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Slade fought to keep her balance. “Rig pause!” The next sharp turned sent her slamming into the window. “Rig. Stop!”

Oh, you’re fucking useless. Just shut up and let me drive it. Eli must have been shot by now.

Colorful lights flashed before her. On her right, another truck zipped by. They nearly collided.

Sooner or later these tunnels of light would reach a destination. More than likely right into a wall to stop any runaway vehicle whose driver had become...compromised.

The imagery wasn’t pretty. Slade slid back into the driver’s seat and scanned all the dials. She had no idea what any of them meant. All she knew was that this bitch—Legion—used a vocal spell to get this rig in motion.

“Rig....cease,” Slade tried again.

Nothing. The steady speed worried her but not as much as the glowing sign up ahead that read München . They’d miss it. Her only alternative was to surrender to Legion and let it take it from here.

Your pride or your werewolf? Which is it, bitch?

Slade let out a sigh and closed her eyes. It was Eli. It would always be Eli.

A force sucked Slade back and she stared up at a clouded window. Whatever her body was doing, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that her lips moved and words came out. Moments later, the bright lights zipping by faded to white and they tore out of the Gateway, got airborne, and flopped down into the parking lot with a crash.

Fuck, she thought.

Legion slipped out of the cabin and hit the ground running. Countless creatures surrounded Eli, patting him down and searching his collar for runes.

“Get away from him, you morons,” Legion bellowed.

Vampires. And not the lucid kind. While Slade was in awe of their animalistic movement in this much sunlight, she became aware of her own.

We’re in the sun. Hey. You. We’re in the g’damn sun!

And it didn’t hurt. Maybe she simply could feel no pain in this state but it didn’t hurt, not even slightly. Was the ape’s blood really this powerful?

Legion reached Eli and turned him over. She tapped his face. “E? E, wake up. Pup, wake up.”

He was naked save for his kilt, the one thing no one could steal from a werewolf as it was enchanted. All the small pockets were empty, however. All his runes were gone.

“Shit,” Legion pronounced. “We need him. We need him alive.”

Slade wanted to see, willed the thing to focus on Eli’s gut to see what condition he was in.

What are those? But in a flash, Slade knew. She gasped. Silver.

“It’s a wide spread,” Legion told her, yanking Eli up into a sitting position. “It didn’t pierce all the way through his skin. But it’s hurting him.”

Don’t move him! What are you doing? We’ve gotta take them out. Each and every pellet.

“What we need to do is get him out of the open. And we don’t know anyone friendly in München; keep that in mind.”

A thought rushed to Slade before she could stop herself. The soothsayer. We can pay her in promises. We’ve still got Eli’s phone. This dumbass probably got this rando on Craigslist.

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Sitting with Eli breathing shallow in her lap, Legion fished through Slade’s dress pocket, pulled out the cellphone, and typed the passcode in. Slade was taken aback. Even she didn’t know it.

“Well, you get a few things when you fuck. And anyone fucking a vampire better guard their secrets and keep their mouths shut.” Legion paused and said, “Well, not Criagslist but there’s an incantation here under the memo: flea market.”

Eli, you stupid.... Slade groaned internally. That’d be it.

As werewolves avoided magic, this seemed a safe bet.

“Right,” Legion drawled. She dragged Eli up and hunched under him. “I can’t carry him far.”

Just get to a light pole, Slade insisted. You need raw magic. Every light pole’s got a port. Thought you were the know-it-all.

“Legion knows what Legion knows.” Grunting, Legion took the deliberate steps needed to carry such heavy cargo. This wasn’t just a man—it was a man carrying another body inside him.

Despite being a metaphorical passenger, Slade could feel the fatigue of her body. Her knees trembled but Legion carried on.

“Almost...there.” A few more labored steps took her to her destination. She was ready to throw Eli down and get relief.

No. Don’t put him down. We need to be touching him or else he might get left behind.

There was no real distance with regards to magical epicenters. Each city had one. So long as they held the streetlight, they’d be fine.

