Page 7 of Shadow's End

I half smiled.Wouldn’t think about it.

Liar. She paused.Monty’s coming, too.

She probably won’t let him in.She hadn’t the last time he’d accompanied me.

Exactly what he said, but he’s insisting he be the backup plan. He’ll wait outside and come a-running if we need it.

Fair enough. I’m about ten minutes away.

We’ll meet you there.

The mental line went dead. I flicked on the radio and wound my way through the silent streets of Castle Rock, eventually arriving at Maelle’s nightclub eight minutes later. Monty and Belle hadn’t arrived yet, so I stopped on the opposite side of the street to the club and studied it.

The last time I’d been here the walls had been repaired but missing the biomechanical alien forms that had made it something of a tourist attraction. They remained absent, but the roof had now been restored, and the walls were in the process of being painted—though not right at this particular moment. Painting at night was never ideal, because the lights needed to see what you were doing generally attracted far too many bugs—and real-life rotting bug carcasses probably wouldn’t be the attraction the alien forms had been.

Two other things had changed.

One, there were now multiple layers of protection spells surrounding the building.

And two, the hulking, not-quite-human men who generally guarded the doors were absent.

Somethingdefinitelyhad happened.

Twin lights speared through the SUV’s rear window as a car pulled up behind me, and the accompanying rattle of the engine told me who it was. Monty’s old Ford had a very distinctive sound.

I grabbed a couple of bottles of holy water from my backpack, then climbed out and walked down to them.

Monty wound down the window. “Hey, cuz. Nice night for a bit of magic.”

I smiled. Though my relationship with my mom was now on the improve, during the bad old days of growing up in Canberra, Monty had been one of the few relatives I’d not only gotten along with but had actually liked. My grandfather was the other, but he’d died long before the forced marriage mess that had sent Belle and me on the run for nearly thirteen years.

Like most royal witches, Monty had deep crimson hair and silver eyes, but his pleasant features held a lot more warmth and humor than was usual amongst the royal lines. He’d been in love with Belle for as long as I could remember, and I couldn’t have been happier that the two of them were finally engaged.

“I’m thinking you mightnotbe referring to the witch kind there,” I replied, voice dry.

“Then you’d be thinking wrong. As Belle said, it’s entirely too hot, even for me.”

“Are you ill?” I pressed the back of my hand against his forehead. “A little hot but wouldn’t call it a fever?—”

He laughed and knocked my hand away. “I see the repairs on Maelle’s place continue to rocket along. No guards though—do you think she’s replaced them with all those protection spells?”

“Honestly?” I replied, “No, because she uses them as a visible deterrent to the human population. It’s possible they’re helping with whatever situation caused Maelle to sound so harassed.”

“Possible, but unlikely.” Belle climbed out of the passenger side of the car and walked around the front of the car. “We’re all aware how Maelle deals with ‘problems,’ and I’m thinking she wouldn’t want witnesses.”

“Except her guards aren’t exactly human.” They weren’t thralls either, but appeared to stand somewhere between the two. “They’re her creatures, and it’s doubtful they would—or even could—report her to the rangers for any sort of misdemeanor.”

“If she’s grumpy, then whatever has happened in there will be more than a misdemeanor.” She stopped beside me and studied the club through slightly narrowed eyes. Like me, she was wearing a tank top and shorts, but, unlike me, she was built like an Amazon and looked absolutely stunning. She was a Sarr witch, so had their coloring—black skin, silver eyes, and straight black hair that was currently pulled back into a ponytail. I was paler, rounder, and four inches shorter, with freckles across my nose that tended to become more noticeable in summer months.

“I’m only sensing two people inside—Maelle and one other,” she added. “Can’t tell you who that second person is, because I don’t want to risk Maelle’s wrath by doing anything deeper than a mind brush.”

“Always a sensible goal when it comes to magically powerful old vampires,” Monty said. “Could you tell if the person with her is male or female?”

“Female, so not one of the guards.”

“Could be one of her feeders,” I said.

“Possible, but I did catch a hint of distress.”

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