Lennox held a bottle in front of Tenn. He took it, then lifted his hand and twirled his fingers. The potion liquid raised out of the cauldron and poured itself into the bottle in Tenn’s hand. Once the bottle was full, Tenn turned to look down at me. He nodded, then led the way down the stairs. No one else followed us as we went down to the infirmary and into the room where Tegan was still passed out. Myrtle and Katherine stood back at the door, waiting and ready if we needed them.

“Okay, Tenn, can you make her drink it?”

He took a deep breath and let it out with a loud exhale. He sat on the bed next to his soulmate and moved the bottle closer to her face. With his other hand, he took her face in his hand and forced her mouth open. “All right, babe, I know you can hear me. Bottoms up.”

The potion lifted out of the bottle and slid right between her parted lips. She gasped and her back arched. Her skin shimmered like a pearl, flashing with rainbow speckles. Little lightning bolts flickered between her limbs and fingers. A wave of raw power slammed into me, knocking me backwards until I hit the wall.

I stepped up beside him. “Now what?”

Tenn sighed and ran his fingertips over her cheekbone. “Now we wait.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

PIERCE

I’d thought being turned into a vampire against my will was the worst thing to ever happen to me, and sure, that was still mostly true . . . because it was still the root of all my problems.

But the truth was, the person I’d become since that party where I’d first met Sweyn was the worst thing that had happened to me. In that moment, when Sweyn had set her eyes on me, I’d made a decision in my mind that I would do whatever I had to do to survive. I may have been new to the world of magic and creatures, but I was still a guy. I knew what she wanted of me. In my mind it was a smart decision. The truth was, I’d hated Maiya the second I had fangs. I loathed her. But in those few days I hadn’t had anywhere else to go. Maiya turned me out of selfishness and jealousy, then didn’t teach me anything. I hadn’t known how to survive as a vampire. I’d been scared, more scared than I knew how to express verbally. It was a soul-wrenching fear.

I hadn’t known the politics of the magical world.

I hadn’t known there was a Vampire Queen before she walked into that party.

I hadn’t known Lilith was real, and I surely hadn’t known the true story. No human did.

Potentially more importantly, I hadn’t known about The Coven of witches who protected the world from evil.