Chapter 13 · She Says the Dead Name

The doors blew inward like someone had kicked them with a freight train.

Smoke poured through the gap. I couldn't see who was coming through but I heard boots—heavy, multiple, moving fast. Kyle shoved me behind him hard enough that I stumbled into Darius, and Darius caught me by the waist without looking, his eyes still locked on the smoke.

Vivienne didn't move. She was staring at my wrist like the gold letters were about to reach out and strangle her.

"Vivienne." Darius's voice came out low and sharp. "Who did you call."

She didn't answer. Her mouth opened but nothing came out, and that told me everything I needed to know. She'd called someone. Someone who could blow council doors off their hinges.

The smoke cleared enough that I could see the first figure step through. Tall. Broad shoulders. Dressed in black tactical gear like he'd walked off a SWAT raid, except his eyes glowed amber in the low light and his face was all wrong—too sharp, too still, like a predator wearing human skin.

Behind him came two more. Same gear. Same eyes. Same wrongness.

"Darius Cain." The first guy's voice was flat. No accent I could place.