“Gone. I told Grégoire that his heir attacked HQ, leading our enemies to the Son of Darkness. He’s in a rage. He had begun to trust her. Foolishly.”
I let a soft breath go. “Crap.” Vamps, especially old vamps like Grégoire, needed their closest allies to be faithful unto true-death. Betrayal cut deep. I checked my cell. There was a text from Eli, telling me he and Ayatas were with Leo. There was also one from Alex that said,Spotted an oddity on sub-five lasers before cameras went out. Call.It took a moment before I remembered. Alex had done laser upgrades on the security at the entrances and in the gym, the rec room, and sub-five, places where we’d been attacked in the past.
I punched his number and Alex spoke fast. “Anomaly from the lasers in sub-five. The presence of a witch under an obfuscation spell.”
“And? Tell me you caught the witch.”
Wrassler whipped his head to me at the words.
“No. The witch left with Dominique. But the same anomaly was in the gym earlier too, unmoving. I tracked the anomaly back and discovered that it—she—came in the front door with Dominique and some were-creatures and left with her.”
“Any way to alter the system to track this anomaly and see it before it gets in?”
Alex hesitated. “I don’t know how the magic works. I could talk to Molly.”
I thought about that possibility for half a second. “I’ll call her. I’m heading home in a bit.” I hit end and told Wrassler what Alex had discovered. He frowned and sat in front of the system, punching buttons to see the anomaly for himself.
A familiar face appeared in the doorway, Shemmy, my sometimes driver. “May I drive you home, Miz Yellowrock?”
My security measures had failed. I was suddenly tired beyond bearing, my legs feeling leaden and my shouldersdrooping. I had lost my scarf in the fight and couldn’t make myself go look for it. I did something I seldom ever did. I accepted when a security blood-servant offered to drive me home. “Yeah. Thanks.”
As we walked through the doors together, a car swept in, and a vampire visitor emerged. She passed us on the front stairs, carrying a package addressed to Leo, the name clearly visible. The packaging looked vaguely familiar in terms of vampire business, but I couldn’t remember where I saw the kind before or why. I stopped the vamp with an upheld hand and took the package. It was from Leo’s biomedical lab in Texas. Not my business. I waved her on and slid into the backseat of the armored SUV and closed my eyes.
I didn’t move again until I was back home, when Shemmy opened the door for me and wished the Enforcer a good rest and happy dreams. And then I looked up. And groaned.
I wouldn’t be given a chance to sleep. The windows upstairs were open, the cold breeze blowing the curtains back and forth in the night. I thought about telling Shemmy to take me to a local bar. I couldn’t get drunk, it wasn’t in my physiology, but I could nurse a Coke and people-watch. Instead I said, “Thank you. Drive safely back to HQ.” I blew out a breath and went inside, where I was met with the sound of electric saws running, nail guns thumping, hammers banging, Latin music playing, and men laughing. The cacophony echoed through the house. In my room, I took off the dancing shoes, pulled off the clothes, the sports bra, and the weapons, leaving them all on the bed, and dressed in a soft tee, a ratty sweatshirt, and leggings.
I sat on the bed, crossed my legs guru fashion, and made a call.
“Hey, Aunt Jane,” Angie said, answering.
“How’s my sweet girl?” I asked.
“I made a big butterfly. Mama punished me. I’m in trouble.” But she sounded proud of herself for the entire episode, even the being-in-trouble part.
“How big did you make the butterfly?”
“Big as my feet.”
My eyebrows went up. “That’s a big butterfly.”
“Yup. Mama was mad ’cause she couldn’t see where I got the mass from.”
My eyebrows went up higher. “You know what mass is?”
“Yup. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared,” she quoted. “Which means that magic and electricity and sunlight, which are energy, are the same stuff as things I can touch, which is mass or matter. And I can innerchange ’em ’cause they’re just different forms of the same thing. But I didn’t innerchange ’em.”
My entire body had gone cold as she spoke. I was pretty sure my heart had stopped beating. “Okay,” I managed. “So what did you do to make the butterfly grow big?”
“I didn’t make one grow big. I jus’ made a big one come to me. From one of the other places.”
I breathed through my mouth in the beginnings of panic. “What other places?”
“There’s bunches of other places. One has big butterflies with pink wings and purple eyes and blue bodies and feet. I just pulled it over. Mama’s mad at me,” she said again, with pride.
“Give me that phone, young lady,” Molly said in the background. “Go back to your room. And take that dog with you.”
In the background I heard Angie calling her dog and trying to whistle. Into the phone, Molly said, “She told you?”
