I’m sorry, I told it. I didn’t understand. But I do now.

* * *

The House was dark, and looked cold and lifeless. Anger began to build, mixed with a heady dose of fear at the possibility the vampires and people inside hadn’t survived the exchange, or the portal magic had done more damage than we’d understood. That the contract, the deal, had all been in vain, and she’d killed everyone the night the House had disappeared.

She wouldn’t survive the night, I thought, and felt the cold certainty that I’d take her life if she’d taken the lives of family.

“Oh!”

I heard someone in the crowd call out, and shifted my gaze from Rosantine back to the House.

And the light that had appeared in the front room. There was a flicker in an upper window, and then in the light above the portico, sending a cone of light across the front steps.

A horrendous squeak of wood against wood emerged from the front door, as if the House had settled poorly and just slightly askew, throwing the frame out of square. But none of that mattered, because vampires began to file out.

My mother came out first, sword in hand and watchful, in case the magic that had sent them away threatened them again. My father emerged behind her, gaze wary and searching for me.

My tears started falling immediately.

“Elisa, stay in the circle!” Lulu called out, but the words turned to a sob as her mother, her bright blue hair in a braid around her head, and her father followed behind. Then Uncle Malik, then Connor’s parents behind him, and I felt the pulse of Connor’s wildly joyful magic.

They walked cautiously down the steps to the sidewalk, gaze darting between the demon inside the sigil and the army who’d come to send her home.

“We have to hold the circle,” I said. “The demon who entrapped you is inside it.”

Every vampire on the lawn turned raging silver eyes on Rose.

“Meet the demon Andaras,” I said.

“Lulu?” her mother asked cautiously.

“Hi, Mom. Just, you know, commanding a demon.”

Aunt Mallory’s gaze went vague as she looked over the demon, the sigil, as if seeing the magic behind and beneath. She started forward, hands rising as if to insert her own magic, but my mother put a hand around her wrist, stopped her.

Inside the circle, Rose seemed to curl within herself, as if that would save her from the rage of a terrified mother.

“Let them finish,” my mom said. “They’ve come this far, and they deserve to finish it.”

“We had a bargain,” Rosantine called out. There was actual fear in her voice now; if she was ready and willing to be sent back to her realm, she must have thought that whatever Mallory had in store would be much, much worse.

But whatever the reason, she was right. It was time to close this chapter.

“Is everyone inside the House okay?” I asked.