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  “Oh, excellent. Ash and Eva are here!”

  “Excuse me.” I made a beeline across the floor toward Ash and Eva, and Ash smiled when he spotted me coming. He nudged his wife, and she smiled too.

  “Ash, Eva. I wasn’t aware Darcy had invited you too. I thought he had gone to call you or meet with you?”

  “He did, and it was my suggestion that we invite the rest of the leaders of the supernatural world to the ball,” explained Eva.

  “Great.” I sighed. “I guess he explained our predicament then?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “That’s why we’re here.”

  “We want to help,” adds Ash. “If that’s okay?” he could obviously sense my stress. I nodded.

  “Yes. Thank you. I honestly don’t know what to do about it. We can’t have humans coming here on a field trip to hunt our people.”

  Eva nodded. “I understand. We need to draft another treaty. One for the humans, stating that it is forbidden to harm our kind, the same way it is forbidden for us to show our true form or harm them.”

  “I agree,” I said. “It needs to go both ways.”

  “But where’s the fun in that?” Ash’s eyes glowed like fire, and Eva reached for her katana strapped at her hip. I heard a low growl come from behind me. I turned and saw a pair of wolf shifters. And everyone was staring at the petite blonde beside me with seaweed in her hair and seawater eyes.

  “Emily,” Ash growled.

  “Emily, what are you doing here?” says Eva. She flipped her long tangled and dripping wet locks over her shoulder.

  “You invited me to this little shindig. I can’t refuse a party, especially when I knew so many of my old friends would be here.” She walked toward Ash and dragged her long barnacled nail down his chest.

  “Hello, Ash. Long time no see,” she purred. Eva stepped between the Siren and her husband. Emily, the Siren Queen, just laughed and turned around to look at everyone in our little circle.

  “Henry, it’s nice to see you too. I’d heard you found a mate. She’s gorgeous. Well done.”

  Henry nods, and his mate scowls. “Emily.”

  “I never thought I’d see you again, Siren,” said a musical voice surrounded by bells. Queen Amber sauntered over to join our little party, standing beside Eva with her hands on her hips. Emily sneered at the Fae Queen and then turned her attention to me. I stood tall and tried not to appear weak.

  “I’m not sure we’ve met, Princess. I’m Queen Emily of the Aquatic Realm, Queen of the Sirens. Seductress of Men. Where’s your handsome Vampire King? I haven’t seen him yet.”

  Before I could open my mouth to answer, someone interrupted me. My heart recognized his voice immediately like it was my own, and flip-flopped. I smiled smugly.

  “I’m here,” said Darcy. “What are you doing here, Emily? I don’t remember inviting you. Besides, even if I did, you never participate in any meetings. You don’t want anything to do with anyone but your own kind. So why now?”

  Emily flipped her long wet hair again and shrugged. “I heard about the humans wandering through the veil to your Dragon Princess’s party and thought I might come check it out for myself.”

  Darcy’s eyes turned red like blood, and he narrowed them at her. “Hmm. As long as you don’t touch a hair on their heads. They are off limits. I extended the invitation to all the leaders simply because Emma and I thought there might be a potential incident tonight. We need all the help we can get to prevent any bloodshed.” I watched Darcy speak to the other leaders of the supernatural world and felt proud of him. He was such a natural born leader.

  “Explain what you heard at the inn, Em,” he said. He placed a hand on my lower back, reassuring me.

  Crap. Why did he have to turn the spotlight on me? I swallowed and stood taller.

  “Earlier today, Darcy and I were on our way back to the castle when we came across a group of humans in the middle of town. They were joking about being bitten by vampires.”

  “Tell them about the other thing,” reminded Darcy.

  “Not long before that, though, we witnessed a young human couple talking about killing werewolves. That’s why we’ve called you here tonight. We’re concerned some of the humans want to harm our kind, and that some of the creatures here might be happy to oblige, by showing their true forms or by biting them.”

  “We need your help to prevent any harm coming to either party,” added Darcy.

