“Still, you will leave me to my fantasy and shun Ivy and Rachel as I ask.” Cormel shifted to open a way for him to go, incidentally placing himself even more firmly between me and Felix. “My car is out front. The driver will take you wherever you wish. It would be my pleasure to show you my children if you will wait but a little.”

Felix straightened at that, almost finding his old bearing. “I am so hungry,” he whispered. “The blood doesn’t help anymore. There’s never enough.”

Cormel’s head bowed. “I’m sorry. Give me a moment with Rachel? I’ll join you soon. My children will slake your thirst. I will stand beside you and be sure of it.”

My God, it was enough to turn my stomach, but it was what they were down to. I stiffened as Felix shuffled out past me, a slight tilting of his head the only indication that he knew I was there, and I shivered when a black eye watched me from under his shifting bangs. Jenks followed him out, staying just below the ceiling as a quiet guard.

“I am not yours,” I said hotly to Cormel before the back door clicked shut.

In a wash of incense, Cormel moved swiftly to the archway, leaning to look down it into holy ground. His lips were pressed in anger, and I marveled at how alive he appeared. Practice, practice, practice. “You are. I just saved your life.”

“I could have taken him,” I shot back, and Cormel’s irate gaze finally came to me. His eyebrows went high in a mocking question. “I just didn’t want to hurt him.”

“No doubt. I think you killing him was his plan. And then what? You would be accused of murder as no one but you saw him ailing. You could flee to the ever-after, but we all know how you feel about that—Rachel.”

He was right, and it irked me. “You make me sick,” I said instead, pushing around him to get out of my corner. “The two of you going off to a blood orgy together, offering your children to him like they’re candy. There’s no love there, no caring. Ivy was right. Why should I help you find your souls?”