Loren eavesdrops on a recording of Darien bargaining with the rabbit-masked person, alarmed when she hears what sounds like Darien agreeing to betray her. She confronts him, then apologizes when Tanner confirms that Darien was lying to protect Loren. Loren is happy when Darien shows her that he has resurrected Singer as a Familiar Spirit, which means that the dog will live until Loren dies. Darien doesn’t tell Loren that he bargained away years of his life to the Widow. He confesses, however, that he has strong feelings for her but now sees that he must let her decide for herself what she wants from life. She says she wants a relationship with him, and they kiss. They banter about how they plan to be together forever.

A phone call from the Butcher interrupts their kissing. He summons them to witness something that will help them find the Phoenix Head Society. They spy on a meetup, where they see Taega Bright, Dallas’s mother, purchasing the plant that cloaked Sabrine’s aura while she was missing. Loren insists they get more information before they tell Dallas what they saw, though Loren is crushed by the betrayal.

Darien uses a picture of the hellseher who abducted Sabrine to try to track him via the Sight. Darien is confused when something magically blocks him from tracking the man. Later that night, Arthur comes to Hell’s Gate to report that he was fired for the espionage he perpetuated at Darien’s behest. Before that, however, he found Taega’s signature on restricted files about the Well. Arthur, fearing retribution, asks to stay at Hell’s Gate. Darien agrees, feeling guilty that he is the reason Arthur lost his job.

Loren and Dallas overhear Arthur’s discussion with Darien; Dallas is shocked that her mother would be involved in the imitation Well. Dallas grows angry when Loren says she would rather stay at Hell’s Gate than get an apartment with Dallas. She rushes away, furious. Darien reassures Loren that Dallas will return, but Loren is uncertain.

When Dallas refuses to answer Loren’s messages, Loren calls Fleet Headquarters, but Dallas has already left for the day. Loren worries when Dallas doesn’t answer her repeated calls. She calls Lace, seeking Darien, who tells her Darien is at the Pit. Lace tells her to avoid speaking to anyone at the Pit, and Loren takes a cab there to find Darien.

Loren worries when the cab takes her to the dangerous Meatpacking District. As she approaches the club, several men surround her and make explicit comments. She warns them that if they hurt her, Darien will kill them. They doubt her, but they leave anyway. When she enters the club, someone accidentally hits her in the face; Darien sees and punches his way through the crowd to get to her. Loren explains her fear that Dallas is in trouble. He scries for Dallas; he and Loren find her unconscious near a pier. Dallas wakes only long enough to murmur something unclear about her mother.

Loren and Darien take Dallas back to Hell’s Gate, where she doesn’t wake for over a day. The sisters apologize for their fight over Darien. Dallas confesses that she broke into Taega’s office and found evidence that Taega has been purchasing the ingredients to transform the kidnapped women into monsters. Dallas didn’t see who attacked her. Dallas insists that she go with them to Taega’s home to search for evidence. Darien is embarrassed to reveal his previous drug use to Loren, but he gives Dallas a strong painkiller so she can accompany them. Darien promises to give up both drugs and fighting for Loren.

Loren, Dallas, and Darien find evidence in Taega’s desk confirming her guilt. Taega appears and claims that she isn’t actually involved with the criminals; she is undercover. She claims that Johnathon Kyle, Arthur’s former boss, forged her signature on the files. She denies knowing the true culprit. Taega explains that Dallas’s father, using an assumed name, was friends with Erasmus, Loren’s father. Erasmus and Roark were both mortals but used the Arcanum Well to give themselves immortality. Erasmus then used the Well to create Loren, as he and his wife could not conceive. He also created hellsehers, which previously did not exist. When humans become immortal using the Well, they become hellsehers. If their aura was not strong enough to survive the transformation, however, they burned into nothingness, which led Erasmus to the phoenix imagery.

