Page 59 of Midnight Witch

“Are you sure you’re okay, boss?” The guy in the lead looked over at Mae. “She might be influencing—”

“This has nothing to do with her!” Vlad snapped.

The men flinched.

Vlad took a shaky breath, clearly annoyed with himself for having shouted at them.

Mae touched the incubus’s arm and looked at his subordinates. “Just—answer his question, please.”

“Our boss and theirs are intending to hold reconciliation talks next week,” the second man explained reluctantly. He hesitated and shot a glance at Cortes. “Word is they may be trying to kill Yuliy.”

Cortes ground his teeth. “We’d never do something that cowardly!”

“None of this is real,” Mae warned. “So, how about everyone calm down?”

“Mae’s right,” Nikolai said while Vlad’s men shared confused glances. “We need to focus on stopping the Dark Council, not a war that doesn’t exist.”

Vlad blew out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. An anxious rumble escaped Tarang. The incubus ruffled the tiger’s head before turning to stare at the church. “So, this is where you last saw Sergio Mendes and his people?”

“Yes,” the man in the lead replied uneasily.

“Thanks, we’ll take it from here.”

They waited until the men left before finding a side door to the building.

Seeing as it was late on a Sunday night, the church was empty. They split up to explore the place.

“Why did Mendes come here?” Mae pondered.

Nikolai manifested a glowing orb of Moon Magic so they could examine the room they’d entered. The sorcerer shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe he came to confess his sins.”

Mae pulled a face. “I really doubt that’s the reason he and his coven visited this church.”

They didn’t uncover anything untoward in the rooms they checked out and soon joined Vlad and Cortes in the main prayer hall.

“You guys find anything?” Mae asked as they headed up the central aisle.

Vlad shuddered. “Apart from a reaffirmation of my loathing for all things religious, no.”

Cortes blinked. “You don’t have a faith?”

“Of course not.” Vlad stared. “Do you?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Vlad narrowed his eyes. “Is that pity I see on your face?”

“No.” The Columbian sighed. “I’m just surprised, considering who you are. Your father is the King of Incubi and you people know archangels.”

“Oh, I believe in Heaven and Hell,” Vlad said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I just choose not to pander to mankind’s interpretation of it.”

Violet’s voice rose excitedly behind them. “Hey, we found something!”

Mae twisted around, her pulse quickening.

The witch came up the aisle with Miles. She was holding a black feather.

“You found a bird?” Vlad asked skeptically.

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