Ivy's hands were still shaking when she pulled into the abandoned parking garage on Lower Wacker Drive. Her phone had been buzzing nonstop for the past hour—calls from Clarke, from the Bureau, from numbers she didn't recognize. She'd turned it off somewhere around North Avenue, but the silence felt almost worse than the constant noise.
She was officially a fugitive now. There was no going back.
The parking garage was exactly where the text message had said it would be. She'd received it twenty minutes after escaping the FBI building, from a number that wasn't in her contacts: *Underground parking, Level B3, space 47. Come alone. —D*
Dimitri had known. Somehow, he'd known exactly when she'd need him.
Space 47 was empty except for a black SUV with tinted windows. As soon as Ivy parked, the SUV's driver door opened and a man stepped out. Not Dimitri—someone she didn't recognize. Tall, dark hair, wearing an expensive suit that did nothing to hide the fact that he was built like a professional fighter.
"Ms. Novak?" The man's voice carried a slight accent she couldn't place. "I'm Marcus. Mr. Dimitri sent me to collect you."
Marcus. The same name from her surveillance assignment at Tiffany's, the vampire who'd never shown up.
"Where is he?" Ivy asked, not moving from her car.
"Dealing with family business. He asked me to bring you somewhere safe."
Ivy looked around the empty garage. Concrete pillars, shadows, too many places for an ambush. "How do I know you're really from Dimitri?"
Marcus smiled, showing teeth that were a little too sharp. "He said you'd be suspicious. He also said to tell you that the silver bullet was his grandfather's."
That stopped her cold. She hadn't told anyone about the bullet, and the only way Dimitri could know about his grandfather was if...
"He's the one who sent the rose," she said.
"Among other things." Marcus gestured toward the SUV. "We should go. Your former colleagues are very motivated to find you."
Ivy grabbed her purse and followed him to the SUV. The interior was all black leather and tinted glass, like something a diplomat would use. Or a crime boss.
"Where are we going?" she asked as Marcus pulled out of the garage.
"The estate. There's a family meeting tonight, and Mr. Dimitri thought you should attend."
"A family meeting?"
"You'll see."
They drove in silence through Chicago's streets. Ivy watched the city pass by through bulletproof glass, trying to process what had happened over the past few hours. This morning she'd been FBI Agent Ivy Novak, law enforcement professional with a stellar record. Tonight she was a fugitive riding in a vampire's car to attend some kind of supernatural family gathering.
Her life had officially gone insane.
The Rothschild estate looked different at night. More imposing, somehow. The Gothic architecture seemed to absorb the darkness, and the windows glowed with warm yellow light that should have been welcoming but felt more like eyes watching from the shadows.
Marcus led her not to the main house, but to a smaller building she hadn't noticed during her first visit. It looked like a chapel, complete with stained glass windows and a bell tower, but something about it felt wrong. The symbols in the stained glass weren't Christian crosses—they were older, more complex, like something from a civilization that predated organized religion.
"Family chapel," Marcus explained, noting her expression. "Built in 1847. The Rothschilds have been holding meetings here ever since."
The inside of the chapel was nothing like what Ivy expected. The pews had been removed, replaced by a circular arrangement of high-backed chairs that faced a central platform. Candles provided the only light, casting dancing shadows on walls decorated with tapestries that looked medieval.
And the people gathered in those chairs were definitely not human.
Ivy counted twelve vampires, including Luna, all dressed in formal evening wear that looked expensive enough to fund a small country. They turned to watch as she entered, their pale eyes reflecting the candlelight like mirrors.
"Ms. Mills," Luna said from her chair near the front. "How unexpected to see you here."
"I invited her." Dimitri's voice came from behind Ivy. She turned to find him standing in the doorway, wearing a black suit that made him look like he'd stepped out of a funeral. Or a board meeting for the damned.
"You invited a human to a family meeting?" The speaker was an older man with silver hair and a face that could have been carved from marble. "Have you lost your mind entirely, Dimitri?"
"My mind is perfectly clear, Uncle Alexei." Dimitri moved to the center of the circle, his presence commanding immediate attention. "Unlike some people in this room, I'm not blind to the reality of our situation."
"What situation?" Luna's voice was ice-cold. "We've survived for centuries without involving humans in our affairs."
"And how's that working out for us lately?" Dimitri gestured toward Ivy. "Ms. Mills—or should I say, Agent Novak—has spent the evening learning about Project Silver Dawn. Perhaps she'd like to share what she discovered."
Every eye in the room fixed on Ivy. She felt like a mouse who'd wandered into a den of very elegant, very dangerous cats.
"I..." She cleared her throat and tried again. "The FBI has a plan. They call it Project Silver Dawn. They're planning to kill all of you."
Silence. Then Alexei laughed, a sound like breaking glass.
"One human agency thinks it can threaten us? Child, we've survived the Inquisition, the plague years, two world wars—"
"This is different," Ivy interrupted, surprised by her own boldness. "They have weapons specifically designed to kill vampires. Silver bullets, UV radiation technology. They know where you live, who your families are, what your weaknesses are."
"Impossible," Luna said. "We've been careful—"
"They have photographs. Addresses. Detailed psychological profiles." Ivy looked around the circle of beautiful, ancient faces. "They know about this meeting. They know about the blood moon ceremony. They're planning to attack during your most sacred ritual."
The silence that followed was deafening.
"You see?" Dimitri's voice cut through the tension. "This is why we need allies. Why isolation is no longer an option."
