Gwyneth studied the mailbox. “V. Malvant. That’s a strange name.”
Morgaine shivered and hugged herself. “There’s something evil in there. I can feel a dark, twisted energy. Can you?”
Gwyneth closed her eyes. “Eek…now that you mention it, yeah. It’s like barbed wire. All sharp and twisted.”
Morgaine nodded and lowered her voice. “We need to be careful. Even though he should be completely unconscious and vulnerable, nothing says he might not have some kind of magical alarm system.”
“So that’s why we’re gonna astral project to get in there, right?”
“We can do that first, but eventually, we’ll have to find a way in. The more we know about him and his lair, the better.”
“Know thine enemy an’ all that, right?”
“Right. Now, according to the compass, there’s an alley entrance too. When we actually break in, we should probably do it from the alley. I’m thinking we should astral project from there too. That way we’ll see exactly what we’re getting into.”
“So, let’s git back there so we can take him from behind. Ugh, that don’t sound right.”
“We’re attacking his flank. Does that sound better?”
Gwyneth smirked. “Only a little better.”
“Can you take the bag? My hands are sweating.”
Gwyneth hefted the heavy bag with an “Oomph,” and the two women strolled to the side street and around the corner. As they entered the alley, Morgaine smelled garbage and urine.Disgusting.She stopped and her chest fluttered.Maybe this was a bad idea.
Their alley didn’t smell like that. Of course, they’d had a werewolf and vampire guarding the place for several years.
She contemplated how weird that was. She was more afraid of open spaces and panic attacks than she was of a werewolf and vampire. Truth be told, she’d feel a whole lot better with her vampire and werewolf friends guarding her right now. At least it wasn’t dark out, and she trusted her cousin to get her back to her apartment safely, in case she had to flee. She took a few deep breaths.
Since all the buildings on the block were connected, they counted the same number of buildings along the back and matched up the architecture. By that process, they had no difficulty finding the maker’s apartment again. He had only one small, barred window. A few steps led up to the back door.Morgaine felt the same malevolent energy but didn’t detect any kind of magical protection. Thank the Goddess.
“Back in the day, this musta been the servant’s entrance,” Gwyneth said.
“You’re probably right. The back of the building’s basement was where the kitchen was usually located, with the parlor upstairs and in front.”
“That must be why the alley smells like garbage. But nothin’ excuses the outhouse smell. I’m guessin’ that might be from a homeless person.”
“In this neighborhood?”
“They’re all over the city, Morgaine. If I had to, I’d keep my cardboard box in a nice area like this.”
Morgaine shuddered. “I can’t imagine it.”
“That’s your agga…agriv…”
“Agoraphobia.”
“Yeah, that.”
Morgaine nodded but tried not to dwell on it. They had a job to do, and she wouldn’t be able to do it if she stood there, frozen.
She reached out and grabbed Gwyneth’s hand. “I need your strength, right now.”
Gwyneth squeezed her fingers. “You got it, cousin. It’s time we get this cow to town.”
“Huh?”
“You northerners would say ‘get this show on the road,’ I think.”
