Cormel stooped to pick up his hat and dust it off. “Because I am here saving your life.” I huffed in disbelief, and he turned to give me his full attention. “I’m joining Felix in his bloodletting so he doesn’t kill my children in his grief for the sun. I am there so he won’t take too much or be too brutal for their desires to withstand. I doubt very much I’ll enjoy watching an old man gum his food.” His gaze became distant. “There will be no finesse, no beauty there. I had hoped that he was still recoverable, but it won’t be long now.” His eyes met mine. “They failed to tell me that caring for the old as well as the young would be my responsibility when I took this job.”

It was as I had thought, then. Felix had faltered and was failing fast, dragging Nina down with him. This was so ugly. “Ivy is trying to save both their lives,” I said softly, and Cormel’s bad mood seemed to hesitate as he saw my own soften. “Doesn’t that count for something?”

“She still broke the rules. He is mad, Rachel. He is mad, and no amount of blood can save either of them, but Ivy broke the rules by interfering. Ohem is already lost but for his final walk into the sun and leaving Nina to lose control.” Cormel leaned to look down the hall, his thoughts already in the car and the remainder of his night. “They’ll have to shoot her down like a dog to stop her once she starts to look for solace. As it was, he would have only taken himself and one other, but your Ivy wants to love again, and so we all suffer so that you might save her soul, save all of ours.”

Jenks arrowed into the kitchen, bringing with him the scent of ash from the fireplace. He looked agitated that Cormel was still here, and the undead vampire raised a tired hand to tell him that he was on his way. “My children will suffer indignities and pain tonight because of you,” he said, and my gut tightened in guilt. “All my children are paying the cost for Nina’s possible survival. All to keep one vampire happy.” Cormel put his hat back on and buttoned his coat. “I pay it willingly. But you will give me what I want, Morgan. And soon.”

My chin lifted, and Jenks’s dust turned a glittering gold. “That sounds like a threat.”