Chapter 41
Several hours passed before the bedroom door opened.
Dawn had begun paling the narrow gap between the curtains, although the witch’s condition had changed very little. Her fever remained high, and pain continued moving through her in intermittent waves.
Rhen did not turn.
He recognized the brothers before they entered fully.
Dax came first. Malakai followed, silent and observant. Cole entered last, pale and unsteady, one hand briefly catching the doorframe when his damaged body protested the movement.
They stopped inside the room.
Malakai stepped where Rhen could see him.
How is she?
“She is breathing.”
Dax raised both hands slightly.
“We are not here to interfere.”
“I have it handled.”
Malakai’s expression remained controlled.
We know how you feel about witches.
The only answer for several seconds was the woman’s unsteady breathing.
Rhen had killed witches before. He had never regretted it.
This was different, although he refused to give the difference a name.
She saved Cole, Malakai continued. We want to ensure she survives.
Rhen turned.
“What do you think I am doing?”
The quiet threat in his voice tightened the room.
“You believe I would allow her to die after what she did?”
Dax held his ground.
“We do not know what you will do. That is the problem.”
Rhen stood so quickly that Cole straightened despite the pain in his body.
“I owe none of you an explanation.”
“Nobody asked for one,” Dax said.
A whimper came from the bed.
Rhen’s attention broke from his brothers immediately.
He crossed the distance and dropped beside the mattress. His hand moved damp hair away from the witch’s forehead before he appeared to realize he had touched her.
His fingers stopped near her cheek.
“Fuck.”
The brothers exchanged a glance behind him.
They had seen Rhen tend injuries and preserve lives when necessity demanded it. They had almost never seen his hands move with unconscious care.
“She is not dying here,” Rhen said.
Malakai waited until Rhen looked toward him.
We are not questioning that. We did not expect this.
“What you expected is irrelevant.”
Rhen returned his attention to the bed.
“She saved Cole. That is all.”
Dax nodded once.
“All right.”
“Then leave.”
They did not argue.
The door closed softly behind them.
Rhen remained beside the witch.
He did not understand why each sound of pain struck him as though it had crossed his own skin, or why the possibility of her dying in his bed awakened something so violently opposed to the idea.
“You will survive this,” he said.
His hand rested briefly upon her shoulder.
The gesture felt less foreign than it should have.
That frightened him more than the war gathering outside the stronghold.
* * *
The kitchen remained dim beneath the warm overhead lights. Rain and blood still scented the brothers’ clothes despite their attempts to clean themselves.
Dax leaned against the counter with his arms folded.
Malakai sat upon a stool where Cole could see him clearly. Cole stood near the sink, supported partly by the counter while he stared into the black windows.
Malakai signed first.
She appeared without a name or history, then saved Cole.
“Witches do not become lost inside protected territory,” Dax said.
Exactly. We still know nothing about her.
Cole set his glass down carefully.
“Would Rhen have allowed her to live if he believed she was an immediate threat?”
Malakai’s expression remained dry.
Normally, no. Tonight, his judgment is compromised.
“He is not acting like himself,” Dax said.
The observation hung between them.
Rhen did not offer patience, mercy, or unexplained gentleness. Yet something about the unknown woman had reached him almost immediately.
Malakai leaned back.
Whatever is happening is not simply repayment for saving Cole.
“Careful,” Dax said.
I am being careful. That is why we investigate quietly.
Cole nodded.
“Without a name, we are blind.”
“Then we find another way.”
Malakai removed his phone.
I asked Rhen for a photograph. If she cannot identify herself, perhaps somebody else can.
Dax reached into his pocket and produced a small bag of cannabis. He began rolling a joint with the practiced ease of someone refusing to treat the end of the world as a reason to alter his habits.
Malakai raised one eyebrow.
In the kitchen?
“We are having a wholesome family meeting. I am establishing atmosphere.”
Dax lit it and inhaled.
Malakai shook his head.
Mary will remove several pieces of you.
“She can join the queue.”
Cole’s mouth moved faintly despite the strain still visible in his face.
Malakai checked his phone again.
No response.
“Good luck convincing Rhen to cooperate with technology,” Dax said.
The room felt colder than its warmth should have allowed.
All three brothers shared the same certainty.
The witch had not arrived by accident.
If she represented the beginning of whatever came next, they were already behind.
The kitchen door opened.
Mary entered with warmth and authority contained inside one small frame. Her attention went immediately to Dax and the joint between his fingers.
“Really? Inside the house?”
Dax crossed the room and kissed her cheek.
“You know you love me.”
Mary swatted him lightly.
“You know the rules. Take it outside.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He extinguished the joint and tucked it away.
Mary’s gaze moved across the room, counting each brother without making the action obvious.
“Veya is awake and dressing. She should be down shortly.”
