We are each given a bedroom with an in-suite bathroom and dressers full of clothing we are encouraged to use. I discover my socks are still wet and when I locate everything I would need already in the bathroom, I decide to shower and start fresh. Twenty minutes later I pull on some jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt to layer under a heavy hunter green cable knit sweater. I even found clean underwear and a bra miraculously in my size, too. Thick wool socks make my boots a little snug, but I force them on. I’m not willing to give up the warmth and wicking power of the natural fabric. I’ve had all of the wet, cold toes I want.

While getting ready I try to prepare myself to get back on the plane. I’m willing to do anything to get to Jo. To do that we have to get to Roan Mountain as soon as possible and flying is by far the fastest way. But particularly after the last leg of our trip, I’m even more scared to fly. I’m absolutely convinced something awful will happen and we’ll crash land again. And I keep asking, who will die this time?

Added to my worry is wondering where Dex and Janelle are, and if they’ve found Beatrice. Something had to have happened or we would have heard from them by now – surely Louis would say something if they had reached out. I have to believe they’re okay. I have to believe we’ll see them again. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing them, too.

Halfway down the central stairwell I hear Louis’ patient fatherly tone and wonder who is receiving a lecture. I’m a little surprised it’s Kate answering him, but I can’t make out the words. I follow their voices down the hall to a room filled with soft seating. I sink into a cushy chair and it’s all I can do not to curl up in a ball and sleep. 

“Libby, please tell your friend here,” Kate points at Louis, “that as much as I appreciate his concern, I am fine.”

Kate’s clearly irritated but Louis’ carefully blank face gives me no clues. I want to support Kate, and I want to know what’s going on. “Louis? What’s got you in protective mode?”

“As I was attempting to explain, the danger which faces us is unprecedented. Vampire have failed to overcome The Empress. Many, many vampire.”

“And we know this. We know we’re up against overwhelming odds.” I look at Kate’s red face and nod at her. “And we don’t care. She took the people we love. She has murdered friends and allies. She has to be stopped, Louis. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it. But we have to try. You know we have to try.” Cadeau shakes once in support.

“And I’d like to see you try to stop us.” We all turn to Emma in the doorway.

She stalks in and stands between Kate and I, leaving Louis facing the three of us. He throws up his hands, his blank face transforming with his smile. “You cannot blame an old vampire for trying. D’accord. Since you insist on going through with it, you should come with me.” He starts walking out of the room.

We all look at one another, shrugging. That felt too easy.

Louis turns around in the doorway and smiles. “I just had to know that you were united in your commitment, and maybe give you an out just in case. The wolf shifters arrived while you were changing. So, come, we have plans to make, oui?”

“Oui.” With a sigh I climb out of the comfortable cushions. I hip check Emma and she bumps me back. Kate gets up from her seat and stands in front of us. Her eyes look tight, stressed, but the grin isn’t forced. She extends her arm to us, her hand palm down. Grinning, I reach out and place my palm on the back of her hand. With a snort, Emma slaps her palm on the back of my hand. We look at one another. 

“For them,” Emma says.

“For them,” Kate and I chime in. We nod at each other solemnly. What started as playful became a vow.

Without another word, we fall in behind Louis. He leads us to a conference room of sorts. In the center is a large oblong table. Chairs are scattered around the room, but all are abandoned, in favor of standing around the table, or rather, what’s spread across its surface. At least a dozen people are here, including Carmelo, Marcus, and Lena. Marcus nods at us as we enter before turning his attention back to the large map.

With humor sparkling in his eyes, The Matador intones, “My Lady,” and sweeps me another of his flourishing bows. 
Naturally, that gets everyone’s attention which I assume he intended. Conversation stops abruptly and almost as one, every vampire in the room turns to the doorway. Reactions are...mixed, to say the least. Surprise, dismay, and several looks I can’t pin down show on all those faces looking at us. But I have to hand it to them. Despite what any of them may be thinking to see the three of us show up, no one looks ready to throw the humans out.