  Eva and Ash nodded. “No worries. You have our support, Darcy and Emma.”

  “You have the support of the shifters,” said Henry.

  “Count me in,” said Amber. “I do not wish harm to our people, or humankind.”

  I grinned, and then everyone in our group went silent as they turned their attention to Emily. She sighed and flicked her hair over her shoulder, spraying everyone with seawater. Amber gave her a disgusted look.

  “Seriously, guys? Fine. I’ll help, even though I don’t agree with this little alliance.”

  Darcy smiled. “Thanks, Emily.”

  “Don’t sweat it. Just tell me what I need to do.”

  Just as Darcy was about to explain our plan, there was a scream from somewhere in the ballroom. I whipped out my athame, Darcy bared his fangs, and Ash and Eva, Henry and his mate, Emily and even Amber, readied themselves for a fight.

  “Spread out,” said Darcy. And we all spread out to search for the source of the scream.

  As we did so, the whispers began.

  Chapter Eleven

  “He bit her.”

  “He’s dead.”

  “He shot her with a crossbow.”

  “There’s so much blood.”

  I looked at Darcy. He stayed beside me to protect me from the threats in the room. Seeing as I was still human until midnight, according to what my mother had told me. I searched for the clock and saw I still had an hour until my supernatural powers came back and the spell was broken. At least I still had my magically altered blade. We had to hold off whatever was going on until I was able to defend myself. I didn’t want Darcy to keep protecting me. He should be out searching with the rest of the leaders. As we walked, Darcy placed a hand on my arm.

  “Are you okay? You look worried.” It was at that moment I must have been staring anxiously at the clock.

  “I…” I realized I hadn’t told him the truth about the spell. I stopped and turned to him. “I need to tell you something.”

  He looked down at me, anxiously searching my face.

  “What is it?”

  “The spell. It has a shelf life.”

  “The spell? You mean the one your mother cast on you? The one that turned you human?”

  “Yeah. But it didn’t turn me human. It kind of… momentarily, turned off my supernatural senses. They’ll return at midnight.”

  Darcy glanced around him, and I watched him. He looked anywhere but at me.

  “Darce, I’m sorry. But my mother has been keeping a secret from my father and me. She told me not to tell anyone, and I just learned of it while you were gone.” He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his eyes were red.

  “I wish I had known before I’d called all the supernatural leaders here,” he said shortly. There was another scream, and I saw Henry in his true form running across the room, followed closely by his mate. I heard a growl and saw Henry take down a human guy holding a crossbow.

  “Come on,” Darcy said as he took off. I ran after him, cursing my lack of supernatural speed. Hurry up, time!

  “What is the meaning of this?” I heard Darcy say when I reached them. Henry had let the guy up. Darcy kicked the crossbow toward Ash before picking up the human guy by the scruff of his shirt.

  “I… that vampire bit my girlfriend,” the guy said. He was shaking, and his eyes were wide with fear as he took in Darcy’s fangs. Henry and his mate were standing nearby.

  “Which vampire? I am the King of Vampires, and there are not many remaining. Any who do remain are forbidden to harm humans.”
r />   “I…” the guy looked around, supposedly searching for the rogue vampire. He spotted the vampire and pointed. “There! That’s him.” I turned and looked where the human boy had pointed and was confused when I saw who it was.

  “That’s not a vampire. That’s my father,” I told him. “You must be mistaken.”

  “No. Not him. I know he’s the king. He had a vampire working for him. And a werewolf. They attacked my friends. I’m the only one of us who can hunt, so I brought my crossbow with me to protect them.”

  “We have a treaty here forbidding any creature from harming a human or revealing themselves in their true form,” explains Darcy, letting the boy to his feet. “If what you are saying is true, then something is not right here.”

  A human girl with shoulder-length red hair ran up and grabbed the boy’s arm. “Alex? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine. Are you?” Alex searched the girl’s neck. This must be the girlfriend who had supposedly been bitten by the rogue vampire.

