Sniffing, I nodded. “Then this is goodbye.”

He tipped his head to one side and smiled, not a single fang showing. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. It’s hard to say in this world of ours, don’t you think?”

My laugh turned into another sob. “I don’t know anymore, so many people gone, lost.”

“Willingly, Rylee. We all went willingly.” He tucked a finger under my chin. “Remember that, we would all do it again to be at your side. To fight for you. To love you.” He leaned in and kissed me again, soft and gentle, as sweet a kiss as I’d ever tasted. Then he stood and stepped back. “Get out of here, Tracker, you aren’t ready for this adventure . . . not yet.”

My eyes slipped shut again. But Liam didn’t come to say his goodbye and my heart lurched. Perhaps that was my penance for letting Alex go. For allowing him to take my place so I could go home to Marcella and Zane.

They all came to me, my friends, all those I’d lost until their voices blended into one thing.

We love you, Rylee. But it isn’t your time yet. Not yet.

Their voices faded and new ones slipped in and became those I’d left behind.

Doran’s voice was the first I heard. “She’s going to kick my ass for this.”

“I’ll take the blame. Do it,” Lark snapped.

A rush of warmth filled my mouth and I swallowed instinctively. Gulp after gulp of sweet liquid flowed down my throat until my belly was full. I turned my head. “No more.”

Lips brushed against mine. “I have to seal it with a kiss. The kiss you owe me.”

Doran pressed his mouth against mine, his fangs pressing into my skin. I groaned, but not out of pleasure. My body hurt all over, and I struggled to open my eyes.

“Give it a minute, Rylee.” Doran pushed on my shoulders, holding me to the ground. “Don’t move too fast.”

I opened my eyes, staring up at an early morning sky. There were no sounds of battle, no demons leering over us. Blinking slowly, I looked around at the faces peering back at me.

Pamela, Ophelia, Eve, Marco, Doran, Charlie, and Will. Calliope and her Crush of Unicorns, India at her side. Jonathan behind Lark. The weight on my chest though wasn’t entirely from Doran. Black fur filled my vision as I looked down to see Alex seemingly asleep on me.

My shoulder’s shook as I ran my hands through his fur. “Damn you for leaving me, Alex.”

I cried until there were no tears left. There was nothing anyone could say. I’d lost him. And I’d lost Liam again. Whatever we’d gained in saving the world, I wasn’t entirely sure it was worth it. How could this world exist properly without my two boys?

Without the laughter that Alex pulled from me in my darkest hours?

Slowly, I sat up, and Doran pulled Alex from me, gently laying him at my side. I buried my fingers into his long fur, knowing that soon enough I wouldn’t even have that.

Lark shook her head. “Holy hell, Rylee, I wasn’t sure it would work.”

“How?” I whispered. “All my blood was gone, wasn’t it?”

Doran cleared his throat. “Well, that is true. But it is also the last step to becoming a vampire. You have to be drained of every last drop of blood before you can be turned. Essentially, you have to die in order to be reborn.”

My eyebrows shot to my hairline and with them I shot to my feet. Not possible, it wasn’t possible. “I’m standing in the sunlight.”

He shrugged. “You’re a new breed of vampire. Like me.”

I stumbled back and fell over a lump on the ground. Berget’s voice snapped out. “Ow! Not funny.”

I crouched. “Berget?”

“Yeah, I got stuffed undercover again.” Her voice wasn’t really irritated. “Rylee? Is it really you?”

“Yes.” I couldn’t manage more than that, so I put a hand on her back, giving her a light pat.

I looked around, searching for Faris’s body. But of course, it wouldn’t be there, but burned up in ash. Was I not to be able to even bury Liam?

I Tracked him, reaching for the threads that would at least tell me he was truly gone.

And felt nothing. Not that there were no threads, but I couldn’t Track anything. Hands shaking, I held them out. “I can’t feel anyone.”

Lark stepped closer and took my hand. “You were drained of all your blood, Rylee. The Blood of the Lost is gone, and with it, your abilities. At least, that’s what I think has happened.”

I couldn’t help feeling I was missing a part of me. That which made me me was gone. Yet I couldn’t be angry; I’d been given a second chance.

“Thank you.” I looked to Doran, then Lark. To each of them. “I could never have stood against him without you.”

Doran caught me first in his arms and that quickly turned into a group hug as everyone got in on it. Pamela was crying, her face pressed against me.

“Alex would have loved this.”

A laugh that turned into a sob escaped me. “Yeah, he would have.”

I held them tightly, my family. The ones who’d survived and I was grateful for all I had. Though we’d lost so much, I knew I couldn’t dishonor the sacrifices made by being ungrateful. By wanting more than I’d been given.

I closed my eyes and held tightly to them.

To those I could still hold onto.

CHAPTER 55

LIAM

FARIS SHOOK HIS head. “You lucky bastard. The sunlight burned me out of you.”