use it wisely.”

What does that mean?

He picks up speed, and as he passes the fair-haired girl, he grasps her wrist and swings her into his arms.

“No!” I sprint across the rooftop, far too late.

He throws me a Cheshire Cat grin as he leaps off the building—
backward.

I skid to the edge and straight over, grasping a drain as I swing onto the wall. The student’s drawn-out scream becomes a distant wail as the vampire lands and, flipping her over his shoulder like a weightless doll, all but glides across the lawn.

Come on, Flame, give me some juice.

The energy fires down my arms and glows through my palms and fingers, sucking them fast to the smooth stone. My feet rest on invisible steps, and I scurry down the building in hot pursuit. Even if I have to follow the vampires over the boundary wall, I could stop them. I just need to be close enough to steal their Flame.

But something’s not right.

A sharp pain zaps through my limbs. The Flame splutters. For a terrifying millisecond, the suction falters. My hands and boots scrape down the smooth brick, stomach shooting into my throat. Then the heat returns, sticking me back to the wall.

Shit. What the hell? That wasn’t funny.

Heart pounding in my ears, I whip my head round to check on the vamps. As I watch, Radomir and his crew ghost over the wall, unconscious students carried away like carcasses.

I’m losing them.

Hurrying down the building, I make it to the second floor, but my fingers shake like an addict’s. The pins and needles sensation turns into hot knives. The Flame flickers.

I freeze against the brick. Below me is a drop too high to survive. When I peer down, the stone pavement stares up at me like a silent witness.

Heart rattling in my chest, I take the chance of another few steps. An instant pain shoots through my whole body, ripping a cry from my throat.

Then the Flame blinks out.