  “I’m fine. The Queen healed me. She’s a witch. She healed me with magic!”

  “Excuse me?” I said. The girl looked at me. “Hi, I’m…”

  “Princess Emmaline of the Dragon Realm! I know who you are.” She curtsied and nudged her boyfriend to bow too. “Your mother is Queen Desiree, and your father is King Edward.”

  “How do you know so much about my family and me?” I asked, surprised.

  “I’ve been here numerous times before and have taken a tour of the capital and learned about the treaty and the history of this land.” She glanced at each of us. Amber, Emily, and Eva had now joined us. “I have learned about each of you and just want to say what a pleasure it is to finally meet you in person.”

  “Wait, you’re saying you knew about the treaty and willingly let a vampire bite you?” asked Darcy.

  The human girl shook her head. “Oh, no. I didn’t willingly let him. Well, I did. But I thought he was Alex. He looked just like my boyfriend.” She looked at her boyfriend, who had turned a ghostly shade of white. “I was scared you’d been turned.”

  “Vampires can’t change their appearance. But shifters can,” stated Eva. “But the question is why would a shifter pretend to be a vampire and harm a human?”

  Then I remembered something the boy, Alex, had said. “You said he was working with my father?”

  Everyone turned and looked at me. I ignored them, uneasy with the sudden attention.

  “Yes,” said Alex. “I saw the vamp talking with the king earlier. Then the queen came up, and the vamp’s face went all blank, and he looked kinda lovestruck or something.”

  My eyes widened and then narrowed. I clutched my athame tight in my hand.

  “Say no more. I know exactly what is going on here.”

  Then I turned and pushed through the crowd in search of my father.

  Chapter Twelve

  I found my father at the banquet table gorging himself on a mini hamburger. He stuffed it in his mouth whole and reached for another. The juice from the meat drizzled down his beard. I turned my nose up in disgust. He had zero manners.

  “Father, we need to talk.” I stalked up to him holding out my athame. For the first time in my entire life, I was confronting the man who was fear itself. It would all end tonight. There was going to be no more fear, no more control. His reign was over.

  He turned his body toward me but didn’t look at me. He just looked down at the burger in his hand, ripping at the bread crust as if it were a fly invading his meal, and then he discarded it on the floor. After I saw him stuff a complete burger in his mouth uncaring of manners, I found his behavior now odd. He must be uncomfortable with me standing in front of him with a dagger. I smirked at that smugly.

  “About what, Emmaline? I am busy.”

  “Yeah, busy obliterating the crust from your burger like it is laced with poison. But it is not the burger you have issues with, am I right?”

  He looked up at me then, ceasing his burger decimation. “Why are you here, Emmaline?”

  “I’m here to say enough is enough. But before I air my personal grievances, I’m here to tell you to stop playing games with the people of this realm and the humans.”

  He laughed at that. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Where is your mother? Desiree!” He glanced around for my mother shouting her name. But she was nowhere to be seen. For that, I was thankful.

  “You can’t control her anymore. You can’t control anyone,” I said, holding out my athame toward him, chin held high and stance strong.

  He laughed. “What are you doing, Emmaline? Stop making a fool of us all. You’re a mere human now. You have no power here.”

  Out of nowhere, a bright white light surrounded us and blanketed the entire room like fog. I could see nothing. I was blinded, and so was everyone else. Including my father.

  People screamed. And then a voice rang out over the chaos.

  “She has more power than you ever will,” said the familiar voice. The light grew brighter before dimming and completely disappearing.

  I glanced around and saw her, my mother, standing before us. Guests who were staggering around a minute ago and screaming now fell silent and still when they took in the sight of my mother. Her hair was swirling around her as if being carried by wind or water. Her eyes were white too, and she seemed to be emitting light from her body. She was holding one hand out straight, and it was then I realized she had erected wards around the ballroom. I saw people trying to escape, but they came up against an invisible force field at the door. Some rebounded from it and fell to the floor. Others hit the barrier with their fists looking for a way out. I smiled, and she returned it. It was then I realized she was preventing my father from fleeing, but in the process, everyone in the ballroom was trapped, as well. I had to get the humans and the other innocent creatures to safety.

