Page 36 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

Con studied me, eyes narrowed in thought. He recognized the restlessness simmering under my skin. “What are you thinking?”

“That I can do something,” I answered.

His jaw flexed. “Cass…”

“No, listen,” I insisted, keeping my voice low. “Raven’s magic and mine are still tangled. When she tethered us, it made a path. I’ve used it to track the fragments. I can use it to push strength back along the bond. If I send power toward Rene, it’ll buy him time.”

Con considered that for a moment, then shook his head. “Or it’ll burn you out early. You don’t know where that energy really goes.”

“I know enough.” Frustration spilled into my voice. “Sitting here while he fades is not an option.”

On the other side of the room, Raven tucked a strand of hair behind Jana’s ear. Jana nodded, then pulled her mother into a tight hug that nearly lifted Raven off her feet. The sight was a knife in my ribs.

“I’m doing it,” I said.

I didn’t wait for his approval.

Closing my eyes, I focused inward, reaching for that familiar spark where Raven’s magic twined with mine. It hovered just behind my sternum, a bright knot of power that hummed like a living thing. When I touched it, heat rushed up my spine, spreading through my veins with a fierce, shimmering intensity.

I pictured Rene.

Not as he was now, pale, drained, barely clinging to consciousness, but as he had always been in my mind—tall, elegant, unshakeable, power radiating from him like a storm held in check. The overseer. Our king. The vampire who had taken in broken warriors and turned them into something more.

I reached for the thread connecting Raven to him. It pulsed at the edge of my awareness, fragile but present. I grabbed onto it, gently, and pushed.

Power flowed.

It surged out of me in a rush, leaving me gasping, then leveled into a steady stream. I guided it along the bond, not aiming at Raven herself, but through her—toward the distant anchor that was Rene. Toward the fading presence that had always felt like carved stone in my mind.

For a moment, I felt nothing but the drain. Heat, pressure, a dizzy lightness at the edges of my thoughts.

Then something caught.

A spark on the other end responded. Faint, but real. The sense of Rene’s essence flared for a second, like someone striking flint in the dark. There was still life there. Still power. It accepted what I sent, drinking it down with quiet desperation.

I held the flow as long as I dared, then slowly eased back, cutting the connection down to a trickle before severing it entirely.

The club snapped into focus again.

The music was too loud.

The lights were too bright.

My knees felt unsteady for a heartbeat, but I locked them, refusing to show how much energy I’d just given away.

Con’s hand caught my elbow. “Easy,” he murmured.

“I’m fine,” I said, straightening.

He studied my face. “You’re pale.”

“I’m a vampire,” I reminded him. “Comes with the territory.”

He didn’t smile.

Through the bond, I checked Raven.

Nothing.