If you don’t know Louis, you might not hear the humor in his voice. “Allow me to do the introductions.” He points to Kate. “I present Kate, Mate of Mac Duncan of the Virginia Duncan Pack.” Kate gives a nervous giggle and waves. A few vampire murmur greetings, and the pack members smile at her, but I can feel most of the vampire staring at Emma and me.
I realize they’re probably wondering which one of us is with Jo. Self-consciously, I lay my hand across my chest, palm over the lump of my engagement ring, and thank my lucky stars I started blocking my mind from anyone reading it before we walked in here. The dagger warms gently as if sending me courage.

Louis turns his smile on Emma. I should have known he’d save me for last. I try not to let my irritation show on my face. “Daughter of the Ancient One, this lovely lady is Emma.” A few slightly more spirited greetings for the gorgeous woman. No surprise there. Emma meets their welcome with one of her signature infections smiles. 

But most of them aren’t looking at her, and a few voice their disbelief and even a touch of dismay. I can feel their eyes boring into me. I suppress a shiver and straighten my backbone.

Louis turns to me. The flash in his eyes tells me he’s unhappy about the tension building in the room. “And as you’ve all surmised, this lovely lady is none other than Jo’s intended, Mademoiselle Libby.”

It’s suddenly so quiet I can hear my own breath. Lena coughs and I’m pretty sure it’s to cover her laughter.

A blond vampire on the far side of the long table rubs his clean shaven chin, catching my attention. He addresses Louis in a slow southern drawl that sounds too natural not to be genuine. “Good one, Louis. You almost had me goin’ there for a sec. Where’s the real Libby?”

Before Louis can answer, another one speaks up from the back of the room. He’s tall and thin, with a sharp nose and sharper eyes. His voice is gruff, less refined, but still southern. “Come on, old man. You tryin to tell us Bourreau is going to Claim...this? I mean, no disrespect to your fine little self, ma’am, but y’all must be jokin’.”

Someone growls low and I’m guessing it’s Marcus because Lena elbows him and the growl cuts off on a muffled “oof”.
No disrespect? Is he joking? No. Wait. Never mind what he said about me. I’ve heard far worse. What did he just call Jo? I blink at Louis. I haven’t heard that word before.

Louis draws himself up and his eyes blaze red. Of all the vampire I’ve met, Louis is the one who could pass as human anywhere, anytime. He’s unflappable. But now all traces of his humanity have vanished behind a furious vampire. “You will apologize or—”

“Or what?” Blondy interrupts. “You can’t seriously expect us to believe the leader of JN Securities would choose a human this...this...fragile!”

With that firing shot, it seems as if every one weighs in. Accusations and threats fly, too fast for me to keep up. Suddenly several wolf shifters are here, placing themselves in front of us along with Louis. I can see others scattered around the room, surrounding the vampire. Despite what it seemed when everyone started moving and talking at once, no one actually looks ready to fight. In fact, the wolf shifter right in front of me, what was his name? Marty? No, Mark, he crosses his arms, but his stance seems more relaxed than before. Once I’m sure violence isn’t about to erupt, I tune the room out. All this posturing isn’t about me and I know Louis can hold his own. I trust him, the wolf shifters, and The Matador, who has also positioned himself in the line standing between us and the others. 

My mind sticks on that word the vampire called Jo. Bourreau. It’s obviously a name. Definitely French, like Jo. I stare at Fabricio’s back. They call him The Matador because it’s what he had been in life. Also, The Empress is self-explanatory. So Bourreau must be a name for Jo that describes something about who or what she had been. But why haven’t I heard it before now? None of her people call her that, as far as I know. Gah. I have to know what it means! 

I slip my phone out of my pocket and type how I think it’s spelled into a search bar. The proud little thrill I get from spelling it right the first time is quickly overshadowed by the one word definition on my screen. Executioner. My heart twists.

I’m not upset that Jo has a reputation for killing. She told me about that early on and Niall corroborated it when he told me his story and talked about their early days together. What upsets me is that it follows her still today. It became her name. That thing everyone associates her with. When I know her to be so much more than that person she was long ago. How awful to have your past follow you for a century, no matter how much you change. Oh, Jo.

