"I did, too. And she would have." She takes another sip, savoring the pause. "If I hadn't been there."

They'd had no way of knowing that this would happen. None at all. But here they were, and here Evie was.

"I need to fix this, Natasha. Somehow, there has to be some sort of way." Back in the old days, they'd start at the bottom, assassinating those with titles who shared the same beliefs and instilling someone they could trust there. Nowadays, it was much harder to get away with murder. Not to mention, all those involved were vampires. That tended to make things more difficult, even for her.

"I won't be able to live with this, in a manner of speaking."