Fane was just about to grab one of the vampires that was running past him when Peri appeared beside him, grabbed his arm, and they were no longer in the tunnel. When they reappeared, Fane nearly fell to his knees as he saw his mate lying still on the floor. His own body suddenly felt weak and sluggish. He stumbled over to her, crashing to the ground next to her face and taking it in his hands.

"Jacquelyn," he spoke, urgently pushing his own power into his voice. "Come back to me. You have a child to raise. Don't you dare give up."

"Peri," he heard Jen yell. "We need Rachel."

Fane continued to focus on his mate, unable to worry about the noises around him. In his mind there was only one battle that mattered and that was the one his mate was fighting.

Sally continued to push her power into Jacque, attempting to anchor her friend’s life force to her own. Jacque had lost too much blood and Sally didn't know what to do. She’d momentarily felt Costin’s worry, but she’d managed to throw up a wall before he could pick up on everything that was happening. She wasn’t trying to be untruthful with him, but she couldn’t focus on helping her friend if she was enduring her mate’s concern and frustration.

"Alston, go get Rachel," Peri snapped just as Sally saw two vampires appear in the doorway where Peri and Alston stood guard. Suddenly Peri was alone as she began to fight them. Alston had flashed but he wasn't gone long. When he reappeared, he had Rachel on one arm and her mate Gavril, on the other. Gavril and Alston jumped right into the fight as more vampires were attempting to enter the room.

Rachel knelt down beside her and gave Sally a nod. "She's passed out from blood loss and the baby needs to come out. I don’t know what to do," Sally explained to the much more experienced healer.

Rachel placed her hands on Jacque's swollen stomach. "We will have to force her contractions and use our magic to push the baby out. Jen." Rachel looked up at the blonde who was still in between Jacque's legs. "Be ready."

Jen nodded but didn't say anything.

Sally placed her hands next to Rachel’s and then waited to see exactly what the healer would do. As Rachel began to push her magic into their patient, Sally mimicked the action. She followed Rachel’s lead, continually pushing magic into Jacque's abdomen with occasional bolts of stronger power.

"I have a head," Jen said breathlessly. "Whatever you're doing, it's working so don't stop."

Sally was beginning to feel the effects of pulling on so much of her power but she didn't stop. She would not let her friend down.

"Got shoulders, and," Jen paused. "There! He's out. It's a boy!"

Rachel immediately moved down to Jen and the baby. "Sally keep her with us," she told her.

Sally tried to focus on both Jacque and what Rachel was doing because the baby had yet to make a sound. Why hadn't he cried?

Fane was still leaning down close to Jacque’s face. Sally didn't think he'd even noticed that Jen had said his son was born. She tried to nudge him. "Fane, hey," Sally said gently. He didn't move. "No, no-no-no-no-no," Sally breathed out as she stared at her un-breathing friend and her un-breathing mate.

"PERI!" Sally yelled as loudly as she could. She'd been so focused on what she and Rachel were doing that she hadn't even noticed that pretty much everyone was in the room or just outside the doorway fighting at least three vampires each. It was chaos.

Peri flashed to her side and before Sally could say anything, the fae let out a string of curses. "Rachel we need to move them now." The healer who was still working on the baby looked up at Peri and nodded. "To the garden. I've been preparing a place just in case something like this happened."

The swords Peri held suddenly disappeared and she reached down and grabbed Jacque with one hand and Fane with the other. Rachel reached toward Peri and placed a hand on the fae’s arm. At the last minute, Jen's hand snapped out and grabbed Peri. Jen looked at Sally and started to say her name but it was too late. Peri flashed and they were gone.

Sally was left sitting there on the bloody floor while a battle raged around her. She was frozen. She'd just help push her best friend’s baby from her body and, despite all of her efforts, she didn't know if any of them were alive, or going to live. Her lungs were on fire and she realized she wasn't breathing. Sally sucked in a sharp breath trying to keep from passing out. She leaned forward and continued to breathe slowly. She didn't know how it was possible that a vamp hadn't already pounced on her, but just as that thought ran through her mind, she felt a hand on her arm and then nothing.

The battle was gone, it was dark and quiet. Maybe Peri had come back for her because she was pretty sure she'd just been flashed.

"Peri?"

Suddenly she reappeared in dark room, lit only by candle light. She blinked, attempting to adjust her eyes. "Peri?" she asked again. Whoever had grabbed her hand was gone.

"Peri isn't here, Sally," a voice she thought she recognized came from the shadows, from a man she hadn't seen since they'd defeated Reyaz. She didn't have to wonder long if she was correct, as he stepped from the darkness into the light.

"Hello, Sally. It's good to see you."

"Skender?"

Cyn stood next to Thalion in disbelief. They were both staring at the fifth empty coven they'd found. She'd been doing her best to follow the stench of evil in order to find them, but so far, the only thing they were finding were empty tombs.

"I don’t understand," she told him. "It's like they knew we were coming."

Thalion’s shoulders tensed and his eyes narrowed. "Would someone in your group betray you?"

"No," Cyn answered without hesitation. "No one. I trust every single person who is with Peri. None of them would every betray us."

Thalion shook his head. "Everyone has a price."

"Even you?" she challenged, irritated that he would question the loyalty of people she’d come to care about.

He turned so that they were facing one another and took her chin in his grasp. "Even me. And that price is you. There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect you. Nothing."

If he hadn't been holding her chin, her jaw would have dropped. She cleared her throat and stepped back. "I would never ask you to betray your people, not for me or anyone."