Biting Cold: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel (CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES SERIES)

didn’t deserve.
    “The world is a cruel place,” he said. “Often unfair.” Dominic moved to the window and looked outside, then back at me.
    “I’ll be back in a moment,” he said. “Don’t move.”
    He strode from the room. For a moment, I hoped he might have seen someone outside—a rescuer intent on saving me. But the world remained quiet.
    I shuddered with exhaustion, the edge of my arm grazing a band of sunlight. Pain shot through me, and I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. If things got worse, I could stand up, squeezing myself into the tiny sliver of space. But then I’d be out of room, without even my jacket to protect me.
    That he’d taken away my jacket just to bare my arms and expose me to even more sunlight was disgustingly thorough. I guessed I should have been thankful he hadn’t stripped me naked and left me entirely vulnerable, not that the clothes would help much when my bit of shade was gone.
    And it was disappearing fast.
    Please, someone, find me , I thought.
    Merit?
    My name echoed in my head. I thought a panicky response. Ethan?
    It’s Morgan. I’m with Ethan. He’s here. He asked me to talk to you. Do you know where you are?
    I closed my eyes in relief. I’d all but forgotten about my connection with Morgan Greer. Thank God someone had remembered.
    I looked around the room, the images blurry, my head swimming with exhaustion. I don’t know. I’m in a room; there’s a lot of sunlight. I’m trying to stay in the shade. But there’s not much left .
    Can you see anything? Does anything look familiar?
    I squeezed my eyes closed to clear my vision, then opened them again. I squinted against the sunlight and caught a glance of red outside the window. My retinas burned viciously.
    Red , I told him, closing my eyes again and weeping in relief. There’s red outside .
    For a moment, there was only silence. Panic stabbed through me. Morgan? Are you there? Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me .
    I’m here, Merit. Jeff and Catcher and Ethan are here. We’re talking about where you might be. Can you tell me what kind of red you can see? Bright red? Dark red?
    I swallowed thickly and made myself look again. Dark red. Orange-red .
    Anything else?
    Tears slipped from my eyes. I don’t know. I’m so tired .
    I know you are. But you must concentrate. What else is around you?
    I can’t see anything else .
    That’s okay, Merit. Use your other senses. What do you smell? What do you hear?
    I closed my eyes and loosened the barriers against the sights and smells of the room. I heard the scuffle and coos of pigeons roosting in the ceiling above me and felt the damp breeze in the air.
    I think we’re near the lake , I told Morgan.
    That’s good, Merit. What else?
    He meant it wasn’t enough to know I was near the lake. Lake Michigan was enormous, and they might never find me.
    No , I told myself. Focus. If you want to live through this, focus!
    I tried again, letting my senses explore the world around me. More pigeons. Gravel. Damp and dying grass.
    And beneath all of those smells, a sharp, dry scent. Something powdery. Something dusty.
    Something familiar.
    I searched my mind for the memory, but my brain was sluggish.
    Merit? Are you still there? Ethan is asking about you .
    Morgan meant it encouragingly, but I could tell it was hard for him to mention Ethan’s name, to reference our relationship.
    He was hurting himself to help me , I thought, and that realization was enough to focus my mind and send the memory back into sharp focus: I was standing in a room, and Seth Tate was seated at a table before me. The smells of lemon and sugar filled the air. But beneath that scent, there was something more . . . the same scent of chalk that I smelled now.
    I knew where I was.
    The ceramics factory , I said.
    It was an abandoned compound where Seth Tate had been held before he’d sought out the Maleficium . I’d visited him there— here —twice. Both times at night, but both times for a good long while as Tate taught me about the Maleficium and magic.
    There are pigeons above me .
    They know where you are, Merit. They’re coming for you. Hang on .
    Please don’t leave me . I skittered an inch deeper into the corner. If they didn’t find me in time, I didn’t want to be alone. Not here. Not in this place with Tate.
    I won’t , he said. I’m right here .
    I don’t know how many minutes or hours passed, but I was standing in the corner, my back pressed