I STEPPED OUT OF the apartment to join Robby and Judy on the sidewalk. “For the record, that felt completely wrong,” I muttered. Putting Johnson to sleep until he needed to be at work just seemed sleezy, even though I had been the one to initially offer it.

“I know.” Robby put his arm around me. “But we have to make sure these tattoos work, especially if Johnson is planning on storming the castle tomorrow.” Robby held his hand up for a taxi.

“If they don’t work, what are we going to do?”

Robby took a deep breath and a taxi pulled over before he could speak. He opened the back door. “Then we wake him up and tell him about our dumb little field trip.” He waved us into the back seat. As soon as he closed the door, he nodded to Judy.

Judy rattled off the address, and we sat in the cramped back seat of the cab that smelled like stale cigarettes and coffee. None of us spoke, but Judy looked at the watch on her wrist and the clock on the dashboard. Both blinked 12:02 at us. We were going to be a few minutes later than midnight, which might work out in our favor, especially if the vampire was already in the tattoo chair.

The cab pulled up to the address, and Judy pulled the fare out of her pocketbook, handing it to the cab driver as we stepped onto the sidewalk.

I glanced up at the dark windows of the tattoo shop. The only thing visible were banks of tattoo samples like the portfolio he brought to the house. No light filtered from within. The air was eerily still. Not a hint of wind stirred the trash on the street like it normally would. It was as if we had stepped into a void.

Robby went to step forward, and I grabbed his arm. That feeling that I trusted implicitly stirred inside me, shouting warnings like a siren. I almost suggested trying to do this another way. I didn’t get my hand out to grab Judy quick enough, though. She had already reached the door.

The jangle of the bell rang, breaking the silence pressing down on me. My feet moved, along with Robby’s because neither of us wanted her to walk into the lion’s den alone.

“Have a seat. I’ll be with you in a moment!” Phillip’s voice carried from the back room.

Whispering followed and then a voice I didn’t recognize called out. “Come here so I can see you.” The voice sounded like liquid honey, smooth and deep and sweet.

I glanced at Robby and Judy, and they both traded glances with me, shaking their heads. I wasn’t the least bit compelled, and it seemed both of them were the same. I nodded toward the back room.

Judy waved me forward.

I headed toward the voice, and my hands itched for a blade. I guess my subconscious was more in tune with my magic than I was because the chill of leather handles caressed my palms. I glanced at the snake-like blades, and with steel in my hands, my confidence skyrocketed. I sauntered into the well-lit tattoo room with Robby at my heel.

Phillip’s head turned so fast that I thought he’d snap his own neck. His eyes widened at the sight of Robby. The same fear he registered at our home came through in waves, and he pulled the tattoo gun away from the vampire’s skin. When his gaze landed on Judy, he sneered.

“You promised.”

“They aren’t MDA,” she said with the sweetest smile as she took in the shirtless vampire in the seat.

“Three meals.” The vampire licked his lips. “Just stay where you are.” He started to get up.

I handed one knife to Robby and the other to Judy. “Why do they always say that?” I smirked at them and then smiled as I stepped closer. “I think not, you piece of shit.” I let my hands engulf in flames.

The vampire’s eyes widened, and he hopped to his feet, hissing at me with his teeth bared.

Phillip took a step toward me with a menacing look on his face.

“Stay where you are, Phillip.”

He froze in place with eyes as wide as saucers. “How do you know my name?”

We ignored Phillip. I focused on the vampire. Dark hair, red eyes, with a strong jaw. He might have been good-looking once without the neon eyes and sharp canines, but now he was just a target for my anger.

The vampire’s eyes narrowed, and he sniffed the air and startled, taking a step backward right into the chair. His eyelids fluttered as he stared at me. He licked his lips and cleared his throat, getting his composure back, and then he spoke. “You even smell like your mother. I used to love that sweet citrus tang until Amara showed me a new life.” He crinkled his nose. “Now it just smells like rotten fruit.”

“Who the fuck are you?” My uneasiness grew, and I knew whatever came out of his lips was going to break a piece of me.

“Your father.” He grinned, with his vampire fangs on display. “And I have finally found you, my missing phoenix child.” He spread his arms wide, but the look in his eyes was deadly.

The memory of all that my mother had told me between the planes of life and death slammed home. “You’re the bastard who sold my soul to Cassius?” The words hissed out of me like poison on the air. My hand flared brighter as my agitation grew.

He must have thought his declaration would bring me running into his arms, but I knew his intentions were not fatherly in the least. He wanted me dead just as much as that vampire in the park did. A low growl started in my throat, and my vision slowly bled red.

The bastard must have sensed my need to ignite the entire room because he turned and bolted out of the parlor.

I took a step to follow, and Robby grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. He hissed, and I turned, extinguishing my fire. Judy’s mouth hung open as she stared at me, and Robby shook his singed hand.

“The tattoos work. We need to go.” Robby glanced at where my father took off and then looked at Phillip still standing like a statue, just staring at us. His expression mimicked Judy’s.

“We were never here,” I said to Phillip, pushing my influence on him to erase the last few minutes of his life. I grabbed both Robby’s and Judy’s wrists, dragging them out of the tattoo shop onto the deserted street as my intuition went haywire. Urgency gripped me. “We need to get out of here.”

I conjured a cab and pushed both Robby and Judy inside before I took the driver’s seat. “Shit.” I closed my eyes and willed for the keys. A moment later, the clank of a keyring settled into my palm. I started the car and took off like a Formula One driver. Reggae music blared from the radio loud enough to make me wince, and I turned it down. One glance in the back seat told me I had one very freaked-out passenger in the back who looked as though she had seen a whole posse of ghosts.

