Page 57 of Of Flames and Crows

Ludmila’s sharp gaze swung to Mae and Vlad. “What do you think of him?”

She pointed her cane imperiously at Vlad.

Vlad stared.

Mae blinked. “What do you mean?”

“What are his powers like? Are you two a couple? Any thoughts about babies?” Ludmila fired out. “His incubus energy and your demonic magic make for a perfect match. Your children would be a force to be reckoned with.” She sniffed regally. “And beautiful too.”

Mae choked on air. Vlad’s eyes grew heated as he waited expectantly for her answer. Nikolai’s eyes shrank to slits.

Ludmila studied the sorcerer’s scowl. “What’s the matter with him?”

“Don’t stir that hornet’s nest,” Cortes muttered.

Nikolai’s cell phone rang. He grumbled something under his breath as he took the call. “Hi, Marlena.” Tension tightened his face. “Where?”

CHAPTER24

A gothic clocktower with a green,copper cupola rose against a clear blue sky at the end of a street in Old Town, less than a mile from their hotel. The SUVs they rode in pulled up to a police barricade outside the cathedral it crowned a moment later.

The officer manning the blockade checked the ID Nikolai showed him before letting them through.

“Marlena pulled some strings,” the sorcerer explained at Mae’s inquisitive look. “Budimir helped.” He parked next to an entrance made of decorative metal doors rising beneath a beautiful, stone relief set atop ornate pilasters and a vaulted window. “The whole place is off limits for the next few hours. Forensics have already examined the crypt where the bodies were found. They’ll wait until we’ve finished inspecting it before removing them.”

Vlad, Ludmila, and three of her escort stepped out of the second vehicle. They’d left the other witches and sorcerers at the hotel with Budimir, Cortes, and Filomena.

“You sure you’re up to this?” Mae asked Ludmila worriedly as they entered the deserted vestibule.

The Vissarion matriarch flashed a frown her way. “This is not my first dead body.”

Her salamander Herbert hissed softly.

Mae sighed. “I meant the stairs to the catacombs. You’re not exactly a spring chicken.”

Vlad swallowed a snort. Ludmila’s frown deepened.

“What if you fall and break something?” Mae said insistently. “I’ll never hear the end of it from my mom.”

“Vlad can always carry me,” Ludmila asserted confidently.

Vlad’s expression turned cold. “No, thanks. You can fall and break a leg for all I care.” He sneered. “Better still, your neck.”

“How about Nikolai and I help you down?” Mae said hurriedly as tension sparked the air between the incubus and his grandmother.

They navigated an enormous, triple-naved space full of marble inlays, colorful ceiling frescoes, and an impressive organ rising on a loft above the entrance. Mae’s gaze danced over the multitude of side chapels with their lavish sculptures and arches, before focusing on the altar they were approaching.

An elaborate, gilded, framed painting dozens of feet high and supported by a choir of angels rose above it. Tucked to either side below were two doors.

Julius was waiting for them outside the one on the left. “This way.”

It was clear from his grim look that the discovery the Council of the Moon had made beneath the church was not going to be pleasant.

“The sister of one of the clergyman who works here is a witch in our council,” the sorcerer explained in a low voice as he led them down a cloister and through another door. “He could tell from the state of the bodies he discovered that their deaths had not been from natural causes. He informed her before the authorities.”

A narrow, stone staircase appeared at the end of the passage they were navigating. Heavy silence blanketed them as they descended into the catacombs beneath the building, the thick walls blocking out all sounds but for their footsteps and their breathing.

A chain of pale bulbs illuminated the gloomy space they entered. It cast their shadows on the walls and low, vaulted ceiling of a wide passage with ossuaries branching off on either side.

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