All the planets and stars collect in my throat, and I choke on them. Four days hence. My life is due to end in four days. My brain chugs, revolving faster and faster around this fact, this blunt and brutal confirmation of my worst fears. “Why am I only hearing about this now?” I demand just shy of a screech. “You’ve had a plan for thousands of years, you knew about all of this, but you decided not to say anything until four days before I’m supposed to die?”

“We are the only enemy to pose Azazel a true threat,” Ket begins, unruffled, “and two of our sisters perished long ago at the hands of ones who would see us fail. To show ourselves is to invite danger, to risk disrupting the necessary course of events.”

“How am I supposed to believe you?” It’s not an idle question; ever since I sat down, I’ve been trying to get inside these women’s heads—to search their memories and examine their intentions—but, again, there’s some kind of wall between us. “All I know for sure is that you’re vampires, and that makes Azazel your one-way ticket to fun in the sun.”

“We have had more than enough time on this planet,” Sulis answers dryly. “We are among the oldest beings to walk the Earth, and our feet are tired from it. Eternal life is not the prize you seem to think it is.”

“Almost a thousand years ago, Azazel offered to seat us at his right hand when he Ascended.” Brixia gives a bored shrug. “We would be second only to him in his kingdom, sharing in inconceivable power. It was an attempt to sway us from our mission to destroy him—and we declined.”

“We do not fear death.” Ket lifts her chin. “And if dominion is what we sought, we have the strength to claim it on our own. We are here because nature demands balance, and we are Azazel’s counterweight. When he is gone, our time will be up.”

“If we wished a place in his kingdom, all that would have been required of us was silence,” Sulis notes. “The prophecy would fulfill itself, and our lack of intervention would have proven our allegiance.”

This, at least, is a point I’m not sure I can argue. Rasputin, the Syndicate, the League … they all have visions for a future that depend upon controlling the Corrupter, but even if none of them interfered at all, they’re still Azazel’s children—they’d all have a place in his literal hell on Earth. Either these witches are telling the truth, or … well, or they’re not. Maybe they really are planning to expedite the Ascension rather than stop it.