Page 14 of Shadow's End

Chapter

Three

Ishuddered and released the ring, which shattered the connection and let the horrific images dissipate. The gut-churning horror remained, however.

The ring chimed lightly as it hit the floor and bounced away. Monty caught it before it could roll down the steps, but in the shadowed darkness that surrounded us, it glimmered with bloody fire. My psychometry surged to life one more time, giving me a final image—that of a lake rich and red in hue, and in which faces floated. Faces that were forever frozen in fear and horror.

My stomach roiled threateningly. I gulped down air as I battled the urge to be sick. Belle caught my hands, and her mind flowed into mine, pushing the images back from the forefront of my memories and giving me room to breathe, to think.

“Thanks,” I said eventually. My gaze rose to hers. “Did you see…?”

“Some of the stronger images certainly came through, but you’re doing a damn good job of shutting me out these days.” She squeezed my hands then released them. “What you saw is not unexpected, given who and what we’re dealing with.”

I guess it wasn’t, given there were at least a dozen vampires remaining with Marie—including, of course, Maelle’s daughter Jaqueline—and they did all need to be fed.

I just hadn’t expected it to be so … centralized.

Monty disengaged his circle and collected his spell stones. “I take it you located Roger?”

“I saw the cavern where I think he’s imprisoned, but he’s not alone there.”

Belle and I released our entwined protection circle, then rose and picked up the spell stones.

Monty’s eyebrows rose. “They have other prisoners?”

“More like other victims.” Belle’s reply was grim. “Think charnel house, but in a cave.”

“Ah, fuck.” Monty scraped a hand across his bristly chin. “Thoughthatdoes make me wonder why there hasn’t been an avalanche of missing persons reports.”

“The reservation is filled with small farms and out-of-the-way shacks,” I replied. “The werewolves might notice one of their own going missing, but they’re unlikely to notice anyone else doing so unless its reported or they deal with them on a daily basis.”

“True.” He hesitated. “Did you see anything that will give us an idea of general location? Or are we just going to tootle around with the ring until we find a pulse?—”

“I would hope your use of ‘tootling’ does not imply a lack of urgency” came Maelle’s comment from somewhere deep in the shadows behind Monty. “Roger needs to be found within that twenty-four-hour deadline we were given.”

Her use of ‘we’ definitely suggested there’d be personal ramifications for us if we didn’t, and that they wouldn’t be coming from Marie.

But then, if we failed to save Roger, be it within that deadline or not, there’d be ramifications for the whole damn reservation, not just us.

“Just where is this court she mentioned?” I couldn’t help asking. “She said you’d know, but how is that even possible if you two haven’t communicated yet?”

Maelle remained in the shadows, but I nevertheless felt the cold flash of her smile. “The court is not a physical entity, but rather one that lies in the realm between life and death. It is a plane on which evil plays, and one that we who live on the lives of others, who conjure from the blood of others, or who barter with the darker forces of this world can traverse at will.”

I stared at the darkness in which she stood for several seconds. “That’s how Jaqueline escaped the explosion at the shearers’ shed, isn’t it?”

She hadn’t, as we’d presumed at the time, scrambled down into the old mine shaft that ran underneath the shed, but rather had simply stepped into this shadow realm.

“Indeed,” Maelle said, amusement evident. “And if not for the fact that the spells around your café have the wild magic woven through them, you would have already fallen victim to Marie’s wiles.”

“And there you go, underestimating me again.”

“I underestimate nothing, my dear Elizabeth. Now, you had best go and find Roger, otherwise annoyance might get the better of me.”

It was so calmly, so politely said, but there was no doubting the threat within. A chill ran down my spine and, as one, the three of us turned and got the hell out of there.

“Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place,” Monty grumbled once we were clear of the building. “We’ve one vampire who’ll kill us if we don’t find her man, and a fucking dozen who will kill us if we do.”

“At least we have the sunlight on our side right now,” I said. “No matter what else they might be capable of, they simply can’t roam about in it.”

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