Eli’s hands shook on the shotgun. His eyes narrowed, jaw tight. He’d seen monsters before, but never one that smiled like it remembered family dinners and childhood fights.Vivian stepped sideways, circling, blade ready. Her eyes never left Rory’s glowing ones. “Dylan, snap out of it. That thing is not your brother. It wants you dead.”But Dylan couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. His chest burned as Rory’s grip tightened. His brother’s face—scarred, ruined, wrong—was inches from his. He could smell blood and smoke on him, the exact smell from the night everything burned.“Why, Dylan?” Rory rasped, voice warping, deeper, echoing as though two people were speaking at once. “Why did you leave me? Why didn’t you come back for me?”Dylan’s heart felt like it stopped. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a broken gasp. Memories slammed into him—his little brother’s hand reaching through the flames, Dylan screaming his name, and then nothing but fire and silence.“I… I thought you wer