Chains jingled and clanged across the floor inside the round chamber. Shaking like a leaf, I pulled myself closer to the door, listening to the movements inside.

“Put the ghouls back on their leashes,” Zoltan said. “I’ll handle the Reaper.”

“You can’t kill it, can you?” one of the guards asked.

“No, you oaf, but I can make sure he never sees the light of day again,” Zoltan replied.

“Seeley…” I whispered, almost touching the door.

My hand trembled, and I couldn’t even cry. My eyes stung, but tears didn’t come out. All I could do was struggle with the mixture of pain, agony, and helplessness, as I knelt in front of the iron door, coming to terms with every single event that had brought me to this particular moment.

Seeley was inside, somehow captured by Zoltan. The Aeternae had knowledge of Reapers and Death magic. They had dungeons and at least one Reaper scythe. They had ghouls under their control, using them as mindless flesh- and soul-hungry beasts.

And I’d gotten myself stuck right in the middle of it all, with my neck snapped and the life snuffed out of me. How the hell would I get myself out of this predicament?

“What about the Lamia’s soul, sir?” the second guard asked.

“It’s just a soul. It can’t do anything. The veil between the world of the living and that of the dead is abnormally thick here,” Zoltan said. “She won’t be able to break through. It’s part of the reason we’ve been able to do our honorable work for so long.”

Honorable. What a weird choice of word for a creature as despicable as Zoltan Shatal. I should’ve known that he was up to no good. I should have seen this coming, somehow. I should have paid attention!

Hopelessness threatened to break me down into little pieces. I understood the unforgiving reality. I couldn’t have seen this coming. I couldn’t have even guessed that there were Aeternae here who dabbled in the dark arts of Death magic. Where’d he get the scythe from? Zoltan wasn’t a Reaper. How’d they captured the ghouls? How long had they been doing this? What was their endgame? What were they trying to do?

Look at you, all dead and still investigating.

What other choice did I have? A thought hit me like a cold draft. If Seeley had come to save me, where was the Reaper assigned to carry me into the next world?

My death wasn’t natural…

It certainly hadn’t felt natural. But I had no answers. I only had a ton of questions, a Reaper trapped in a cell with four ghouls, and a creepily knowledgeable Aeternae, and only my soul to move around. I couldn’t even reach out to Sofia and Derek.

What would I do? What could I do, from this moment onward?

If this was what Zoltan was into, then my friends, my crew… they were in danger, and they didn’t even know it. I had no time to grieve my own death. I had to do something. Anything. I had to find my way back to the surface and protect my people—including Seeley. Out of everyone, he needed my help the most now, and I had to come through for him.

Derek

I could only see a thin beam of light as it escaped through the pulled curtains. It was morning, and I’d slept like a log. My dreams had been an amalgam of unsettling things, of some of my worst fears coming true.

I’d found myself embroiled in secrets and deadly plagues. I’d lost my team. I’d stood in front of their tombs, having to explain to their families and friends what had gone awry. What had killed them. I swallowed back the knot that had been filling my throat, finding relief in knowing that it had all been a dream. A terrible, terrible figment of my subconscious, and nothing more.

Sofia stirred in my arms, the satin covers shuffling like textile whispers over our bare bodies. She raised her head slowly, her sleepy eyes searching my face.

“What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t help but smile, thankful that I had her to wake up with. “Just a bad dream, my love,” I said, running my hand through her hair.

Her lips found mine, and she melted in my embrace, a blaze quickly kindling between us. We rolled between the sheets, chuckling and kissing and exploring each other’s bodies.

“I know I say this a lot, but I love you,” she whispered as I rolled back on top, pinning her down. I kissed her deeply, tasting the sweet ambrosia of her lips and inhaling her summery scent.

“I love you more,” I said, covering her face with fluttering kisses.

“But we need to get out of bed,” she said, scrunching her nose. “The kids will be banging on our doors soon.”

I stilled, narrowing my eyes at her. “What makes you say that?”

“We’re on a foreign planet with the original vampires and a horde of unanswered questions. Do you really think we’ll get a moment’s worth of peace in this place?” She raised an eyebrow, making me laugh.

Last night’s dream was nothing more than a fuzzy, distant memory. My only hope was that it would stay that way. I kissed Sofia again, unwilling to return to reality just yet. It felt so nice to be here, lost between layers of satin… just the two of us.

“Five more minutes?” I asked innocently.

She pursed her lips, and all I could think of was kissing her again. “Three?”

A solid knock on the door spoiled it all. I groaned, hiding my face between her neck and collarbone. “No…” I grumbled.

“Sorry, my love. I called it.” She giggled, just before the second knock.

“Coming! Hold on!” I shouted, already irritated by the prospect of a third knock. Reality was calling, merciless as always.

We jumped out of bed and slipped into our silky robes. Sofia opened the door, welcoming Esme, Tristan, and Amal into our lounge. Candles still flickered over the fireplace, which was all the light we’d left burning overnight. I would’ve pulled the curtains open to welcome the sunlight, but only Amal and I would’ve been able to enjoy it. It reminded me of why we were here in the first place, and suddenly the thought didn’t seem that bad anymore. Soon enough, we’d all be able to enjoy sunny mornings.

“Morning!” Sofia greeted them, but the looks on their faces struck me hard.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Where’s Nethissis?”

Esme sighed. “We don’t know. She wasn’t in her room.”

“Well, maybe she’s out for a stroll,” Sofia suggested, though her smile was already fading.

“That’s not all,” Tristan said. “We need to talk. There’s something going on here, and it’s more complex and fractured than we originally thought.”

I invited them to sit down and spent the better part of an hour listening to their accounts of yesterday, learning about the Black Fever’s unexpected return and the Darklings’ attack in the process. By the time Tristan and Esme were done, I genuinely and wholeheartedly regretted getting out of bed. This was not how I’d planned to start the day.

Our progress with the day-walking protein was going to be slow, by default, given the work Amal had to put into it. For us to deal with the Black Fever and murderous Darklings and who knew what else the Aeternae had been keeping to themselves… well, it just didn’t feel right. On top of that, I had a nagging feeling that these troubles were only the beginning.

“I mean, where do we draw the line, Derek?” Esme asked. I’d tuned out, and I hadn’t caught the first part of her statement.

“What do you mean?” I replied, rubbing my face, hoping I was still stuck in that nasty dream which I no longer remembered—I only remembered the uneasy feeling that it had left me with.

“I know the core objective of this mission is to get the day-walking protein,” Esme said, “but what about everything else? We said we’d help them with the Black Fever, too, but… last night, Tristan got caught in the crossfire of a Darkling conflict. Where do we stop being explorers, and where do we begin being GASP agents again?”

“Frankly, I’m worried about Nethissis,” Amal murmured, her orange eyes wide and so expressive, she nearly broke my heart. “It’s not like her to vanish like this. Last night, she went out in snake form to search this place. She would’ve checked in with us, at least. She would’ve said she found nothing… or whatever.”

“Amal has a point,” Esme said, adding to her previous argument. “If something happened to Nethissis, then the Aeternae are involved, and we need to do something about it.”

This was quickly devolving into something far worse than anything I could’ve dreamed. We had to be careful with how we proceeded. As nervous as Nethissis’s absence made me feel, I couldn’t disregard the protocol we’d set up for this place. Pacing the room, I listened as Sofia and the crew exchanged impressions and assumptions.