by Jayne Faith
I scrolled around in the image. It was boring, visually speaking. Just a bunch of rocky, hilly high desert.
“Did you stay up all night working on this?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“How sure are you that this is the place?”
“Ninety percent,” he said. “I need to do some more verification.”
I moved past the bounds of the area Damien had marked with a blue dotted line, searching around the perimeter for any landmarks or distinguishing features. I scanned about fifty miles to the west, and something popped up.
I stared at it, and an ice cube seemed to drop down my spine.
I was looking at something familiar. It was only a small length of fence and a corner of what might be a house. The rest, where the remaining parts of the house should have been, showed only flat desert. It was as if the rest of the building had been cut off with the sharp edge of a blade. Or mostly masked using some image manipulation.
But certainty swelled like a tide inside my chest. I was looking at the edge of the compound where my brother Evan was being held.
Chapter 24
“DID YOU MANIPULATE the image at all?” I asked Damien.
“No, just added the blue line to show the demarcation of Gregori property,” he said. “Why?”
“Go west sixty or seventy miles.” I paused. “Do you see it? It looks like the corner of a structure.”
“Yeah . . . huh . . . that’s weird. This is from the government satellite shots that are available online. Someone’s obviously messed with it. Maybe it’s a bomb-testing site or some other military facility they don’t want civilians gawking at?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Remember when I told you I believed Evan was in a vampire feeder den in some isolated place?”
“Yeaaah . . .” He drew the word out into a question.
“I’m pretty sure that’s it.”
“I’m not trying to stomp on your cupcake, but how could you possibly tell?” he asked. “There’s barely anything there.”
“I just knew as soon as I saw it that I’d seen it before. From one of the visions of Evan. Where is this, anyway?”
“It’s out in the Nevada desert. That’s why I thought it might be military. I’ll send you the exact coordinates.”
Damn. It was too far away for a day trip by car. I was hoping he’d say Idaho, or even Utah might have been manageable. I couldn’t ditch the nightly coven activities to do an overnight trip.
My mind had shifted to thoughts of Evan, but I couldn’t focus solely on my brother. Not with what we were facing at Samhain. I felt torn.
“This is amazing work, Damien. I have no doubt you’re on the right track. You should catch some sleep, and I’ll run interference for you at the SC precinct check-in. What do you want me to tell them about all this?”
“Nothing, just yet,” he said around a yawn. “Let me look into a few more things that should increase my certainty about this hypothesis. I’ll know better later today.”
A few minutes after I hung up with Damien, Deb was up. She did another light healing session, and then we got dressed and I drove her out to her house to pick up some more things. I offered to come in, but she told me she preferred to go in alone. Keith and I had butted heads plenty in the past, so it was probably a wise call on her part. After about fifteen minutes she emerged pulling a large suitcase on wheels.
“How’d it go?” I asked as I helped her swing her luggage into the back of the truck.
“He begged me to stay and talk,” she said. “But I told him there’d been plenty of time for that, and I wasn’t interested in more empty promises.”
My brows shot up as we got in. “Wow, that was gutsy.”
She looked at me, her blue eyes suddenly doubtful. “Was it too mean?”
“No! I’m really proud of you.”
She nodded and heaved a deep sigh. I could tell she didn’t want to talk, so I kept sliding glances at her all the way home, trying to gauge how she was feeling. She appeared sober but also surprisingly peaceful.
I helped her get the suitcases inside and then left by myself to report to the Supernatural Crimes precinct.
Since I couldn’t give them Damien’s new information yet, I didn’t really have anything to contribute to the briefing. I told Barnes that Damien was following up on a very strong lead and would let her know that afternoon what he’d found.
After the briefing, I got in my truck in the SC parking lot but didn’t start the engine. I found Rogan in my contacts and called him.
“Hey, does this sound like a good candidate for the birthplace of a horde of Baelmen?” I described the spot that Damien had identified.
“Yes . . . yes, I think I know the location,” he said. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. Your friend is quite a researcher.”
“That he is. He’ll be glad to have your confirmation.” I paused, fiddling with the zipper on my jacket as an impulsive thought occurred to me. “After the business with the Baelmen is taken care of, would you be interested in helping me with a—well, a personal mission? There’d be some danger. Vampires.”
He made a scoffing noise. “I’m impervious to vampires.”
“So you’re interested?”
“Sure, why the hell not. What is it?”
“I want to break my brother out of a feeder den. It’s actually in the vicinity of the spot we’re talking about.”
“I’m in,” he said without hesitation.
A slow grin tugged at my lips.
When I talked to Damien just before dinnertime, he told me he’d found information indicating that Gregori Industries was planning to move equipment or something to Nevada in the next week. He was all but certain that he had the location of Jacob’s ugly Samhain surprise.
I relayed all of it to Lagatuda and told him that Damien would be happy to fill them in. And that night at the coven meeting, I told Lynnette we had the last piece of the puzzle.
A wicked smile came over her face.
“We’ll just have to disappear before SC can get us on lockdown. Then we’ll reappear in Nevada.” She wiggled her gray-polished fingers in the air. “Like magic. And they won’t be able to do a damn thing about it.”
