Page 29 of Vamp CEO Bit You Where?

"Sebastian," Jasmine says.

I face her again.

"That sounds like a war," she says. "What happens to me while this goes on?"

The honest answer is ugly. I give it to her anyway. "You stay here tonight. Not hidden. Not locked away. Here, where I can defend the walls myself."

"And tomorrow?"

"We'll see."

She studies that. Not satisfied. Not softened. But still here.

"Good," she says. "Because if you start deciding past tomorrow without me, Cyrus won't have to break us. You'll do the job for him."

Gid's eyes move to mine, sharp and quiet. I don't say anything, he can do as I say.

"Seal the grounds," I say. "Then find me the hand that touched her medicine."

We do not wait for dawn. Elias has the first piece of information in twelve minutes. "Camera shell was bought through a clean vendor."

"Name."

"Not yet. But the delivery route crossed one of Dain's couriers."

Gid looks toward the staircase, where Jasmine has refused to go back to sleep and sits on the third step in my shirt, barefoot, angry, and listening.

"Say it properly," she says.

Elias does. "Someone used a Dain courier line to put the camera where you sleep."

"And the pills?"

"Pharmacy footage was wiped," Gid says. "Whoever swapped the bottle found a way to access the building, and the service stairs."

Her fingers tighten around the banister. "So this wasn't a scare."

"No," I say. "It was a rehearsal."

I set my palm on the wall, and it parts, revealing the network. Jasmine watches it part, shock in her eyes from not knowing it was there.

"Sebastian," Gid says.

"Trace all the couriers from the last seventy-two hours. Flag the pharmacy wipe as a regulatory breach. Any clan shelter that was involved loses power, access, and pure silence tonight."

Elias goes still. "That goes beyond Dain. Some of those shelters are neutral."

"Neutral ended when people tried to harm her."

Jasmine rises one step. "What does that mean?"

"It means old houses have places the city doesn't see. Rooms without leases. Roofs without owners. Doors that open for the right blood." I focus on the console. "One of them let someone get close."

"And you're going to expose them?"

"Not to humans. To each other."

Gid curses quietly. "That is still exposure."