“We have allies in the camp,” Liam said over his sons’ arguments. “Best start there.”

Helena rubbed a hand over her face. Her hair was coming out of its severe braid. “Agreed,” she said reluctantly as her frayed temper cooled. “Much as I hate to just sit here, your father’s right. If we force her now, we might lose her forever.”

Quinn shouted his disagreement. Connor elbowed him to shut him up. Duncan glowered.

I hopped up onto the kitchen table in my muddy boots, trying not to brain myself on the chandelier. “I said, hey!” I gave up and whistled shrilly around my fingers, the way Duncan had taught me when I was twelve.

Vampire silence is like no other silence in the world. It’s like when the power goes out and the background noise of furnaces, water heaters, and pipes suddenly vanishes. The usual soundtrack of breathing and small unnoticed human movements was gone. It was only that throbbing silence of so many pale-eyed vampires, fangs gleaming. Even I, who was mostly immune to their pheromones, felt my stomach drop. Adrenaline flushed through me, just enough to make me feel nervous and jittery, as if I’d drunk three pots of coffee.

“Nicholas is back,” I repeated, my voice suddenly small and fluttery as a moth.

Liam had his hands around my waist and was lifting me off the table before I’d blinked. “How do you know?” he asked quietly.

“He bit me.”

That vampire silence again, only so much worse this time. Liam’s eyes glistened, and I was suddenly terrified he was going to cry. I swung my feet, still a few inches off the ground. “Can I get down now?”

He set me down with exaggerated care. “What do you mean, Nicholas bit you?”

I rolled up my sleeve to show them. The puncture marks were small and had already stopped bleeding. It just looked like I’d fallen on a barbecue fork. But I’d never forget the way he’d come out of the woods, covered in bruises and blood. Something had happened to him, something horrible.

“He didn’t say where he’d been or what had happened to him,” I said quietly. “But he looked bad.” I bit my lower lip hard to keep it from wobbling. I didn’t have time to wobble. Not right now.

“But he’s in one piece?” Helena asked.

I nodded. She lowered into a chair, as if she just didn’t have the strength to stand anymore. We stared at her. Helena never slumped. She was a force of nature, battering at the storm windows and storm cellars of the world. Liam grabbed her hand.

“Solange made him prove his loyalty by biting me,” I continued. Quinn swore viciously. “She called me his bloodslave.”

“Oh, Lucy,” Aunt Hyacinth said. “You know—”

“That’s not Solange.” I waved away the rest of her comforting speech.

“She’s gone darkside, Lucy,” Connor said. “She’s blood-drunk.”

I shook my head. “Look, I know Solange better than anyone.” Even if I’d spent the last few weeks wondering what had happened to my best friend. She’d changed, there was no denying it. “That wasn’t her. So we have to help her!”

“We will,” Uncle Geoffrey assured me, glancing up from his notebooks. “I’m sure there’s something here that I’m missing. Her bloodwork has been unique.”

“What, she has the vampire flu or something?” Duncan asked. He rubbed his jaw. I remembered Nicholas telling me Solange took him out just last week. “Hell of a flu.”

“I know this is difficult,” Uncle Geoffrey said. “But you have to accept that Solange has changed, Lucy.”

“No one changes that much, that fast.” I crossed my arms stubbornly. “And I know what I know. This isn’t her. I mean, I thought I caught a glimpse of the old Solange, but then she was . . . gone. She doesn’t even move like herself anymore, did you notice? She was all haughty and predatory.”

Logan pushed away from the wall, lace cuffs fluttering. “Isabeau said there was magic,” he said. “That’s what knocked us on our asses when she crowned herself.”

“Language.” Aunt Hyacinth clicked her tongue.

“Sorry. It’s why the Hounds took off so quickly,” he continued. “They were all muttering and whispering.”

“Find out what you can,” Liam ordered. “You’re our best link to the tribe.” The Hounds were decidedly reclusive and still might not help us. But Logan had been initiated as one of them, and, more importantly, Isabeau loved him. And Isabeau kicked all kinds of magic ass. “How did you find Nicholas?” he continued.

“He found me,” I said. “Well, us. Solange had dragged me out into the woods.” I shuddered. “I . . . it’s not her,” I repeated.

Logan put his arm around me comfortingly. “How did you get away?”

“Kieran found me.”

They finally noticed him, all at once. Helios-Ra training had his hand hovering over the stake at his belt. “Nicholas tagged her shirt,” he explained. “Probably while he was biting her. We had it worked out weeks ago so when the chip activated, I followed the coordinates.”

Helena looked impressed. “That’s my boy.” She almost smirked. “He’ll be okay.” She glanced at me. “We’ve had our own little plan, Lucy. Nicholas knew to ally himself with Solange if it came to a choice.”

“What?”

“We knew we might need someone to keep an eye on her,” Liam elaborated. “Though I admit, I could never have imagined it would go quite like this. He’s our best chance though. She’d believe he’d stay by her before anyone else.”