She snarled at me, the violence of it contradicting her blond curls and angelic face. I’d long ago stopped believing angelic faces, since the small and pretty Hope killed my father.

I could have ordered this vampire to do anything at all and she would have obeyed. She would have fallen on a stake for me, or even lain down to suntan if I’d asked it of her. But I had no idea who she was. She could be under the protection of a treaty, or belong to some foreign vampire dignitary. A Huntsman would have killed her regardless and wouldn’t have considered any other option. I wasn’t a Huntsman.

She tumbled away and I pushed between cedar trees, emerging in a strange sort of outdoor living room hung with lanterns and crowded with velvet sofas. A river glittered between Persian rugs. And under a willow tree hung with candles and ribbons, Lucy knelt on the frost-encrusted ground between Solange and Nicholas.

Even at a distance, something wasn’t right.

As I ran toward them, Solange glanced up. When she saw me, she jerked once, as if she’d been stabbed. She shoved Lucy forward so that she sprawled over the roots. Then she turned and vanished between the trees, her hair streaming behind her, her skin moon-pale.

“Sol, wait!” Ice and frozen mud cracked under my boots.

“What’s going on?” I asked Nicholas. He shouldn’t be here, not if Lucy’s GPS tag had been activated.

Unless he was the problem.

I stopped, stake in my hand. I catalogued what little information I could in the second it took for Lucy to stand up, looking befuddled. Blood trickled down her bare arm, and there were leaves in her hair. Solange had taken off toward the encampment. There were vampires in the woods, closing in. Nicholas looked as if he’d had the crap kicked out of him.

And he was wiping blood off his lip.

Shit.

I grabbed Lucy’s hand and yanked her away, even as I shot the last of my Hypnos at Nicholas. He was already leaping up into the tree, out of range. He hissed down at us, candlelight flashing off his fangs and pale eyes. Lucy stared up at him.

“Nicholas?”

I tugged harder on her hand. “Lucy, we need to get out of here.”

She tripped over a root and then dug in her heels. “Nicholas Drake,” she whispered. “Stop it. Stop it now.” It was as close to begging as I’d ever heard her. “Please.”

The light changed quality, burned from pink to gold. Nicholas swung into the next tree, and then we heard him land on the ground and take off, running away from the dawn, away from Lucy. She tried to follow, but I wouldn’t let her.

She was shivering, shrugging back into her frock coat as I forced her to move. We ran between the trees without talking as the sun rose, throwing darts of light between the branches. Ice gleamed. Birds sang from the canopy. I wouldn’t let us stop until we were well away from the encampment and any surrounding underground safe houses. We could almost see the road from here and my car parked haphazardly in the bushes. Lucy braced her hands on her knees and bent over, panting.

“Kieran, how did you find us?” she finally asked.

“You were tagged.”

She blinked at me, confused. “What? I know my dad threatened to microchip me, but I think I would have noticed if he’d actually done it.”

“Nicholas tagged you.”

She straightened slowly. “How do you know that?”

“We worked it out as a fail-safe.” I checked her coat and found the small tag under her collar. I pulled it out and showed it to her. “He activated it about a half hour ago.” I watched her reaction warily, assuming she’d be furious. Lucy tended to punch people in the face when she was furious. Instead she beamed at me.

“That’s sneaky and awesome,” she said, wiping a tear out of one eye even as she giggled. “And it means Nicholas never really meant to hurt me. He was saving me from Solange.”

“Yeah, about that,” I said as we pushed through the last of the undergrowth and climbed into my car. “What the hell happened to him?”

“I don’t know,” she said bleakly.

“He didn’t look good.”

“I know. Shit!” She interrupted herself, eyes wide. “Jenna! We have to find Jenna!” She scrambled to get out of the car. “She was with me when Solange’s guard ambushed us. They left her in the woods. Spencer said he’d go after her.”

“Spencer?” I echoed. “Hunter’s friend?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, hold on, before you go charging back out there.” I flipped open my cell phone and hit speed dial. Hunter answered on the first ring.

“I’ve got Jenna,” she said in lieu of a greeting.

“Is she all right?”

“She’s embarrassed, and she’ll have a hell of a headache for the next few days, but she’s fine.” I nodded at Lucy so she’d know Jenna was safe. She slid back into the car, looking relieved and exhausted. “Spencer called me to come get her at the gate,” Hunter was saying. “I think Lucy’s in trouble,” she added. “Jenna said they were chasing vampires. We can’t get ahold of her.”

“Lucy’s with me; she’s fine,” I assured her.

Hunter gave a loud sigh of relief. “Okay. Good. Damn, tonight sucked.”

“Talked to Quinn?”

“Yeah. Nicholas is back and Solange just made herself queen.”

“Shit,” I said, before hanging up. The Solange I fell in love with had shoved a tiara through a vampire’s chest rather than claim it as her own.