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“She destroyed me, so I will destroy the man she loves.”
I swallow hard at the clear vendetta. Zagiri’s discovery may be a breakthrough in bringing a vampire’s curse to an end, but it seems someone doesn’t want that to happen.
“Out,” Avet rules. “Pack up anything you don’t want to see burned. We’re leaving, bunny rabbit.”
I set down the frame. “What?”
Avet motions around, tears sparkling in his eyes, wetting his dark lashes. “Do you see this place? They’re targeting you because Cher has a crush on you.”
My upper lip curls. “No, she doesn’t. Don’t joke like that.”
Avet runs his fingers through his hair, inhaling deeply with wide eyes. I can tell he is reaching the brink of his cool when he scoffs in my direction. “Oh, come on, Keran. Like you didn’t notice her following you around everywhere when we were growing up?”
“Shut up. I mean it. This note is bad enough. Of course Cher loves me. I’m her second brother. That’s all this means. The note could be about you, you know.”
Avet shakes his head. “Whatever. I kept her little secret for as long as I could. I think a decade is a good run. And I am not the man my sister loves. Give me a break. I’ll bet if you go to my house, not a single fork will be out of place. We are standing in your house, brother. This attack was targeted at you because Cher loves you, and this person—whoever they are—is angry with her.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “This is human drama, then, right?” But as I say the words, I catch a clear design of a hastily drawn eagle’s wing painted on the far wall. My chest tightens. “That’s the artsiv. They’re summoning a Dev here.”
Sevan keeps her knife out. “Which means we’re getting out of here in the next two minutes. I mean it. What do you need packed?” Without waiting for my response, she jerks open the top drawer of my dresser and starts taking out my clothes. “Trash bags under the kitchen sink?” She doesn’t need me to respond as she trots toward the kitchen, motivated to action while I am still trying to make sense of things.
Avet takes a picture of the room from all angles and sends the photos to Sargis. “Sevan is right. Anything you need to take with you, get it now.”
“Is it a person or a creature? I don’t understand. Is it a trapper?” As soon as I suggest it, I know that is the most logical answer. “It’s a trapper. A trapper had a thing for Cher and he thought she had feelings for me.”
Avet shakes his head. “I’m not going to argue this with you. Cher has held a torch for you since you took her to the homecoming dance.”
“She had no one to go with! What was I supposed to do, make you take her? She would have been humiliated to go to homecoming with her brother.”
Avet shakes his head when Sevan comes back into the room with a box of garbage bags. “The point is that someone wants you dead, and they’re willing to use more than just a fistfight to finish you off. They’re sending creatures after you because they’re mad at Cher. You’re not staying here. You’re not staying anywhere near here. A summoned Dev is an angry Dev. They don’t like to be bothered, and they’re not easily bested.” He helps Sevan pack up my clothes. They stuff everything into one garbage bag, because that is how few things I own.
I open my mouth, but no words come out. This isn’t how this was supposed to go. I was supposed to come home, spend a day or two with Avet and Sevan before they went off to track down Cher, then I would return to my normal life.
Avet cinches the bag closed and then crosses the room to cup my shoulders. “Someone is trying to force you out of retirement, Keran. Before you can tuck away your weapons, you have to clear the room. Make sure it’s actually safe to sit down before you do so.”
I lower my chin, so turned around that I can barely see straight. “It doesn’t feel right to retire while Cher is still out there,” I admit. “Not when we’re on the cusp of a real breakthrough that could change the supernatural world.”
Avet’s chest swells with hope. I can tell he was trying not to feel any sort of optimism that I would rejoin him, but now that I’ve opened my mouth and said the words, true relief shines out from him. “Do you mean it?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “Break-in or not, being targeted or not, it doesn’t matter.” I swallow hard, wondering why it took so long to admit the truth to myself and say it aloud. “I thought I wanted a normal life, Avet, but nothing feels normal without you.” Emotion constricts my throat, making my next words sound hoarse. “Your fight is my fight.”
Avet’s eyes glisten with unshed emotion. He pulls me into his arms for a tight hug that encompasses all the things we’ve not been able to say to each other for the three years we were apart.
There is nothing for me here, no reason to stay if my family is out there, needing backup while they take on the unthinkable.
Avet holds me tight. “It’s your golden moment, Keran; face it or flush it.”
I close my eyes as the thing I usually say floats in the air to the tune of Avet’s voice.
This is my golden moment, wrapped in drywall dust and broken glass.
I can’t run away anymore. There’s no point in hiding when a madman is hunting you down.
I release Avet from our hug and pick up my meager collection of belongings. I take one last look at the life I thought I wanted before I lead the way out of the house, determined to take on the unknown so my family doesn’t have to fight their battles alone. For better or worse, now they will have me to keep them safe.
* * *
