Yvonne’s smile held certainty. “Cute. Trying to make me angry, are you?” She flicked a piece of invisible lint off her cashmere sweater. “I don’t mind talking to you, Grace. We were kind of friends for a couple of days.” She tucked her hands in her jean pockets. “I had fun.”

Fun? Grace stepped even closer. Was the woman lonely? It had to be difficult living with Kurjan soldiers all the time. “You don’t have to do any of this, you know. If there’s something decent in you, you have to see how wrong all of it is.”

“No, it’s fate.” Yvonne turned around and lifted her sweater to reveal a baroque symbol centered on her spine. The design spread out like the wings of a butterfly with a symmetrical pattern of symbols in each wing. Beautiful and complex.

“Wow.” Grace tried to memorize the marking. “You were born with that?”

“Indeed.” Yvonne turned back around, facing her. “You’re right that I’m not the only one. Each generation or so, another is born, just like with the Keys. If you die, another will take your place. Same with me, but it’s my time, and Ulric is coming back for me. I dream of him. He dreams of me.” She clasped her hands together as if posing for a picture. “Fate talks to us all, if we just listen.”

That would sound nut-job crazy if Grace wasn’t sitting in a jail cell with a demon-vampire hybrid who’d had part of his face burned off. “I think fate gives us options, and we choose from there.” Grace flattened her hands on the glass. “If you believe in destiny, you believe in the afterlife. Shouldn’t you give that some consideration? Let us go. Give yourself a chance in the next life.”

Yvonne chuckled. “I’m not leaving this life. When Ulric mates me, when he finally comes home, I’ll live forever.”

Huh. All right. “What about Rose? Where is the toddler?”

Yvonne shrugged. “We sensed she was enhanced and took her as part of my little family charade for you. You have to admit that seeing Brian and me with a baby kept you off guard. It was a good move. Plus, it was fun.”

Fun? They’d kidnapped a toddler and thought it was fun? Grace’s stomach rolled over. “Where is the little girl now?”

“Who cares? She’s around here somewhere. I think we should either leave her in the snow or at a church,” Yvonne muttered. “But since she’s enhanced, I’m sure the Kurjans will want to keep her. Somebody will want to mate her when she’s an adult.”

Grace swallowed. “Forget what I said. You’re definitely going to see hell someday.”

Yvonne sighed. “You’re as much fun as that old hag, Karma.”

Grace’s chin dropped. “Old hag? She looks around twenty, maybe twenty-five at the oldest.”