Page 54 of Temple of Magic and Bone

Galen collapsed in a chair. "Last night, the demons in the club went crazy around 1 a.m. They lost it and started brawling."

"Is Harper okay?" Vanth asked.

"His power was the only thing that stopped the fights. His incubus side surged, and everyone who wasn't trying to fight was trying to fuck. We had to get the cops in to deal with the humans,and I had to get all the cambions into containment circles," Galen ranted. "I don't know what happened, but when Harper cooled down enough, he said some kind of power hit the city like a shock wave. He said it felt like the other side was pushing its way through. I swear to Christ I never told them a thing about why you visited."

"I don't know what to tell you," Vanth said, rubbing at his chin. "What do you think, Elektra? Is Lazarus capable of something like that?"

Galen looked between them, expression growing darker. "Aren't you two meant to be able to feel something like that? What were you up to..." His blue eyes rested on Elektra's neck, and he swore.

"We aren't linked to the Veil, and the cambions would be more connected to feeling disturbances," Elektra said, ignoring the sorcerer's grumbling. "Maybe Lazarus has begun to poke at the mending to see if it's weak enough?"

Vanth poured them both coffees, and Galen added whiskey to his from a flask in his pocket.

Vanth asked, "Did you come here with any good news at all? Or did you wake us up just to have a rant?"

"I tracked the magic, but the location doesn't make sense. It's like it was on the map but not on a map?" Galen said and pulled out a square of cloth from his pocket. "It was a big signature that tracking it down should have been a dream. I did the magic three times and still got the same result."

Vanth and Elektra shared a look, and he nodded at Galen. "Show us. We know of some places like that."

Galen tossed the cloth into the air, and as it fell, it unraveled into a large map of Inferno and the countries around it. The map began to shift and change as Galen's magic manipulated it.

"This is us," he said, pointing at the city and the expanse of sea it was nestled beside. "This is where the location spellkeeps leading me. The best I can pinpoint is that it's here in the Rhodope Mountains, but then it does this." The red dot on the map began to flicker in and out and in different locations along the range.

Elektra's heart skipped a beat as she moved closer to study the dot. Vanth leaned in beside her, and her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, taking in his scent.

Fuck, not now. She forced her concentration back on the map.

"What are you thinking, princess?" Vanth asked, his eyes mischievous. No doubt he could senseexactlywhat she was thinking when he looked at her like that.

"I think that the original tear in the Veil was located somewhere near the Temple of Magic and Bone. It's why the location keeps moving so rapidly. One of the entrances to the temple located in the human plane is in that range."

"What do you mean by entrances?" Galen asked.

Elektra hesitated. There were some secrets that the temple held sacred. But would that even matter if there were no reapers left to tend to it?

"The easiest way I can explain it is to imagine a house that exists in a space outside of time. There are doors all over the world that open to it. It's between the real world and the Afterlife."

"Like the filling in a sandwich with the living and the dead worlds being the bread," Vanth said. Galen and Elektra stared at him. "What? I'm hungry, and it's how my brain is understanding it."

"So how are you two going to find it if the location is moving?" Galen asked, turning to Elektra.

"We need to go back to the temple and use it as a starting place," she said, tapping her lip thoughtfully. "Is thismap enchanted to stay locked onto the source of the magical disruption?"

Galen nodded. "It is, but I can't promise it will work any more accurately. Why?"

"If we take it to the temple, the interference might stabilize it," Vanth guessed.

Elektra knew that she had to go back; she had known it since she had left. She was just afraid to. There had been nothing but death and carnage left behind, the dying demands of the high priestess ringing in her ears that had made her run without thought.

Vanth's arm went around her shoulders, bringing her out of the memory. "Hey, you won't be going there alone. Whatever we find there, we will face it together."

Elektra nodded, leaning into his warmth and comfort.Mate. Mate. Mate, her primal side insisted. That was something for her to examine after all the other mess was over. She didn't have room in her heart for any hope that wasn't beyond surviving.

"If that's all you two will need from me, I'll get out of your hair. I have my own affairs to see to," Galen said, placing his empty mug in the sink. Vanth thanked him for his help, and Galen shrugged it off. He paused by the door. "Vanth, take some free advice? Don't leave Inferno without seeing the dragons. If you fail, and an army of the undead is unleashed on the city, then dragon fire will be the only thing to stop them."

Vanth groaned. "They won't see me."

"Just try to say that you did in case it all blows up in your face." Galen smiled. "Because knowing you, it probably will."

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