Page 58 of Inevitably Yves

Vivienne begins to move her hands in the air, and the ingredients rise to meet her ministrations, forming themselves into a circle that has what looks like half a pentagram with a rough looking O in the center of it.

She exhales and the ingredients drop back into the bowl. Her eyes open and she focuses on Viper. “Did you catch it?”

Viper nods. “Got it.”

“Okay. Let’s start here. We’ll have to redo it if we want to allow anyone else inside who isn’t already here.”

Yves nods. “That’s fine.”

We follow the women to the first floor, where they paint their sigil on the glass entry doors, chanting again. The sigil sizzles, seemingly burning itself into the glass. It’s still visible to us, but just barely, and I doubt a mortal could detect it. Very clever.

As we linger in the lobby, waiting for Vivienne and Viper to decide how to test their spell, Yves’s phone rings.

“Yves,” he answers.

I can hear the panicked voice on the other side. It’s Clyde from the council. Yves puts the call on speaker.

“Slow down so I can understand you,” Yves says. “What happened?”

“They…they attacked us,” Clyde says. “Hundreds of vampires, but they weren’t acting normally. It was like they were zombies or something. Intent on finding and killing me. I lost…oh, Yves, I lost so many.”

“How did you get away?” Yves asks.

“My coven defended me. Gave their lives for me. I hid under their bodies, disguised by their death. They are coming for you. They are coming for all of us.”

“We can come and get you, Clyde,” I say. “Where are you?”

“No,” he says. “I’ll get to you. You focus on staying safe. He’s trying to turn the council members to his cause. I think he already has Horus. I scented him amongst the attackers. Heard his voice.”

Yves’s jaw ticks, a subtle sign of his simmering anger. “He’s using magic against us, Clyde, but we have some here too. Get to us if you can, but prioritize yourself.”

“Be safe, Yves,” Clyde says.

“You too.”

When Yves ends the call, his face is a mask of barely contained rage. I’ve seen it before, but judging from the way his coven looks at him with shocked expressions, I’m guessing they haven’t. How fortunate he’s been to be able to avoid it for so long.

“Let’s go to Lair,” he says, his voice steady but cool. “They’ll go there first.”

“How do you know?” I ask.

“Just an instinct.”

Vivienne’s phone rings, playing a song that breaks the tension of the moment. She offers a shy smile as she answers.

“Hello?”

We all watch her as she nods, her eyes shifting up to Yves and then me.

“Got it. That makes sense. Thank you so much, Lily.” She smiles as she listens to the caller. “I promise.” As she ends the call, her expression turns serious. “Lily is a gifted witch and keeper of ancient grimoires. She’s the one who led us to this spell. She suggests that I anoint each of you with the mixture as well, just as an added boost.”

Vivienne turns to Viper.

“For us, she warns how draining it will be when someone attempts to break the ward. It will weaken us since we provided the spell. We have to guard against that.”

“How?” Viper asks. “I don’t have your powers.”

Vivienne pales slightly as she swallows hard. “I propose we, um, drink the youth potion we made. A lot of it. With Yves’s blood in our veins, we’ll be safer. Stronger.”

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