Page 83 of Shadow's End

“The fireball hit the kitchen, and there’s nothing left of it or the living room,” Monty said. “But most of the bedrooms remain intact. I guess we were lucky that Marie didn’t throw a fireball as big as the one that destroyed the ranger station. Otherwise, even with the wild magic protecting us, we might have been toast.”

“She probably wasn’t capable of throwing another fireball that big,” Belle said. “Those things take blood and energy, and even a vampire has a finite amount of either.”

“I doubt she’s using her own blood.” He glanced at me, something I felt more than saw. “You able to move yet, Liz? Because what remains of the house is on fire, and the grass is starting to catch. We need to move.”

I finally opened my eyes. The night was bright with a mix of orange and purple fire, and the smoke rising from both smothered the brightness of the stars. Instinct stirred briefly, and I had a bad,badfeeling it was a phenomenon we would see again, and soon.

I pushed into a sitting position, waited until my head stopped spinning, then turned around on my butt and carefully slithered down the embankment to the pavement. Then, finally,I looked up at the house. Monty had been practicing the art of overstatement when he’d said most of the bedrooms remained intact, because that entire area had no roof, and two of the rooms were missing internal walls. The blast had also taken some tiles off the roof of the house behind, and there were bits of wood and bricks embedded in the sheds of the property next door. Overall, though, there hadn’t been a lot of fallout damage—not when compared to the destruction surrounding the ranger station, anyway.

As our SUV turned the corner and headed toward us, my phone rang, the tone telling me it was Aiden. I dragged out my phone, hit the answer button, and said, “I’m fine.”

“Fine as in alive, but the weariness in your voice suggests you’re also dead on your feet.” He hesitated, his concern evident. “Perhaps you should go to the hospital and be checked out. I know the Fenna said our daughter would indeed be born, but let’s not take any chances.”

“The last thing I need right now is to be sitting in the Emergency Department for hours. Trust me, there’s nothing wrong that a good meal and twelve hours’ sleep won’t fix. How’s things there?”

“Obvious change of topic, but I’ll play along. The fire’s under control, and two of the brigades that were here are now on their way over to you.” He paused. “What happened to Jaqueline?”

“Well, she’s still alive.”

“Did you call in Maelle?”

“Yes, and she’s the reason Jaqueline lives. We’re about to head home—how far away are you?”

“Another hour, at least. Don’t wait up for me.”

“I doubt I could even if I wanted to.” I hesitated. “Just be careful, okay?”

“As someone is prone to say, always.”

I laughed, told him I loved him, and hung up. Ashworth stopped the SUV in front of us, and Monty opened the rear door and waved me in. I scooted all the way over so that he and Belle could sit next to each other. Eli climbed into the front.

“So,” Ashworth said, once we were underway again, “what the hell happened inside that house?”

I quickly updated them and then added, “I had no idea it was possible to regain humanity after becoming a vampire.”

“That’s because it’s generally not,” Eli said. “But then, there are few witches or mages in this world that would have the power and the demonic contacts that Maelle obviously has. I suppose what magic gives, magic can also take away.”

“And I’d place money on the fact that the registrar are well aware it is possible to undo vampirism with magic,” Ashworth said. “They are undoubtedly the reason there’s very little information about the possibility out in the wider world.”

The registrar was a private vampire organization that supposedly held the record of every vampire created and which insisted that all vampires report a location change to ensure there was no overlap of territory. “Maelle mentioned the existence of the registrar, but I was under the impression few people knew about it.”

“Few do, but the RWA has by necessity had some interactions with them.” Ashworth grimaced. “They are not an easy organization to get information from, however.”

“I’m surprised you getanyinformation from them,” Belle said.

“A rogue vampire is no more in their best interests than it is RWA’s,” Ashworth said. “For the most part, they deal with the situation well before whispers of vampire troubles ever reach our ears.”

“To which the sane amongst us can only say, thank God,” Monty said, voice dry. “I only wish they’d step in and take care ofthissituation.”

“Maelle wouldn’t want them here,” I said.

“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t contact them. Maybe they could help.”

“And maybe that would just tip our insane vampire over the edge.”

“She leapt over the edge a long time ago,” Monty said. “But that being the case, it might be best if we all bunk in together for a couple of days at the café until we sort this mess out.”

“Laddie, aside from the fact the café is not big enough for all of us, I’m way too old to be sleeping on the floor.”

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