Harker was watching us all very closely.

“You witnessed what she did at Storm Castle, draining the Venom from Basanti. Surviving it. You must have already realized what it meant,” Nero said.

“Yes.” Harker looked at me. “You can wield both light and dark magic.”

Some considered that a magical impossibility. The gods would call it blasphemy.

“What are you going to do about it?” I asked him. “Wait, no. Don’t answer that. I’m not sure I can believe the answer.”

“I never meant to hurt you, Leda. I would never do that.” His eyes darted to Nero. “Are you going to put that in your report?”

“No.”

“This is remarkable.” Nerissa held up a vial of sparkling liquid. It looked like carbonated water. “I’ve used Leda’s magic to create something that will hold off the effects of the contagion, at least until her magic breaks down inside the potion. The dark and light mix does a marvelous job of confusing Angel Fever, making it unable to connect.”

“So I’m immune?” I asked her.

“Yes. If only my potion made other people immune too. It’s not a cure, but it is a temporary fix. The true cure to the condition is Nectar, but that cure would kill the infected person.” She injected a dose of the potion into her own arm. “But my potion will buy us time to find a true cure.”

“How long?” Harker asked.

“A few hours at most.”

Which meant we had very little time.

Bella ran into the lab. “Leda,” she said, breathless.

“Bella, great timing,” I replied. “We have something that might hold off the Angel Fever. At least for a little while. Bring the supernatural leaders here so we can inoculate them.”

“Stash, half the elementals, and Heather, Constantine Wildman’s other aide, just jumped through the ballroom’s windows,” she said.

“They’re infected?”

She nodded.

“We have to get them back before they spread the infection,” I told everyone.

“It’s too late for that, Leda.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“Come with me and see for yourselves.”

We followed her upstairs, onto the big tiled terrace on the roof. From here, we had a pretty good view of the city. Supernaturals had flooded the streets, running faster than a train, streaming like a river out of the city. And they were all heading toward the Black Plains.

21 The Supernatural Army

I watched the infected supernaturals leave the city, running fast toward the Black Plains like a river of lost souls. I wasn’t sure if their departure was good or bad. At least it meant Angel Fever wouldn’t continue to spread inside the city. But why were they leaving? Whoever was controlling them must have had a reason to engineer this magical infection—a reason beyond mere mass hysteria. Was summoning them onto the Black Plains just the next stage in this master plan? Was it an omen of a great war to come?

Harker had ordered our building to be locked down. Now that Angel Fever had spread to the Legion, we didn’t want to add our numbers to the collective might of the swelling army outside.

“It’s taking longer for the magic contagion to infect our soldiers than it did to infect other supernaturals, thanks to the amount of Nectar in our blood. And our willpower,” Nerissa said when we returned to her lab. “The higher a soldier’s rank, the longer it takes for Angel Fever to set in.”

Harker frowned at her. “We agreed we weren’t using that name.”

“You agreed that Harker,” Basanti said as she entered the room.

“I’m in charge.”

“I don’t think anyone is in charge of this situation.” Basanti looked at Nero. “The building is fully locked down.”

“Good,” he replied. “You, Leda, Harker, and I will follow the army to the Black Plains to assess the threat.”

Bella walked into the lab with the two vampires, Constantine Wildman, the Sea King, and the Fire King.

Harker shot them a look loaded with nightmare promises. “If any of you know what’s going on, speak now.”

The supernatural leaders remained stubbornly silent.

“He knows something.” I looked at the Sea King.

The leader of the city’s water and ice elementals lifted his hands in feigned innocence. “I know nothing.”

I pulled out my phone.

“We have a problem,” the Sea King’s voice spoke out of the speakers. “We need to deal with it before the other elementals find out—or worse yet, the Legion. Tell Holden to come to me.”

I paused the recording, smiling at him.

“I…”

“Before the other elementals find out?” the Fire King repeated, his jaw clenched. “Now look what your secrets have cost us.”

Harker’s hard gaze fell on me. “You bugged his office without asking for my approval.”

“We’re beyond that now, don’t you think? This problem has escalated too far,” I pointed out. “A magical contagion has infected hundreds of supernaturals, including the Legion’s own soldiers, and you’re worried about procedure?”

Harker just shook his head slowly. He looked at the Sea King and said, “What do you know?”

“We’d noticed some changes in Serenity and in some other elementals before the Tsunami Incident,” the Sea King admitted.

The Tsunami Incident. That was what it was being called now.

“We locked away the others, but we didn’t get to her fast enough.” His gaze darted nervously between Harker and Nero. “I swear I don’t know anything else.”

“There’s no time for a thorough interrogation to see if he’s lying,” said Nero.

“My gut tells me he’s telling the truth,” I said.

“As does mine,” Nero agreed.

Harker turned to the other supernatural leaders. “What about the rest of you? Now is the time to come forward and confess your sins.”

“This is not our work,” the Vermillion vampire insisted. “We don’t wave our hands around and conjure spells.” He looked pointedly at the two elementals.

Fire erupted on the Fire King’s hands.

“Put out that fire,” Harker told him.

The Fire King continued to glare at the vampire through his orange flames.

Harker repeated his order.

“See what I’ve had to deal with?” I told him.

Harker ignored me. His hard eyes drew together, burning with wrath. “Put it out.”

I could see his siren’s magic working on the Fire King. The flames on the elemental’s hands went out.

“Now, sit down,” Harker told him.

The Fire King sat in one of Nerissa’s chairs. The other leaders followed suit, before Harker could turn his fury on them.

“Some of you have withheld information,” he said.

The vampire tried to speak, but Harker silenced him.

“Withholding that information from the Legion is what allowed this situation to blow up. The Legion’s Interrogators will sort it out later, after we’ve cleaned up this mess. We’re heading for the Black Plains now. We’re going to follow that army to its source. And you are all coming with us.”

“The Black Plains are no place for civilized people,” the Snowfire vampire protested.

“Coward,” Constantine Wildman chided him.

The vampire bared his fangs at the witch. “This is suicide. What is to stop the infection from getting us too? Then this will all be for nothing.”

“I have a potion to protect you against the effects of Angel Fever,” Nerissa said. “At least for a while.”

She didn’t tell them that the potion was made from my blood. I didn’t know if that would excite or repulse them, but I was glad she was keeping it a secret.

“The stronger your will, the longer this potion will help you resist the effects of Angel Fever,” she told them.

“That means the vampires won’t last long. They are such physical, savage creatures.” Constantine Wildman turned up his nose at them.

The Snowfire vampire launched himself at the witch. Harker froze him midair with a telekinetic wave.

The Fire King chose that fine moment to lose his mind. Fire flamed up on his hands. He swung his fiery fists, hitting the Snowfire vampire hard. Too hard for an elemental. Here we went again.