Daisy guessed that might have been Angele’s room, and Victorija clearly didn’t want them staying there. Too many sad memories.

Victorija let out a groan of pain and braced herself against the wall. Daisy hurried to her. “Here, lean on me.” She helped Victorija along to the bedroom and opened the door. All the furniture had white sheets over it, like in every other room.

“Set me on the bed.”

“Please,” Daisy chastised her.

“I’m falling apart, cherie. I think I can skip getting the niceties right.”

Daisy helped her over to the bed, and she slumped onto it.

“How long have you had this place?” Daisy asked.

“A few hundred years, give or take a decade.”

“And Drasas doesn’t know about it?” Daisy asked.

“No, I kept everything about Angele a secret. She would have thought it a weakness.”

“Good. Lie back and get comfortable.”

“Blood sickness is not conducive to comfort,” Victorija said.

“We’ll make you more comfortable. I’ll get you some water.” Daisy took a moment and opened herself up to the spirit of the house. She could feel the history here, the connection to her ancestors. She shivered and felt the hairs stand up on her body. This was where she was meant to be, and who she was meant to be with.

A long groan brought her attention back to the present. “I need the potion.”

Daisy hurried back to the bed and sat cross-legged on the bed beside Victorija. “You can’t have that any more. We dumped it, remember? It’ll bring Drasas and Anka right to our door.”

Victorija nodded and took a sip of water from Daisy’s bottle. “I need to go cold turkey.”

“You are so strong, Torija,” Daisy said.

Victorija laughed, but then it turned into a racking cough. “See what happens when you make me laugh? If I was strong, I wouldn’t be—we wouldn’t be—in this situation.” Victorija was surprised when she felt Daisy’s fingers stroke through her hair. She loved the feel of it. She covered Daisy’s hand and held it to her face. “Nobody’s touched me like this for so long. With kindness.”

Daisy slipped down the bed until she could hold Victorija. “Torija, you’ve done so much bad in the world, but you can do much better. Just connect to Torija inside you.”

Victorija said nothing. Was it possible to be that person who Angele had loved again?

“Tell me about this person we’re going to see. Are they far from here?”

“Not too far. He’s called the Reaper.”

“As in the Grim Reaper?” Daisy said with surprise.

“In a way. Reapers help souls stuck here on earth, both good and evil, move on to the other side and don’t interfere with the living world.”

“I hadn’t heard of Reapers in that way. How can a Reaper help us?”