“Few more minutes to laminate these, and we’ll be done.”

I nod while Katsuro takes the photos away. New pictures for my new life, wherever that ultimately ends up being. New names too, a main one and at least three backups, in case the Houses get their hands on any of the others.

I feel like I’ve fallen into a spy movie, except it’s all too terrifying and real.

Making myself keep breathing, I turn away and head for the door out of the stockroom. Amar is in the main part of the shop. I want to know his plan for all of this. What new identities he might have as well.

“I’ll never get you.”

I come to a halt at the sound of Bianca’s voice.

“You Legacies who…You just can’t see. You can’t understand how much better it is, not getting caught up in all that…” She makes a contemptuous noise, and my stomach twists. “The leverage you’re giving other demons over you? The threat? Humans are vulnerable as hell, and you can’t see how much better it is not to give in to all this emotional bullshit like they do?”

“I see it.”

My mouth falls open a bit at Amar’s response. What?

“I saw it. I understand. But this…Cait…what I feel…I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to. I still don’t. Not with her.”

A blush burns its way up my cheeks. Oh.

I shift my weight, unsure what to do. I’m eavesdropping. I shouldn’t, because it’s rude and because I wouldn’t know what to say if Amar realized I heard.

But my insides feel quivery at his words.

Biting my lip, I retreat toward the office at the far end of the stockroom. I…I’ll just wait for him there, and, um…

I stand in the middle of the office, at a loss for what to do with myself.

The stockroom door squeaks behind me. I look back over my shoulder.

Amar regards me from the other side of the room. “You okay?”

My mouth moves for a moment. “Y-yeah.”

He gives me a curious look and walks toward me. “Cait?”

“I heard some of—” I nod toward the front of the shop. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. I just…”

“What did you hear?”

He doesn’t sound upset. I shrug awkwardly, not meeting his eyes. Colors flare at the edge of my vision, but it’s easier to ignore them, as if the ability is settling now, more in my control.

“How you, um…I don’t know…feel?” He hadn’t really said how he felt, I realize. And I don’t know how to ask him. It’s not like I want to pressure him to feel any certain way. “How you didn’t want it to, um, stop?”

“Ah.”

He steps closer until he’s only inches from me. I can feel his warmth, smell that delicious earth-spice-something scent that’s purely him. His hand lifts, brushing across my cheek, looping a strand of my hair over my ear, and then returning to gently draw my chin up toward him.

“Hey.”

I look back to Katsuro.

“This is going to be all right, Cait,” he promises. “We’ll set you up somewhere safe, and hopefully we’ll be able to bring your family there soon as well.”

My stomach twists. I nod anyway.

“Now,” he continues. “In terms of the flight, Amar will be seated next to you, and I’ll be—”

I hear a shout from Ram, and then the crunch of metal fills the world. I’m slammed up against the door with images flashing by so quickly, they feel like a dream. The blur of the street, of cars, of a woman on the sidewalk with her mouth open in a cry of alarm. The SUV is spinning, tossed from its path like a toy while gravity pins me. I can’t turn. Can’t move. Flecks of something are pelting me. Glass. Fragments of glass like razor-edged stars.

Red paint, bright as a crayon, flashes across my vision. I try to scream.

We crash into the car next to us. Gravity can’t make up its mind, tugging me between the spin and the impact, before giving up on both.

Popping sounds like firecrackers cut through the ringing in my ears. I start to turn, start to look toward Amar, and then something dark blocks the window. The door opens, and someone grabs me. Pulls at me. I shriek, the sound muffled instantly by a black cloth yanked over my head. My body is hefted from the seat and dragged from the vehicle.

Adrenaline floods me. Like hell this is happening. Not again.

Electricity surges over my body. My captor’s hands vanish, and I plummet. Pain like a crimson explosion goes off in the darkness when I hit the ground, freezing me against my own will. I fight to make myself move, to grab at the hood over my head, and after a moment, I’m able to rip it away.

Sunlight blinds me. Blinking frantically, I scramble up, my palms scraping on broken glass and rough concrete. Two guys are on the ground beside me. The SUV is several yards away, pinned between a brown car and a red one. Amar is trying to escape the passenger seat, his eyes locked on me. Through the window, I can see Ram struggling, shoving at the driver’s side door and the steering wheel alike.

“Get down!” Amar shouts at me.

Gunfire tears my focus from them. I race for cover behind a blue sedan while bullets strike the ground, the cars, the SUV where Amar is trapped.

My heart hits my throat, but he’s okay from what I can see. They didn’t hit him.

Yet.

My eyes dart around. Sorcha and the other bikers are pinned in the shelter of recessed storefronts across the street, but several of their companions lie in the road. I can’t see them moving. The car with Katsuro’s people is a mess of bullet holes. I don’t know if anyone is still inside, still alive.

And as for Katsuro…

A dozen guys surround him, trapping him in the middle of the street. No one seems to be firing at him, but then, bullets don’t do much good against vampires. The guys are carrying what look like cattle prods, though. Three more of their number lie on the ground, bleeding out in evidence of Katsuro’s attempts to escape the group.

But the vampire is struggling. The sun is beating down on him. A burn already shows on the left side of his face, blackened and blistered from where sunlight must have touched his skin past his hood.

“Cait, run!” Amar yells. “Get out of here!”

I don’t move. I won’t leave them.

But I need help here.

A plan occurs to me, and it’s terrible. I can’t think too hard about it.

“Katsuro!” I shout.

The vampire looks toward me. Two of the guys nearest to me do too.

It’s a big mistake.

Katsuro surges forward in a blur of motion. The two men can’t bring the cattle prods up in time. The guys topple to the ground, and then the group is behind him.

But the rest recover after only a heartbeat. They run at the vampire. They’re impossibly fast, and one of them bends quickly, snagging a weapon that looks like a crossbow from his fallen comrade. Lifting it swiftly, he takes aim at Katsuro.

Shivers course through me. I can see flashes of colors around the people ahead. The images and the memories, flickering like half-remembered dreams. There are so many that I don’t know if this will work, but I brace myself, fighting with everything I have not to see Katsuro’s history amid the flood.

The visions rush away from me. All of the attackers collapse, screaming, clawing at their faces in fear.

Katsuro is still standing.

A breath escapes me, and I’m relieved in spite of everything. I didn’t hurt him. I controlled this.

Go me.

Bullets pelt the ground near the SUV, sending my heart clambering back up my throat. Katsuro starts toward me, and I motion to the SUV frantically. “Help Amar!”

He hesitates only for a second before he races for the vehicle.

My eyes skim over the street, the buildings, the rooftops. I think the bullets are coming from above us, but I can’t tell where the shooters are hiding, and I’m guessing Amar can’t either. But we can’t attack blindly. I don’t know how his abilities work exactly, but I’m pretty sure a random strike in the direction of the gunfire…yeah, that’s probably going to kill innocent people too.

A string of cursing runs through my mind. How did these people find us? In all this town, how did they know we’d be here of all places?

I shove the thoughts aside. It doesn’t matter. Katsuro’s helping Amar, though, covering him while he escapes through the window and out over the hood of the car pinning his door closed. On the other side of him, Ram is shoving at the steering column. I hear metal groan and plastic snap. The driver’s seat lurches backward.

“Cait!” Sorcha yells from across the street. “For gods’ sakes, go! Get out of—”

Another burst of gunfire cuts her off, but it’s not the same as before. I look over my shoulder as a slew of black-clad gunmen pours from an alleyway behind me. They’re aiming at the rooftops. They’re moving like a military assault team.

What the hell?