“Oh, I’m certain that you’re sorry. And you’re about to become a lot sorrier.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right!”

“My math works differently.”

“No! Please, let her go!” a female voice shrilled behind us.

Annoyed by yet another distraction, I turned to see the girl who had been traveling with Julie in the boat before she’d jumped into the waves and escaped from my sight. Now she swam toward us in the ocean, terror gleaming in her eyes as she looked from Julie to me.

“Please,” she said frantically. “Have mercy. Don’t kill Julie. I can’t survive without her. I’ve lost everyone!”

“And do you think you’re the only one who’s lost everyone?” I roared, a wave of anger and grief surging in my voice.

The three of us fell silent as I took in a deep breath, attempting to regain composure.

Then Julie spoke, her voice quieter and calmer this time. “The way to honor Benjamin is not through revenge.”

I couldn’t believe the gall of her as she craned her neck up to look me in the eye.

“The way to honor him,” she continued steadily, “is to ensure that the sacrifice he made does not go in vain. He wanted to keep our worlds free from the Elders, and prevent countless more innocent people from suffering by their resurgence. He sacrificed his life to ensure a better one for the rest of us and, although the Elders might be out of the picture now, we must tackle these creatures. Can you imagine the type of havoc that could ensue if they ever found a way into the human realm? That has been your home for the past decades, has it not?”

It still irked me to no end that she was using Benjamin’s name to get herself off the hook, but her words had struck a chord in me. No matter how pained I was to admit it, I couldn’t deny that her words were true. Benjamin had sacrificed himself to protect the lives of others. If we just sat here and did nothing while these Bloodless slaughtered entire islands, how would that be honoring his memory?

I gazed reluctantly down at Julie. I could see behind her eyes that she was using up every one of her last prayers to beg that this new approach would work on me. It didn’t work because I trusted her or her motives, it worked only because I knew it was what Benjamin would have wanted.

The ship was packed with Bloodless and they were expanding fast. Still, we were in the unique position of being able to do something about it while we were at sea again and all of them were contained in the same boat. We just had to find a way to slaughter these creatures, and then—unless monsters like this had already sprung up in other parts of the supernatural world—the infestation would be halted. And I could not do this alone. I was still in the grip of my emotions over being cut off from my family, and I would need help.

“Where are your other accomplices?” I asked, frowning.

A pained expression crossed Julie’s face, and by the intensity of it, I believed her to be genuine when she replied, “We lost them.”

From inside the box, it had sounded like the others had been men. If they were indeed all lost, that left only Julie and this other girl who’d been a part of Julie’s deception. I averted my eyes to the second girl, looking her over. Julie and I could manage this mission… and I was still unsatisfied.

Dropping Julie into the waves, I darted for the second girl. She appeared so shocked that she barely even had time to react. Clamping my hands around her throat, I lifted her up. I was pleased that she was thin and wiry in build, and she seemed overall weaker than Julie, so she wasn’t too difficult for me to lift. Bringing her to the ship and hovering back over the deck, I did what I’d been dying to do for what felt like the past hour.

I tossed the vampire into the swarm of salivating Bloodless, and then watched, relishing the girl’s screams.

The Bloodless piled on top of her, digging their fangs into any part of her that they could reach. They appeared to be ravaging her much more severely than any other vampires I’d watched them sink their teeth into. Perhaps it was all the buildup they’d just endured. Three latched onto her neck at once, while others were forced to resort to other parts of her body; her arms, wrists, stomach…

Julie was screaming at the top of her lungs, still down in the ocean, but her shrills merged into the background. Just be happy I chose her instead of you, bitch.

My face hardened as I watched the Bloodless swarm like wasps around the vampire. Watching her demise was gruesome, yet utterly satisfying. Like scratching an itch that had been plaguing me for weeks.

I waited until the Bloodless had stopped drinking from her, and laid her punctured, blood-soaked body on the deck, where she began trembling—her new transformation apparently underway. I had just created one more problem for Julie and me to eliminate, but, oh, was it worth it.

I hovered back over the edge of the ship and arrived above Julie. She bobbed in the waves, rigid with shock and horror.

I narrowed my eyes on her. “Annoy me, or step out of line even once, and the same fate will befall you.”

Julie

Arletta!

I was still in a state of shock. Hans’ siblings were the only family I had, and I’d just lost all of them within days. There wasn’t a single Manson left standing. As tiresome as Arletta could sometimes be, she was like my own sister. Now, I had no one at all. I was too shaken to even cry.

The jinni swooped down once again and roughly gripped my shoulders. She hauled me out of the water and lifted me, giving me a bird’s eye view of the vessel. It was still too early for me to feel hatred for the jinni. I just gaped in disbelief over what she’d just taken from me.