Nico leaned against the wall, his arms firmly crossed, his glare fixed on the witch being questioned. And yet there was nothing to listen to. The witch, Pedro, hadn't uttered a word. It appeared the unknown human hadn't been the only one to agree to a witch's bargain.

Mother Marcia headed in Nico's direction, her expression grim. She motioned for him to follow her.

'He won't say anything, not whilst the spell is in place.'

'Can you break it?' Nico asked.

The wrinkles around Mother Marcia's mouth deepened. 'Whoever cast it is very accomplished. It seems the trigger is immediately after the person in question reveals something they shouldn't.'

'Seems a little redundant. Why kill them after the fact if they've already spilled their secrets?'

'You're wondering why the spell didn't activate as soon as the human was going to speak?'

Nico had wondered. It seemed a simple thing to him. For how little information he'd spilled, it had still been useful. At least they now knew the kidnappers had a purpose.

She glanced in his direction, taking his wordlessness as acknowledgement.

'Speech is active. Something has been actioned that the spell can react to. Thought is not. We all have hundreds of thoughts a day, but how many do we action? Very little is the truth of it. It's too intangible for the spell to work.'

A nerve ticked in Nioc's jaw. The inner workings of witch spells was not the thing he really wanted to discuss.

'What about the other witch?'

Mother Marcia bent to stroke the cat circling her feet. 'He too is bound, but we have found some information. He's from the south, likely a roamer, not affiliated with a coven.'

It was rare for a witch to wander live solo. A coven was protection. A built in family who could help. If the witch was a roamer, it either meant he'd been kicked out of his last coven or had voluntarily walked away. Either way, it didn't feel right.

'I've reached out to a few friends in the south, but the witches collective has already demanded that I report this to the paranormal council,' Mother Marcia said.

The witches collective was a gathering of sorts of elderly, well respected witches from across the world, which were often called upon when an individual coven was unsure of what they should do. They could easily bring a coven into line should they need to.

'I'd prefer if we could keep this to ourselves for a few more days before the council's involvement,' Nico said. The last thing he needed was the council to come snooping around.

'Agreed,' Mother Marcia said sharply.

Nico schooled his surprise well. 'I have my own reasons for not wanting the council's involvement. I would be interested to hear yours.'

Mother Marcia snorted. 'I've heard the rumours about the council. I don't want strangers at our door asking questions, and disappearing with the very people who can give us answers. They take Pedro and the other witch, and that will be the last we see of them. And I want to know what we've got involved with.'

Nico pursed his lips, contemplating his next move. 'Graciane wasn't the first newborn to be taken. We assumed the others had just gone missing. We never imagined...' Why would someone be interested in kidnapping newborns. Their blood was weak. They hadn't enough years to have honed their skills. They were still babies in Nico's world.

The human had wanted Akari for experimentation. Their missing newborns were likely caught for the same reason. But employing witches felt wrong. The pieces of the puzzle didn't fit.

Abai encountered them in the corridor looking relieved. 'Mother Marcia, Xerazade is awake, and she's asking for the vampire prince.'

Mother Marcia looked at him. 'Are you ready to speak with her?'

A niggling part of him wanted to return to Akari and Gabriel, but his resolve won out. He was interested in what the young witch had to say. Specifically, why she was so interested in speaking with him. He agreed with only a moment's hesitation.

Abai led them to a sparsely furnished room. A few photographs, a collection of perfume bottles, and a knitted blanket sat on the chair opposite a vanity unit. The girl's parents glared at him, but they removed themselves from the room with only a few pointed words from Mother Marcia.

'How are you feeling?' asked Mother Marcia, keeping to English simply out of habit.

'Weak but better. I heard that someone tried to kidnap the light walker?'

'Yes, and one of our own played a part in it.'

Xerazade looked down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers. 'I was the one who told Pedro that we were meeting Graciane. It's my fault that she was taken.' The girl covered her face.

'Xerazade,' Nico addressed her, gaining the girl's attention. 'This isn't your fault. You and your friend have been used.'

'But if not for us...'

'They would have found another way if Graciane was who they wanted. This is not your fault.'

Xerazade looked up, rubbing her nose on the edge of her sleeve. 'Please find her. I know she's a vampire. I know that we shouldn't have been with her, but Graciane is a good person. She was dying when her vampire parents found her. She loves her new life. I'd never met a vampire like her.'

