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I couldn’t let go of my anger at Charlie’s betrayal, and I didn’t want to. Then again, he hadn’t betrayed us, he’d been up to this nefarious plan from the get-go. That only made it worse.

I was mad at myself too, for giving in to the panic. Maybe if I could teach myself to translate every new panic attack that came for me into anger, that might work. I decided I’d try that the next time it happened. If it happened again.

I jerked awake when someone touched my shoulder.

“Shh.” Auris’s face loomed above me. “We should get you home.”

I looked around. “Where are they?”

“They told me everything they know. I made them leave.”

I rubbed my eyes. “Good. They’re not coming back?”

His lips pressed into a thin line. “No, they’re not.”

“Not even Char—Christian, I mean?”

Auris sighed. “Well. About that. I’ll be keeping that one close for a little while, but it’s not something you have to worry about. Ethan, it’s four-thirty, and the city is waking from the deepest part of the night. Are you ready to head back home?”

I was wide awake all of a sudden. “You’re keeping him?”

“Not where you’ll have to see.”

“Fuck. Is that a good idea? No, you don’t have to answer that. You wouldn’t do it if it weren’t. I don’t like it though.”

He nodded. “I don’t either. Ready to leave?”

My eyes fell on my little shopping bag. “Can you pay for what I took?”

He cupped my cheek. “I already did. Come, let’s find our coats.”

I was glad that Auris took charge of what was left of the night. He had called Jan to pick us up. Luckily, Christian was too entranced to speak much, and Jan looked too tired to hold a conversation. So was I, frankly, and with Christian in the car, I didn’t feel like talking. I wanted to get out of my clothes, go to sleep in our bed, and know that Auris watched over me.

Once we arrived at the house, Auris sent me up to the apartment by myself first while he deposited Christian wherever the trash was kept in the building. There were simply no fucks left in my arsenal to give at that point.

I made it to our bedroom and under the covers, and I was still awake when I heard the door open and close and when Auris spoke. “I’ll build you a fire, my sweet.”

“Hmm.” That meant I’d be safe, and he’d be close to me. I drifted off not long after the now-familiar noise of logs and kindling being piled up filled the room.

The next morning, I woke to the sound of someone typing away on a keyboard nearby, and once I summoned the energy to turn onto my back, I saw that Auris had decided to occupy the other side of the bed. He was in black slacks, but to my irritation, his socks stuck out from the black and grays he normally favored.

Before I even yawned, I pointed. “You stole my museum socks. Bad Auris.” I had picked a bunch at the shop last night—maybe more than one person needed, but I’d gone shopping with a bottle of rum and lots of stress.

He lifted one long leg. “They’re printed with Gustav Klimt art. I like them. Besides, I told you I was a thief, remember?” He put his laptop away. “Any side effects from the rum? Eva said she has a few recipes she can make for you if you’re hungover.”

“Nah, I didn’t have that much. But maybe I’d feel better if I had. I could tell myself that last night was a hallucination. Where’s Charlie—Brother fucking Christian? No, wait. I don’t want to know. Don’t tell me. He’s a freaky little fucker, and I really don’t like him. You saw him cry that night at his Airbnb, right? Man, I bet he could’ve been a great actor. Too bad he chose murderer instead.”

“Well, you’re in a mood. And you’re not wrong. It’s new to me, this level of determination. I cannot say whether I’ve been lucky enough to avoid this Gladius organization until now, or whether it’s a plot that grew in Europe and is just about at the point where it crosses the Atlantic.”

I rolled on top of him, pushing his laptop aside. “You said you were scared about Owain telling people though, right? Even back then. What I mean is, what if there was always demon hunting and the church just took over at some point? Like they took over Christmas from the pagans?”

He nodded. “Maybe. But at the time, with Owain, it would’ve been groups of regular people that might have posed a danger. At least that’s what Tove always cautioned against. I don’t know of a group specifically dedicated to eradicating vampires that predates the priestly kind. Their idea of hunting so-called demons is something that rode in after the Black Death and the Inquisition took its toll. At some point during all that, I think they crossed paths with a vampire.”

I let myself relax into his warmth before I dared ask my next question. “Auris, are we okay to stay here? Are you safe in Prague?”

He wrapped me in his arms. “We are, for now. But I will have to think about things. I don’t like seeing you under this kind of stress, and I don’t want you to be afraid to leave the house without me. I don’t want to have to be afraid when you leave the house without me.” He stroked my hair. “No more of this talk today.”

“Couldn’t agree more.” I pulled him close for a kiss.