“Bet you wish you’d kept that helmet on,” I say snidely.
“Watch your mouth,” Dad chides Rousseau.“If you think you’re going to marry my daughter, you won’t speak to my other daughter in that manner.”
“You’re going to let her talk to you that way?”Rousseau stands and rubs his temple.
“That’s for me to say.”Dad turns back to me.“Nice form.”
“Thanks.Not that you had anything to do with it.”
“No.I didn’t.”His facial features soften a bit.“I wasn’t there for you while you were growing up, Hannah.I know that.It was one of many mistakes I made where you girls and your mother are concerned.”
“For God’s sake,” I mutter.
“Hannah...”
“Save it.You’re not sorry.You’ve never been sorry.Now what aren’t you telling me,my king?”
Dad shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans.He pauses a moment, but then—
“I sent you to Rogan to—”
The door crashes open and two fully-armored vamps interrupt my father’s words.
Damn it!He was going to say something.Something important.
“My king,” one vamp says, “the demons have taken out three of our best warriors.It’s time.”
“Time for what?”I demand.
“Time for you to get the hell out of here,” Dad says.
“Oh, no you—”
A whirling wind surrounds me—like a small tornado—and I’m sucked through a...a...
I don’t know.
All I know is that in no time at all I’m back in Chicago.In my father’s office.I land on my ass with a plunk.
"Ouch."I rise and rub the cheeks of my ass.
Now what?
Rogan.
I must get back to the ether.Back to Rogan.
Why didn’t he come for me?Is he injured?Or worse?
My body goes cold, as if the blood in my veins has turned to ice.But my blood can’t be ice because my heart is stampeding.
I pace across my father’s office carpeting.No one’s here.Is every vampire in the ether fighting?
I look out the window.It’s pitch dark.I didn’t notice because my vamp vision must have adjusted while I was getting my bearings.It’s nighttime here, in the real world.What time is it?I don’t have my phone or a watch.
My hackles rise, and my fangs snap down.
I’m on alert.