by Aileen Erin
“Should I go after him? Apologize?” Although for what, I had no idea.
“No. Let him go. He’ll be okay.” The last sounded more like a question than a statement.
I understood. If it were my brother, I’d hope for the best, too. Still, as I watched the crowd part for him, I wondered if there was something more I could be doing for him. If there was something I should be doing for him. He’d been through so much already. But I couldn’t think of anything that would be helpful.
Luciana had a lot to answer for. She’d destroyed her coven. Her family. Murdered so many people. It had to stop. And soon.
We had to find her before she killed anyone else.
Chapter Eighteen
After the press conference, we grabbed food and headed to the labs. Now that we’d dealt with all the human drama, it was time to get to work. I had my messenger bag of stuff from Luciana’s craft room to show Claudia, and she had stuff from Peru to show me. If she’d brought back whatever she used to cure Raphael, then it was probably something that could help us against Luciana and her demons.
Hope blossomed that we might finally have a way to take her down.
Claudia, Adrian, Shane, Raphael, Cosette, and Dastien gathered with me in the lab. I hadn’t seen Beth since she found out about the coven, but I assumed the others were checking on her. The rest of the Weres were on guard duty. Dastien should’ve been with them, but he didn’t want to be apart from me today, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to argue. Although with Luciana on the loose and the ever-growing mob at our gates, they needed everyone they could get to keep the tension from boiling over.
Claudia placed her purse on the raised lab table. It clanged against the metal top. “All the objects I brought back from Peru are pure, white magic. They’re potent, and I think they can be used to fight Luciana. The trick will be how we use them.”
She pulled out the items one by one. The first was a bunch of tiny bundles of braided white hair. Next came a shriveled severed hand. A few days ago, that would’ve totally freaked me out. But after what had been done to la Aquelarre, one hand was no big deal. And it was loads better than the jar of eyeballs.
Then a ring with a seal on it came next. And last, a knife. Claudia arranged everything on the table before pulling out the last item. “This is the most interesting piece.”
She held up a gray crystal. It looked like one of those cheap polished rocks they sold at rest stops. “Are you sure? I was thinking that hand was kind of the winner.”
My cousin grinned. “I guess you’re right, but the crystal killed a demon.”
Now she had my attention. I took the crystal from her, but I didn’t feel one lick of magic. “Are you sure it was the crystal? Not your own magic?”
“I’m sure. I think I used up all its magic when I stabbed the demon with it. It used to glow, like it was lit from the inside with a pure white light.”
I set the crystal down. “That would’ve been too easy.”
Cosette touched the crystal and her eyes narrowed. “Can we get more of them?”
Claudia nodded, and hope blossomed. “But it’s a long trek. I’m not sure we could get someone there and back in time.”
“How long could it really take?” I asked. “You got back to Raphael so fast. If we send someone the same way, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
She mumbled, mangling her words so much that even with my hearing, I couldn’t understand what she said.
“What?”
She cleared her throat, but wouldn’t meet anyone’s gaze. Instead, she stared at the crystal. “I made a promise with a fey to get me to Raphael.”
Cosette jerked, knocking the crystal onto the floor. It skittered away, but everyone stood frozen. “I thought I expressly told you not to do that.”
“I had no choice.” Claudia rubbed her hands together. “My brother’s life was on the line.”
Energy vibrated off Cosette and I realized this was the first time I’d ever seen her angry. It made me worried for Claudia. By all accounts, fey could be tricky. Even saying thank you could lead to bad things happening. Making a bargain could be deadly.
Cosette muttered fey curses as she picked up the crystal and then plunked it on the table. “What were the terms? Exactly as they were stated. And who did you make this bargain with?”
“I gave him a favor of his choosing—”
“No you didn’t,” Cosette’s voice was so cold, the sound made me shiver. Claudia was definitely in trouble.
“There were terms…”
“What terms?” A wave of energy spiked from Cosette and she was definitely casting off a glow. “Do you even know what court this fey was from?”
“Cosette,” I said. “Calm down.”
Raphael cleared his throat. “I know that what my sister did might not have been the best thing, but I was dying. If you’re worried about her, know that I’m willing to pay the price. Especially if it’s something that could harm her.”
“No!” Claudia hit her brother’s shoulder. “It’s my debt to pay.”
“No. It’s mine.” Raphael crossed his arms as he stared down at his sister.
“Argue all you want.” Cosette rubbed her temples, but at least she’d stopped glowing. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“It doesn’t matter. I made the deal and I’m prepared to go through with it.” Claudia pulled a chair to the table and sat. “We agreed that I wouldn’t do anything bad or evil, or kill or hurt anyone. He also agreed that he wouldn’t hurt or kill me or anyone I love. He can’t steal my magic or bind me to anyone. If I have to go somewhere for the favor, Lucas comes with me. And whatever he asks can’t override the agreement between the wolves and the fey.”
“Mother of…” Cosette scrunched her eyes tight. “Give me your hand.”
The deal sounded pretty airtight to me, but I kept my mouth shut. I wanted to see what Cosette would do.
