Bobbi shrugged next to her, holding a gun pointed at her ribs, while Brian the Kurjan drove. “We blew him up. He wasn’t expecting a missile.”

Grace gagged. She could even smell the burned flesh. “I don’t understand. Any of this. Who are you?”

Bobbi flicked snow off her shoulders. “I’m Yvonne, the chosen one.”

What? Grace rolled her eyes and tried to loosen the old-fashioned rope scraping against her skin. “Seriously? Give me a break.” She ignored the blonde and looked at the driver, who apparently held the actual power. “We really dated, right?”

Brian nodded. “Sure did. Just long enough to determine you didn’t know what a Key was or where the others were. Then I was going to take you in.”

She remembered the purple eyes she’d seen when she was attacked. Her voice shook. “You put me in a coma, asshole,” she spat.

“Yeah. Sorry about that.” He smiled, his face a garish exaggeration of the Brian she thought she’d known.

She swallowed, looking outside, where the snowstorm kept most people off the streets. Hopefully Faith had gotten word out somehow. What where they going to do to her? She couldn’t stop talking. “Are you somehow special? In being able to tolerate the sun?” She’d been told that was impossible. She had to somehow warn everyone.

“No,” Brian said. “Thanks to Yvonne.”

Yvonne winked at her. “It took years. I expanded on research the Kurjans have been conducting for a century, but I finally came up with a virus.”

Another fucking virus? “This one makes it so Kurjans can go into the sun?”

“Yes. I had to actually conduct genetic manipulation that you wouldn’t understand. My virus is the delivery mechanism.” Her hand remained steady on the weapon.

“How old are you?” Grace burst out.

“Thirty-two,” Yvonne said, waving the gun. “I graduated from high school at twelve and college for the first time at fourteen. I knew I was the chosen one long before that.”

The chick had been watching too many sci-fi movies. “This is probably the biggest scientific breakthrough for any species, well, ever.” Grace edged toward the door, but if she jumped out, she’d leave Benny at their mercy. He needed help.

Yvonne licked her lips. “My intended will be pleased.”

“Who’s your intended?” Grace asked, searching wildly for a way to escape.

“Ulric, of course,” Yvonne said.

Grace coughed. “You know, they say genius and madness are the flip side of the same coin.” Grace listened carefully for any sound of movement from Benny. She had to get him to a medic. “It’d be really nice if you stopped talking like you were from the dark side of a howling moon.”

Almost casually, Yvonne struck Grace with the gun.

Grace’s head flew back and she gasped, pain bursting through her cheekbone. “You bitch.”