“Your director outranks her.”
“Yeah, but that’s not going to make anyone happy in the long run.”
It wasn’t Takoma’s problem. “Is the fledgling in position?”
Spencer checked Takoma’s phone. “Your witch has them under a look-away ward and says Wade is ready to fry some electronics.”
They were three blocks away from the Seattle Museum of Coven History. “Tell him five minutes.”
A motorcycle Takoma recognized pulled in front of him, and another SUV slid behind his. Their line of vehicles turned onto a one-way street, the sidewalks on both sides filled up with cars already. Takoma braked to a halt halfway down the street, cut the engine, and got out. Spencer scrambled to join him, a small mageglobe hovering near his right elbow. Fatima stayed right next to him, ears swiveling.
Haitao joined them on the sidewalk, blinking rain out of his eyes, wireless headphones in his ears. “We’ve pinpointed where Rufus’ people are scattered in the surrounding streets. We have ours in position to counteract them.”
“Good,” Takoma said as he headed for the main entrance to the museum.
This wasn’t neutral ground, but Takoma didn’t care. He was here for retribution, and Adler met him with a smile inside the shrine her family had built to the atrocities their coven had profited from over the years. She wasn’t alone. Standing next to her was a vampire who had always coveted what was never going to be his.
“You seem to need a refresher course on geography. Seattle isn’t Spokane. This is not your territory,” Takoma said.
“That’s the thing about borders. They can always be redrawn,” Rufus said, flashing his fangs.
Caitlin raised her chin, defiant when she knew better. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Have you?” Takoma could smell the blood in her veins, hear the beat of her heart like drums in his ears. “Does that include your misbegotten ancestor?”
Caitlin bared her too-human teeth at him as behind her, several coven members dressed for a hunt came into view. “You owe my family for the crimes you’ve committed against us.”
“I owe nothing to no one.”
As the last word left his mouth, the lights down the street and in every building for blocks around them went out all at once.
Under cover of darkness, Takoma struck first.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
Spencer wasn’table to get a warning out about the hunters backing Caitlin being possessed before the power went out in their drenched little section of Downtown Seattle. To his slipped-sideways sight, everyone but Caitlin were shadows as the Cascade Coven pulled back into the museum with all its carefully displayed historical tools of magic and mixed-up wards and spells.
Not to mention the goddamn poltergeist that was John Adler.
That formidable presence of that long-dead pain in his ass erupted into existence, bright like a nova. It blended in with the wash of magic burning up the walls, a clear indication of spells activating. Spencer swore and ran inside the museum, Fatima leading the way straight into a nightmare.
The air inside wasfreezing, the first clue of a haunting taking root in the building. Spencer tossed witchlights toward the ceiling to help him see better. Not that there was much to see since the vampires and hunters had all disappeared into the recesses of the museum. A second later, the doors behind him slammed shut hard enough to shatter the glass, but the magic seeping between the metal frames was enough of a barrier to anyone attempting to make it inside.
He conjured up a mageglobe and filled it with raw magic, sending it flying at the defense being built around the museum. It crashed against the shield, the magical foundation in the building compensating for the damage. The formation of it was familiar from his time with Nadine—the Adler family had a barrier ward.
“Shit,” he hissed.
Turning his back on the rising defenses, Spencer watched the poltergeist careen through the gallery before disappearing in a flash of light. He glared at where it had gone, knowing he had to follow.
Somewhere in the museum was the Ouroboros Mirror.
And now Takoma was within its reach.
“Itoldhim he’s the goddamn target,” Spencer hissed as he reverted back to normal sight.
If we find the Ouroboros Mirror, we will find Takoma, Fatima said.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
