“Ahh… not even in New York, are you?” she murmured. “Where did you run off to?” She went to the wall of folded maps and pulled out one of the entire Northeast. This time the crystal dug into Massachusetts.
“There?” she asked. Surely not. His father should have been able to find him if he was in Boston.
She retrieved a map of Massachusetts and spread it out before her.
“Show me Malcolm Wellesley,” she whispered. The crystal now glowed bright and began to circle in the air, its tip pointing downward. “Find the wayward warlock.”
The crystal jerked so violently it snapped off its gold chain, its tip embedding into a piece of the map north of Boston. Serafina moved the crystal out of the way to examine the location.
Moonstone Falls.
She knew the place. It was a tiny town that sat upon a vast bedrock of magic, one of the many sanctuary towns scattered across the country, sheltering magical creatures as well as those who did not care for the modern world. These towns had protective wards to keep those with darkness in their hearts from finding their way to those towns.
“No wonder we couldn’t find you,” Serafina murmured.
But she had found him. Which meant… the wards were gone.
Moonstone Falls no longer had its protection.
She abandoned the maps and went to her raven familiar perched on the edge of the open windowsill of her study.
“Poe, summon the Council, and bring Reginald Wellesley to me at once.”
The raven let out a shrill cry and took to the air, its ebony wings flashing purple in the sunlight as it winged its way to the West.
Cain Henson sat on a bar stool in a small town in northern Virginia, sipping a cold beer, ruminating on the unexpected path his life had taken. He should have been an accountant, had been one, years ago. Then he’d found a vampire in bed with his wife. Now, he was a hunter.
He hunted things in the dark. Witches, vampires, beasts that howled, beasts with tentacles, beasts that defied the natural order. He hunted them all. As he swallowed the last foamy bit of his beer and set the bottle down, his gaze made its way to the bartender behind the counter. She was a pretty woman in her late forties with a bright blue streak dyed in hair. She was washing glasses while humming softly. It had taken years for Cain to develop an extra sense for magic, but now he could feel the spells she was working in the air, even though he couldn’t see them. It made his skin crawl to think that this pretty woman was a hellspawn creature full of evil.
“Anything else, handsome?” the woman asked as she collected his beer bottle.
He cracked a smile. “Just a date with you.”
“Sorry, hon. I don’t date customers.” She gave him a friendly wink and turned away to see to another customer.
Cain checked his watch. He had a few hours to waste before he could grab her without being seen.
Just then, an icy wave passed through him. Flashes of the memory shot across his mind.
A town… There was a town north of here, close to Boston. One he’d visited as a child. A town that felt magical. He remembered a girl running through a maze of hay bales ahead of him, laughing as he chased her. She’d grabbed a small broom and hopped on, riding ahead of him, then up out of sight…
A witch… He’d met a witch there.
How had he ever forgotten that place? His childhood memories, though tainted with an irrepressible sunny joy that came with the ignorance of youth, now provided him with a wealth of information about a town full of magic. Full of evil.
Cain stared at the witch, who was still behind the bar. He could come back for her any day. Right now, an entire town of creatures awaited him. With a slow grin, he dropped a few dollars on the counter, grabbed his leather coat and left the bar.
The name. The name of the town almost glowed in his mind.
Moonstone Falls…
CHAPTER TWELVE
Calli breathed a sigh of relief when the last customer left her bookstore and she had a chance to breathe. The people from the tour bus had been drawn to her store like a magnet, and she’d had a massive influx of sales. Her feet ached from standing all afternoon, and helping visitors find books to read for their trip to Boston. She’d met many friendly, enthusiastic people. All of that was wonderful, but every interaction sounded alarm bells in the back of her mind, because the wards failing were the reason these visitors were there in the first place. Now there was nothing keeping truly dangerous people out.
Moonstone Fall was defenseless.
Nothing felt right. She felt naked… exposed. She was used to weakened wards in October, and the tourists coming in, but the wards were always strengthened again by the end of the month so there had been no reason to worry. But that safety was gone now.
