it died, it had burst into flame that glowed a bright blue and reduced its remains to ash. Which was for the best.
There were enough bodies.
When they were too tired to continue—or they claimed to be out of pity for her aching feet and slowing gait—Alfonzo had chosen a home and knocked. He shouted for whoever was inside to open the door, and that they meant no harm. No one answered, so he kicked the front door in. Thankfully, no one was home. Nor were there corpses littering the floor.
She sank down onto a sofa in the home’s drawing room. Eddie took up a spot by the window, keeping watch for if they were being pursued. Bella went to scrounge for food while Alfonzo searched the building for trouble.
“Do you sense anything?” Eddie asked her.
Tiredly, Maxine shook her head and resisted the urge to lie down on the sofa. Barely. “There is no one here. I feel nothing but the…” She didn’t know how to describe it. “The noise.”
“Noise?”
“The city is loud. It…is wearing on me. I’m sorry.” She ran her hand over her face.
“Nothing to be sorry about, ma’am. None of this is your fault.” Eddie sighed. “I know you say different. But I’m not going to blame you for not destroying him even if you had the chance.”
“Why not? Alfonzo seems eager enough to do so.”
“He’s had it rough. He doesn’t mean to be so, well, mean.” Eddie shifted to half-sit on the window frame, peering through the blinds as he searched for trouble. “He’s only doing what he thinks he needs to.”
“But why don’t you fault me for not destroying Dracula?”
“I don’t want to wish death on anybody. Not even him. You didn’t know he was going to do this. Fuck, we didn’t even know he was going to do this. Sorry about my language.”
“It bothers me none. Honestly, it doesn’t. And, yes, I knew. At the very least I had a suspicion.”
“But it isn’t the same. I don’t believe in killing people because they might do something.”
“I agree. But now that it has come to pass, it has to end.”
“Will you help us, then? Really?”
She nodded. “I have to do whatever I can. So many are dead. So many more will die. I cannot let that happen if I can stop him.” She looked up as Bella walked into the room carrying a tray of food. She was starving. Bella handed her a plate of fruit, cheese, and bread, and she had to stop herself from annihilating it. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
Alfonzo returned and began unhooking his belts and putting his weapons down on the table. “We will stop here for a few hours to rest. I’ll take first watch. Eddie, second. Bella, third. We all stay in this room.”
Oh, thank God. She did not question why she was not on the list of those to watch out for demons. She was still not to be trusted in his eyes, and she could not blame him. She knew there was nothing she could do to win it back.
The room was quiet as they ate. She finally gave in to her exhaustion and lay down on the sofa, pulling a pillow under her head. There was enough furniture in the drawing room for them each to have somewhere to sleep, but the floor would have been the same to her.
Sleep came for her quickly.
Her dreams were not empty.
She was suddenly standing on a balcony, overlooking a vast forest and mountain range. It had snowed recently. The moon was full and crimson and cast the white surfaces in brilliant hues of reds and maroons. The air was cold, and even in her vision her breath turned to mist around her. It was breathtaking.
A hand settled on her shoulder, and she jolted at the contact. Whirling, she was not surprised at who she saw standing there, towering over her. She knew his face this time. He was looking down at her with a tired and beleaguered kind of acceptance. His breath did not fog as hers did. He had no warmth of his own. He was dead, after all.
She took a step back from him, wary and unsure.
Wordlessly, he turned from her and walked inside through a large, ornate door. The architecture reminded her of his throne room—twisted and terrible, filled with screaming faces and mortals being consumed and taken by monsters. It was not merely decoration; it was a warning. A promise to all those who saw it. This