Waiting outside, under the dim cast of a street lamp, Selene waited for Luke’s car to pull up to the curb. Taking another swig of blood out of her gallon of blood, she leaned against the lamppost humming with electricity. There was a stillness in the air that she recognized. Someone was watching her, but it wasn’t a threat, not to her anyway.

“So which Shadowling is watching me tonight?” Shadows sprang from the ground, rising and swirling, revealing broad shoulders and a lean body. In seconds, the shadows converged to reveal Void. He hadn’t changed much; he was still in black, and his leather jacket was shorter than it used to be, going only to his hips instead of reaching the ground. The small changes suited him.

“A bit of a vigilante, aren’t you?” he said, watching her with his sad coal-like eyes.

“I need to be,” she muttered, taking yet another sip from her gallon.

“Yes, you do, don’t you?” His tone was as solemn as usual, bothering Selene to no end. Everyone acted like she was dead, or like she was as good as dead. If there was one thing she was certain of, it was that Eris would never physically harm her. Probably. Maybe.

“I wish people would stop acting like I was going to die,” she sighed, eyes rolling.

“You never know.”

“Have you always been this depressing?”

“Only in more recent centuries.”

Selene stood there, looking him over, studying him carefully. “What happened to you? What kept you away for so long that you had to re-enter my life so late to make a difference?” It was a question that needed answering, one that had always been on the fringes of her mind.

“Elaborate.”

“You were gone. After the massacre at the Palace, I never saw you again. You were gone, and I lost so much, so many to death. Knowing you were alive but didn’t want to see me, that stung Void. So, tell me, what happened to make you pull away? I thought we were friends.”

He looked down at her, as though hurt, his lip tightening on the left as if he were struggling with something. “We are friends, Selene. That was why I stayed away.”

“I don’t understand.” She could tell that he was beginning to pull away again, but this time, she wouldn’t let him.

“I didn’t mean to break her wings,” he muttered in a low voice, looking away.

“What are you—” Selene stopped herself, forcing herself to remember every detail about that night. The person standing over Urit had been a male, broad-shouldered and—

“That was you?”

“I saw you, the way you looked, the way you held her. I wanted to say something to you, but I couldn’t. I felt so ashamed, and it was the first time I ever felt that way. I’ve killed her so many times, it’s what my kind does. I never thought about it until I met you, until I saw you, and began protecting you. I—”

“I understand,” she said, cutting him off. And she did. She remembered the feeling of hate when she had found Urit, but it had gone away, faded with time. Selene understood the Shadowlings now, their curse for Nuri falling in love with a Reborn, for choosing them over his mother.

“It’s not your fault, Void. Shadowlings kill Reborns; that is the unfortunate order of things. I won’t hate you for it, I can’t.” Pausing to stare up at him, she thought about her friend whom she hadn’t seen in decades. “Have you seen her again?”

“Yeah. She works during the Twilight hours in Nephilium. Uriel visits her from time to time.”

“That’s good.” A car honked, jerking both of their attention. Luke pulled up to the side, waving at Void.

“Hey, Void, you need a ride too?”

“No thanks, I’ll see you back at the apartment.” He vanished, blowing away into the darkness of the night.

Climbing into the car, she pulled the door shut behind her. Luke put the car into drive and made a very illegal U-turn.

They sat in silence together as rain began to fall, pelting the window and making the only sound in the car.

“So what happened?”

“A Vampyre found me.” The words hung in the car, making the humid air inside weigh even more heavily on them.

Still, Luke shook his head in disbelief. “Can’t believe he can still order someone to die like that.”

“Eris is…convincing.”

“Are we going to move?”

“No,” she began, shaking her head, leaning it against the cold window, “not this time.”

“So then are we going to do,” he said, making a right turn.

“Hope that Eris comes himself so that I can end this.”

“Mom was worried; she sat through dinner thinking you were dead.”

“Well, someone died, just not me.”

“I can tell. You’re gonna have to give her a call later.”

“I know.” Selene almost laughed. “She worries just like Cecilia.”

“Mom was ready to run home and pack.”

“If I were running, she would be right.” Selene took her ConEx, outside her pocket, dialed. Alexandra’s face filled the screen, blue eyes, the slightest of wrinkles, dark auburn hair, staring at her, relieved.

“Selene! Oh my goodness, why weren’t you at dinner? I was so worried.”

“I had a little run-in with a Vampyre, and before you ask, no, we are not running. Well, I’m not. If you choose to, you can.”

Alexandra’s face softened. “Selene, if you’re ready to fight, so are we. Where are you?”

“Luke just picked me up from the Blood Bank, we’re just heading home. There will be no more fighting tonight.”

“All right. Take care, Selene, and send me a quick message when you get home.”

“I will.” She ended the call, shoving her Con-Ex back into her pocket. “You know, I remember when your mom was just a kid. One time when we had to run, we each took one suitcase. I carried her, and she wasn’t so scared. I don’t think she realized what was happening. But now look at her, becoming a mother has changed her.”

“Well, you know, it’s the maternal instinct kicking in.” They shared a brief laugh. “Is a gallon enough blood?”

“I need 9 more quarts.”

“9! Man, Selene, just don’t drain us dry, all right.”

“I promise.” There was nothing else to talk about. They drove the rest of the way home in silence as the rain continued to trickle down on the car.

***

Lily’s hug could have killed Selene if she weren’t a Vampyre.

But it was still pushing it. Prying herself from her grasp, Selene made her way to the kitchen, putting her half-empty gallon of blood into the back of the fridge. Lily stood in the middle of the kitchen doorway, still dressed in her silky blue evening dress, her hands on her hips. All her jewelry was off, and her big gray eyes stared at her fiercely. They reminded her a lot of Nicholas. Selene leaned against the white marble counter in her costly black suit that was torn at the hems and frayed along the sides from her run in the forest. The cold from the counter penetrated through the back of her blazer.

“We’re not leaving, we’re not running again.”

“Oh—well, okay. You could have called, though.”

The idea made Selene smile. “All right, the next time I am running for my life, I will stop to call and say, ‘Lily, running for life, don’t wait up.’” Lily’s fierce face turned into a pout, her lower lip sticking out, and her brow furrowed. Luke laughed, leaning on the door frame.

“Yeah, okay,” said Lily, crossing her arms, “calling would have been dumb.”

“Extremely. Now, how was the restaurant?”

“Expensive,” mumbled Luke.

“How expensive?”

“The meal alone was three small rubies. It was insane!” Lily threw up her arms, exasperated. Selene was glad that they knew Alchemy and gladder that they used it. No paper trail meant less of a chance of being found.

“It was pretty bad,” continued Luke. “Food was good, but I don’t think I’ll pay to eat there again.”

“Wish I could have tried it,” said Selene.

“Why not ask Hekate to go with you for lunch?”

Selene gave Lily an incredulous look. “Fancy restaurants aren’t really her scene. She prefers places with outside seating. It’s the cat in her.”

“It was stuffy; she really wouldn’t like it.” Lily entered the kitchen, took a seat cross-legged, and let her dress ride up in a very unflattering way. It was a good thing she wore shorts under every dress. Hekate rubbed off on her. Looking out the window, feeling eyes on her, she tried to push past the rain and see who was out there. Nothing appeared, but that didn’t mean her instincts were wrong. Something was out there, and Selene doubted it was a Shadowling.