Things went slightly better in the circle that night, with me and Lynnette acting as a double focus. We moved our practice outside, and I managed to stream the circle’s small bits of earth magic to her. Lynnette directed the power of the circle at targets she’d set up, a few ten-foot-high stacks of wood pallets, which were obliterated to sawdust each time she blasted them with the collective magic of the circle.
The third time, I threaded the circle’s magic through the center of my chest, the spot where it felt like the reaper soul resided. With a jolt, I felt my newly discovered magic awaken. When my own blood-red power joined the stream, I gritted my teeth as lightning seemed to strike my organs. But I held on, and the collective magic flowed from me to Lynnette. She gasped and stiffened when it hit her but handled it without a glitch.
When the exercise was over, there was a burst of questions from the group.
Elena’s voice rose above the rest. “What on god’s green earth was that?” She tossed a wave of her elbow-length dark hair over her shoulder and stood with her chest out and her arms folded.
I saw Deb shifting out of the corner of my eye, but I didn’t want her to feel as if she had to defend me.
I faced Elena with my hands on my hips. “You may have heard I temporarily died a while back. When I came to, there was something new. A different type of magic.”
She squinted at me. “It’s not like Jennifer’s hot pink vamp magic.”
“No, it’s something different. Call it underworld magic, if you like,” I said, using Rogan’s term.
She nodded and gave a tiny shrug. “Cool. Anything we have in the coven that’s rare gives us an edge.”
The others seemed to agree. I wasn’t going to reveal the part about the reaper soul unless forced to. And I
planned to be out of the coven before we got to the point of spilling our every deep, dark secret to each other, anyway.
Even though my skill in the circle seemed to be improving, I began to have second thoughts about our plan. Since we knew where the Baelmen would appear on Samhain and it wasn’t nearby, maybe the witches should step aside and let SC take care of it. They witches could still hide out together, but not go to Nevada to face the threat head-on.
It wasn’t that I wanted to back away from a fight. It was more the sense that our options had opened up slightly, now that we knew the threat was more remote distance-wise. Out in the desert, SC would have the space to bring down the creatures without threatening civilian lives. They could turn on all their firepower full-throttle. And the witches could stay here in Lynnette’s place. They could turn it into a fortress. I was sure I could talk Damien into staying, too. His magical prowess would be another weapon in our favor, in case they had to defend themselves.
I’d make it sound as if I planned to stay with them, but there was no way I’d miss out on the battle. I’d slip away and head to Nevada on my own. I was the only one who’d killed a Baelman, and SC needed me. If I could get Lagatuda on my side, I was sure I could convince Barnes that I should be on the front lines.
At the end of our practice session, I proposed it to Lynnette. She listened to my argument but with a gleam in her eye that put me on edge.
“I appreciate what you’re saying.” When she crossed her arms, I knew she was going to go against my suggestion. “But we as a coven have a huge opportunity. I know you’re new to all of this, but let me put it this way. We’re about to finalize our charter. At that point, we’ll be trying to bring in as much work as possible, in the form of requests for our services. If we defeat the Baelmen on Samhain, it’s going to be big news in the supernatural world and in the normal world. Enormous free publicity for the coven. Then, we’ll be golden.”
“But surely there are other ways to bring in business that don’t put everyone at such a huge risk,” I said.
“Ella, do you have any idea how many covens fail financially in their first year? There is a lot of competition out there. The fees I charge for exorcisms and my other services will go into the coven’s revenue once the charter is official. But even with my rates, I can’t single-handedly support thirteen witches plus the operating costs of the coven.”
I pulled back, affronted. “I certainly don’t expect you to support me. I’ll still have my job with Demon Patrol.”
“Your paycheck will go into the collective revenue of the coven. All coven income is distributed equally among the members on a monthly basis, after operating expenses.”
“What!” My voice strained with outrage. “You never told me that was part of the deal!”
She arched a brow. “It wouldn’t have mattered. You were joining us regardless. Remember?”
I turned on my heel and stalked away. It was either that or punch her in her smug, cherry red-lipsticked mouth. I forced myself to calm down, but I wasn’t going to give up so easily. I just had to think of a way to circumvent Lynnette.
Anger actually seemed to help my crafting, and I was able to go longer without tiring. Back at home, Deb did a light healing session. We’d decided that smaller, more frequent healing would be safer. And since I’d had no trouble since she’d started helping me counteract the effects of crafting, we also thought it would be best if I didn’t switch healers. A couple times a week, she would go to a practitioner outside the coven who specialized in healing during pregnancy.
After Deb was done with me, I told her about my exchanges with Lynnette.
“It’s not right,” I said. “She doesn’t need to be risking everyone this way.”
A faint mix of surprise and amusement crossed her face. “Look at you, the champion for the conservative route. I guess you’ve met your match.” She trilled a little giggle.
I threw her a bitter look, which just made her laugh more.
“Seriously, don’t you think it’s stupid on her part?” I pressed.
Her mirth faded, and she looked down at her hands. “It’s risky, yeah. But as head of the coven, it’s her responsibility to do everything she can to ensure its success. She’s ambitious, and it’s one of the reasons I aligned myself with her.”
