She dug her hand into the pocket of her cardigan and pulled out a little vial. It was filled with a purple liquid. “Once you’re close enough, you’ll smash the vial, and the gas it produces will render the vampire unconscious within seconds. And you know what to do then.”

Stake him.

Haven grinned despite himself. While he didn’t like the idea of being ordered by a witch, who held his brother captive, the thought of being handed another vampire to kill was appealing. Ever since his mother’s death, he’d searched for the one vampire who’d killed her and kidnapped his baby sister. He hadn’t found him yet, but he’d killed plenty of other vampires since.

However, the thought of handing over an innocent human to this witch created an uncomfortable knot in his stomach. “Who’s the girl?”

The witch made a dismissive hand movement. “Nobody to concern yourself with.”

Haven shook his head. “What do you want with her? If she’s just an actress like you say, why would you be interested in her?” There was plenty Bess wasn’t telling him. Maybe he shouldn’t dig too deeply, maybe he should just take the assignment and get his brother out of her clutches. But he still had a smidgen of a conscience left.

“It doesn’t concern you,” she snapped and rose. “Get me the girl, or I’ll crush your brother.”

“And where is my dear brother?” he asked casually. Once he knew where she was keeping him, he could figure out a plan of how to free him without doing her dirty work for her.

“Even if I tell you where he is, you won’t be able to free him. His cell is protected by wards. You won’t be able to break through them.”

If Haven knew one thing about witchcraft, it was that once a witch died, all her wards and restraining spells would dissolve as well. Now there was an idea in the making. “So, he’s here then,” he hedged and watched her face for any affirmation to the truth of his statement. He wasn’t an excellent poker player for nothing.

Her left eyelid twitched, and he followed the direction. He almost didn’t see the door; it blended well into the bookcases next to it. When he looked back at her, he noticed how her lips had pressed together into a thin line.

Haven tilted his head toward the door. “I see.”

“It’ll do you no good. He’s too well protected. You’ll never break through the wards.”

He didn’t have to. If the witch was dead, there’d be no wards.

“Fine. We’ll do it your way.” He rose from his chair and turned slightly, attempting to conceal the movement of his right hand. He was a fast draw and had won plenty of competitions against the best in the field. Bess was as good as dead.

Haven slipped his hand inside his jacket, wrapped his fingers around the gun’s handle and pulled it from its holster.

“Ow!” he yelped, releasing the weapon from his hand a moment later and dropping it onto the carpet where it made a muffled thumping sound. Shocked, he stared at the angry red skin of his palm. The gun had turned sizzling hot in his hand. “What the fuck?”

“It’s better you learn right now that there’s no crossing me. Either you do what I say—or your brother dies.”

Haven glared at her and recognized the impatience in her eyes. He swallowed his own anger, forcing himself to calm down. Losing his head now would not serve Wesley. He had to push his pride and scruples aside. Only his brother mattered. Wesley was all that was left of his family.

For now, he needed to keep a cool head.

“You win. What’s her name and where do I find her?”
Two

Yvette moved behind the privacy screen in Maya’s exam room and ripped off the paper gown. How she hated these examinations, but in order to get what she wanted, she put up with them.

“It’s consistent with the lab results,” Maya explained from behind her desk. “There’s nothing wrong with your uterus or your tubes.”

“And the eggs?” Yvette asked as she shimmied into her entirely too-tight leather pants, sucked in a breath, and zipped up. She slid her toes into her black stilettos. Most other women would have broken their ankles twice over if they had to walk in her penny-diameter heels, but she felt powerful in them. Besides, a well-placed kick with her heels could do serious damage to any aggressor.

“As fresh and viable as the day you were turned.”

Yvette pulled her black top over her head and walked around the screen, looking at Maya, who was rifling through the lab file. Over the last few months, she’d undergone test after test to help Maya figure out why vampire females were infertile and what it would take to change that. She couldn’t deny Maya’s dedication to the project, despite the fact that the two of them hadn’t exactly started out on the right foot.