We were down to kidnapping, and heart pounding, I texted G2G to tell Ivy to go to ground, then hit her number, wanting to give her more than a text could handle. “I’ve got zip strips in the top drawer there,” I said, phone to my ear. Please pick up. Please.

“I’ve got something better.” Motions holding a hard intent, Trent cleared off the center counter, piling everything on Ivy’s stuff. I knew it would irritate her to no end. My skin tingled as he pulled more heavily on the line, and I hoped they didn’t have a magic user out there with them. They might be able to feel it.

Finally Ivy answered her phone, and I pressed it to my ear. “Ivy, thank God.”

“Rachel? Why are you up so early?” she said, following it immediately with “Shit, what happened? Is everyone okay?”

Clearly she hadn’t gotten the text yet. She sounded fine, and my eyes closed in relief. I could hear dogs in the background. “We’re okay,” I said, and I heard her say something muted to someone else. Nina, probably. “The church is surrounded. Bis is going to jump us out as soon as we know who it is, so don’t come back. You’re okay, right?”

With a slight shock, I realized I wanted to run. It was something new to me, but perhaps I was only now realizing the fragile nature of life. I wasn’t running away, I was running to find a stronger position. Whoever this was, they weren’t going to get away with it.

“Cormel!” Ivy hissed, her vehemence taking me aback.

“I don’t think so. I’ll let you know who as soon as we find out. Are you being followed?”

“No.” She was distracted, and I wondered what Trent was wanting to do with the overhead rack when he eyed it.

I jerked at the sudden displacement of air, reaching for my splat gun when Bis popped back into the kitchen. His claws were pinching the shoulder of a terrified vampire.

“What the hell?” the young, surprisingly muscled living vampire shouted, eyes pitch black and short fangs sheened with saliva. He took a breath to shout for help.

“Ta na shay, sar novo,” Trent said softly, every word seeming to have edges. My skin crawled, and the aura about his hand glowed a soft silver. I froze when he reached out and the glow vanished from his hand to blossom anew over the vampire—swamping him in a heartbeat. The vampire’s exclamation choked off. He stiffened as the charm soaked in, and he went still.

“Sar novo,” Trent said again, shoving the vampire against the center counter where he slumped, eyes open, breathing, but clearly unable to move voluntarily.

The entire thing had taken maybe three seconds.