And, how dare these people assume they know Jo. How dare they make assumptions about me. My need to protect reminds me of why we are here and I erupt. “Oh for the goddess’ sake, give it a rest already! Stop wasting our time! Because when I save her, I don’t want to have to tell Bourreau that instead of planning her rescue, you stood around bitching about her choice in mates!”

Apparently my tirade succeeded in shocking everyone silent. For a long second no one says a word, but it feels like hundreds of red eyes trained on me. Even Fabricio and Louis turn around to face me. One of the vampire, a woman somewhere in the back, breaks the silence with a slow clap. “It’s about time somebody with some damn sense asserted herself. Why don’t you ladies join us here at the table. Take a look at this map and give us your two cents about where we conduct our search.”

If I think about it, I’ll lose my nerve and start shaking. In her sheath, the dagger blazes brightly for all she’s worth. Great. Now everyone knows I have a fae blade. Shrugging, I take the first step. If my knees wobble a little, I can’t blame them. But I don’t bother looking around as I make my way around the vampire standing between me and the table. They’re either going to kill me or let me be, though I doubt the wolves would let that happen. Nothing I can do about it one way or another. By the time I reach the table my heart is racing like I’ve been running and my hand shakes when I place it on the table. None of that could escape the notice of anyone here, but at least my voice doesn’t betray me when I ask no one in particular, “Okay, what are you thinking so far?”

Emma whispers, “Badass,” as she steps up beside me. Kate appears on my other side and squeezes my shoulder. Fabricio and Marcus take up positions behind us.

Fabricio leans toward the table bringing his lips to my ear. “Chingona,” he murmurs just loud enough for me to catch. I commit it to memory to look up later. He indicates an area on the map on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. Aloud he says, “This is the Roan Mountain area. The rhododendrons are here, on the border.” He traces his finger along a gray state line.

I stare at the map. “Okay, so the nearest town is Boone?”

Carmelo taps Boone on the map, confirming my observation. “It’s too populated for us to use as a base,” he slides his finger a short distance to the south and then west. “But right around here should be about right.”

A red-haired vampire I hadn’t noticed before stands on the opposite side of the table from me. When I look up, he frowns at me. “Are you a fae?”

Um. Self-consciously I lay a hand on Cadeau. How do I answer that? I did receive a fae’s immortality as a boon from Mr. O’Shea. And apparently there’s a touch of fae in me from somewhere back in my family line. And I have this fae dagger that seems to like me. It warms in response to that thought. Yup. She likes me. Yet, I don’t have any of the cool powers or dragonfly wings or anything. So, I’m not fae. Right? And now I’ve taken too long to answer. Dang. “Ah, no?”

He cocks his head, amusement in his eyes. “Are you unsure?”

Louis rescues me. “The agenda at hand is how will we stage our rescue. I suggest you save your personal questions for an appropriate time.”

I lower my head to hide my face. Kate pinches my arm which helps. When I’m sure all traces of humor are gone, I look up. The red head is gone, replaced by the one of the vampire who was complaining about me the loudest, Blondy. Goody. I ignore him and turn my attention back to the map. 

Fabricio sighs. “We aren’t sure where to begin searching and the entire area presents issues. For one thing, Roan Mountain is long. As stated, it straddles two states. It has multiple peaks. The Appalachian Trail runs along the crest for a large portion of it. In Tennessee it’s a State Park. Here in North Carolina it runs through Cherokee country.”

I stare at the map and strengthen my mental block. I have to handle this delicately. “Ah, is there an area most likely to have caves?”

Another vampire, this one a woman with curly black hair, leans in front of Emma. She shies back a step. The vampire apologizes but doesn’t move. “This area,” she runs a finger in a circle around an area in North Carolina near Boone, “has the best geology for caves, though none have been discovered.”

I recognize her voice. She’s the vampire who applauded my outburst. I smile at her. “I’m sure they haven’t.”

Her eyebrows knit. “Do you doubt my assessment?”

Oh, good. I’ve offended another complete stranger. I suppress my sigh. “No, no. I just mean, if you wanted to hide a secret lair in caves, it would be in your best interest to hide them, right? Make sure no one ever finds them.”