Erasmus created Loren and hid the Well, then took his daughter to the temple. Roark and Taega adopted her, changed their names, and began hiding their auras to keep Loren safe from Erasmus’s enemies. Taega doesn’t know where the Well is, but she is confident it can’t be destroyed. Darien is less confident. Taega explains that Loren’s blood sugar issue is because her human body is ill-equipped to handle the magic she inherited. Police begin knocking at the door to arrest Taega. Taega helps Loren, Darien, and Dallas escape and evade arrest.

Back at Hell’s Gate, Darien reassures Loren that she is the same person she has always been, despite this new knowledge about her origins. They wonder how they can help Taega, who was set up to take the fall for the real criminals. After Loren goes to bed, Darien calls Detective Finn Solace and asks for Taega’s release. Finn believes Taega has been set up, even though her possessions were found at one of the murder sites. Finn promises to call when he knows more.

Loren goes to work the following day, shocked to see that a previously near-death plant is now thriving. She recalls Darien cutting his hand while repotting the plant and wonders if his blood helped heal the plant. This gives her the idea that hellseher’s blood might help heal the transformed demons, as hellseher’s power came from the Well. She leaves a message for Darien explaining her idea, then goes to the hospital to bring a soil sample to Tanner’s mother.

She sees Headmaster Langdon’s daughter there, recovering from a surgery to help with the paralysis in her legs. Calanthe and the headmaster enter the room. Loren realizes that Calanthe orchestrated the kidnappings and the alliance to get information on Loren and, through her, the Well. She also urged Randal to take the Blood Covenant with Darien so that Loren would be motivated to find the Well. Calanthe also set up Taega. Langdon, her collaborator, allowed Loren and Dallas to take the restricted book so that they could continue their search. Calanthe has the other half of the missing scroll, which tells her that Loren can operate the Well in addition to finding it.

Calanthe insists that finding the Well is for the greater good, as it will cure the Tricking. She plans to send anyone who doesn’t want to be immortal to “blood farms” for vampires to feed off. Randal enters the room and uses his power to throw Loren across the room, which knocks her unconscious.

Darien pursues a gangster who has purchased Blood Potions for the bounty. He is surprised and confused when Loren calls and abruptly breaks up with him, then quickly hangs up. Hurt, he attends a summons by the Butcher. The Butcher reports that Chrysantha was buying Blood Potions and giving them to Calanthe. He theorizes that Chrysantha didn’t know what she was purchasing and that she was transformed into a demon after trying to stop buying for Calanthe.

The potions that Chrysantha sold erase memories and make someone compliant, which is why Sabrine doesn’t remember her time while kidnapped. Mixing the potion with Nacht Essentia, the aura-hiding plant, creates a false aura; this is how Calanthe convinced Darien she was telling the truth. The plant has an opposite, Dies Essentia, which exposes an aura. They used this plant to lure Logan to find Sabrine. This information makes Darien suspicious and worried; he asks Tanner to track Loren’s cell phone.

Loren, in Randal’s lair, begs Headmaster Langdon to free her. He dislikes the violence of the quest but wants his daughter to be healed. Randal and Calanthe return; Randal confirms that Langdon made Loren pretend to break up with Darien. Randal uncovers a Well replica and throws Loren inside. She is covered by a pool of chemicals and Randal’s magic, which causes her extreme pain. It goes on for a long time, stopping only when Darien and his Familiar Spirit enter the room.

Darien is furious to see Loren battered and bleeding, but he doesn’t dare approach while Randal’s magic could kill her. He offers to trade anything for Loren’s release. Randal threatens to kill Loren if Darien doesn’t take a pill that Randal offers him. Darien does, and it renders his Familiar Spirit unconscious. Darien struggles to focus against the effects of the drugs, but he uses a feature on his watch to record and broadcast everything he hears to the other Devils. Randal threatens Loren until Darien reveals where he has hidden the other half of the scroll, which contains instructions on operating the Well. Randal leads Darien away, and Darien uses his power to push Loren into the current of a nearby river so she can escape.