Chapter One
The Girl
They called it a thinning of the blood. Though most of our ancestors’ magic had slowly weakened, it still left us the ability to hold sway over humans. I glanced around the room where I hung chained by the ankles.Damn sight of good it’s doing me now, I thought.
“Aern,” my brother asked coolly, “where did you hide the girl?”
I glanced at the abandoned warehouse’s walls. The concrete floor. There really was no way out.
Morgan stepped closer, plainly irritated he had neither my answer nor attention. “Aern.” I recognized the fury in his tone, though he tried to mask it. He was a lean man, only an inch or so shorter than I, but he was strong. Not only his body, but his mind, the power to control any human he touched. He was stronger than the rest of us, and that was why he needed her.
I finally looked at my brother.
“The girl,” he demanded.
He looked odd from this perspective. His custom-tailored suit, his Italian loafers, all of it wrong now. I tilted my head to see him better. Maybe it was just the blood rushing to my brain.
“Have you lost weight, brother?” I asked. “You seem thin.”
Morgan’s jaw went tight, his nostrils flared the tiniest bit.
I smiled, though my cheeks throbbed with the effort. I could feel the blood vessels expanding at my neck and temples. “Must be the stress,” I said.
He shifted. “Tell me or I will flay you.”
“You should try yoga,” I offered. “It’s very soothing.”
He took another step forward, doing his best to control the angry glare that wanted to take over his chiseled features.
My ears began to pound.
“Brother”—he reached out a finger and pushed and my body began to swing slowly—“you will not escape with her.”
The low thrum began to pulse through my entire body. I relaxed my head back as I hung, still swaying from the push. I wasn’t certain how much longer I could stay like this.
Morgan lifted the lapel of his jacket with one hand and gracefully removed a thin silver dagger from an inside pocket with the other. He let me stare at it for a long moment before he whispered, “Is she worth it?”
“You and I both know you can draw and quarter me right here,” I said. “But you will get nothing.”
Morgan smiled. “You can’t even say her name, can you?”
“You will get nothing,” I repeated.
Suddenly, a heavy warehouse door slammed against the metal siding as it was thrown open. Morgan was within striking distance and I took the chance, the only one I was likely to get.
As his head swiveled to find the source of the noise, mine swung forward full force and connected with the bridge of his nose. His eyes narrowed on me as tears welled up and blood began to stream over his lip.
My blood pounded and ears rang, but I didn’t hear movement from the intruder, only the distant wail of sirens.
Morgan watched me for a heartbeat before sliding the dagger back into his breast pocket. His mouth turned up in a triumphant smile one instant, and then he was running past me the next.
I tried to turn to see where he’d gone, out some back entrance apparently, but I had limited mobility, suspended as I was. When I swung back to straight, there was a face inches from mine. I admit I may have jumped, if only a little.
“Where is my sister?” she hissed.
Under normal circumstances, my mouth might have fallen open.
She smacked me. “My sister. What did you do to her?”