Chapter 38
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
“Hey,” Antonio says when he hears the garage door open and shut. “I just talked to Leo. He’s headed this way and—” he cuts off when I come into the kitchen. “What the fuck happened?”
“I got ambushed, but don’t worry.” I cross the room and drop my handful of short, curly brown hair on the table. “I got this.”
“What the hell?” Antonio asks and gets to his feet. “You’re bleeding.”
“Was, I think it stopped by now.”
Before I can even take my shoes off, Xavier is there, standing right before me with my face in his hands, tilting my head so he can inspect the slash on my cheek.
“Who did this to you?” he demands, his expression dark with anger. He’s not mad at me. He’s mad at whoever touched me. And I don’t need him to say it to know—he’s going to find them and kill them.
“There were hunters waiting for me at the new age store.”
“How did they know you’d be there?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, thinking back.
“Were you followed?”
“I don’t—” I start, then stop. I don’t know.
Really truly, I don’t. “I don’t know,” I say again, quieter this time.
“I should’ve been more careful. I should’ve paid attention.
But I didn’t.” The memory replays in my head.
One of the hunters was already in the back of the store.
Was he there before I walked in? Or did he come in after and just drift to the back?
I had dinner with Delphi. We walked a block to her car. I wasn’t paying attention. I just wanted a few minutes of normal. There’s a reason we’re trained never to let our guard down.
“It’s okay though,” I say, trying to brush it off.
Xavier cuts me off immediately. “How the hell is this okay?” he snaps. “They cut you, Wren. You could get an infection, you could—”
“I’m fine,” I insist, reaching up to touch my cheek. “It’s superficial. I don’t scar easily.”
“Someone hurt you,” he repeats, rage simmering just beneath the surface.
“How did you get away?” Antonio asks.
“They weren’t trying to kidnap me,” I say. “Not exactly.” I hold out my arm, already bruising from where they jabbed the needle into me over and over again. “They wanted blood. Fresh blood.”
“What the fuck?” Xavier snarls, his fangs flashing.
I grab his arms before he can bolt out of the room and start killing anyone in his path.
“It’s okay,” I say again. “They needed fresh blood. It won’t work to activate the key—I think my family built in some kind of safeguard. So…” I hesitate for half a second. “I let them take it.”
“Why would you do that?” Devon asks, appearing in the room along with Theo, looking at me like I’ve completely lost it.
“The hair,” Antonio says, eyes dropping to the clump on the table. “You’re going to cast a locator spell. They’re going to take the blood to Vivian.”
“Exactly.” I nod. “The guy was wearing a hagstone, but I ripped it off. He won’t replace it right away. He has maybe a half-hour head start, but I can track him.”
“And wherever he goes…” Xavier says.
“Is where Vivian is,” I finish.
We all go quiet.
Antonio grabs a bowl from the cabinet, grimacing as he picks up the clump of hair and drops it inside. “That was reckless, Wren,” he says.
“This whole thing is reckless,” I shoot back, letting out a breath.
Xavier pulls me gently toward the sink and grabs a washcloth, carefully wiping the dried blood from my face before inspecting my arm.
“This is going to hurt tomorrow,” I mutter. “Movies make it seem like you can just stab someone with a needle and get blood. You actually have to hit a vein. You would know,” I add, glancing at him with a faint smile.
For a second, no one says anything.
“Do you have what you need for the locator spell?” Xavier asks. “You went out for supplies.”
“I have just enough to do it one more time,” I say. “The cops showed up to investigate a robbery. I didn’t think it was a good idea to, uh, keep shopping.”
“Where is it?”
“In the parlor. Still in the bag.”
I move to grab a glass of water, but Xavier beats me to it, handing it to me like I might break. I let him.
“I’m guessing Leo got the message through?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Antonio says. “Vivian moved fast. All Ryder had to do was make sure the right people overheard.”
I take a drink, giving myself a second to process. Part of me wanted Ryder to fail. Part of me wanted a reason to keep hating him. It’s stupid.
Because if he fails, we all lose.
“So Vivian thinks Antonio is a vampire,” I say, setting the glass down. “And that he took something from Marcus Henry.”
“Do you know where she’d go?” Xavier asks.
“The locator spell will give us the exact location,” I say. “But if they move, it won’t keep tracking.”
“She thinks I hid it in the warehouse,” Antonio says and I look at him. “That’s where she’ll go.”
Our eyes lock across the room.
He’s good at compartmentalizing…but going back to the place where he died? That’s something else.
Scrambling, we set up so I can cast the locator spell. If this guy is bringing fresh blood to Vivian at the warehouse, he should be arriving just about now.
I’m working fast—too fast—and I’m worried I’m going to make a mistake.
Forcing myself to slow down, I take a breath and close my eyes for just a second. A vision of my mom flashes in my mind.
I snap my eyes open, pushing it away. I can’t think about her right now. She would be so ashamed to know I’m about to free the demon our ancestors trapped.
The herbs shift, sliding across the surface and settling on a location almost instantly.
The warehouse.
We all stare at it, waiting—making sure it doesn’t jump somewhere else. It doesn’t.
“We have to go now,” Antonio says. “If they’re there, we don’t have time to waste.”
Xavier and Devon exchange a look.
The sun hasn’t fully set yet. We still have at least half an hour before it drops low enough for Xavier to even consider leaving the house. But this isn’t an opportunity I can pass up.
They’re there at the warehouse. And they have the key.
I inhale slowly, steadying myself, then meet Antonio’s eyes and nod.
“Let’s go.”