The moment they were through the door, they split up into different directions. The tiny loft shouldn’t take long to cover.
“Evette!” Rho called. She rounded the corner and threw open a closet door. “Lukas!” Nothing.
She knew instinctively that they weren’t there. The blood had to belong to their hosts. Aside from her teammates, they’d been the only two people with access to this loft. God, please let them be okay. They weren’t part of the team or the Collective. They’d done nothing but be kind enough to open their home to a friend in need, along with three strangers. They didn’t deserve anything like this. There was so much blood. Just the sight made her stomach curl.
Moments later, they all reconvened in the kitchen.
“They’re not in that section,” Preshea announced.
Tim shook his head. “Mine neither.”
“Damn it!” Eldon slammed his fist on the counter. The plates in the cabinet above clattered with the movement.
“What’s this?” Rho leaned forward to examine a black oval-shaped box sitting on the countertop. While she might not be the most observant person, she didn’t remember seeing anything like that before. Evette rarely kept anything on the counters. She said the kitchen was too small.
A strong hand clamped on Rho’s arm and yanked her back then pulled her in a vise grip. “Don’t touch that,” Eldon said softly in her ear before he released his hold on her slowly.
The team huddled around the oval box.
“What is it?” Tim asked, leaning forward but not touching it.
“It’s a voice box.” Eldon stepped forward, shoving Rho behind him.
Like a child. “I can stand with everyone else, you know,” she said, forcing herself not to stomp her foot.
“Everyone be quiet and listen,” Eldon ordered. “Voice boxes are self-destructing messages. They relay a message one time, and then they incinerate themselves in ley line fire and they’re lost forever. I’d be willing to bet whoever did this was kind enough to leave us a love note, but we’ve only got one shot to catch the message.”
“I can record it on my phone.” Preshea pulled the cell phone from her back pocket and held it up.
Eldon shook his head. “It won’t work. The magick encodes the message. It can’t be recorded or replayed.”
“Damn,” Tim muttered.
The culprit who’d left the note was no idiot. This box was nothing short of untraceable, given the moment a message was provided, it could destroy itself. Damn effective way to relay a message anonymously.
“Make it speak.” Preshea folded her arms across her chest, her expression icy.
“Stand back.” Eldon stalked around the countertop, the blue flames already crawling from his hands again. He extended his palms forward and glanced up to meet Rho’s eyes.
She nodded. Man, she was beginning to hate this magick stuff. The days of creating a cup of coffee out of thin air just for shits and giggles were gone. Now every spell she witnessed was for defense or to advance in their mission. Or to keep someone from dying. Preshea and Tim took a step back, each one standing on either side of Rho.
The flame at Eldon’s hands intensified. “Aperire.” He moved his hands in an unfamiliar, graceful pattern, circling them around the box. “Loqui vestri nuntius!” With a jump backward, the flames left Eldon’s fingertips in a rush.
The lid on the black oval box slowly opened. A voice boomed, “Bring me what I know you have, and your friends will keep their lives. Be at La Sorciere Taverne at noon. Tell no one. Fail to show, and they will not live to see tomorrow.” The box dissolved, turning into a pile of black sand on the countertop.
Rho met Eldon’s gaze with wide eyes. Despite the bloody crime scene, their friends were alive. Someone had Evette and Lukas, and there was still a chance they could get them back.
“It’s four in the morning,” Tim said as he glanced at the clock on the stove. “We have eight hours.”
“Why noon?” Preshea asked.
Realization dawned on Rho. “Because they don’t want me to come. They know I’m a vampire. I can’t walk outside at noon.”
Preshea scowled. “Bastards.”
“Then they must not know you can walk in the daylight.” Eldon stepped toward Rho and gripped her arms with his hands. “But with my help, you can.”
“You don’t think they’ll have provisions, just in case you have a trick up your sleeve?” Rho couldn’t believe that they’d be stupid enough for that. Whoever was behind this had been smart. Smart enough to track Cadence, find the team’s temporary headquarters, and kidnap Lukas and Evette. At least judging by the mess in the loft, they’d put up a bit of a fight.
