“To track them, I’m going to need an item that belonged to each of them,” Cassandra said. “The closer they are emotionally to the item, the more accurate the spell will be.”
“Raven and I are imprinted,” I said. “Our souls are connected. Would that work?”
“It’s perfect.” Cassandra nodded, and then turned to Thomas. “And for Sage?” she asked. “I know it’s been a few years since she stayed with us over the summers, but you must still have something here of hers that she valued.”
“I do.” Thomas nodded and stepped forward, wearing his constant mask of calm. “Because Sage and I are imprinted as well.”
2
Noah
I stared at Thomas in shock. “When did this happen?” I asked.
“Right before we left for the demon hunt.” He cleared his throat in a rare display of discomfort. “It was when the two of us spoke alone in here. We imprinted on each other.”
I knew the moment he was referring to. It was when Thomas had convinced Sage to allow him to join us on the hunt.
I figured he’d had a compelling argument to convince her. But given their history, I hadn’t expected things had gone farther than talking.
I’d been wrong. Because clearly they’d kissed.
That was how shifters imprinted on each other.
Thomas and I definitely had a lot to chat about later—such as why shifters were suddenly able to imprint on both humans and vampires.
But first, we needed to find our girls.
“Tell us what we need to do,” I said, turning to Cassandra.
If the witch was surprised that shifters were imprinting outside our species, she did a good job at hiding it. Instead, she was focused on lighting the candles, the smells of the correlating scents filling the room.
“I can only track one thing at a time.” She lit the last candle and blew out the match. “So while I hope the girls are still together, I’ll need to track them both separately. I’ll hold my pendulum with my right hand, and whichever one of you wants to go first will hold onto my left.”
“I’m going first.” Thomas walked toward Cassandra and reached for her hand. Then he glared at me. “After all, we wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t brought Sage into it in the first place.”
If I hadn’t brought Sage here, she would still be in LA, hating Thomas for breaking their engagement without properly explaining why. My claws ached at the tips of my fingers, wanting to break through and fight Thomas for trying to blame me for this.
But I took a deep breath and reeled it in. I knew better than to provoke the vampire prince now. Not when Raven’s life was more and more in danger with each passing minute.
All I cared about now was saving her. So I nodded, holding the vampire’s gaze. If he was surprised by my reaction, he didn’t show it.
Cassandra took that as a cue to begin the spell. As she chanted the ancient words, the three of us stared at the crystal point of the pendulum, waiting for it to move.
It stayed perfectly still.
Worry creased Cassandra’s brow. “Maybe it’ll help if you think about her,” she said to Thomas, although she sounded less confident than before.
“I am thinking about her,” he said sharply.
The witch nodded and returned her focus to the pendulum. She stared at it, like she was trying to will it to move.
But still, nothing.
“Maybe the imprint bond isn’t the best thing to use,” Thomas finally said. “Sage has some things in her room. I’ll go grab them.”
“No.” Cassandra shook her head, her eyes sad. “I know witches who have worked with shifters for the exact same thing. Locating a person they’d imprinted on. The imprint bond was the best thing to use. It gave the fastest, most accurate reading.”
“But I’m not a shifter,” Thomas said—as if any of us needed reminding. “Maybe the fact that we’re different species is messing with the spell.”
It sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her.
“It’s worth a try.” Cassandra pursed her lips, although she didn’t sound like she believed it would work. “Go find something of hers. In the meantime, I’ll work with Noah to try tracking Raven.”
Determination flashed in Thomas’s eyes, and he zipped out of the dining room to search for something that belonged to Sage.
Finally. My turn.
I walked over to Cassandra and took her hand in mine. Her palm was clammy. I could smell the anxiety seeping from her pores. Tangy and bitter.
If we couldn’t locate Raven…
I shook the thought away, not wanting to consider it. At least not yet. Just because we couldn’t locate Sage, it didn’t mean we wouldn’t be able to locate Raven.
“Let’s find her.” I straightened, trying to sound as confident as possible.
As Cassandra chanted, I stared at the unmoving pendulum and thought of Raven.
I thought of the first moment I’d seen her, when she was smiling and laughing with her friends as they walked through the entrance of the Santa Monica Pier to celebrate her birthday. I thought about the first time we’d kissed, when the imprint bond had lit up my heart and dug its fingers into my soul, so deeply that I knew it would be marked forever. I thought about the ferocity in her eyes as she’d run at the demon in the alley in Nashville and killed him with the heavenly dagger. I thought about how she’d listened when I’d told her about my dark past as the First Prophet of the Vale, and how despite everything, she’d accepted me anyway.
I loved her. And I couldn’t live with myself if I lost her.
The pendulum needed to move.
But it was still in the same spot when Thomas burst back into the room carrying an armful of Sage’s clothes.
Thomas said nothing. He just stared at the still pendulum, defeat plastered across his features.
One of the shirts he was holding dropped down to his feet. He made no attempt to pick it up. “Nothing?” he asked.
