to be. The Ante-Fae were less prone to iron burns than the Fae were, though it still stung. They were our forebears, and apparently, the Fae race had weakened as it had evolved from the ancient stock. Trinity followed, and then Yutani.
I handed Trinity his gloves, ready to ask him a million questions, but he just took them, winked, and before we could say a word, he was gone in a blur of movement so fast that I could barely follow him.
“Well…that was interesting,” Yutani said. He linked arms with Raven and me and we headed toward the street where we started the uphill trek toward the car.
Thirty minutes later we slid into Yutani’s car with a sigh of relief. The streets of Seattle were steep, and my feet hurt. I wondered how Raven was faring, but she seemed fine.
“So…that didn’t go exactly like we planned,” I said. “Who the hell is Trinity? And could this Michael Gould be the killer?” I leaned my head back against the seat, sighing.
“This is the first time I’ve met Trinity,” Raven said. “I have no clue who he is. As for Gould, I’d bet money on him, given what I saw tonight.”
“Could be,” Yutani said. “I’ll do some more research tomorrow. Eldris was full of himself and no doubt he has a really good spy network, so to speak, but frankly, I’m not going to trust a vamp to tell me everything.”
I nodded. Eldris troubled me. For one thing, I was embarrassed that I had responded to him, but then again, vampire glamour being what it was, I tried to tell myself that it was all par for the course. They had a seductive charm and even the Fae weren’t immune. But aside from that, he bothered me. He was a puppeteer, a master of manipulation. As I thought it over, a little part of me inside whispered, You don’t like him because he reminds you of yourself. You’re just as much of a vampire as he is. You just drink life force rather than blood.
I texted Herne that we were all right, and that we were onto his spy, Trinity. Then, trying to push the evening out of my head, I stared out the window as Yutani drove back to my house.
Chapter Fifteen
The next morning, I woke up feeling slightly hung over, even though I hadn’t had anything to drink. Raven had gone directly home when we arrived back at my house.
Angel had plied me with hot cocoa and chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, and I finally relaxed enough to go to bed, where I fell into a deep sleep. But my dreams were restless, and I found myself wandering under a dark sky.
The clouds rolled by overhead, threatening a thunderstorm, and I was standing on top of a mountain, staring up at the roiling sky. I was carrying my sword and I hunkered down, squatting on my heels as I closed my eyes, trying to catch…trying to catch…
There it was. Faint at first, then it raced past, blurred and yet I could hear the words. Help me…I can’t take this…help me…
I looked around, but there was no one there. “Where are you? Tell me where you are!”
But the voice just echoed around me, then fell silent. The skies broke open and lightning forked across the horizon, a vivid spiderweb, and raindrops splattered on my cheeks as thunder rumbled behind. But when I brushed the drops off my face and tasted them, I realized they were salty. They were tears. Awash in a sea of despair, I slowly stood, raising my face to the sky.
As quickly as they had come, the clouds passed and the sun broke through, blazing white. I squinted against the sudden light, feeling helpless. All around me were rocks and boulders, and I realized I was standing in an ancient caldera. The wind was blowing up another storm and as I steadied myself against it, I tried to focus on the voice—tried to remember who I had lost, but the brilliance of the day blinded me.
“I’m so tired,” I whispered as I began sinking into the earth. I struggled to get free, but she kept sucking me down and I began to panic. But the wind kept blowing and soon, I was neck-deep in the sand, with no one to save me.
“Ember, wake up! Ember?” Angel shook my shoulder.
I struggled to pull out of the mire, and finally opened my eyes. I was in bed, fighting against my