Malakai waited until Mary looked toward him.
How is she?
“As well as can be expected.” Mary sighed. “I wish Master Rhen would show her some kindness.”
Dax made a quiet, unimpressed sound.
“And the young woman upstairs did something good tonight,” Mary continued. “Whatever her story may be.”
Malakai nodded.
We are trying to discover it. If she cannot give us a name, we may be able to trace her face.
Mary looked thoughtful.
“Do you believe she is dangerous?”
“She could be,” Dax said. “But allowing Cole to die would have been far easier than saving him.”
“We have enough danger in the house already,” Cole murmured.
Mary gave him a look suggesting the brothers themselves constituted most of it.
Her attention returned to Dax.
“I can smell trouble upon you from here. Go outside, and please keep yourself in order.”
His smile turned crooked.
“Anything for you, Miss Mary.”
Mary left with quiet laughter trailing behind her.
Dax watched the door close before slipping through the rear entrance into the wet garden.
Moonlight lay silver across the stone paths. The hedges stood high enough to conceal almost anything, while the forest pressed close to the boundary as though listening.
Dax relit the joint and began walking the perimeter.
Halfway down the path, metal glinted beneath the wet leaves near a stone bench.
Dax stopped.
The placement bothered him before he even crouched. The amulet had not fallen naturally. It rested just inside the garden path, half veiled by mud and leaves but positioned where patrol would find it once the storm eased.
He brushed away the debris.
A delicate amulet lay beneath his fingers.
Dax turned it over.
Two engraved letters marked the back.
DL.
The smoke died in his lungs.
Diablo Levélle.
An ancient heretic coven whose name was spoken carefully even by vampires who claimed not to fear anything.
Their mark had been planted inside the compound grounds.
The same night an unknown witch had appeared at the gates.
“Fuck.”
Dax pocketed the amulet and returned to the kitchen.
Malakai looked up immediately.
What did you find?
Dax tossed the amulet onto the granite.
It struck the surface with a small metallic sound.
The brothers leaned closer.
Malakai pointed toward the engraving.
Diablo Levélle.
Cole’s expression tightened.
“Heretic coven.”
“I found it near the garden bench,” Dax said. “Planted where patrol would find it. The female upstairs is connected to them somehow, or they want us to believe she is.”
Malakai did not touch the metal.
If she works for them, why save Cole?
“I don’t know. That makes it worse.”
Cole’s gaze remained upon the amulet.
“She could be bait. They send her knowing we are less likely to kill somebody who has just saved one of us.”
Or she may not know she is being used.
Dax’s expression hardened.
“Either way, we cannot ignore it.”
Malakai stood.
We tell Rhen carefully.
Dax nodded.
* * *
Rhen sat beside the bed, watching the witch’s chest rise and fall.
The fire cast unsteady light across her face. She remained too pale, too fragile, and too human for what she had taken into herself.
His phone vibrated.
He ignored it once before looking.
Kitchen. Now. We have a problem. —Dax
Rhen rose.
The witch shifted, and a quiet groan escaped her.
He entered the corridor and stopped the first servant he encountered.
“Stay with her. If she wakes, contact me immediately.”
“Yes, Master Rhen.”
He moved through the halls quickly.
The brothers waited inside the kitchen without jokes or posturing. The tension in the room told him the interruption had earned his attention.
“What now?”
Dax slid the amulet across the island.
It stopped before Rhen.
He saw the engraving.
DL.
The temperature seemed to fall.
“Where did you find this?”
“Outside, near the garden bench.”
Rhen closed his hand around the amulet without crushing it.
“A Diablo Levélle mark appears upon our land on the same night a witch arrives at our gates.”
Nobody offered the word coincidence.
Rhen looked toward the door.
“Where is she?”
He turned.
Dax’s voice stopped him.
“What are you going to do?”
Rhen faced him.
“What should have been done when she first appeared.”
Malakai stepped into his path and signed sharply.
Stop.
“She is linked to the heretics.”
That means we question her.
“It means she dies.”
Malakai did not move.
Dax lifted one hand.
“Listen. The amulet is not a coincidence, but killing her gives us nothing.”
“It removes a threat.”
“It removes our only lead,” Cole said. “If she is tied to them, she may be the only thread we possess.”
Rhen looked at the amulet again.
“You believe she will willingly reveal who sent her?”
Malakai signed, We learn nothing by killing her while she is unconscious.
“She could have allowed Cole to die,” Dax added. “If she came to cripple the clan, she already had the cleanest opportunity she will ever get.”
Logic constrained Rhen more effectively than force.
He paced once before stopping.
“Fine. We keep her contained and question her when she wakes.”
His gaze moved across the brothers.
“The moment she becomes a threat, she dies.”
Malakai nodded.
Agreed.
Rhen disappeared before the decision could be debated further.