“I’m sorry.” Cassandra lowered her eyes and untangled her hand from mine.
Emptiness filled my chest. I didn’t want to let go—it was like letting go of the chance to track Raven.
But the imprint bond was still there, warming my heart with the reminder that Raven was out there.
I couldn’t let go of that.
If I did, I’d lose hope completely.
Thomas dumped the armful of Sage’s clothes onto the other end of the table and pulled out a black lace top. “This was one of Sage’s favorites,” he said, clutching it tightly. “It still smells like her—she wore it recently. Let’s see what happens when you use it to track her.”
He thrust it over to Cassandra before she could reply.
I could tell from the expression in the witch’s eyes that she didn’t think it would work. But she nodded, and started chanting, staring at the motionless pendulum.
Nothing happened.
Eventually she gave up and placed the shirt down onto the table. “Both of the girls are cloaked,” she said before we could ask any questions. “Otherwise, I would have been able to track them.”
“Maybe it’s because of their cloaking rings,” I said. “Is there a spell to get past the spells on their rings?”
“Who made the rings?” Cassandra asked.
“Bella from the Devereux circle made Sage’s,” I said. “And the Voodoo Queen from New Orleans—or one of the witches in her circle—made Raven’s.”
“Both very powerful circles,” Cassandra said, and I held my breath as I waited for her to continue.
I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. Because yes, the witches who had made the rings were powerful. But so was Cassandra.
“If their rings had been created by a low-level witch, it would be possible to gather enough magic to track them despite the spell,” she continued, fingering the fabric of Sage’s top as she spoke. “But with rings like those…” She shook her head, and my stomach dropped in anticipation o
f the bad news. Her sad eyes already said what she’d yet to speak aloud. “I’m sorry. If the rings are what’s cloaking them, no witch will be able to track them.”
“What do you mean by if?” Thomas glared at her, as if daring her to give him an answer he didn’t want to hear. “They’re wearing cloaking rings. Clearly that’s what’s cloaking them.”
Cassandra swallowed nervously, although she didn’t lower her gaze. “The greater demon could have brought them to a place surrounded by a barrier spell that cloaks their location. That could be what’s cloaking them—not the rings. In which case, tracking them will be impossible.”
“But it still could be that they haven’t had a chance to remove the rings yet,” I said confidently, needing it to be true.
“It could,” Cassandra said. “Especially since their captor is likely keeping a close eye on them. It’s in his best interest to make sure those rings stay on their fingers.”
“Sage will remove the ring the moment she has a chance,” Thomas said. “I know it.”
“As will Raven.” The wheels in my mind were already spinning, and I turned back to Cassandra. “How much time do you need between tracking spells before burning out?”
She glanced at her watch. “If we’re doing them consistently, I can manage one every half hour until sunrise,” she said. “But I’ll eventually crash and need sleep.”
“Good,” I said, since we had a few hours to go until then. “Hopefully one of them gets their ring off before sunrise.”
“If given the chance, they will,” Thomas said. “But we have to accept that they might not have a chance. At least not anytime soon.”
“They’re smart girls—they’ll find a chance.” I slammed my hands down on the table, not willing to accept anything else.
“Relax, wolf boy.” Thomas smirked. “I agree with you. But it’s unwise to put all of our eggs in one basket.”
“What are you suggesting we do then?” I looked around the room, feeling trapped. I still wasn’t used to tall buildings, and I hated being in them. This whole situation was only making the feeling worse. I wouldn’t be able to relax until Raven was back in my arms.
“We’ll have thirty minutes between each tracking spell,” he said, remaining remarkably calm through all this. “During that time, we’ll talk and figure out another way to pinpoint where they might be. There’s an answer to every problem. And it’s up to us to find it.”
3
Noah
Since Thomas wanted to talk, we quickly caught Cassandra up on everything that had happened before and after the greater demon had taken the girls.
“Have you ever heard of or seen a red-eyed shifter?” I asked after finishing telling how we’d offed the two of them that had attacked us in the alley. “The shade of red matches those of a demon’s.”
“No.” She frowned. “I’ve never even seen a demon. I mean, I’ve seen drawings of them in history books, but they were banished to Hell millennia ago.”
“But there has to be someone who knows something about them,” I said.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “No supernatural alive has lived that long. Not even the original vampires.”
I cursed, anger rushing through my veins as I thought back to the fight in the alley. “We needed one of them alive,” I said.
I’d had every intention of keeping one alive.
Then the idiot had gone and thrust his neck straight through my slicer.
“It certainly would have been helpful.” Thomas pressed his palm flat against the table, looking deep in thought.
“Before killing himself, the red eyed shifter told us, ’Azazel sends his regards,” I said, needing to find something useful in the bit of conversation we’d had with him. “The greater demon that took Sage and Raven must be working with Azazel.”
“Sage should have let me put a tracking chip in her when I asked,” Thomas said. “Then we’d never be in this mess in the first place.”