Nico was almost jealous of the newborn. Xerazade loved her very much despite the history between their species. It gave him hope that old rifts could be fixed.

'How did you meet?' Nico asked gently.

The girl looked at Mother Marcia, who supplied an answer.

'Graciane's sire is an acquaintance of the coven. He's one of our suppliers.'

'There aren't many people here that are our age, so we became friends,' Xerazade added. 'She's funny and kind and sympathetic. I had no idea newborn vampires could be like that,' Xerazade said wide-eyed.

Nico inched closer and pulled a stool from her dressing table using human speed. The last thing he wanted was to unnerve her.

'I want to find Graciane, but I need your help. I need details, anything that you remember.'

'If it helps, I'll tell you anything.'

Her eager expression caught him off guard. In all his centuries, only a few witches had ever offered help to his kind. He could count them on one hand. Usually his kind were a blot on the paranormal society. The only ones that weren't born but created.

He cleared his throat. 'I need the facts exactly as they happened. The monsters you described, I need to know what you saw.'

She nodded rapidly and closed her eyes to concentrate. 'We were walking. Analu was filming us. I saw Graciane's face fall, and when I turned, Analu was on the floor. I thought it was a man at first, another vampire, but it wasn't.' She swallowed. Her face scrunched up, and her hands gripped the thin blanket around her legs.

'He had fangs like a vampire but talons like a werewolf, and an essence of magic. It was all wrong. His body was contorted, misshapen, and bigger than any human or vampire I've ever seen. He attacked before we could do anything. Graciane tried to take the hit for me, but he sent us sprawling. When I looked up, there were two others just like him.'

'Did they use magic?' Nico asked, trying to keep his voice controlled.

'No. But they could sense my attack happening. She dodged it, like she knew it was coming.' She paused, looking unsure. 'They injected Graciane with something. I watched it happen. She was fighting hard, but after that she just stopped, and sort of stood there looking lost.'

Nico shared a glance with Mother Marcia, who for once was not meeting his gaze. Deciding to let it go, Nico filed away the information for later.

It sounded similar to what happened with Akari. It suggested planning and cooperation.

Nico stood. 'Thank you.'

Xerazade looked like she wanted to say something but stopped herself. 'Please just find her.'

With the last words said, Nico and Mother Marcia made their leave as Xerazade's parents reentered.

He went immediately to meet with Graciane's sire, who had finally been allowed admittance to the coven, learning much the same as he had from his conversation with Xerazade. The missing vampire was newly sired, kind, full of life, and not prone to wandering off. It was the reason the alarm had been raised so soon after her disappearance.

Concluding their questioning, Nico and Mother Marcia went their separate ways, she to overview the continued study of the witch's bargain, and he to the room he shared with Akari and Gabriel.

He let himself into the room silently, already listening to Akari's soft breathing. Already his body seemed to be attuned to the sound despite only knowing her for little more than a day. And yet, if he'd been asked, he could have picked her heartbeat from a line out.

Gabriel glanced up, resting the book he'd been reading in his lap.

'I spoke to Andrés. He's going to get the message out to be cautious, but he doesn't want to start a panic,' he said.

'As much as I think it would be best for a sterner approach. I think Andrés might be right. If a vampire finds out a witch was involved, then this coven could be put at serious risk.'

'And Graciane's sire?'

Nico sunk into a chair, drawing his fingers to his temple. 'He's worried, angry, and wants answers, but I've kept Pedro's involvement from him for now.' He sighed and removed his hands, regarding Gabriel softly. 'You're speaking in English,' he stated.

Gabriel shrugged. 'Akari can't speak Portuguese, and it feels wrong if she can't understand, even if she is asleep.'

Nico raised his eyebrow and kicked off his shoes.

'You scent marked her,' Nico said in realisation.

'Her scent still hasn't come back. I didn't want her wandering around where we couldn't scent her,' Gabriel defended himself.

Nico bit the inside of his cheek as he ran his hand through her hair, imprinting his own scent into the strands. She barely stirred under his touch.

'You really don't see it, do you?' he asked Nico.

Nico frowned suddenly, feeling defensive but not sure why. 'What?'

Gabriel placed his book on the tiny bedside table. 'You're craving her,' he stated.

Nico scoffed and rose, meaning to leave the room, but Gabriel stood between Nico and the door, his arms crossed.