How long is the incantation?” Slade asked. Do you want me to do it?

“Nice try,” Legion drawled, “but you’re staying right down there outta my way.”

But Eli...I should be the one to help him. He’s my werewolf. He’d expect it to be me.

Werewolves had a terrible track record with magic. It was no secret wolves hated most things to do with runes and magic of any kind. She didn’t know why but she felt her speaking the incantation would be faster.

The first zap Legion received from her attempt proved Slade’s intuition correct. By the second, Legion growled. The third had Slade seething, what’s wrong?

“There’s something blocking me,” Legion finally admitted. “I cannot travel awake like this.”

She cursed under her breath but Slade found herself echoing a previous threat.

Your pride or Eli? Which is it? Slade prayed Eli was useful to the creature somehow and she’d save him despite having to surrender this body once more.

“Fine,” Legion conceded. “Just get him inside quickly.”

Held by the face and dragged forward by an invisible force, Slade gasped once she could taste the crisp morning air.

Eli’s heavy weight made her knees tremble. “Shit,” Slade lamented. After examining the incantation and repeating it to herself, she pocketed the phone and took hold of the light pole. Her words flowed effortlessly, and an archway slammed down before them—connected to the pole she held.

Everything in Slade told her this was a bad idea. When she thought of Eli’s slow-breathing body, she came to one conclusion. It was a bad idea, but what else could they do? From the gorilla to Slade’s sickness, which was coming full force, like it or not, Manny—Manos, the former Sovereign of Dresden, the same idiot who inadvertently set this in motion, was fully powered and untethered. It was a bad idea—but it was an idea at least and she had no other. Eli needed this

“Door, open,” Slade said, holding a hand onto the werewolf on her back. “Hang on, puppy. I’m getting you help.”

Slade walked through. Eli slipped from her grip, snatched from her hands.

Panicked, Slade searched the all-white room for some sign of him. The light brightened then faded with a whomp sound.

“Welcome. Welcome. You’ve come at a great time. A twenty percent discount for all referrals!”

Slade still trembled as she scanned the cluttered shop. No Eli.

Each time she tried to speak, nothing came out.

The smartly-dressed man donning a gaudy burgundy robe hurried from around the counter to give her a smile.

“Ah!” he announced. “Your first time traveling a rudimentary lock, I see. Welcome. Welcome. Give your body a moment to adjust and then you can speak.”

“Mmm,” Slade moaned, “mmmy ffffrrrrr.”

Two thick eyebrows knitted together. “Your...? Do you mean your friend? The werewolf? Well, why didn’t you just say so? We’ve got the best healing runes can buy. Though....” He paused and leaned in, nudging her. “It’ll come at a cost.” A bright smile shot her way. “But not too much. Not too much. Of course. It’s all affordable. All of it’s affordable.”

A harpy. Slade tried to adjust her vision with little success. This...man was enchanted, his true form hidden under a spell but she knew harpies. The repeated phrase was their way of fulfilling their expectation of empty chatter without droning on and on was an obvious harpy.

This was a harpy and Slade calmed. She feared nothing from them.

Fool. You act like Trixie’s the common. This is a harpy. Wait. Wait. Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare pass out. Don’t you dare pass out with a harpy we don’t know! Don’t you dare!

But how exactly was she supposed to stop it?

Much like a circling buzzard, the man walked around her. “Interesting. A vampire with an active Legion. You...must be important.”

Wake up! Wake up, idiot!

Slade blinked herself lucid. Despite the wooziness, she had some of her wits about her.

“Where’s my friend?” she demanded.

“He’s safe.

That drowsy feeling came back again, and she recognized it. She was drugged.

This—this wasn’t a soothsayer, not a regular one. She gripped the counter in an effort to keep upright. Eli. Fucking Eli.

Fucking Eli. He’d been tricked.

This was a fucking collector.

Slade’s body lost power and she slammed into the floor. Without more runes, she was literally unkillable. Whatever became of her, she was safe, of that she was sure. But Eli. “Fuck.”