[Victor]When I talked to Queen Maeve, she also had no idea what could be killing the humans. I was right that there were fae who historically fed on humans, but not in the same way as vampires. The scenes would have been far more gruesome if a fae that was only interested in blood had done it. Perhaps if it were a being who fed on humans in a different way, but it was only blood that was missing for our victims. Rhett hadn’t had any ideas. He said tendrils of darkness were starting to spread through the town and it was stopping him from seeing much. He believed it was definitely connected to the cult we were investigating. Though Rhett wasn’t any help here, he was getting ever closer to having Harmony ready to fight. It had been three days since Rock found the human girl and we found three more fresh bodies in that time. It confirmed what I was thinking earlier. This creature was killing nightly. It was almost like a young vampire. They could drain a whole human if they weren’t careful. Finn said it wasn’t a vampire, though. Or that is wasn’t a vampire any longer. That could definitely explain the similarities. No one had an answer as to what could make a vampire not a vampire anymore. The council had come back with no answers and none of our allies had answers either. Of course, I had only just heard back from the witches. They didn’t seem to like that this alliance included vampires, but accepted it for the safety of their people. It was like pulling teeth to get them to do anything for the vampire community. That didn’t matter at the moment, what did matter was that they had no ideas either. We were dealing with something entirely unknown and I didn’t like how that made me feel. Echo came into my office and crossed her arms. She didn’t look terribly happy with me. “Victor, you need to go to bed. This isn’t going to be resolved by you collapsing in your office,” Echo scolded. “I’m sorry, princess. I am having some issues. Will you forgive me?” I asked as I rose to meet her. She frowned and wrapped her arms around me when I reached her. I held her close and rested my cheek on top of her head. Echo was on stricter restrictions ever since the dying human was discovered. I didn’t want my Solus Amor to be in danger because of her delicious scent and blood. “I know you’re scared, Victor. I can feel it. I don’t like when you’re scared, but this won’t be fixed by you not taking care of yourself. You should go get ready for bed. When you wake up, we can start working on it again. Until then, how about if I look over everything? I might pick up on something you missed because you weren’t at your best,” she suggested. Ever since Echo took over as the master of the territory when I was incapacitated, she has been eager to help me. I love how interested she is in my work. I feel like I have a true partner helping me look out for the territory. I never imagined she could be that back when I met the frightened girl who was shaking like a leaf when she thought I would feed on her. It hadn’t even been a whole year since I met Echo and she was so much more complete and functional than she had been before. Watching her blossom into a person had been one of the highlights of the past eleven months. Now, she was growing even more. Since finding out that she was pregnant, Echo had become a lot more confident and commanding. She was more outspoken in all facets of her life. Grayson and I were truly watching Echo become the person she was always meant to be. She was determined to protect the children she had to the fullest extent of her abilities. Echo was still training in the mornings with Master Marius. Grayson and I both disapproved of her fighting with Marius, but both of them had insisted that it was better for our family if she kept training. He avoided hitting her anywhere sensitive, but still fought her just as hard as he had been before she found out she was pregnant. “Whatever is harming humans might not stop at them. They’re the more vulnerable species in the area, but how long before it attacks the fae, the witches, or the werewolves? I fear it finding you and being unable to save you and the child in time, Echo,” I murmured as I held her to me. Her little body seemed to mold to the crevasses of my own. She was the other half of me and the other half of my heart. This threat concerned me more than any other threat because of all the ways it could go wrong for the community and the area in general. Echo pulled away from me and held my face in her hands. “I know, Victor. But we’ll figure this out. We always do.” She leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. “Now, go to bed. I’ll take care of everything here.”I nodded, giving her a small smile before making my way out of the office. As I walked down the hall, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease deep in my gut. Whatever was out there, it was powerful and dangerous.When I entered the bedroom, I