Chapter 39
thirty-nine
Kit
It turned out Kit should’ve involved Gentry sooner in the search for the kids.
She’d shaken him awake a few hours later, proudly showing off a hand-drawn map she’d compiled by hacking into the magic-less surveillance cameras around the area.
The piece of paper had also included a license plate number of the van she’d spotted.
She’d grinned at him with that news, the shadows under her eyes making it clear that she hadn’t slept.
She then showed him her work on the computer.
Kit had watched the surveillance, stunned when the masked figures snatched all ten kids up with preternatural speed. Vampyres. The kids had been kidnapped by vampyres. He nearly crumbled the very valuable piece of paper Gentry had given him in his rage.
“What next?” that absolute genius of a girl asked him.
He took a few moments before answering, really thought about it. “You’re going to take your tonic now so you’re ready for the Weavers tonight. I’m taking this information to the enforcers and my siblings.”
Although she looked a little disappointed at the idea of being left behind, Gentry stood up and stretched. “I hope you find them,” she said earnestly, “it’ll be hard to meditate today knowing that some creeps have them.” She yawned.
After reassuring her that she’d done everything possible, Kit sent pictures of the piece of paper to Mary, who immediately acknowledged the breakthrough with a thumbs up.
He then put his jacket on and left the apartment, determined to beat the enforcers to the coordinates Gentry had provided.
He eyed the rooms without crosses suspiciously.
Had the freaks who’d taken the kids live here?
Had they drained them? Were Benny and the others dead?
Vampyres and their feeding habits were strictly regulated in Skadra.
All the hospitals provided them their blood bank surpluses and some covens made a killing selling them fake blood.
They were all amenities so that vampyres had a chance in hell with complying with the No Feed Law.
Vampyres weren’t allowed to feed from humans without consent, and the high magical population in Skadra meant that they had a hell of a time achieving that consent.
Had some vamps finally snapped and decided a defenseless group of witchlings were an easy target?
The flight to the location on Gentry’s map was a fast one — only ten minutes or so.
There were no other witches there yet, only the traffic of both the magic-less vehicles and of the Sky Road providing the illusion of witnesses.
But Kit now knew the real witness was the shiny black camera hanging from a porch.
Those vamps were idiotic to kidnap them here, he thought, any witch could’ve seen them from a broom and it would’ve been over.
But then again, hungry vampyres were hardly known for their intelligence.
Kit looked around the area, scanning the well-manicured bushes and carefully watered grass that screamed money.
Witches lived here, but their often magic-less spouses and children benefitted from their much higher earning potential in Skadra.
Kit spotted a gleam of yellow from underneath one of those bushes. He levitated it out.
It was a familiar little backpack, the one Nona had carefully packed for each of the kids.
Mary, their siblings, and the enforcers landed next, and soon the backpack was stored in a plastic containment bag. The uniformed witches promised to scan it for DNA and send it to the most qualified tracker available.
Kit hardly listened as he stared at a nearby manhole cover. The Underground stretched the entire length of the city, and the vamps had had days to dispose of their evidence.
The kids could be anywhere by now.