Tim shook his head. “Rho is right. Whoever we’re dealing with knows exactly what game they’re playing.”
“I’ve got to tell Cadence what’s going on.” Eldon reached into his pocket and took out the phone Lukas had given him.
“Not so fast.” Tim grabbed on to Eldon’s wrist. “What are you going to tell her? We can’t jeopardize Lukas and Evette. For all you know, our conversation is being monitored right now.” He shook his head. “Nothing you have to tell her is important enough to compromise their safety. We’re the only people who can help them now.”
Eldon paused. The muscles in his jaw flexed for a moment before he glanced up and gave Tim a quick nod. “You’re right.” He whirled around to Preshea and Rho. “Grab any weapons you have and set them out in the living room. I’ll search them for spells. Leave everything else here.”
“Where will we go?” Preshea asked, already starting to disarm.
“Nowhere. If they found us here, they’ll find us anywhere.” Eldon headed for the living room and the team followed. “We might as well stay here until it’s time to leave. Our time would be better spent strategizing than running around trying to hide.”
Rho snatched her bag from the bedroom she’d shared with Eldon and tossed it on the floor. If her weapons had been spelled, she’d be pissed. No one touched her weapons. If they messed them up, they’d pay. And if they messed with Evette and Lukas, she’d make them very familiar with the business end of her blades.
She plucked the knives from her weapons bag and tossed them on the ground. “They look clean.” From where she stood, she couldn’t see any evidence of tampering. Still, magick had a way of remaining hidden until the worst possible moment. She tossed several guns and ammo boxes on the ground beside her blades.
“Bring me your clothes, too,” Eldon ordered, not losing his focus as his hand glowed with blue flames. He’d already started going to work on the firearms.
Preshea frowned. “You think they’d mess with those?”
“You want to try them on and find out?” Eldon asked.
Without a word, they all disappeared to round up their wardrobes. This time Rho brought her duffel, along with Eldon’s. She tossed them on the ground beside her guns.
“This one’s clean.” Eldon held up a handgun, and Tim took it from him before shoving it in a holster at his waist. “Let me see those.” He motioned to the bags of clothing.
Tim, Rho, and Preshea moved them to the ground beside Eldon.
Hand still glowing, Eldon hovered his palm over each of the four bags. When he got to the last bag, he stopped. “Son of a bitch.”
Anger punched through Rho’s chest, and she stepped forward. The cursed bag had been hers. “What? Did they touch my stuff?”
Eldon shook his head in disbelief then lifted his chin. His intense eyes focused on hers. “You’re a target.”
“How?” Tim folded his arms across his chest.
“Everything in her bag is tainted.” Eldon glanced up at Tim. “They put an acid spell on it.”
Rho’s stomach turned as she stared at everything she owned in horror.
Preshea leaned forward to inspect the bag but didn’t touch it. “What the hell does that mean?”
“The second these clothes hit a vamp’s skin, they turn to liquid silver,” Eldon spat
. He stared at the contents of the bag, his hands shaking by his sides. The scent of anger permeated the air around him like burnt leaves. “It was designed to kill her slowly and painfully. Disgusting, filthy magick. I can’t believe they’d use this spell.”
Rho’s last blood meal climbed higher in her stomach, threatening to liberate itself. She swallowed hard, clasping a hand over her mouth and fighting the urge to throw up. Without thinking, she took a step back. Not only did someone not want her around when the team went after Lukas and Evette. They wanted her dead.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Why me?” Rho inspected her lumpy duffel bag, which was completely stuffed to the brim. Her teammates stood around it in shock, staring at the contents. Nothing looked out of place or unsafe, yet it could kill her as surely as she stood there.
She shook her head. Everything in it was now destined for the garbage. Every pair of leathers. Her favorite shirt. All of it trashed. At least they hadn’t gotten her weapons.