'You know the signs better than I do.'

'Enlighten me, Gabriel, what are the signs?' sneered Nico, but his heart gave one painful thump, making Gabriel raise an eyebrow at him.

'Your heartbeat gives you away. It's synced with hers.'

Nico froze. How could he have missed it?

'And I can see you taking in her scent, you monitor where she is, and her blood draws you in,' Gabriel continued.

'She has an appealing scent, and I'm responsible for her safety. And already she's been fucking kidnapped,' he growled. His brothers were going to have his hide when they found out. He didn't even want to think how Akari's sister was going to react when she found out.

'And you used your power on that human. You made him tell you the truth.'

'I as good as signed his death warrant.' Nico turned and gazed at Akari, not able to meet Gabriel's gaze.

'You weren't to know.'

'Does that make it better?' growled Nico. 'After you, I said I would never use my power again. Before you, I hadn't used it in over 300 years. And now I've used it twice in less than six months.'

'But you know why that is,' he stated, watching Nico's face carefully.

Seconds passed before Nico sighed. 'Four hundred years. Four hundred years I've walked this earth. I never wanted a mate, Gabriel. I knew the danger that would put them in, the danger that I pose to them.' He rubbed his fingers against a temple.

'You can't keep running from this. From us both. You're our mate. Somehow we're all connected.'

'You know why I can't accept this,' Nico warned.

'And what if you don't have a choice? You could have left Brazil as soon as you found me, but you didn't.'

Nico could have said that he'd stayed for any number of reasons, but they'd be lies.

It had taken only a few days of being in Brazil to become obsessed with the quiet newborn. He hadn't even realised what was happening until he'd gone after the people in Gabriel's past. He'd used his power then as well. It was a part of what he feared, that being mated would compromise what he'd promised all those years ago.

'You're wrong,' he lied.

Gabriel only closed his eyes and moved aside to allow Nico to pass.

'Akari needs to know what's happening. She's going to have her own questions. Maybe she already knows. I don't know much about walkers, maybe they have their own ways of knowing their mates.'

Nico said nothing. His knowledge of Akari's kind was equally limited.

'Besides, if there is someone out there that wants to kidnap her, can you honestly tell me that you'd walk away knowing she could be in danger?'

Nico rounded on him. 'And what about you, Gabriel? Are you ready for this? Two mates?'

Gabriel scowled at him. 'At least I'm accepting this. At least I'm willing to try.'

He picked up the book he'd been reading and tossed it to Nico.

'The Mandrake Mortilia,' he quoted. 'The berries Akari ate came from that plant. It affects other paranormals as well, according to the witches here.'

Nico noted the depiction of red ripe berries. They looked harmless enough.

'It means no magic for witches, no transformation for werewolves, no extra speed and strength for vampires.'

Nico snorted. 'Not many vampires would eat these. I could smell them in the garden. The bitterness would repel most.'

'But they can be crushed down, strengthened and turned into an injection.'

Nico's head snapped toward him. 'An injection? Who told you that?'

'One of the men from yesterday, the one who spoke up about moving the girls. He said the coven had ways of protecting itself against vampires that it didn't have last time.'

'Sounds like a threat?' Nico scowled.

'A warning.' Gabriel shrugged. 'Did you really think that your mother's word would be enough to keep the witches happy? They were always going to be prepared in case they had to defend themselves again.'

'Only now people are going around injecting newborn vampires and kidnapping them,' Nico murmured.

'Graciane was injected?' Gabriel asked momentarily forgetting about their argument.

Nico nodded. 'I want to go into Belem today. Andrés reached out to one of his contacts, and we should have access to the one witness' phone.'

'And you don't trust the witches?'

'And I don't trust the witches,' he confirmed. 'As soon as Akari is awake, we're going. She can recuperate in the city if she needs to.'

'You wouldn't have as much access to the witches?'

'The paranormal council will come soon enough. Arguments over my access won't make a difference then.'

Gabriel glanced between his rigid body and Akari's. 'Another reason not to be here.'

Nico remained silent. It was the reason he wanted to leave the coven as soon as he could. The paranormal council still had so much power, but he didn't trust them. Better to have a few miles between them and any enforcers they'd send.

'And you really think you can still walk away?' Gabriel remarked, watching the concern on Nico's face as he looked at him and Akari. 'You're already lost. You just have to realise it.'