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The vampire at my side would fight until his dying breath. He was worth a thousand dime-store werewolves.

Now would be the perfect time for Zee to swoop in and do his “save the day” routine, probably while wearing a crazy hat he’d picked out especially for this occasion.

“I’m just sayin’ that if I knew you’d guess this was a trap, then I’d have planned for that . . . Wouldn’t I?” I continued.

Gideon’s top lip rippled. The wind whisked his aura around him, making him seem ethereal and ghostly. “I understand your point, boy.”

“And if I knew you’d know, then I’d also bring backup . . . Wouldn’t I?” I hadn’t meant that last part to sound like a question, but Gideon didn’t seem to catch on. Among his smoky flames he straightened, and scanned the abandoned cars.

“Yeah, that’s right. You should be worried.” I took a step forward. “All the little people you’ve trodden on over the years . . . everyone you’ve climbed over to get to the top . . . all the Lost Ones you’ve used and abused to get to the top of Cain Towers . . .”

I gave Victor a nod. He pulled his phone from his pocket and tossed it into the air with a suitably dramatic flick. Electrified smoke poured from the phone’s tiny speaker holes, and Tom Collins’s transparent outline buzzed and shimmered to life.

“You brought the bartender?” Cain laughed, incredulously. “What’s the djinn going to do? Serve me a Dirty Martini?”

Tom brushed his incorporeal clothes down and turned his slow grin toward Gideon. “This bartender serves vengeance.”

“Is this it?” Cain snorted. “Is this the best you’ve got? A broken AI and a penniless, homeless vampire lord? And you? A pathetic shadow of your former self. That’s it?”

Right now it was. Because Zee was late. “No, obviously,” I huffed.

“Leave it to Zodiac to be late for his grand finale performance,” Victor murmured under his breath.

Cain’s evil chuckle billowed around the bridge, carried on the wind. “I’m almost tempted to wait to witness what comes next, Mr. Vex. But you see, I have a city to dominate, you’re in my way, and I am done playing human.” Gideon reached up to the pendant at his neck, tore it free, and held it out. “Unlock your power, Mr. Vex, so I can rule this world. That is your destiny.”

“Why would I do that?” If I even knew how. “You think I’m going to agree. Why?”

Cain’s smile stretched. He’d been waiting for his moment. “Because if you don’t, the demon and his colorful entourage will all meet a sudden and dramatic end. Oh, were you waiting for their arrival? A last minute save?” Cain slowly shook his head. “Your little band of porn demons isn’t coming. Not here, not now, and never again!”

No . . .

He couldn’t have Zee. It wasn’t possible.

Cain laughed. “I expected more from you. You’re even more pathetic than I’d assumed. What a sad day this is. A worthless, powerless little man who has only known how to hide in his stolen hotel and cower behind those who are stronger than him. You’re a coward, Mr. Vex. A nobody. Chosen One? You’re a joke. The prophecy is very obviously wrong.”

“Fine! You want to know how it works? Give me that damn bead.” I stomped in front of him and snatched the pendant from his hand, then raised it up. All my power, all my reason for existing, all of me was in that one little bead?

“You’re not wrong about Adam,” Tom said, addressing Cain. His voice was thinner, a little strained, but it carried the same snark. “You’ve met him a few times, but I’ve had to work with these idiots for seven weeks. Frankly, they have no idea what they’re doing and are a risk to themselves and others.”

“Thank you, Tom,” I called back. “We don’t need your commentary right now.”

“The sorcerer has a valid point.”

“That sorcerer took you from your family, made you forget, and turned you into a barman at our hotel, so . . . just saying, you maybe don’t want to agree with him?”

Tom folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “Is this going to take long? I left the bar with the chef.”

“Unleash its power for me,” Gideon said, ignoring Tom. “Do it now, or you, your friends, and everyone cowering on this bridge dies.”

I huffed, and with raised eyebrows, looked up. “Really? You’re going to double down on the threats? You know I’m human, right? You could just click your fingers—” Switching the pendant to my left hand, I clicked the fingers of my right. “And snap my neck.”

“Not until you give me access to that.” His gaze had left the bead for a second, but skipped back again now.

“I always wondered about that line in the prophecy . . . The heart of me. I took it literally. I thought it meant my actual heart. My heart will save us, or doom us all.” Switching the pendant back to my right hand, I raised it between us and caught the lights from the Golden Gate Bridge in its jewel-like shine. “But now I think my heart means something else. Like . . . maybe . . . the people I love, or love in general. You know?”

Cain’s already warped face twisted into a disgusted grimace. “You really like the sound of your own voice, boy.”

“At least I have a heart.”