The curly-haired vampire’s face clears. “I see what you mean. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help us find the kidnapped.”
“Do we have ground penetrating sonar? Any other super technology or ways of looking for something a vampire wants to hide?”

Fabricio slaps the table. “That’s it!” He looks around the room. I follow his gaze and see recognition light everyone’s face. “And you idiots questioned Jo’s choice.” When Blondy scoffs, The Matador draws himself up. “Oh? Are you saying you already got there on your own but didn’t bother to share it with any of us?” Blondy was about to take credit for it until The Matador flipped it around on him, making him look like a loser no matter how he answers. 

I bite my lips and look down quickly. I don’t need to make him any more of an enemy than he likely already is. A large hand lands on my shoulder and gently squeezes. Too warm to be a vampire. Must be one of the wolves. No matter who it is, I appreciate the support. And the reminder I have to pull myself together. While I’m doing just that, Emma asks the room, “So does someone want to tell us what Libby helped you realize?”

Fabricio grins. “It’s in the hiding itself that reveals a lair. We don’t have much of what you might call magic, nothing like you fae,” he winks at Emma. She narrows her eyes. “But up until, oh, the last century we were all in danger of getting wiped out, usually by our own kind. We’ve become quite civilized these days. A lot less need to hide ourselves. Unless, of course, we’re up to no good like our old roman friend here.”

Blondy scoffs. “That magic works no matter if we don’t need to use it much any more.”

Chelsea frowns at him. “Yes, but it works best if no one knows what to look for. And since we now know where to look, we know what we need to keep an eye out for.” She turns to the three of us. “Our magic has a signature that evades human eyes. You,” She indicates Emma with a head tilt, “might have enough fae in you to be able to see it, if you knew what to look for. But I don’t know that for sure, and I sure don’t know if it would even look the same to you.” She looks around the table, her face looking fierce. “You wolves, either. But we vamps do know what it looks like. So we’ll do the hunting.” Her eyes go red and her fangs descend at the very idea of it. And she’s not the only one to react in such an excited way about the prospect of a hunt. 

The red-head shoulders his way back to the table across from us. He looks at Fabricio. “So we split into teams of four and scour the mountains. Once we find it, we leave a team behind to keep an eye on things. Then we reassemble to gear up.”

Carmelo says, “No need. We may not be able to see it, but we can help with the hunt.” He tilts his head at the three of us. “And protection.”

Fabricio nods. “Yes. Good.” He shoots a sideways glance at us. “We need to plan our attack.”

I raise my eyebrows at him. “Don’t even think about leaving us behind.” A few vampire start to protest, but Louis holds up his hand. When they quiet back down, I nod my thanks to Louis and continue. “No, listen. She overcomes

everyone she comes into contact with. You know this as well as I do. She took out a team of trained security personel.”

Marcus starts to protest, but Kate interrupts. “Wolf-shifters, too. Alphas. An Enforcer. Strength and speed means nothing.”

“Precisely the point.” A vampire I don’t know, with fine high cheekbones and pert nose shakes her bobbed brown hair. I’ve no doubt that deceptively delicate appearance has drawn many a person to their doom. “What, you think humans would fare any better against her? She’s enslaved hundreds, thousands in her lifetime.” And I’ll just bet you’ve enslaved a few of your own. 

Emma slaps the table with her palm, interrupting my thoughts and drawing my attention off of the woman. “Not just humans,” she says. There’s an edge to her tone that speaks of anger and frustration. And power. It gets everyone’s attention. “We, all three of us are more than only human. We have gifts. Gifts even you in all your perfection don’t have,” she sneers at Blondy. 

Louis says. “The discussion is moot, ladies and gentlemen. These three ladies are coming with us and they will fight with us. Believe me when I say, their gifts are the only hope we have of defeating The Empress.” 

When a couple of vampire start to protest, Carmelo laughs, “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Louis holds up a hand and the arguing subsides. “Non. No. It is nonnegotiable. Now, I suggest we stop wasting time, as Libby admonished us not long ago, and finalize our plans. With these three very capable women included.”