Pain ripped through her entire arm. If the agony from the gunshot weren’t drowning out all other thoughts, she’d probably be running in terror from the mage right now.

As he traced his fingers over her flesh, he whispered a spell. His aura seeped into her body, drawing the pain from her shattered bones and caressing her skin. She glanced down to see her wound healing, and let out a long breath. Gods, it felt so much better. As if that weren’t enough, the blood disappeared from her shirt.

She took a steadying breath as the mage covered her shoulder with her shirt again. Something about his proximity deeply unnerved her. Maybe it was the fact that he served the night god—just like the vamps who’d murdered her parents.

“What about the bullet?” she asked.

“Gone.”

She still had no idea why he was helping her. “You even cleaned the blood out of my shirt.”

“It would attract vampires.”

She shuddered. “Thank you. I guess.” He’d just saved her life, yet he was her natural enemy. Frantic thoughts whirled through her mind. “I don’t understand what’s happening. Why are we here? Why is Randolph Loring hunting me?”

At that moment, the chapel doors creaked open, and a man in a black robe motioned for her to enter. A dark hood cast his face in shadow.

“You’re safe here,” the mage said. “Orcus will look after you.”

“You want me to stay in this mansion?”

“The Brotherhood won’t be able to find you here.”

The sight of the cleric tightened her chest. He looked like a grim reaper. In fact, he probably was a grim reaper. “Do I have a choice in any of this? Am I a prisoner?”

The mage’s raven circled overhead, then landed on his shoulder. “You came here willingly, but I have instructions to make sure you’re safe, which means staying in the mansion. Orcus will make sure no one hurts you.”

Desperation warped her mind, and she struggled to string a coherent thought together. “I can’t stay here. There’s obviously been some sort of mistake. I’m not a mage. I’m a Hunter. When things have calmed down, I’ll explain everything to the Brotherhood. I’ve never even seen a spell book.” She suddenly felt a desperate need to convince him.

Dark lashes framed his pale eyes, and his unwavering gaze almost hypnotized her. “The Brotherhood execute people without trials, and they want to burn you,” he said matter-of-factly. “You won’t be able to reason with them. On some level, you understand that, or you’d never have come with me.”

The night wind kissed her skin. “They execute demons. Not people. And they don’t burn people anymore. That was just a medieval thing.”

“The medieval ways are returning.”

“I’m not a mage.” Her mind raced with panic. What if this whole thing had been an illusion concocted by the demons to tempt her away from her true path? “I’ve never learned any magic.”

Moonlight bathed his cheekbones and pale eyes in silver. “It doesn’t matter what you are. It matters what they think you are.”