Page 74 of Shadow's End

“In a house on View Street, about five minutes away from here.”

“Is she alone?” Ashworth asked. “One or two additional vamp mages we can probably deal with, but if it’s the lot of them, well, that’ll take more planning.”

“The pillow beside her was dented, so there’s possibly one other person there, at least.”

“Could it be Marie?” Belle asked.

I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not sure they’d risk cohabitation, given what Maelle did up in Moonlight Flats. Besides, Maelle said that she forbade Marie from taking Jaqueline as a lover.”

“After what Maelle did to the coven,” Monty said, voice dry, “I’m thinking any agreements the two might have had were rendered null and void.”

“The one preventing Maelle from attacking her maker still holds, so it’s likely the others might, too.”

“I’m also thinking there’s plenty we haven’t been told about that particular agreement.” Monty got out his phone and brought up Google Maps. “What’s the address?”

I gave it to him and reached for a Scotch Finger before he could snaffle them all.

“I’m guessing the place would have been unoccupied,” Eli said, pouring the tea while Monty googled. “Because vamps wouldn’t be able to enter it otherwise. Not without a freely given invite to step over the threshold, anyway.”

Belle frowned. “I thought residences, even if empty, were a tricky prospect for vamps? Isn’t it more usual for them to use commercial properties or even ones that are mixed?”

“It’s something of a gray area,” Eli said, “and generally depends on the length of time it’s been vacant and whether there’s a lingering connection to past owners.”

“They got into our ghost’s place, though,” she said, “and he definitely had a lingering connection to it.”

“As I said, it’s a gray area.”

“Got it.” Monty put the phone down so we could all see it. “From the look of things, it’s a pretty standard triple-fronted brick house from the seventies.”

“It’s also on a big, raised triangular block with nothing more than grass between the street and the house,” Ashworth noted. “They’re going to see us coming.”

“They’re more likely to hear our heartbeats before they ever see us,” I said. “And that, combined with the fact we’re dealing with vamps who have shown a penchant for spelling in and outof locations, is going to be a problem. We need to find a way to stop them transporting away.”

“What about the wild magic?” Monty said.

I picked up my cup and took a sip. “What about it?”

“Well, it’s basically immune to dark magic, is it not?”

“If it was immune,” Ashworth said, “history wouldn’t be littered with fresh wellsprings being stained by the influence of evil and the town and people surrounding them destroyed.”

Monty waved a hand. “Fresh isn’t what we have here, though. It’s partially sentient thanks to the hundreds of souls it’s got lurking within it, and it’s very determined to get rid of the evil that has now infested the reservation. And it has a means of directing its power, thanks to Liz’s connection to it.”

“You did use it to contain those vampires who attacked the O’Connor compound,” Belle said. “That isn’t much different to what we need here.”

“Except it is, because I could feel the weight of those vamps on the earth, whereas here”—I waved a hand to the image still on Monty’s phone—“we’re dealing with a vampire hiding in a house. The house has the connection, not the person, if that makes sense.”

“Can’t you just send the wild magic in to investigate?” Monty asked. “It’s not like it doesn’t float about everywhere anyway.”

“It doesn’t go inside as a general rule, though. Not unless it’s the café or it’s directed to do so by me or Katie. Besides, Jaqueline is well aware of my control over it and will bolt the minute she sees it.” I half shrugged. “What about a regular old cage spell? They’re designed to imprison all manner of beings, supernaturalorwitch, so surely a combination of all ours will prevent her transporting out and hold her in place long enough for Maelle to get here.”

Especially given it now appeared Maelle was as capable as her maker and her daughter at creating and using transport spells.

“Cage spells are not instantaneous,” Eli said. “The minute we start raising one, she’ll run.”

“The wild magicisinstantaneous, though,” Monty said. “Why can’t you just wrap the wild magic around the entire house and cage the bitch inside that way?”

“If that is possible,” Ashworth said, “it’s a rather good idea.”

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