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and knew he was angry and hurt. Damnit! She hated this part about relationships. So problematic and unnecessarily messy. That’s why her relationship with Damian had lasted a long time, because there weren’t any complicated emotions like jealousy. They came and went as they pleased. No one’s feelings were ever hurt.
    In the end they managed to separate quite amicably. If you discounted the vampyre issues. Like Damian biting her and transmitting the Dark Dweller virus to her after he had contracted it from Darquiel, his current lover.
    “Did you take her blood?” Hades asked, his voice a low, gruff timbre.
    “No.”
    He turned and met her gaze, a dangerous burn in the blue of his eyes. “Have you taken blood?”
    “Does it matter?” she countered.
    Although the pain etched in his face was almost unbearable to witness, Kat refused to turn away from his intense gaze. This was why she had left. Because she couldn’t stand to see that look of uncertainty on his face. The uncertainty that she might turn on him and take his life. That the disease racing around in her body would win, and she would turn into a Dark Dweller. A sadistic, twisted, bloodthirsty vampyre that thought of nothing but satisfying its own hungers, be it sex or blood. The very creatures they had fought against together in the darkest bowels beneath the Vanquished City.
    He turned from her and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, Kat. I don’t want it to.”
    No, she didn’t want it to matter either, but it did. And probably always would. Things had changed between them, things beyond repair.
    She rubbed her face again. “Me neither.”

    “Do you want something more to drink?”
    “Yeah, but no more fucking tea. Just give me the bottle of whiskey.”
    With a chuckle, Hades turned around with the bottle in his hand and two glasses. “You read my mind.” He sat back down and poured two shots, sliding one to Kat as he picked up his and saluted. “To getting absolutely shit-faced.”
    Kat laughed and touched her glass to his. “I’ll drink to that.” She tossed back the alcohol in one gulp. It burned on the way down, but she reveled in the sensation. Reminded her that she was still alive and, at least partially, human. She set down the glass with a distinctive clink.
    Smiling, Hades went to pour her another. As quick as the wind, Kat grabbed the bottle to stop the pour. Her heart started to hammer in her chest, and she could feel a lump forming in her throat.
    “We’re in trouble.”
    The presence of Dark Dwellers surged over her like an oil slick. Thick and sticky, it stuck to her mind and made her stomach flip over in revulsion. The sensation was very strong. More than one Dweller was nearing the village, with thoughts of feeding on their minds.
    Wide-eyed, Hades set down the bottle and jumped up from his chair. “Is it Baruch?”
    She shook her head. “No, but he sent an army in his place.”
    She thanked God silently that it wasn’t Baruch approaching them. If it had been, she would be more than sick to her stomach. She would be trembling with fury and a heavy dose of desire. She wouldn’t want to, but it would be there. Baruch had that power over her even now.
    Hades started to pull boxes of shotgun shells from his cupboards. “These people are not equipped to fight Dark Dwellers. They have no fucking clue what they’ll be up against.”
    Kat stood, grabbed her own gun, and reloaded with the ammunition Hades had provided. “I know. I’m sorry. I never thought they’d find me. Not here anyway.”
    “They must have followed you psychically.”
    Kat shook her head. “I’d have felt them along the way.”
    A voice sounded from the bedroom. “They must’ve followed me.”
    Kat and Hades both looked at Leucothea standing in the doorway, looking very small and fragile.
    There was no room for weakness in a time like this, Kat thought. She didn’t want to be angry with the girl, but she couldn’t help but think how much