Eldon rose and strode over to Rho before wrapping her tightly in his arms. He laid a gentle kiss against her temple. “I’m just glad we caught that before you touched anything inside your bag.”
“I didn’t realize magick could be used like that,” Tim said, his brow drawn tight.
“It’s dark, dark magick. The kind you read about but never dream you’ll witness.” Eldon released his hold on Rho and took a step forward to kick the duffel across the room. It slammed into the wall and landed on the floor with a thud. He spun around to face his teammates. “This is why the Collective exists. To prevent spells like that from ever being used. When I find out who cooked that up, that person will have firsthand knowledge of what silver acid feels like.”
Rho’s brow lifted in surprise. The cruelty in Eldon’s tone wasn’t at all like him. He was usually Mr. Calm and Collected, not an angry hothead.
But what was done was done. She needed to return their focus to what really mattered now. “Evette and Lukas are missing, guys. Let’s keep our eye on the ball.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Instead of being pissed about what’s already happened, think about what it means. Why would someone do this? Why me?”
“Start with what we know.” Preshea ran a hand through her streaked hair, her clear eyes glossed with worry. “They took Evette and Lukas. They tainted your clothes with liquid silver cloaked in magick. And now they’ve planned a rendezvous in the middle of the day.” She turned to Rho. “I’d say they don’t want you to join us tomorrow.”
Exactly what Rho suspected.
“But why Rho in particular?” Preshea asked.
“Because I’m a siphon.” It explained everything. If she actually knew how to control her abilities, she could easily be the most dangerous person on the team. Of course, she hadn’t mastered any magickal skills just yet, but they didn’t know that.
“No one should know about your gifts except for the Council, right?” Tim asked. “Other than us, you said they were the only ones who knew.”
“Not true.” Eldon’s expression was grave as he folded his arms across his chest. “Like Cadence warned us, there’s a leak in the Collective.”
Rho frowned. “But the only person who is both a member of the Collective and the Council is Cadence.” The Council was exclusive. Only the highest-ranking members of DarqRealm society—royalty from each of the races, mainly—were invited to attend those sessions. As guardians of their world, they were the final authority on everything.
Eldon groaned. “Also not true.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
“What?” Preshea asked.
“That son of a bitch. He was behind this the whole time.” Eldon pulled a phone from his pocket, then shoved it back in. “Damn it, I can’t even call her.”
“Who?” Tim demanded.
Fists clenched, Eldon’s lips were thin white slashes as the muscles in his jaw pulsed. “Max,” he ground out. “He’s a dead man.”
“Max?” The name sounded vaguely familiar, but Rho couldn’t figure out where she’d heard it before. Who the hell was he, and why would he want her dead?
Eldon turned to Rho. “Cadence’s assistant. He was probably there when you met with the Council.”
“Holy crap balls.” Recollection dawned as the face of the redheaded man in the Council meeting—the young one who’d introduced himself to her and shook her hand—jumped to the front of her brain. She’d had no idea he wasn’t a member of the Council. “He knows exactly what I am. He was there when the Council discussed it.”
“Which would explain why he doesn’t want you to be with us tomorrow when we try to get Evette and Lukas back,” Preshea speculated. “He doesn’t want you stealing his magick and using it against him.”
Tim glanced at the bag, now halfway across the room. “Well, burning you alive is one hell of a way to accomplish that.”
“He’ll pay,” Eldon growled. “I swear he’ll pay.”
The anger emanating off of Eldon was nearly palpable, but Rho tried to ignore him. Getting angry wasn’t going to help their friends right now—but she had an idea what could. “Well, a little sunshine won’t keep me from making a daytime appearance. Not anymore. And there’s definitely no way he can know that.”
“True.” Tim rubbed a hand against the scruff under his chin. “He’ll expect us to show up, but he won’t be prepared to see you.”
“No,” Eldon said.
