I like what you've done to your face," Ben said, tapping his eye.

Trying is always enough.

And that's when Anna realized that what the wolf had been asking Bran for was death. Impulsively, Anna stepped away from Charles. She put a knee on the bench she'd been sitting on and reached over the back to close her hand on Asil's wrist, which was lying across the back of the pew. He hissed in shock but didn't pull away. As she held him the scent of wilderness, of sickness, faded. He stared at her, the whites of his eyes showing brightly while his irises narrowed to small bands around his black pupil. "Omega," he whispered, his breath coming harshly.

Humans, werewolves, or, apparently, vampire, it doesn't matter; get more than three of them together and the jockeying for power begins.

I give you Mercedes Athena Thompson, our newest member." Much awkwardness ensued.

Not that I'd really been planning on keeping the attack secret; it had just been an option I'd wanted to keep open if I could.

But that was the trouble with ancient artifacts - no one really knew what they did.