“True,” Jackson agreed. “Well, now that I can properly welcome you all to my home, welcome to Portales. I hope we’ve been seeing to your every need.”

“Not quite. There’s no delivery in this town. What do I do when I get the munchies in the middle of the night?” Jasmine asked. They all laughed as Jasmine licked her fangs and said, “Nothing beats a pizza delivery guy for a midnight snack.”

“Other than that?” Jackson asked with a chuckle.

Everyone agreed that they were quite comfortable.

“Great. Now that that’s settled, I’m up for a game of capture the flag. And everyone’s playing,” Jackson said sternly. “Well, except for the humans that is.”

“Thank god,” Angelina said. Her sister, Marissa, had signed her on for all of this when she had told her who and what she had become, but she wasn’t going to stick her delicate human neck into the fray. She wasn’t stupid with a cup of crazy on the inside.

That was Leo.

He may not be playing, but he was watching. He shouted tactics from the sidelines, and cheered and jeered when necessary. He kept them all motivated. He was walking around armed, an automatic on his hip with a backup strapped to his ankle. He wouldn’t know how much damage a bullet could do until the time came, but he’d be damned if he was going to stay on the sidelines when the real thing came down on them.

“Max, come spar with me,” Leo said.

If he got his hands on someone, Leo would need to make the most of the situation as quickly as possible before their disparate abilities kicked in. Between his gun and a body honed for fighting, he had a fair shot at it.

Maybe.

But he refused to count himself out until he was lying dead on the floor.

His wife, Faith, was of a different mind-set. She knew that Leo was outgunned and outmatched. Maybe he could cause some damage to a Templar, but there would no doubt be a wave of Templars, not just one. He wouldn’t have a prayer. She needed to convince him that his place was protecting the lives of the humans on the property and getting them to safety. He had to have a role—an important one—or he wouldn’t be satisfied. Now that they were a cohesive bunch, Corrine was happy to hand over her duties to Leo and become a follower.

“Leo, can we talk?” Faith asked him as they walked outside.

“I know what you’re going to say,” he said with a frown.

“You need to see reason!” she said with frustration. “Someone needs to see Max and Angelina and the non-offensive members to safety when this all goes down! They can’t do it themselves. They need a stone-cold killer to help them and someone who knows how to move with a fair amount of speed and stealth. They will become targets instantly if they are seen.”

Leo’s jaw tightened and released. “But I can’t just turn my back on you. I can’t just leave you and not know what is happening to you.”

“I will be fine and you know it. My innate ability to reflect spells back on the caster will protect me more than you ever could.”

“Gee. Thanks,” he said sullenly.

“Leo, please…I won’t be able to concentrate on the battle if I think you are at risk.”

“All the more reason why we should be taking the fight to them instead of standing here waiting like sitting ducks.”

“We don’t even know where they are,” Faith said.

“I know,” Leo said dejectedly. “This really sucks. I don’t like it.”

“But you’ll do it?” Faith asked hopefully.

Leo grumbled. “I’ll do it. But Angelina should leave now. She has no fighting skills whatsoever and now that everyone can see each other we don’t need her to act as a go-between.”

“I’ll talk to Marissa about that. Angelina may not want to go. Marissa is all the family she has.”

“All the more reason. When the shit hits the fan I need to know she’s not going to linger, to fight me taking her away so that she can see what happens to her sister.”

“Just as you would fight to see what happens to me?”

“Exactly like that. But if you give me a job and I say I’m going to do it, it’ll get done. I’ll get the others to safety no matter what.”

“Good. There’s a storm cellar in the far back of the property. You’re to take them there and wait until one of us comes to get you.”

“Provided you win. If you lose we’ll be stuck there and you can bet Apep isn’t going to abandon a perfectly good property once he has it.”

“Another reason why they need you. If that’s the case they are going to need you to get them off the property as soon as the sun rises. No one will be able to stop you as long as the sun is out. The sun will turn the Gargoyles to stone and it will paralyze the Bodywalkers. The only one that leaves is Apep, and he can’t be everywhere at all times.”

“Yes, he can. He’s a god,” Leo said.

“Not an omniscient one. He has limitations. Otherwise he would have known we were trying to break this curse and thrown everything he had against us by now.”

“Everything but himself. But he’s waiting. I can feel it. And as soon as he gets whatever it is he needs, he’s going to come at us,” Leo said.

“I think he’s waiting for the birth of this child. It must be taxing him in some way. If only we could attack him now, while he is so obviously weak…”

“But as you said, we don’t know where he is.”

“Maybe we can change that,” Faith said. “Kamen has been able to locate the two Nightwalker groups using a spell. Why couldn’t he do the same for Apep’s stronghold?”

“I don’t know how the spell works, but you have a point. If he can find one why not the other? And why hasn’t he made the suggestion himself before now?” Leo asked with suspicion.

“It would have been useless with us not being able to see each other. Give him a shred of the benefit of the doubt. Let’s approach him with the subject and see how he responds.”

“You’re right,” Leo said. “It’s not as though he hasn’t been busy. You know, the little Wraith said something to me tonight…”

“What did she say?”

He reached to touch the ebony skin at the side of her neck, stroking her there in a familiar way he knew she loved. “That none of us were going to be able to make it if we didn’t forgive the transgressions of the past. For everyone. The Wraiths. Any Templars who wish to defect. Including Kamen.”