  “Desiree, what are you doing, you stupid wench? Get over here!” My father’s face went beet red with fury. My mother only smiled sweetly.

  “You will have no more power over me or anyone else ever again.” She raised her hands and shot magic at my father, striking him in the chest. He fell backward on the banquet table. Platters of food clattered to the floor. His eyes were wide with fear, and he had gone pale. Good. He was afraid for once. I wanted him to feel the same fear he had once inflicted upon me.

  The clock struck midnight then, and the grandfather clock chimed twelve gongs. I stepped forward at the same moment energy surged through me. I felt strong. My powers were returning. Magic surrounded me in a whirlwind of pink. I screamed as it overtook me, and I swung my athame out. I lifted it above me and let it loose. It flew through the air and struck my father in the middle of his chest. His eyes went wide as I approached him.

  “Get away from me! You’re meant to be human!”

  It was at that moment I realized all this time he had been afraid of me. I grinned and threw magic at him, preventing him from getting up. He was pinned to the banquet table. But then I heard Darcy’s voice. He came up beside me. I turned to look at him and saw he was holding onto a cowardly looking shifter. The shifter was quivering and looked like he was about to wet himself.

  “Emma! Emma, stop,” said Darcy. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Yes, I do. My father has hurt enough people.”

  “I’ve found the shifter who has been impersonating other creatures and biting humans.” He shoved the man forward. He fell to his knees and bowed his head in shame.

  “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

  “Tell her what you told me,” Darcy said to the man, shoving his shoulder. The shifter looked up and then crawled toward me. I gasped as he grabbed my ankles and began groveling. He even kissed my feet.

  “Okay, okay. Stop doing that. Tell me what you know, shifter,” I said. The shifter paused and leaned back on his heels.

  “Sorry. I’m sorry.”

  “Tell us, or you’ll be living out the rest of your days in the Capital prison.”
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  “Okay. It was him!” he said, pointing at my father. “He asked me to turn into a vampire and start biting humans. I said I couldn’t, that it was impossible. But he made your mother zap me with magic over and over, torturing me. I eventually agreed, just so the pain and torture would stop. I managed to turn into a vampire and bit three humans. That was before the leaders of the supernatural realm turned up.” He glared at Darcy, who narrowed his gaze at the shifter. “So, the king turned his attention to a werewolf, and then a Faerie.”

  There were murmurs and multiple gasps then, and a fae woman walked toward me.

  “I was the Faerie. Our task was simple—to make sure the humans wanted to stay, and if they resisted, to turn them into one of us.”

  With each confession, I grew angrier and angrier. I called magic to my palm and walked over to my father, pinning him down again.

  “Emma, stop!”

  I can’t believe he was stopping me! He knew what my father had done.

  “Why? You were all for this a minute ago. He’s a controlling bastard. He needs to die!” My father screamed as I choked him with my raw power.

  “I don’t resort to killing to solve my problems. People like him deserve to die, yes, but I prefer the law take care of him, instead.”

  “Are you serious? We can’t send him to prison. That seems too kind. He’ll just find a way out using manipulation. Because that’s what he does best. He manipulates people.” I glared at my father, who remained pinned to the banquet table with a frightened expression on his face.

  Darcy sighed. “No. We need an official vote, but my decision is final. I know where I stand.” He picked up the treasonous shifter from the floor by his shirt and yanked him over to where Eva and Ash stood.

  “What do you say, Madam President?” Darcy said. The cowardly shifter began groveling at Eva’s feet now. All I could do, all I could think about, was Darcy and his betrayal. He claimed to love me, yet he refused to stand by my side. My throat burned and tears stung my eyes. I let the tears fall as I turned away from him and looked back down at my father.