“Stefan’s awake and Thomas is back. They’re questioning him. No sign of any Atrika yet. I let you sleep as long as you wanted since you needed it.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And you? You don’t need sleep?”

“I’m fine.”

“Bullshit. Lie down and take a nap, big guy. It’s my turn to watch over you.” She pushed him backward onto the bed, but he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her down on top of him.

Sarafina gave a yelp of surprise and found herself rolled beneath his body in one second flat, his mouth on hers.

Just as Sarafina was starting to relax a little and shake off the horror of her most recent encounter with Bai, Theo’s cell phone rang. He fumbled for it, took one look at the interface, and said, “We have to get to Gribben.”

GRIBBEN LOOKED LIKE A WAR ZONE. NOT UNLIKE THE one they’d left behind in Kentucky. Theo was getting sick of the carnage.

Theo lost his breath and Sarafina her step as soon as they crossed the threshold of the prison, but it didn’t slow them down for more than a heartbeat. The guards were away from their posts and the series of gates leading into the heart of the prison were flung open to allow Coven reinforcements to enter. All the prisoners were in lockdown and as they passed, they could see faces peeking from behind the small square windows in their heavy metal doors.

The prisoners were all smiling, laughing, pounding on their walls. They knew exactly what was happening—their Coven captors were getting their asses handed to them by daaeman.

So what else was new?

They made their way down into the bowels of the prison, where they’d put Stefan. The Atrika had either finally deduced where the Coven witches had taken their fearless leader, or they’d performed some kind of locator spell to find him. Either way, they were here now and locked in a battle with Thomas and the others.

The problem was both simple and profound: the Coven witches had no power here and the Atrika did.

It made for bad odds, all in all.

The sounds of the battle grew louder the closer they got. An Atrika blocked the open steel door they needed to get past in order to get to where Thomas and the others were, filling the frame like a freight train jamming the mouth of a tunnel.

They came to a skidding halt. Theo reached back for his sword and held it between himself and the monster who stood snarling in front of them. Sarafina held her sword in hand, too. Without magick to wield, Theo felt vulnerable as a newborn babe and he was certain Sarafina felt the same. A copper blade just wasn’t the same as magick.