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The creature lunged forward in a series of quick, smooth steps, stalking Christoph without giving even a side glance at Sky. More black shadows rose from where the monster had erupted from the ground, rolling and thickening across the lawn.
Christoph roared and tried to fly around the deathly figure, but its hand flashed up in a white blur, those spike-like fingers stabbing directly into the center of the vampire’s chest.
But there was no splash of blood. No cry of pain.
With a jerk of its hand, the creature removed its fingers from Christoph and pulled out a white, wispy thing at the same time. Like a ghost.
No, it had pulled out Christoph’s soul!
The vampire’s lifeless body fell to the ground in a heap. Reaper pulled the soul close to its chest like it was holding a secret treasure and ran off to the spot where it had come out of the ground, dropping into the opening between worlds and disappearing completely.
But Reaper wasn’t the only thing to come out of the opening. The swirling black fog had hidden creatures that reminded Nolan of Frank—all fuzzy bodies and long limbs. They chittered and hopped about the lawn, hurrying over to Christoph’s body. Each one grabbed a limb and dragged it across the lawn until they and the corpse disappeared into the opening as well. All traces of Christoph Sandor were wiped from the world.
Dusting his hands off, Sky turned and strolled to the foot of the stairs. Nolan bit his bottom lip. The necromancer was aiming for nonchalant, but his pale, sweaty face said that bit of magic had been harder than he was letting on.
Didn’t matter. Colette and the rest of the Sandor clan were convinced and gave him a wide berth. Even the Variks were more hesitant as several of them retreated a step.
Sky pointed at Nolan and glared at the Sandor clan. “Christoph is gone. Permanently. Nolan is free. I don’t want another member of the Sandor clan to even look in his direction, or I swear I’ll drag every one of you to the underworld.”
Colette cleared her throat and took a step forward, moving to the front of her clan. “Got it. Not a problem. Christoph was the only one interested in him.”
“And Owen? Are you going to search for him?” Nolan shouted from his place on the stairs.
The vampire rolled her eyes and gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “Fine. Fine. All of the Banks family is safe from the Sandor Clan. Even if he returns to town. As long as he doesn’t start shit with my clan, I won’t bother with him or you.” Colette turned her attention to King Aiden and bowed her head low to him. “Colette Sandor presents herself to the king as the new Sandor clan leader. I would like to conclude old business, Your Majesty.”
“What are you offering?” Aiden inquired cautiously.
“The Sandor clan promises to get out of the pet-finding business permanently, and Your Majesty closes the investigation,” Colette suggested.
Aiden frowned, but in the end, he gave a small nod. “So be it.”
Nolan swallowed his own protest. As frustrating as it was to think there were other humans trapped as pets, what could Aiden do? Even if the Sandor clan provided a complete list of humans they’d sold, wasn’t it likely that most would be cajoled and threatened into staying with their new master? How many of those humans would have someone willing to fight a vampire for them? Too few.
With that business settled, the new clan leader spun on her heel and marched to the clan’s cars. In less than a minute, they were all speeding away without a single look back.
Nolan turned his gaze to Sky, who was watching King Aiden intently. The tension from the fight had yet to dissipate. Of course, Sky had proved himself a deadly adversary if he wanted to be, and Nolan was willing to bet that the vampires were accustomed to being at the top of the food chain.
“I don’t want any trouble, Your Majesty,” Sky stated in a low voice. Sky lifted his left hand, extended his index finger, and poked the empty air on his left. “I consider Fox a friend. Gideon has used my services. I would prefer to continue my relationship with the Variks on good terms. My general opinion of vampires being neutral.”
There was a low chuckle, and Winter suddenly appeared on Sky’s left, exactly where he’d poked the air, rubbing the center of his chest.
“Oh, you’re good,” Winter smirked.
Sky grinned. “You’re messing in the dead realm. That’s been my territory since I was a child.”
“So, you’re saying that if we don’t start anything with you, there won’t be trouble,” Aiden said.
Sky nodded, and his shoulders slumped. “Normally, I’m a guy who helps humans talk to dead relatives and occasionally makes sandwiches for underworld minions. Nolan’s the one who’s a trouble magnet.”
“Hey!” Nolan shouted, finding his voice at last. But he couldn’t say anything else because Sky was right. He had been too fucking talented at finding trouble for the past several days.
Aiden chuckled. “I’m content to continue as friends. Thank you for your help in dealing with Christoph and bringing this poor usage of humans to our attention.”
Sky turned his gaze to Nolan, his smile becoming crooked as his brow wrinkled. “Nolan? Can I take you home?”
“Yes.” Nolan sighed. Nothing had ever sounded so good in all his life.
Chapter10
