Mira felt nauseous. She wasn't sure if it was from having to listen to Crane talk about the murder of her parents like a fond memory, or if it was because the drugs in her system were wearing off. Unobtrusively, she wiggled a toe in her shoe.

The drugs were wearing off. Mira felt a moment of triumph. Maybe Stefan had mistaken the dosage, or the drugs reacted slightly differently in her system.

"Jack watched the whole of the ritual that killed your mother, but he ran before the demon was birthed." Crane grimaced. "I thought it was a sign of weakness, but it turns out the boy wasn't weak at all. His failings were my own. If I'd raised him differently, he would've turned out fine.”

The door opened, and several warlocks entered with three gagged and bound witches in tow. Last to come through the door was Annie.

Mira was able to move a little more now, a fact she would closely guard. Incrementally, so no one would notice, she moved her head to watch Annie's captor lead her through the room.

Annie's salt-and-pepper hair had none of its normal luster, and her face appeared pinched with pain. Her gaze brushed Mira's before the warlock leading her plopped her into a chair on the other side of the room, making her grimace in pain and her face go white. The burns along her upper arms and the exposed skin of her back looked angry, irritated, undoubtedly infected. Her godmother's gaze locked with hers across the room and didn't budge.

A moment later another group of warlocks came in. "Sir, the Coven witches are all over the building," said a small, greasy looking man with a bad toupee. He sounded worried.

"Yes, let's not waste any more time," answered Crane. "Stefan.”

Stefan scooped her up into his arms while the other warlocks positioned the three bound and gagged witches in the empty area at the end of the room near the bar. The witches all struggled against their captors and were wrestled into submission and forced to kneel. They went submissive, their faces slack. Had they been drugged too? Mira wasn't sure.

No visible circle marked the floor, but Mira sensed a metaphysical one. Earth magick signaled north, south, east, and west.

Stefan began to ease her down to lie on her side in the position of north.

Knowing she had only this small window of opportunity, she pulled her ace. When he'd laid her down, she shot to her knees and bolted forward into Stefan's waist. Her muscles felt like rubber, and she had less ability to move than she'd supposed. All the same, she knocked the French bastard back a few steps before falling forward onto her face.

The ace hadn't really been much of an ace.

The warlocks in the room snickered.

"Shut up," Stefan snarled at them. "She has spirit and a will to live. Give her the respect she deserves. Merde.”