"Allies?" Alexei's voice was venomous. "You mean pets. Humans who think they understand us but will turn on us the moment it's convenient."
"Not all humans are the same—"
"Aren't they?" Luna stood up, her movement fluid and predatory. "Tell me, Agent Novak, how long have you been working with the FBI?"
"Eight years," Ivy said.
"And in those eight years, how many people have you killed in the line of duty?"
The question hit like a slap. "That's not—"
"How many?" Luna's pale blue eyes were like winter ice. "How many lives have you taken while serving your government?"
Ivy's mouth was dry. "Three. But they were criminals—"
"Were they? Or were they just people who got in the way of what your government wanted?" Luna took a step closer. "Tell me, Agent Novak, if your superiors ordered you to kill everyone in this room, would you do it?"
"No."
"Even if they told you we were terrorists? Threats to national security? Even if they showed you photographs of our supposed victims?"
Ivy thought about the crime scene photos Clarke had shown her. Bodies drained of blood, wounds that looked like bite marks. Had they been real? Or had they been fabricated to justify genocide?
"I don't know," she said honestly.
"At least she's honest," said a woman with dark hair and a French accent. "More than we can say for most humans."
"Honesty isn't enough," Alexei snapped. "She's already betrayed her own kind by coming here. What makes you think she won't betray us when it suits her?"
"Because she had a choice," Dimitri said quietly. "She could have stayed with the FBI, followed orders, kept her comfortable life. Instead, she chose to warn us."
"She chose to save you," Luna corrected. "There's a difference."
The accusation hung in the air like smoke. Ivy felt her cheeks burn, because Luna wasn't entirely wrong. She had come here partly for Dimitri, partly because of their shared history.
But not entirely.
"You're right," Ivy said, looking directly at Luna. "I did come here partly for him. But not just for him."
"Then why?"
Ivy thought about the files she'd read, the casual way Clarke had talked about genocide, the cold satisfaction in his voice when he'd called vampires an invasive species.
"Because what they're planning is wrong," she said. "Because you're people, not monsters. Because extermination is never the answer, no matter what someone's done or what they are."
Luna studied her for a long moment. "Pretty words. But words are cheap, Agent Novak. Actions matter."
"What kind of actions?"
"The kind that prove loyalty." Luna smiled, and for the first time, Ivy saw the predator behind the beautiful façade. "You want to be accepted here? You want us to trust you? Then you'll submit to the blood purity test."
"Luna," Dimitri said sharply. "That's not necessary—"
"Isn't it?" Luna's gaze never left Ivy's face. "We're trusting her with our lives, our secrets, our very existence. Don't we have the right to know exactly what she is?"
"What I am?" Ivy's voice cracked slightly. "I'm human."
"Are you?" Luna moved closer, circling like a shark scenting blood. "Because there are things about you that don't quite add up, Agent Novak. Your reflexes are too fast. Your night vision is too sharp. Your intuition about our kind is too accurate."
Ivy's heart was hammering. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you?" Luna stopped directly in front of her. "When did you first start having the dreams?"
"What dreams?"
"The ones where you can taste blood in the air. Where you hear heartbeats from rooms away. Where you know things about people just by looking at them." Luna's voice was hypnotic, compelling. "When did they start, Agent Novak?"
Ivy opened her mouth to deny it, but the words wouldn't come. Because Luna was right. She had been having dreams like that, on and off for years. Dreams she'd dismissed as stress, as her subconscious processing crime scenes, as anything other than what they might actually be.
"The test will tell us the truth," Luna continued. "About your bloodline, your heritage, your true nature. Are you willing to take it?"
"What does the test involve?" Ivy asked.
Luna's smile was sharp as a blade. "Blood, of course. A few drops mixed with a very old potion. If you're purely human, nothing happens. If you're not..."
"If I'm not?"
"Then we'll know exactly what you are. And exactly what you're capable of."
Ivy looked around the circle of vampires, all watching her with predatory interest. Then she looked at Dimitri, who was staring at her with an expression she couldn't read.
"What happens if the test shows I'm not entirely human?" she asked.
"That depends," Luna said, "on what you turn out to be."
The chapel fell silent except for the flickering of candles and the sound of Ivy's too-fast heartbeat. She thought about everything that had brought her to this moment—Danny's disappearance, her father's death, her career with the FBI, the silver bullet in her pocket.
She thought about Clarke's cold eyes and his casual talk of genocide.
She thought about the dreams Luna had mentioned, the ones she'd never told anyone about.
"Okay," she said quietly. "I'll take the test."
Luna's smile was triumphant. "Excellent. Marcus, prepare the ceremonial chamber. We'll conduct the test at midnight."
As the vampires began to disperse, talking in low voices about preparations and protocols, Ivy caught Dimitri's arm.
"What exactly am I agreeing to?" she whispered.
Dimitri's expression was grim. "Something that will change everything," he said. "Again."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Everything about this life is dangerous, Ivy." He touched her cheek gently, the gesture so familiar it made her heart ache. "But some risks are worth taking."
"And if the test shows I'm not human?"
"Then we'll deal with whatever comes next." Dimitri's smile was sad and resigned. "Together."
As midnight approached, Ivy couldn't shake the feeling that she was about to cross a line she could never uncross. That whatever the test revealed, the person who walked out of that ceremonial chamber would be fundamentally different from the one who walked in.
But she was done running from the truth. Whatever she was, whatever she'd been hiding from, it was time to face it.
Even if it destroyed everything she thought she knew about herself.
---
End of Chapter 7