Link charged Abraham, but another simple flick of the Blood Incubus’ wrist sent him flying. Link’s back hit the jagged stone crypt with a loud crack.

I struggled to stay conscious. Hunting was below me, his hands around Uncle Macon’s neck. But he didn’t seem to have enough strength left to hurt his brother. The color slowly drained from Hunting’s skin, turning his body hauntingly transparent.

I gasped for breath, transfixed, as Hunting’s hands slid from Uncle M’s neck and he started writhing in pain.

“Macon! Stop!” he pleaded.

Uncle Macon focused his energy on his brother. The light held steady as the darkness leached out of Hunting’s body and into the overturned earth.

Hunting seized, and sucked in his last breath. Then his body shuddered and froze.

“I’m sorry, brother. You left me no choice.” Macon stared down at what was left before Hunting’s corpse disintegrated, as if he had never existed at all.

“One down,” he said grimly.

Abraham shielded his eyes, trying to determine if Hunting was really gone. The color was beginning to seep out of Abraham’s skin now, but it had only made it as far as his wrists. He would kill me long before the sunlight took him out. I had to do something before we all ended up dead.

I closed my eyes, trying to push past the pain. My mind was slipping into numbness.

Thunder rumbled overhead.

“A storm? Is that all you’ve got, my dear?” Abraham said. “Such a waste. Just like your mother.”

Anger and guilt churned inside me. Sarafine was a monster, but she was a monster Abraham had helped create. Abraham had used her weaknesses to lure her into Darkness. And I had watched her die. Maybe we were both monsters.

Maybe we all are.

“I’m nothing like my mother!” Sarafine’s fate was decided for her, and she wasn’t strong enough to fight it. I was.

Lightning tore across the sky and struck a tree behind Abraham. Flames raced down the trunk.

Abraham took off his hat and shook it with one hand, careful to keep the hand tethered to my throat tightly clenched. “I always say it’s not a party until something catches fire.”

My uncle rose to his feet, his black hair messy and his green eyes glowing even brighter than before. “I would have to agree.”

The light in the sky intensified, blazing like a spotlight on Abraham. As we watched, the beam exploded in a blinding flash of white—forming two horizontal beams of pure energy.

Abraham swayed, shielding his eyes. His iron grip retracted, and my body fell to the rotting soil.

Time seemed to stop.

We all stared at the white beams spreading across the sky.

Except one of us.

Link ripped before anyone else had a chance to react—dematerializing in a split second, like he was a pro. I couldn’t believe it. The only times he’d ever ripped in front of me, he practically flattened me like a pancake.

Not this time.

A crack in space opened up for him, only inches in front of Abraham Ravenwood.

Link yanked the garden shears out of the waistband of his jeans, raising them above his head. He plunged them into Abraham’s heart before the old Incubus even realized what had happened.

Abraham’s black eyes widened and he stared at Link, struggling to stay alive as a circle of red seeped slowly out around the blades.

Link leaned in close. “All that engineerin’ wasn’t for nothin’, Mr. Ravenwood. I’m the best a both worlds. A hybrid Incubus with his own onboard navigation.”

Abraham coughed desperately, his eyes fixed on the mostly Mortal boy who had taken him down. Finally, his body slid to the ground, the stolen science lab shears protruding from his chest.

Link stood over the body of the Blood Incubus who had hunted us for so long. The one person generations of Casters hadn’t been able to touch.

Link grinned at John and nodded. “Screw all that Incubus crap. That’s how you do it Mortal-style.”

CHAPTER 25

Death’s Door

Link stood over Abraham’s body, watching as it started to disintegrate into tiny particles of nothing.

Ridley stepped up beside him, looping her arm through his. “Grab the scissors, Hot Rod. They might come in handy if I need to cut myself out of a cage sometime.”

Link pulled the shears from what was left of the Blood Incubus. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Jackson High Biology Department. Stay in school, kids.” He shoved the shears back into his jeans.

John walked over and slapped Link on the shoulder. “Thanks for saving my ass. Mortal-style.”

“You know it. I got some mad skills.” Link grinned.

Uncle Macon brushed off his trousers. “I don’t think anyone can argue with that assessment, Mr. Lincoln. Well played. Your timing was impeccable.”

“How did you know we were here?” I asked. Had Amma seen something and given us away?

“Mr. Breed was kind enough to leave a note.”

I turned to John, who was kicking at the dirt with his boot. “You told him what we were doing? What about our plans? What about the part where we agreed not to tell my uncle anything?”

“I didn’t. The note was for Liv,” he answered sheepishly. “I couldn’t just disappear without saying good-bye.”

Link shook his head. “Seriously, dude? Another note? Why didn’t you just leave a map?”

This was the second time John’s guilty conscience and one of his notes had led Liv—or, in this case, my uncle—to him.