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“I’m hoping not to get her back,” he says after a long exhale. “He doesn’t deserve her.”

He downs the shot, and I nearly spill mine. “They were together?”

“Yeah. A while ago.” He sets the empty glass down. “She was very lost, partying heavily. Then she started running with vampires and discovered stardust.”

“So, Lex got her into that?”

“It’s not that simple.” Ezra’s voice loses the sarcasm completely. “He saved her back then. At that point, it was either stardust or death. And she tried both…”

“What do you mean?” I stare at him.

He stands too quickly, eyes suddenly clear. “I’ve said too much.”

I grab his wrist before he can leave. The witch magic in him flickers but it’s not enough to even amuse me. Still, he stands his ground and looks me straight in the eyes.

“Listen. If you want to know more, just ask her. If she lets you in… which I highly doubt.”

Then he just leaves, and I’m left with the illusion of his hand still in mine. Fucking glamour witches.

CHAPTER 13

DARKER SHADE

I wake up early. Even for a normal person. My conversation with Lex didn’t help me. If anything, it made everything worse. If Julian was a hybrid and Marcus couldn’t control him, wouldn’t it be useful to get rid of him? The bounty could be nothing but a distraction. And then there’s the land. Good real estate in Midnight City grows rarer every year. You can print money, but you can’t print more prime space. Marcus picked Von Batten partly because the man was rich and owned a lot of it. But if Julian died, would that land even go to Marcus? I need to know.

I head to city hall, where one of my old vampire clients works. I swap the club look for something smart casual so I don’t look suspicious. City hall is a nest of corrupt clerks and monsters lobbying for their own interests. I go to the property and development department where Virgil usually works. He handles a lot of business for the Nyx Bank vampires and Marcus, but he doesn’t officially belong to anyone. I tried calling him this morning but no answer. Probably buried in work. To get an appointment at city hall you need to register online. I get a number and a time slot. All these government formalities almost give me a skin rash. Even graveyards feel more alive.

When my number comes up, they lead me to a special room. Thick walls, no windows. They must have flagged me as supernatural. Regular humans wait at the normal counters, in daylight.

A vampire woman sits across from me. Elegant and ageless.

“I was expecting Virgil to take this meeting,” I say.

“He is not here. And won’t be for a while. But I can help you, Miss…?”

Well, fuck. Without Virgil, this trip is pointless. Even with him I wasn’t sure how much information I could get. Confidentiality rules everything. Still, a lightning bolt of an idea hits.

“Miss Von Batten.” I roll the dice hard. “I’m here to check some family properties. We’re preparing investments.”

The woman’s fangs slide out. “I thought only Mr. Julian was our branch client.” She looks at me suspiciously.

“We’re a big family.” I fake boredom while looking at my nails, like the perfect rich girl that I am pretending to be. “Can we proceed?” I continue with an added bitch smile. I’m really playing this role.

“Of course. I’ll just need identification.”

Here we go. Time to see how much of the information from the red basement holds up. If this goes south, they’ll notify the Von Battens and probably Marcus, which is the main problem for me. Sweat shows on my palms. The vampire opens a drawer and pulls out a long silver spike. In the underground world nobody trusts regular IDs. They’re as fake as holiday cards. We use blood instead.

She extends her hand, and I give mine reluctantly. I force as much of my blood magic as I can into my palm, pulling on every trace of my mother’s heritage. The spike bites into my index finger, and blood beads on the metal. She puts the silver skewer on her tongue to taste it. Vampires are really stuck in the middle ages. Her eyes light up but I just hope she doesn’t feel too much.

After a moment, she walks to a cabinet and opens a drawer. Inside sits a vial of someone else’s blood. Probably Julian’s. She dips the spike and tastes again. I wait. Not every vampire can read blood like this. That’s why only certain ones work here. Vampires or bloody witches. Maybe I should apply. But the office fashion would kill me first. I check my watch. Time crawls.

The woman turns back. “Well, Miss Von Batten, everything checks out. I’ll get you the documents.”

I hide my relief. But also, something moves in me. So it’s true, Julian and I are family. Blood related. Did he know when we met? Is that why he wanted to buy stardust from me. Was it only a reason to get close to me? But still, what could he possibly need from me. A family reunion? I doubt it.

My musings are interrupted by the woman’s return. She gives me a thick file and leaves the room. I flip straight to the parcels of land Piro mentioned. They lie at the edge of Downtown. All deeded directly to Julian. No other family members. Only him. That’s all I needed to know.

While walking outside city hall, my phone buzzes. Virgil.