Chapter 9 Alaric
Alaric
Location spells needed maps to pinpoint the item’s location. Not exactly rocket science. How had the witch not known this?
I watched her face fall as the realization that we wouldn’t be able to do the spell today sank in. Since I was going home the minute I left this crypt, she’d have to find some other mug to help her.
Part of me didn’t much like that, but I squashed it like a bug.
“Stars, I didn’t think.” Her cheeks flushed pink. The other witch’s shoulders slumped in despair while the incubus frowned.
“I’d offer to fetch a map, but I have no idea where there are any,” he told the witch in a surprisingly gentle voice.
I still didn’t understand his role in this mess.
While he’d strongly implied he was the witch’s mate, I remained unconvinced.
The goddess wouldn’t match that sex-obsessed lunatic with a sweet, naive little witch. It made no sense.
“Yeah,” the other witch agreed. “Everyone uses navigation apps these days. I don’t suppose the spell will work with the BroomNav app.” She pulled her phone from her jeans pocket and frowned. “Guess we could try it?”
“There aren’t enough of the ingredients to try it.
If it doesn’t work, you’re back at square one,” I pointed out.
I didn’t fancy my chances of retrieving another pegasus feather.
Brianna had nearly caught me last time, and she was still suspicious as hell about my bullshit explanation for poking around in Dad’s study.
“I’ve messed up.” Raven’s eyes welled up, and she wiped a tear away with her sleeve. “I don’t have time to mess up!” The incubus made a show of rubbing her back and whispering sweet nothings in her ear as she snuggled into his chest.
The tether in my chest throbbed. It demanded that I go to her. Comfort her. Naturally, I ignored it.
“Okay, well I’m out of here,” I announced. “Can one of you drop me back at campus?” The other witch looked between me and the incubus but didn’t offer her teleportation services. Maybe we were too far away? Fuck. If the incubus had dropped us hundreds of miles away, I was fucked.
I glared at him, but he was too busy mooning over Raven, so I took a step forward to yank him away from her. Only a small furry kitsune pinged into view with a stack of paper between its teeth.
Was this the witch’s familiar? I could have sworn it had white fur the last time I’d seen it. This kitsune had gray fur.
“Oh my goddess, Kenji!” So it was the witch’s familiar. Bit odd that its fur had changed color. Not that I knew much about kitsunes, as they were on the endangered list.
The kitsune dropped the paper at my feet. I picked it up and grimaced at the tooth marks and spit all over the creased edges, but when I unfolded the document, I realized the creature had found a map. An old one, judging from the faded lines and yellow stains.
No one made maps like this anymore. Montgomery’s office held the only ones I knew of.
“Is this from the headmaster’s office?” I stared at the kitsune and he stared right back, his beady black eyes gleaming with intelligence. “You know that’s technically theft, right?” The kitsune bared its teeth and hissed.
“Kenji doesn’t steal,” Raven assured me. “He borrows things and puts them back.”
The incubus snorted.
“Now we have a map, at least I assume it’s a map, so we can do the spell,” the witch’s friend said hurriedly.
“You better hope the kitsune returns this once we’re done, or Montgomery will lose his shit.” He wouldn’t go after me, but he would punish the others.
Raven ignored me. She shoved the incubus away and snatched the map from my hands. I watched as she placed it on the stone table and laid the rest of the spell ingredients out, a look of determination on her face.
“If this spell doesn’t work, the headmaster is the least of my concerns,” she told me.
“You never said what or whom you are trying to locate.” Now that we were about to cast the spell, it occurred to me I ought to check she wasn’t doing anything illegal.
Given the incubus’s involvement, it seemed likely.
That fucker had a hand in most of the shady shit going on.
And from the shifty way the witch’s familiar kept glancing at the door, he was no innocent either.
“It’s a who,” she said, chewing her lip while watching me. Something passed between us. My magic flared and tugged me forward, desperate for me to be closer to her.
My mate.
Even if I could never acknowledge that fact.
“Who do you need to find?” The other witch looked between me and Raven while the incubus leaned against the wall, his body tense. Was he worried I’d react badly to whatever she was about to tell me?
He was right to be worried.
Not that I could physically hurt her, which he no doubt knew. But I could do things that would hurt her by association.
My father had written a whole how-to manual on hurting one’s soul-bonded mate while triggering no painful consequences.
Raven glanced at her friend and then at the incubus. I watched as her hand reached for the amulet around her neck.
The black gem intrigued me. I wasn’t certain, but it looked a lot like satanite. Why would a witch have a gem from the hell realm? It made no sense.
She closed her eyes for a moment before speaking.
“I need to locate a missing vampire.”
I scoffed. “The vamps are all dead. Are you planning to travel beyond the veil to chat with one of them?”
Her lip wobbled. “This one’s not dead, but if I don’t find him soon, he will be.” Tears sparkled like diamonds in her eyes, and once again, the magical tether between us went haywire. I hated the damn thing. It had caused me nothing but pain from the moment I first ran into her in the food hall.
Stupid fucking soul-bond.
“Okay, so one vampire survived.” I rolled my eyes, not at all convinced any of them had, in fact, survived. The blood-borne virus had been brutal and effective. “So put me out of my misery. Which bloodsucker are we looking for?”
The thought of finding a vamp made me smirk. My father would lose his shit if it turned out at least one bloodsucker was still alive. Vampires had always been the biggest threat to his plans, which was why he’d never shed a tear at their demise.
“Rasmus Dvorak.”
My jaw dropped. That was not a name I expected to hear. The crown prince? What the actual fuck? If the heir to the vampire throne had survived the virus, my father was in big trouble.
My lips quirked up as hope bloomed for the first time ever.