Unbolting the heavy locks, he pulled the door open to reveal our guest.
A figure draped in flowing black fabric stood on the doorstep, face hidden by a large hood and a pool of dark, swirling shadows at their feet.
Their eyes appeared to glow silver beneath the shadows of their hood, and the air surrounding them crackled with energy and an otherworldly presence that made my spine tingle with caution.
“Please, come in,” Drake offered, sweeping his hand toward the foyer as their shadows disappeared and they pulled the hood back to reveal their face.
Holy, Goddess.
White hair that shone as if imbued with moonlight was revealed first, followed by stunning, rich brown skin that was highlighted by beautiful silver eyes. Her smile was soft and kind as she nodded her head in greeting at each of us. “It’s a pleasure to meet you—I’m Nimia. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it any earlier, I was wrapped up with another assignment.”
Honestly, I felt momentarily too stunned by her beauty to speak, but I quickly snapped myself out of my trance as she reached a hand toward me. As our hands met, I felt a jolt run through me with the contact. I hadn’t met many witches other than in passing at DIA, but I could innately tell that this woman was a force to be reckoned with.
“Hi, I’m Alina,” I murmured before dropping her hand to introduce my mates. I indicated to each of them in turn, naming them for her where they stood. “That is Dracula, Andrei, and Lincoln.”
They each nodded their greeting to her before Drake took over the conversation, leading us to the meeting room as he spoke. “Thank you for coming, Nimia. This situation has escalated since I last talked to your point of contact. The person we’re trying to find has two hostages and has threatened to kill one of them in two hours unless we trade Alina in for them, which we will not be doing.”
“Oh my,” she murmured as we swept into the room and took seats around one corner of the long table, save for Drake who went toward the hidden dungeon to grab Silvyn. “It seems that evil lurks in every corner of reality, no matter the species.”
“Very, very true,” I agreed, feeling more ashamed than ever to have once thought the world was as black and white as the defining species between slayers and vampires. I’d thought it enough reason to judge and condemn.
How fucking naive I’d been, raised in a community of people that didn’t wish to see outside of the bubble of life we’d been conditioned to accept.
“How long will it take to locate our target in her mind?” I asked as Drake dragged Silvyn out of the dark hall leading to the dungeon.
Nimia’s eyes narrowed on Silvyn as she was shoved into a chair across the table from her. “It depends on the level of resistance in the target. There can be few or many layers to pull back to find our answer, but sometimes a person is so damaged inside that it can be near impossible to sift through their thoughts.”
Shit, was she already sensing Silvyn’s brokenness?
“What’s the name of the target you’re looking for?” she asked, reaching out to grab Silvyn’s hand that Drake pinned atop the wooden table.
“Jeoffrey DeLuca,” Andrei answered.
Nimia nodded at him and grabbed Silvyn’s hand firmly. In an instant, the room grew as cold as ice and the space around Nimia filled with shadows. Her silver eyes clouded with shadows as the wafts began to slowly slink toward Silvyn.
Silvyn tried to fight off Drake, shoving back against her chair and attempting to pull her hand back as she let out a scream. “Stop this! Stop!”
Her screams grew louder until the shadows filled her mouth, and then eerie silence filled the room as Silvyn’s purple eyes clouded over.
The room vibrated with power as Nimia worked, and I fought the urge to rub my arms as a shiver ran through me. More and more shadows were pumped into the room, clouding the floor and curling up to tease our skin.
Fear spiked through me until Nimia whispered, “They won’t hurt you, Alina. They are merely saying hello. I’ve entered this woman’s mind, and as I suspected, it’s a bit of a mess. I need at least an hour, I’m sorry.”
The shadows were saying hello? What the fuck, were they alive?
Beside me Andrei let out a heavy sigh, and I grabbed his hand, squeezing it, trying to give him the same strength and reassurance he’d provided me.We’ll find them.
His emerald eyes turned to gaze at me as he took a deep breath and nodded.
We waited with bated breath for Nimia to say anything. As the minutes dragged on, my anxiety built and my faith in us getting to Serena and Lo in time waned.
The shadows were suddenly sucked out of the room as Silvyn sucked in a deep, gasping breath. She slumped forward onto, passing out, as Nimia exclaimed, “Got it!”
We all breathed simultaneous sighs of relief.
My relief was short-lived when I glanced down at my phone, seeing that we had forty-seven minutes left to get to the location before I was expected to give them an answer. I could only hope that the location Nimia pulled was where they actually were.
“They are at Jeoffrey’s childhood home,” she announced, pushing to her feet. “If you get a map of Sanguis, I can pinpoint it for you. From what I could tell in her mind, it’s abandoned and hasn’t seen use in many years.”