“When did you ask Sage to put a tracking chip in her?” I asked.
“Back when we first started dating,” he said. “When she was sixteen.”
“Let me guess—she rejected the idea on the spot.”
“Yes,” he said, which didn’t surprise me in the slightest. I knew Sage. She wasn’t the type of girl who’d want to be tracked. “I respected her wishes then. Now, I regret it. If she’d agreed, we’d have already found her by now.”
As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I wished Sage had accepted his offer back then, too.
Not like it would have mattered. She would have ripped out the tracking chip the moment he’d broken their engagement.
But there was no point dwelling on the past. We needed to focus on the future—a future where we found the girls.
“If you and Sage choose to mate, this won’t be a problem again,” I said. “Mates can communicate with each other across all distances, no matter what.”
“How?” Thomas asked.
“Through our minds,” I explained. Imprinting and mating were sacred to shifter culture, and we didn’t share details about it with anyone. Not even other supernaturals. But since Thomas was now part of this, he deserved to understand what he was getting into. “When we’re imprinted, we can only do it when we’re in the same room as each other. But when we mate, we can easily communicate no matter the distance. Or so I’m told.”
Possession flared in Thomas’s eyes. “I’m mating with Sage the moment we find her,” he said. “I’m never going to lose her again.”
I didn’t say anything at first. Because according to shifter tradition, he’d need the permission of Sage’s alpha first. In this case, Flint. But now wasn’t the time to drop that bomb on him.
“Let’s focus on finding them first,” I said. “You can still feel your imprint bond with Sage, right?”
“I can.” He nodded.
“Which means she’s still alive,” I said. “And which also means the girls weren’t taken randomly by a demon who was hunting Raven.”
“How does it mean that?” Cassandra asked.
She’d been quiet for so long that I’d forgotten she was there. Now I turned to face both her and Thomas. “Because if that were the case, don’t you think the demon would have killed Sage the moment he realized she wasn’t what they wanted?” I asked.
Thomas said nothing. Apparently he didn’t want to admit I might be right.
That was one of the things I hated most about vampires. They thought they were so much better than all other supernaturals, just because they were immortal.
“Sage is still alive,” he said instead. “I feel her.” He brought his hand to his chest, and I knew what he meant. He felt the warmth from the imprint bond beating in time with his heart. I felt it too, with Raven.
I was the only person alive who loved Raven and was strong enough to have a chance to save her. Her safety was dependent on me. But that wasn’t the case with Sage.
Sage had her brother—and her pack.
“We should go to Flint,” I said.
“Flint asked me to kill you.” Thomas looked at me like I’d gone crazy. “He asked me to kill Raven too. Unless you’ve already forgotten that fact?”
“I haven’t forgotten,” I said with enough warning in my tone that Thomas leaned back slightly. “But Flint’s the only person who wants Sage back as much as we do. He’s desperate to get her back. And as much as I hate it, the Montgomery pack has power. They can help us.”
“Maybe.” Thomas rubbed his fingers over the table, thinking. “But we can’t march in there, tell Flint we lost his sister, and expect him to be calm and rational about it.”
“Most definitely not.” I chuckled, since calm and rational were far from the first words that popped into my mind to describe Flint Montgomery. “We also can’t forget that Flint’s in the process of making a shady alliance. Which is why we shouldn’t go straight to the Montgomery complex. We need to go somewhere else. To someone we know we can trust.”
“I take it you have an idea who that person is?” Thomas asked.
“Amber Devereux.” I didn’t miss a beat. “Her sister used her Final Spell to make the Devereux mansion impenetrable. The safest place we can go in LA is there.”
4
Mara
I watched Sage stand on her toes, look up into my father Azazel’s eyes, and press her lips to his.
This was part of the way Flint and I had been able to convince my father to approve our eventual mating. We’d proposed it was possible that more shifters would imprint on demons, thus joining our side.
But now, watching my father kiss Sage, something didn’t feel right.
When Flint and I had first kissed, we’d both felt drawn to each other. His energy pulled me toward him, just like he’d later told me he felt pulled to me.
Our species hated each other, but kissing Flint had felt as natural as breathing.
Sage’s red eyes had been blank as she’d walked toward my father. She’d kissed him because she’d been ordered to—not because she’d wanted to. That was how the blood binding spell she and the other Montgomery pack members had participated in worked.
Once blood bound to a demon, the demon’s will became your own.
Sage ended the kiss and stepped back, her eyes still empty.
I already knew what my father didn’t.
“Did it work?” he asked her.
“No.” Sage lowered her eyes. Her lower lip trembled—she was scared. “I’m sorry, Your Grace.”
He studied her for a few seconds, his expression empty.
I held my breath, unsure what he would do. My father was normally level headed and focused. But that had changed when we’d arrived to Earth. He was feeling pressed for time, and it was making him sloppy.
“Apology accepted,” he said. “You did exactly as I asked of you. It was the most you could do.”
The Angel Trials- The Complete Series Page 47