“You conjured a cab,” Robby said.

“Yeah.” I glanced at him and then Judy. “We needed to get the fuck out of there before the rest of the vampires showed up and overwhelmed us.”

Robby nodded. “I’m not sure which one of our fathers is worse.”

“I think Sarah’s father takes the title of king of the bastards,” Judy said, finding her ability to speak again.

I snorted out a laugh, still reeling from meeting the vampire who set this whole thing into motion. I took another corner, turning onto the road that would eventually take us to Robby’s place. But I didn’t want to lead the world directly to me, so I turned onto a side street and then took another turn onto the road that Cassius lived on. I stopped a few blocks from his place and killed the engine as I glanced back at Robby.

I thought about wiping it down so my prints weren’t on the steering wheel, but time was of the essence, and I threw that thought away as I climbed out of the car. When we were all on the sidewalk, I willed the cab back to where it came from, praying it didn’t just appear on the road somewhere and cause an accident. And instead of following the road down past Cassius’s house, I backtracked down the side street I just pulled out from.

Robby and Judy followed, catching up easily.

My heart hammered in my chest in an almost painful beat. Having that asshole’s house between where we were and where we needed to be really messed with my brain, especially after the situation at the tattoo parlor. I mean, how often does one meet their three-hundred-plus-year-old father who tried to sell you to a vampire, for what? Eternity?

“Your hands are on fire,” Robby said softly.

My gaze jumped from the path before us to my hands, which were indeed flaming. I shook them and then fisted my hands so it wouldn’t happen again.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Judy asked with a face filled with concern that I didn’t want aimed at me.

“I’m fine.” I just kept plowing ahead. When we got back to the road Robby’s house was on, I hung a right and continued to make my way to the house. This was not the place to discuss my state of mind, especially considering I wasn’t even in the realm of fine.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Robby give her a headshake. I almost spun and let some of this bottled fury out, but I kept it under wraps. I couldn’t lash out at him when I was mad at the man who claimed to be my father. I could not comprehend a parent doing what he did, just like I never understood why Robby’s father was such a self-serving bastard.

When we got to Robby’s place, Judy stepped to the door and slid her key in the lock. Johnson ripped the door open, his eyes frantic.

“Where the hell have you been?” he snapped as we shuffled into the house.

“I needed to see if the tattoos still worked after the spell breaker was cast here,” Robby said.

Johnson growled at him. “So, you dragged Judy with you?”

“It was my idea,” Judy said, snapping Johnson’s gaze to her. “And Phillip promised to keep me safe.”

Johnson dragged his hand through his hair. “Well, whatever the fuck happened set off alarms at the MDA. I was called out of a sound sleep to get my ass to the office, and you weren’t in the bed with me. You weren’t anywhere in the house.” His exasperation came out in a derisive growl.

“You weren’t supposed to wake up,” she muttered and sent a questioning look my way.

“I didn’t think about a call from work. I said to sleep until he needed to go to work, so technically, he did.” I shrugged and received the scathing glare I was expecting from Johnson.

“What the fuck did you do out there?”

I shuffled my feet. “I conjured a cab.”

“Oh. Well color me surprised that that put you on the fucking radar. And right outside the tattoo parlor that was supposed to be shut down. Thanks so much for putting that shit on their scope, too.”

I blinked at him. “Phillip won’t remember that we were there.”

“Phillip is supposed to be dead.” The words hissed out of his mouth.

My eyes widened. Fuck. I turned to Judy. “Tell him to get out of there, tell him you got wind of a sting.” I didn’t want to be responsible for the soul sucker’s demise, especially because he had helped us.

Judy slipped out her phone, and Johnson grabbed it out of her hand. “You can’t warn him now. It will be traced back to you. I’m already in a shit ton of trouble—this would make it worse.” His gaze slashed to me. “And you’re on their radar now.”

He pulled a burner from his pocket and handed it to me. “Warn him with that and then destroy the thing.”

Judy rifled through her purse and then handed me his card.

I dialed on the antiquated flip phone and put it to my ear. One ring, two, three, and then a quick “Hello,” came through the line.

“Phillip?”

A beat of silence. “Who is this?”

“It does not matter. You need to get out of your shop, now. The MDA is coming, and this call may already be too late,” I commanded and closed the phone before he could ask any questions. My hand ignited, and the plastic and electronic pieces that made up the phone became a puddle in my palm. I closed my fist on what was left, sending my fire into it. When I opened my hand, only ash remained.

I hoped it was enough.

Robby let out a huff of a laugh and met my gaze. Outside of cauterizing wounds and tossing fireballs, whenever I deliberately used my flame, it came out in a flash of destruction. This was a new level of phoenix control, and it was a heady experience.

Johnson pulled on his coat. “I have to go.”

I went to open my mouth and order him not to say a thing about us, but he put his hand up as if anticipating my move.

“I know. I’ve had your back since the first day of the academy, and I’m not going to fail you now. I just hope Phillip gets out, because if he’s not there, then there is plausible deniability on my part.”

He gave Judy a peck on the cheek. “We’ll discuss this later.” His tone was enough to announce that whenever that conversation happened, it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

I LAID AWAKE IN bed, unable to settle my restless mind. Robby had tried to open the door to conversation, but I wasn’t ready to voice the storm inside me. He gave up and was now snoring lightly in my ear. Having his arm across my waist left me feeling protected, even though I knew if hell rained down on us, it wouldn’t be enough. That foreboding feeling gripped me and left me to stare out at the darkness, wondering when the next axe would fall...and whose neck it would sever.