It lifted a big arm with slow purpose. How she knew it was coming towards her and not her sisters who were huddled so closely around her, she didn’t know, but her gut told her the thing was focused on her.

Chloe watched with her heart in her throat as its great big arm straightened towards her.

Slowly, one single finger extended until it pointed straight at her.

“Kllllllloooooowwwweeeeee. ” The deep voice seemed to come from the belly of the earth itself. Chloe felt icy liquid fill her veins. A small part of her brain mocked her, so this was what it felt like to be frozen with fear.

Her sisters grabbed her arms and started yanking her back. She let them, because she was fairly certain she couldn’t move a pinky on her own in that moment. It took her body a minute to catch up, but when it did they all sprinted back to the rental parked in the lot.

Chloe cast a quick look behind her and saw the monster had taken a step closer to her.

She grabbed the door handle and whipped it open. They all got into the car with astonishing speed and peeled out of the lot with the smell of burnt rubber and smoke.

Long after they were away from the cemetery, Chloe still had her face plastered to the back window staring into the night.

“Is nobody going to say anything?” screeched Willow. She didn’t even give them a

chance to speak. “Fine, then I will. What the hell was that?”

Chloe shook her head in disbelief and said the first thing that came to her mind. “Oh my God. What if we just started the zombie apocalypse? That thing is going to go around biting people and infecting them with some virus and the population of the whole world is going to be left to a mall filled with ten shot-gunned armed people, and it’s all going to be our fault.”

Lily snickered from the driver’s seat. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous. How is that being ridiculous? Considering what we just saw, I would say that’s an intelligent idea right now. Lily, I blame your stupid spell.”

Willow snorted in agreement.

“Do you guys want to know what my guess is?” Lily’s words were so quiet, so strong

that Willow and Chloe quieted.

“What?” Chloe had that stupid feeling back in her gut. At least now she knew it wasn’t anxiety or stress. No, she just had some sort of giant monster thing after her.

“We just summoned something. Maybe it’s from the dead, but that thing should

look...human if that was so. This thing was built more like...a demon.”

Chloe gasped and spun around to stick her finger at Lily. “You did not make me summon a demon. It said my name. It’s probably going to haunt me or kill me in my sleep or something.”

Lily only shrugged. “I doubt that. Well okay, I can’t be sure but I’ll find out, I promise.

I’d never let anything like that happen to you, Chloe.”

Chloe softened. That was true. Besides, if anyone had supernatural hookups it was Lily.

“One thing I do know though,” Lily was saying. “It said your name and has the blanket we sat on. That means it probably has your scent and will be coming for you. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s something we have to prepare for.”

“Shit,” Willow said.

“Agreed.” Chloe was in deep. She knew it and her gut really knew it.

“No offense but it’s technically the 31th right now.” Chloe grimaced at Willow’s

observation. It was 2:00 AM. Officially right now she and Willow were 29 years old. They were now owned by two strange men.

Feeling miserable, she turned to stare at her sister. As fraternal twins they looked nothing alike and were even further apart in personalities. While Willow had blonde hair streaked with brown tones, Chloe had the much plainer version of her hair—a flat dull brown. The only good thing she liked about it was its length that she’d managed to keep to her waist for years.

This year was going to be the worst birthday ever. Worse than the year she’d come home expecting to find a surprise birthday party but instead got an empty house, and even more terrible than the time she got dumped by her incubus boyfriend Derek at her 19th birthday party. Bastard deserved the cake she threw in his face. And the can of soda she’d sprayed on him afterwards.

This birthday was going to top them all. Today she summoned a zombie demon and was

supposed to be given to Tyrian en Kulev, the most famous demon slayer in the world. Her sister Willow was supposed to be Protected by some Alpha he-man. Then in another ten months, her little sister Lily would be next.

And now she had to figure out how to get rid of the deadly, stinky excess baggage that most likely wanted her—and not for a tea party. Life sure knew how to kick a person when they were down.

Chloe felt a thread of bitterness creep in, but she stomped it out. No time for tears or thinking about Papa or how crappy her situation was looking, she needed to be strong for her sisters. Right now, they needed answers.

“Lily, I want you to call your friends tomorrow and ask them what they make of this. If that doesn’t work, try to have one your magic dreams. Maybe that can help us. I think it’s safe to say that the spell didn’t work and if Papa’s will is correct, then Willow and I will be in for a hell of a day come morning.”

“I won’t just let some man take me,” Willow said between clenched teeth.

Lily parked the car at the hostel they were staying at. Chloe looked over at her sister.

There was so much in her she wished she had—like guts, athleticism, and strength.

“If you don’t want him, then you don’t have to have him.”

Willow exhaled a genuine sigh. “I’m glad you said that, because I’m outta here. Like, now. Tonight. I’m not giving the Alpha shapeshifter a chance to track me. He’s a beast and probably has a nose that puts hellhounds to shame. So if it’s all right with you guys, I’m going to pack some supplies and get out.”

The thought of her twin, her sister, leaving had her automatically protesting the idea.

“But where will you go? You need supplies. It’s dangerous out there, Willow. Besides we’re in Europe, not exactly our backyard.”

Willow grinned that cocky, taunting grin that said she could win any fight, any challenge, any time. And Chloe was sure she could.

“I’ll get the necessities from a store, buy a satellite phone, call you both with the number, and then I’m out of here. On foot, by plane, by car, whatever. He’s not fetching me like some piece of meat. Whatever happens we have to stay in contact. Everyone keep their phones on and charged at all times. Chloe, call me the second you see the vamp. You’re both welcome to come with me, you know.”

Chloe and Lily both laughed which got them a hard glare from Willow. “Oh come on, sis.

We’d just cramp your style. You’re much too...active for Lily and me. Call me, pack a knife, and be safe. I’ll let you know if the vampire finds me. I’m not gonna go back home yet. I need time to think. Especially time to figure out a plan to ditch the vampire.” Chloe turned to Lily. “If, and I mean if, Willow and I are both taken will you be okay?”

Lily smiled big with a mischievous glint in her eye. “I think you both will be fine. No need to worry about me, I have a year until this happens. You both have a matter of hours.”

That thought somehow scared her more than that monster did.

Tyrian’s team had been gone for five hours too long. The commander of the Atal

Warriors did not need to check the time to know that his team should be back by now. Just how bad things had gone, he didn’t know.

Unlike some commanders, he did not require constant communication from his men.

Most of the time their jobs required complete and utter silence. He’d seen good, strong warriors die because a cell phone rang in his pocket. Technology had many uses; some of those endangered his men. It was careless. It was unacceptable.