Claudia offered her hand. Cosette took it gently and then closed her eyes, muttering something in her language. The seconds drew out as Cosette did… I wasn’t really sure what she was doing, but when she finally let go, she pressed her forehead to the table. Her thick curls hid her face, but they didn’t muffle her voice. “If this is a test, it’s not funny.”
We all exchanged glances. It looked like I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t tell whether this was seriously bad or if Cosette was just being dramatic.
Claudia broke the silence. “I made the deal and whatever I have to pay, it was worth it to save my brother.” She shook her shoulders, as if she was physically pushing the tension away. “What matters now is how are we going to defeat Luciana?”
“I managed to salvage some books and things from Luciana’s house before it was burned.” I started unloading my messenger bag, piling the books and things on the table beside Claudia’s relics. “In our defense, we had a bunch of dead bodies—including police officers. We couldn’t just leave everything as it was.”
“Right.” The word was clipped. “That doesn’t really help me as my whole life has been burned.”
A wave of guilt had me hunching my shoulders. I should’ve been firmer about waiting. With the police tape leaking, destroying the compound hadn’t even done any good. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like.”
“And the pack will help you relocate,” Dastien chimed in. “Buy houses for each of you. We’ll make sure you’re not homeless and left in the lurch.”
“That would be appreciated,” Shane said. “I’m not sure where we belong now, but I’m not above taking some charity.” He crossed his arms, showing off his tattooed biceps.
“We wouldn’t do that to you,” Adrian said. “The pack burned down your homes to hide our actions. It’s standard that we’d put you up and help you.”
If I hadn’t been watching for it, I wouldn’t have noticed the way his arm gently pressed against Shane’s side. Adrian caught me looking, and I quickly turned my attention to Raphael. If Adrian wanted to have a secre
t, then that was his choice, but I hoped he’d confide in me when we finally had a quiet moment.
“How are you doing?” I asked Raphael.
“I’m okay. How are you?”
He was playing it tough, but I knew from experience what going up against Luciana was like. She’d taken something from me, too. “Doing better than before, but a brush with true evil leaves its mark.” I paused. It probably wasn’t the best time to bring this up, but if I didn’t say something now, then I didn’t know when I’d have the chance. “I upset you at the press conference.”
He shook his head. “No.”
Maybe I was being too sensitive, but I really felt like I’d said something to hurt him. “But you walked away…”
“You don’t understand Luciana and why she’s doing this.”
“No.” I shook my head slowly. “I don’t. At first, I thought it was about the wolves, but now… I don’t know why she’s doing any of it. What’s the point of attacking humans in San Antonio? It makes no sense.” I blew out a breath. “Do you have any thoughts?”
“A few.”
I motioned my arms wide. “Please. Anything could help.”
He pulled a stool over, and sat down. “Sorry. I don’t have all my energy back yet.”
That sucked. I’d only recovered quickly from being drained because I was a Were.
“The thing you have to understand about Luciana is that she’s not a strong witch—not on her own—and she never was. Yet, she was next in line for the coven because of her visions. She saw the future in her dreams, but it was always vague. Dream visions are never all that reliable. The waking ones get you closer to the truth.” I briefly wondered if what I’d seen counted as a dream vision or a waking one, but Raphael kept taking before I could process. “Luciana kept seeing visions of war. She talked about them all the time. How she saw the wolves fighting us. She never saw the setting. She never knew the context. But she started gearing up for war.”
I knew some of this already—about her weak visions—but hearing it now that I’d experienced the vaguer side of the future, it was as if the proverbial lightbulb had been lit.
“We weren’t going to fight you,” Dastien said.
“Now that I know you and I’ve been around the pack, I figured as much, but before, we didn’t know. Some of us thought she was being crazy and ignored her, but not everyone did. Those who believed her thought war was coming and started making preparations.” Raphael leaned against the table for support. “Looking back, it seems obvious. For all I know, what she saw was the coven attacking the pack, not the other way around.”
“Which has already happened.” More than once.
“Exactly. The vision she was so afraid of could’ve easily been about the night that Daniel died.” Raphael shuddered, and I wondered if he was remembering the attack. “But the vision consumed her. She became obsessed with it. Only it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. A few years ago, she changed. She did something and the light in her eyes was just gone. I don’t know what it was—”
“I do,” Claudia said. “She got some kind of charm or artifact from my ex-fiancé. His coven had something evil, and they were protecting it. Luciana only married me off so she could get access to that object, although she never planned to really let me go.”
“That’s why?” Raphael sounded shocked.
“You didn’t know this?” I asked. They were twins. I thought they shared everything.
“No. It’s news to me.” Raphael crossed his arms as he glared at his sister. The look on his face told me that he wasn’t least bit pleased by it either.
“I found out in Peru,” Claudia said. “It’s a long story. None of that matters right now. All I know is that he exchanged something for me, and whatever it was, it was bad. Really evil.”
“That’s messed up,” I said.
“No kidding,” Shane said. “How did your parents let that happen?”
She shrugged. “They were gone.”