Preshea settled her hands on her hips, her brow pinched in frustration. “Why the hell not? It sounds like a great plan to me.”
Eldon was quiet for a moment before he paced over to the kitchen table, picked up one of the overturned chairs, and set it on the ground. “This would be different.” His gaze was distant, his voice soft as he seemingly spoke to himself. “The last time I did the spell, I had to be touching Rho the whole time. She had my complete attention.” He plucked another chair off the ground and set it down before settling into the seat.
He gazed up slowly to meet the eyes of his teammates. “Max isn’t a novice. Not by a long shot. He’s young in age, but his exposure to the Collective and Cadence mean he has tricks up his sleeves that even I can’t imagine. If I’m going to have any chance against him, I’ll need to focus on him completely.”
Well, damn. Rho wanted to argue with him, but she didn’t know what to say. Her knowledge on magickal spells was limited to what she’d seen Eldon perform, and knowing him, he’d risk his own safety just to keep her protected. If they were going to go up against someone as powerful as Max, Eldon was the only one on the team with the ability to truly manipulate magick. She couldn’t let him die trying to protect her, and she’d never risk the lives of her teammates. Any distractions could get them all killed.
Rho strolled across the room and took a seat in the chair beside Eldon. “Then we find another way to make it work.” She rested a hand on his knee and gave him a gentle squeeze. There had to be someone else who could perform the daywalking spell. Eldon had said his father passed it down to him, but he hadn’t said that he was the only one who could execute it.
Tim nodded. “Rho is right. Facing them at noon is the only chance we have to get Lukas and Evette back. They wouldn’t expect her to be there.” He pointed to Rho. “She could be our best chance.”
“Can Nick do it?” Rho asked.
Eldon’s expression was thoughtful for a moment before answering. “It’s possible.”
Preshea lifted a brow. “You trust him, don’t you?”
“Of course.” Eldon tapped his fingers on the table. “But he’s taking care of Trinador.”
Rho fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Trinador told you herself that she’ll be fine. She isn’t one hundred percent yet, but her aura is healing.” She turned her body in the chair so she was facing him. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Nick is hanging around her for the pleasure of her company at this point and not because she needs him.”
Romantic intere
sts had definitely sparked between those two movers, at least on Nick’s side. It didn’t take a genius to see that he cared about her, especially after his reaction to her aura being burned. And despite his ability to jump the ley lines and easily return back home, as far as she knew, he hadn’t left Paris since he’d gotten here.
Preshea and Tim gave each other sidelong glances before they joined Rho and Eldon at the table, occupying the remaining two seats. At least those two agreed with her plan. She might not know exactly who would help her make that spell work, but she knew instinctively that it was the key to their survival. Preshea set her elbows on the table and leaned forward while Tim extended his legs beneath the table and leaned back.
With a sigh, Eldon shook his head. “Involving Nick now would make him a target. Max isn’t a member of the Collective, but he’s closely involved through Cadence. He’s known Nick for years.”
Rho bit her lip as she considered the dilemma. At this moment, there was no way for Max to know if Nick was involved, even if he was a friend of the family. If he discovered Nick’s contribution to their plans, they might as well strap a bull’s-eye to his back. As much as she wanted to nail Max’s ass to a wall, she wouldn’t endanger Nick’s life to do it. Not after everything he’d done for her and the team.
Fingering the stone centered on her chest, she considered their other options. There was no way she was letting Eldon, Tim, and Preshea go up against Max alone. He must know Eldon personally. Given his access to vital intel via Cadence, he probably had knowledge about the rest of the team as well. They had to assume he knew everything.
She sighed as she rubbed the moonstone. Funny, it always felt cool no matter how much she touched it. Such a strange little relic, to possess such power.
“That’s it.” The thought struck Rho like a lightning bolt, and she jolted up straight in her chair. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. How could she not have thought of this before? “What about a stone?” She lifted the moonstone up to display for her teammates. “An amulet, like this one?”
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