Chapter 4

My dad wobbled down the stairs from the hallway, his bum knee pulling a hiss between his teeth. When he saw me lying on the floor, with blood from my nose trailing several streams onto the carpet, his mouth trembled. His eyes shut, and tears leaked from the corners.

"Why, Fin?" he whispered.

I pushed to my feet, fixing my glare on everyone in the room, and tipped my voice with an accusation. "Because I'm not a murderer."

"Yes, you are," Allison growled. "You just murdered all of us by not offering a sacrifice to the Berkano. Parts of the church's roof are now destroyed. All because. Of. You."

I flicked my gaze to Dad for confirmation because I didn't believe a word she ever said. "The nursery?"

He shook his head, and I breathed his words in deep. Mom was still safe, then.

"Where is the girl?" Dad asked. "We can still fix this and send the Berkano away with a sacrifice."

I stared at him, my dad, now a stranger. How could he think this was okay? Would he not hesitate to hang me either?

"She won't say." Allison stalked closer to me, baring her lipstick-covered horse teeth. "So banish her, Marshall."

Behind me and to my right, Hendry pressed in, too, as if between the two of them, stepmother and stepson bullies, they could crush me into a pile of quivering pleas for forgiveness. I refused to give them the satisfaction even though guilt crushed me from the inside out. I lifted my chin, awaiting my fate, while Dad gnawed his lower lip and squeezed the golden-sun amulet hanging from his neck.

Allison whipped her head around. "Marshall," she barked.

Finally, he lifted his gaze from the carpet, and tears shone in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Fin. You have to go. You knew how big of a responsibility this was when you asked to take over as hangman."

My death sentence coming from him burned like a slap to the face. It took several moments for me to push out enough air to speak again. "Do I get to say goodbye to Mom?"

"No," Allison said. "The last thing we need is to expose everyone to the Rift Curse just so you can say goodbye. The Berkano are still out there. They won't leave unless we give them a sacrifice. Fin needs to go right now, or we hang her."

"My daughter won't be hanged. I'll speak to Kit. I know he'll do it," Dad said in a voice that made it sound final.

I'd known Kit since I'd been able to form memories. He used to dress up as a clown to entertain the kids, and I always knew it was him because he'd have paint wedged underneath his fingernails and smell like the same cleaning chemicals he used to scrub the church. And now he would be sacrificed. A human who had nothing to do with the Rift Curse, witches, or vampires in the first place.

My eyebrows drew together as I tried to understand Dad's fucked-up logic. He wouldn't hang me himself, but he was perfectly fine with sending me outside for a long-suffering death at the hands of the Berkano? He'd been brainwashed by this church troll named Allison.

"Dad, don't listen to h - " I started.

"Hendry can lead you somewhere safe. There are more witches out there. Humans, too. I'm sure they'll take you in, and then after that..." His throat bobbed on a hard swallow, and the sadness in his blue eyes pierced through to my soul. "Survive."

"I'll go tell the congregation," Allison said. She turned on her heel toward the door that led to the nave. "Hendry, don't let her out of your sight. Coming, Marshall?"

Dad ducked his head and followed like an abused dog with his tail between his legs. He stepped out of the choir room first, and as soon as he disappeared, Allison turned back with a gleeful smile stretching her lips.

"You won't make it a day out there," she hissed.

"Why the fuck do you hate me so much?" I snapped at her back, but she ignored me. It couldn't be just my lack of church tongue. It had to be something else, like what I did six years ago, even though that had ruined my life, not hers. Because she'd banished me from the kitchen to preparing baths in the baptismal, it wasn't like I had time to turn crosses upside down or quote scripture backward. She had no reason to hate me.

I spun toward the baptismal door, but Hendry stepped in to block my way, his fierce hazel gaze catching mine. Something flickered across them at the same rate that his whiskered jaw clenched.

"Where's the girl?" he asked.

He was supposed to take me somewhere safe. Knowing the games his mother played, he'd probably lead me directly into a Berkano nest. I backed away toward the hallway, then turned and gave him the finger over my shoulder. Hopefully he would think I was pointing and climb up on the roof with the vampires to check if the girl was there.

Minutes later, I was shepherded into the baptismal with a guard outside the closed door. The pounding outside and the shivering foundation had stopped, and I knew Kit must be dead. I forced out a slow breath, my skin heating with shame. If I hadn't screwed up so thoroughly, he would still be alive.

* * *

The next morning, I stood facing the front doors with my hands at my sides, loose, controlled, like I did while singing. I wore the same thing I'd worn yesterday - a black shirt with fishnet sleeves, black tights, and black boots - because they'd once belonged to Mom.

I'd asked once again if I could go to the nursery to say goodbye to her, but Allison had answered for Dad. So, I'd just stood there while he hugged me, whispering to me all the rules I already knew about the Berkano - no talking, stay out of the shadows, don't go out at night, survive. All of his betrayals in the last several hours sparked fire through my veins. I didn't even know who he was anymore.

The gears on the locks of the front door slowly cranked open. A cold sweat broke over my forehead. Bile made a steady climb to singe the back of my throat, but I fought it down.

Hendry stepped up next to me, his face as impassive as ever, a black bag slung over his shoulder with sharp corners poking through the fabric. I carried nothing. No water, no food, no supplies of any kind because I'd been restricted to the baptismal for the night with a guard posted outside the door. I could only hope Hendry's bag was for me. Otherwise, Allison' s prediction that I wouldn't last a day might just come true.

I turned to him and opened my mouth to ask, but he beat me to it.

"Keep up," he said, his gaze trained on the final lock.

When it clicked, the doors swished open on silent hinges. Sunlight pounded down, glowing impossibly bright, and I threw up my arm to block it. It had been so long since I'd seen the sun. To finally see it today, on a day that would haunt me for an eternity, seemed wrong. The brightness flared painful red orbs behind my eyelids. A shadow darkened the doorway for a split second and then was gone outside. Hendry, I realized when I cracked an eye open. And I couldn't see where he went.

I turned and blinked behind me to where Dad and Allison stood, but I couldn't even see that they were there. The faint smell of magic permeated the air, a strong floral scent that belonged to Allison. Had she just put a spell on me?

Someone shoved me roughly forward, across the church's threshold and outside into the Australian city called Perth, nicknamed Tombstone because death ruled the outside.

The door slammed behind me, sealing me off from the safety the church provided, and left me to survive the Berkano vampires.