found Grayson waiting for me. It wasn’t as if he just happened to be there at the same time I arrived, Grayson was definitely waiting for me. His heart was in his eyes, he was worried. “Should I be planning to take Echo to the pack, or to Marius’ house? I don’t want her to be hurt by whatever’s hunting around here. We don’t have any leads,” Grayson said. “No. Our home is safe enough with all of our guards. I know all of our potential leads haven’t panned out. The animals reported feeling and smelling something nearby, then seeing their owner in distress. That’s when the dog went for help. When Queen Maeve took one of our investigators to examine the body of the human that they had, there weren’t any traces on her. “None of the bodies had saliva, hair, anything to indicate who or what could have done this to them. The one thing they all have in common is that they all sleep outside. Not a single one of them sleeps in a shelter or has an established home with solid walls and ceilings. The creature has no pickiness when it comes to age, gender, or race,” I told him. “So it’s an equal opportunity killer. That’s good to know,” he replied sarcastically. “When are you going to get some real damned answers? Everyone is on high alert. Plus, goddess only knows when it will start attacking other people. Just because it’s the homeless right now, doesn’t mean it’s always going to be them.” “Do you think I don’t know that?! What do you think I’m doing, Grayson? Do you think I’m just sitting around, waiting for the next body to turn up and hoping it gives me a clue? I have vampires out there every night searching for any hint of this thing. I’m working with fae seers and witches to find out everything I can. There is nothing. Do you understand that? There is no trace of this creature!”Grayson raised his hands in surrender, “I’m just frustrated. This thing is wreaking havoc and we can’t even get a glimpse of it. It’s like it doesn’t even exist.”“I know,” I sighed. “But we can’t give up. Not until we find out what it is and put a stop to it. We have to do everything in our power to protect our community, our family. And especially Echo and the baby.”Grayson nodded in agreement, “I know. We’ll do whatever it takes.”“Was that all you wanted to talk about?” I asked. “No, not really. I wanted to ask you something else. Do you think Echo is really ready to take on all these responsibilities?”“What do you mean?” I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.“I mean, she’s helping with your daily work, and getting more involved with the vampire side of things. Though I understand, with everything that’s happening, you need all the help you can get. And Echo is more than capable, but I worry it might be too much of a strain on her. Echo is still recovering, no matter how healed she seems. She’s trying to grow a baby. I don’t think she should be taking on so much,” Grayson explained.“You know how hard it is to say no to her when she wants to help. She just has to use those big eyes and I can’t help but let her do whatever she wants,” I admitted. He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I understand. She does that to me, too. Echo would never let us keep her away from what she really wanted to do, would she?” I shook my head. “Not in a million years. Our little wife is stubborn. She won’t let us protect her too much and she wants to take care of us as much as she can. We’ll never be able to stop her, but we can support her. The sun is up and I’m getting to the end of my endurance for the day. Can we finish this talk in the afternoon?”“Sure thing,” Grayson agreed. “Get some rest and we’ll talk later.”As Grayson left the room, I went to change, then collapsed onto the bed, feeling exhausted. The situation with the creature was taking a toll on me. I couldn’t stand the thought of someone getting hurt because of my inability to catch this thing.Rolling over, I looked up at the ceiling above our bed. I couldn’t help but think about what Grayson had said about Echo. Was she taking on too much? Was it too risky for her and the baby?If it were back when I was alive, I wouldn’t have permitted her to do anything other than care for the house and herself. No heavy lifting, no stress, and no killer supernaturals allowed. I would have pampered and protected her. I wanted to do that now, but Echo didn’t seem to want that. At least, not very much. Not to say she didn’t enjoy me pampering her and spoiling her, but acts of service seemed to be how Echo showed her love. Refusing her help would make her feel as if I wasn’t accepting her love. She wanted to keep acting as my support in the supernatural world as well as the human one, so I wouldn’t fight it. I merely had to find this creature and destroy it before it progressed to less vulnerable members of society. The sun pulled at me and I couldn’t keep myself awake any longer. My consciousness was pulled into the dark of my dreamless sleep.