CHAPTER 54

It was after midnight when Arthur's cell phone buzzed. By his respectful tone and the way he kept glancing at her, Aya suspected he was talking to her father. She'd been worried all evening about the possibility of a vampire war. Her attempts to contact Malcolm mentally had failed.

"I understand, sir." Arthur handed his phone to Aya. "Your father wants to talk to you."

She lifted the phone to her ear. "Dad?"

"Aya, I thought I'd let you know what was going on. We have a tap on Stephan's phone, so we heard him talking to Baal."

"What's happening? Are they going to war?"

"Well, it appears Baal was ready for one. He claims to have two hundred warriors.

Stephan's been on the phone all evening, ordering his followers to show up. We think he has about fifty at the most."

Aya exhaled with relief. "Malcolm has him outnumbered."

"Well, not exactly. You see, Baal made a dea