I gripped the wall behind me and watched in horror as The Coven, or what was left of them, stood huddled together with their weapons drawn as the stampede of demons closed in on them. My stomach rolled. I didn’t understand. They were smarter than this. They knew better. Why are you here? I screamed in my mind.

“Open the door. I want to smell their blood,” Sweyn said with a snarl as she paced in the shadows of the room.

This house was a vampire lair, one that apparently had been used by vampires here for decades. During the day, steel shutters slid down over the windows to block the sunlight from coming in but only on the second and third floors. The first floor was a jazz bar that lured their victims closer. It was closed during the day, yet the windows were only covered by a sheer white curtain. Sunlight streamed through the material, covering half the bar in sunshine. We watched from the far end of the room. Pierce was a statue beside me, but I felt his panic as strong as my own.

Only Sweyn’s court was allowed to linger here with us. She wanted to give them a show, to brag about her wisdom and power. It was a relief to not have Everest and his crew at my side but it was also heartbreaking because it meant Pierce and I were on our own.

“I said open the door!” Sweyn hissed as she paced back and forth, remaining in the shadow. “Give me shade, for Lilith’s sake. What good are you otherwise?”

The Unseelie Prince was leaning against the front wall in the narrow slit of shadow beside the door, watching the demons attack The Coven from behind the curtain. He did not look back at our Queen. He merely lifted one hand and let black magic seep from his fingers. A shadow dropped over the room, chasing away every bit of sunlight from this jazz bar. Pierce, Sweyn, and I rushed to the windows at the same time. She yanked the curtain aside and cackled.

Bile shot up my throat.

Pierce cursed in that pretty accent of his.

The Coven was completely surrounded. It was hard to even see them through the horde of demons. I saw flashes of skin and the sparkle of their blades in the sunlight. It made no sense. They were smarter than this. I slid to the door and gripped the frame for support. Sweyn stood in the middle of the open door clapping her hands and laughing like a cheesy cartoon villain. The Unseelie Prince kept rolling his eyes and snarling in her direction. Pierce crouched down and pressed his forehead to the window.

“Worry not, my tickling,” Sweyn said with a purr. “We shall feast on their blood this night.”