“Is that so, Grandpa?” I asked with a sarcastic tone. I hadn’t liked the woman but there was no reason to refer to her in such ageist terms.
“It’s a term for a position of power.”
Oh.
“She confirmed what you suspected,” I said. “She said the only way to break the hex is to find the witch who cast it or a descendant of the vampire who was hexed.”
At least we knew we were on the right track now.
“That’s not new information.”
Well excuse those of us who are playing catch up.
“She didn’t give you anything on who cast the hex.”
“About that. I got the feeling she suspected who had the juice to cast something like that, but getting the information out of her will be pricey. She wants a favor.”
“No, not even if the sun were to fall out of the sky.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “That’s pretty much what I told her but figured you could bring the proposal to your guy. It’s his life. He may have a different notion of what he’s willing to risk.”
Liam’s face turned thoughtful before his jaw firmed and he shook his head. “Not unless we’re desperate. What have you been able to find out on the descendants?”
“I was able to track them to the great flood of 1915 but lost their trail after that.”
“You think they’re dead,” he guessed.
I hesitated, not sure if I should share what I suspected. “Not necessarily. I can’t be sure, but it seemed like Thomas’s descendants were being hunted. Most of his direct line died in suspicious circumstances. They may have used the confusion of the flood to disappear.”
His face looked like it had been chipped from granite as he turned my words over, examining them, making his own conclusions.
“That would make sense. Whoever commissioned the hex would have known his descendants would be the only loophole. It would make sense to eliminate them.”
“Why not do that immediately after the hex took affect? Why wait for them to multiply and spread out?” I asked, playing devil’s advocate.
“Hexes take time to set. He may not have wanted to alert his prey to the problem while there was still time to reverse its affects. It could also be that he didn’t realize there was a loophole until much later,” the blond volunteered from the front seat.
“Thomas also went by a different name back then,” the brunette said. “Records weren’t like they were today. They would have had to hunt for that information. It would have taken time and money.”
“This is interesting, but we still need the descendants,” Liam said. “Focus on them for now.”
I had planned to anyway. I didn’t want to approach the witches again without something to trade for information. Something told me I’d gotten off lightly. I might not be as lucky next time.
“How are you conducting the search?” Liam asked.
“Computer mostly.” That and Caroline, my secret weapon when it comes to all things research.
“You can do that as easily from our hotel as home. You’re coming with us.”
I’d walked right into that.
“That doesn’t really work for me.”
“I don’t care. I’m not going to chance you running off and getting yourself killed or kidnapped before this is over,” Liam said, sounding annoyingly autocratic. “You can do that after you’ve finished the job.”
There was a snicker from the blond in the front seat.
Think. Think. I couldn’t be tied down. Beyond the fact that I didn’t want them to discover that Caroline was helping me with the research, I also had other avenues I could try, ones that didn’t involve my computer.