“Lynnette isn’t your only hope for independence. There are other—”
“Yes, actually, she is,” Deb interrupted. Her face tightened, and her cheeks began to flush. “I’m probably going to have to declare bankruptcy to divorce Keith. My teaching salary is basically peanuts. I’ve got a baby coming, Ella, and I don’t even have a damn car anymore. How in the world do you think I’m going to manage if I don’t have the coven?”
I raised my palms in surrender. “Okay, let’s just talk about it. I’m sure we can come up with something.”
“No, you don’t understand. I already have come up with something—the coven,” she said vehemently. She rose. “Just because you don’t like it, or you have a problem with Lynnette, doesn’t mean it isn’t the right choice for me. I need this. I need them. So please, just stop trying to pull me away from something that’s really, really important to me, okay?”
Her eyes welled as she turned, stormed into my bedroom, and then shut the door with a heavy thud.
I stood in the living room, staring at the door. Loki whimpered and came up and nudged my hand, and I absently scratched his head.
Why did it seem like things were suddenly unraveling? It was like I’d completely lost control of everything. I wasn’t sure who I was more pissed with—Barnes, Lynnette, Deb, Jacob Gregori . . . or myself. But I was more and more sure that I needed to find a way to keep Lynnette from putting the coven in harm’s way. The publicity wasn’t worth the risk.
I only had three days to figure out how to foil her.
Chapter 25
THE NEXT MORNING when I got back from my run, Deb was pale and withdrawn. I made eggs and toast while she was in the shower and insisted she sit down and eat them with a mug of the icky tea she loved.
I sat down across from her.
“I’m not going to try to force you to leave the coven,” I said. “But I don’t intend to stay. It just isn’t me, and I know you see that. I hope none of this has to affect our friendship, though. We’ve been in each other’s lives a long time, including since you became friends with the women in the coven. Things are changing, yes, but . . . we’ve been through lots of changes before.”
I’d left a question hanging in the air between us—the question of whether we could continue to be friends the way we had up to now—and I realized that if things changed between me and Deb, it would crush me. There was a lot I could live without, many things other people seemed to desire and I’d never really felt I needed, but I needed Deb.
She looked down into her mug for a couple of seconds and then up at me. Her blue eyes were wide and sincere.
“You and I will be okay, Ella,” she said. “The coven doesn’t replace us.”
The sudden loosening in my chest prevented me from speaking right away. I just nodded and sipped my coffee.
I set my cup down and looked around. “We’re going to need a bigger place,” I said. “Kind of a shame, the rent is really cheap in this building.”
She lifted a shoulder. “It’ll all work out.”
The next couple of days were mostly an odd lull of routine, except for one glitch. Barnes denied my request to join the team in Nevada. It pissed me off but ultimately didn’t change my plans. I didn’t need an engraved invitation from Barnes to go to Nevada.
I showed up at the SC meetings with Damien, but after he gave them his info on the desert location, we didn’t have much to contribute. I talked to Rogan a couple of times, hoping he had more news about what Jacob had in store for Samhain, but Rogan’s network wasn’t spilling any more details.
Our collective magic drills tightened up as I was able to handle larger amounts of magic with better control. The women were s
till only feeding me a trickle compared to what they could have done when directing it all at Lynnette, but when we reached the point where each woman fed in a greater amount of magic than I would have as a non-focus, I knew Lynnette had made the right choice in moving me to secondary focus. Our collective power was becoming more potent, and even I had to admit that it was pretty damn cool to watch Lynnette obliterate a large pyramid of rocks, all bigger than my head, with a flick of her fingers. I mean, those rocks practically ceased to exist—blasted so hard with earth magic and a few twists of fire that they exploded into a cloud of particles. She’d set up sound-dampening wards around her property, and it was a good thing because the noise of the blasts was deafening.
Shame that I would have to fix it so that we wouldn’t be using our collective magic against Jacob’s Samhain surprises. In spite of the progress, I still had no intention of putting the coven in the middle of a battle out in the Nevada desert. Lynnette wanted to endanger the women for the sake of publicity, and I could no longer trust that she even believed the collective magic would be enough to protect them. I didn’t believe she truly cared about the women as individuals. She’d quickly replaced Amanda with me, and there were plenty of other women who would leap at the chance to join the coven if a few of the current members happened to die in battle. The witches were just cogs in her grand plans for a dominant coven.
The morning before Samhain and the new moon was several degrees warmer than normal. I savored it on my morning run, knowing that soon I’d be forced indoors to the treadmill.
Things had gone back to normal between me and Deb, but what I had planned was going to piss her off big time. I could only hope that eventually she would see I did it because I wanted her to be safe.
I’d consulted with Damien and every online resource I could find to be sure I was correct about my understanding of my coven’s collective magic. Though the charter wasn’t yet official, we’d been sealed to each other via the little ceremony with the locket that Lynnette wore. The only way the coven’s group magic would work was if every member was present and participating. So, if at least one member was unaccounted for at the time that Lynnette wanted to take off for Nevada, the coven couldn’t make the trip.
