Chapter 7 · The Girl Outside the Contract

The elevator doors slide open and I'm staring at fifty screens.

Every single one shows the same face. Vivian. Her mouth moving. Same three words looping.

"He's not the real hunter."

I step out. My legs don't feel attached. Lucien's behind me, silent, and that silence is louder than anything Vivian's saying.

"Explain." My voice comes out flat.

He doesn't answer right away. He's looking at the screens like they're a problem he can solve with enough time. But we don't have time. My neck still burns where his teeth were. The red mark on my wrist is hot, pulsing.

"She recorded this," he says finally. "Before she disappeared."

"No shit." I walk closer to the nearest screen. Vivian's face is pale, eyes too wide. She looks scared. She looks like she knows exactly what's coming. "What does she mean, you're not the real hunter?"

"Evelyn."

"Don't Evelyn me." I spin around. "You just drank my blood in a dead elevator. You stopped because I got scared. And now your ex-assistant is telling me you're not what I think you are. So talk."

He moves past me, hits something on the wall panel. The screens go black. All fifty.

"Hey—