“Right.” Shane winced. “I’m sorry. Stupid question.”
“It’s alright,” Claudia said. “The point is, that was what changed Luciana. I won’t—can’t—defend her at this point, but after casting so much black magic… I just wonder how much of the original Luciana is left.”
I didn’t like where this was going. I’d seen visions of Luciana calling out to Satan and just by the look of her craft room, she’d been doing those kinds of spells for years. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine that power consuming her. But she’d been in control in my nightmare vision, standing over that hell mouth…
Tapping on the table as I thought, I kept going back to Raphael’s words. Now that the witches I trusted most were back on campus, it was time to get their opinions on what I’d seen. Dastien tensed beside me before I even opened my mouth. “I’ve seen some things… Before we go any further, I think you should know what we might be up against. I’m starting to think this might be bigger than just her vendetta against the pack.”
“What did you see?” Raphael asked.
I told them every detail I could remember, only leaving out the fey guy. I had a feeling that would set Cosette off again, and we needed to stay focused.
When I was done, I sat at a stool. “So, we’re in for quite a fight. Unless you think we can change it?”
“Yes… And no.” Raphael was being completely annoying with his ambiguous answer.
“What do you mean?” I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice, but didn’t do an awesome job of it.
“It means we’ll probably end up in that church, but how we get there and the outcome could vary,” Claudia said.
Dastien grasped my shoulder so hard it hurt. “See. I told you.”
Raphael nodded. “The future is never set in stone. Destiny might put you in that spot, but it’s up to you to choose what you do when you get there.”
“Okay.” I took a few breaths as that sank in. “Okay. So, we’ll probably get to that point, but we can change things once we’re there. So, we make that happen.”
At least there was hope.
“We will definitely try to make sure that your vision ends a different way. But to do that, we need to be even more prepared, and we have to figure out where she’s hiding out.” Claudia sat up tall on her stool. “I tried to scry for Luciana, but I’m coming up with nothing. She must be somewhere that’s heavily warded, so we’ll have to find her some other way. In the meantime, we should start brewing potions to fight against her demons. From what I know, the veils between this world and the next are thinnest between three and four in the morning.”
Wait. That actually lined up with what’d been happening. “That’s when the demon killed those families last night. And when the demon crossed over in Luciana’s house. But I thought it was because the cop crossed the circle?”
Shane shrugged. “Could’ve been a happy coincidence. Or the demon could’ve been waiting there since the night before. I don’t know what spells she used.”
Right. None of us did. “Why that time in particular?”
“It’s the witching hour. Not that I appreciate the name. But that’s when ghosts, demons, and black magic are the strongest. So we need to be ready by that time tonight in case she’s up to something tonight.” Claudia motioned to the objects in front of her. “I’m not sure how to use all this, so there are no dumb ideas. And the books you brought back will certainly help. If any of them talk about summoning, then maybe we can use the spells to reverse-engineer some counters.”
I cracked my knuckles. “I’m so in for this. I’m tired of doing nothing. Let’s take her down.”
“Agreed,” Raphael said.
We divvied up the books and artifacts. Dastien and Adrian started digging into the spell books while the brujos started pulling supplies and equipment from the storage closet.
We were done sitting around, waiting for Luciana to come to us.
For once, we were going after her.
And when the time came for us to me
et in that church, I would be ready. I’d finally take Luciana down.
Because there was no way I was letting that vision play out. I had a future I wanted, and by God, I was going to fucking get it.
Chapter Nineteen
It took six steady, brutal hours of mixing and baking and cross-checking spell books, but we ended up with ten variations of potions, each vial labeled with a number so we could weed out the ineffective ones. I’d suggested we modify my original potion using with holy water and the saint’s hand, but Claudia had plussed it. She said holy oil would work much better than water. She disappeared for an hour and came back with this oil that smelled like heaven.
We took a break for dinner, while the potions cooled in the lab, and decided the only way to test them was to try them out. Luciana had released demons last night, so chances were she might do the same tonight.
Mr. Dawson hadn’t liked it, but he also hadn’t been able to come up with a decent argument against it. If Luciana summoned any demons tonight, we were the best equipped to fight them. That was saying something about how unprepared we all were, but the fact remained the same. We couldn’t stand idly by while humans were slaughtered again.
So we dressed all in black, and jumped into two of the huge black SUVs reserved for the Cazadores. We didn’t have a destination in mind, but headed toward San Antonio and hoped that I’d at least get a feeling if I drove.
We ended up wandering aimlessly for hours. I tried to relax and keep my mind open, but nothing was coming.
I drove one car. Dastien sat in the passenger seat, and Chris, Shane, and Adrian were in back. Donovan drove the other car with Meredith, Cosette, Raphael, Claudia, and Lucas.
It was three in the morning. If something was going to happen, it was going to be soon.
“I’m starving,” Chris said from the backseat. “We should definitely stop at Whataburger.”
“How can you be hungry again?” Shane said. “You packed a lunch. How much can one Were eat?”
“More than you’d think,” I said.
“Where does it all go?” he asked.