Page 108 of It All Started with a Bite

“Looks like Priscilla may not behind whatever is going on here,” he said in a hard voice.

Didi’s voice came urgently over my earpiece. “The woman in the red dress at your nine o’clock is one of the witches Wheeler contacted. And Nigel just identified four more mercenaries among the waitstaff.”

My wolf stirred. The vampires I’d spotted before had been joined by more of their associates and were spreading out across the ballroom. Surprise jolted me in the next instant.

Something had just surged deep beneath the ground under my feet.

Pearl’s fur rose on end.

“Guys,” Didi said stiffly. “Nigel’s picking up some strange energy readings. He thinks the ley lines are becoming active.”

I clenched my jaw. “I can feel them.”

That’s when I picked up the troubling magic I’d sensed at Château Montmartre. It was stronger than it had been outside the forest where I’d chased Wheeler.

My head snapped around, my wolf scenting the trail. Bo’s hackles rose.

We both stared at Marcus as he made swiftly for a corridor to the right.

The magic scent was coming from him.

Marcus looked nervously over his shoulder. I followed his anxious gaze. Before I could figure out why he’d glanced at Lauren before staring at one of the vampire mercenaries, he faced forward again and quickened his steps as if the hounds of Hell were on his tail.

I turned to Samuel, my heart slamming against my ribs. “I need to check something out.”

His eyes narrowed behind his glasses. “I’m coming with you.”

“No.” I squeezed his arm. “Stay here and keep an eye on things. Bo and I will be careful.”

He didn’t look happy but nodded nonetheless.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Pearl warned.

Caroline, Kent, and Lauren watched us leave with faint frowns.

I slipped through the crowd and escaped the ballroom with Bo.

“Where are you going?” Didi asked suspiciously.

“Following Marcus,” I said quietly. “You were right about that magic I smelled at Château Montmartre. I’m pretty sure it’s coming from the crystal skull. And Marcus reeks of it.”

We moved silently, following the growing trail of eerie magic laced with Marcus’s scent. It led us up a sweeping staircase to the first floor.

Bo sniffed the ground and looked up. “It’s coming from there.”

I narrowed my eyes at the double doors at the end of a shadowy corridor to my left.

The only light illuminating the hallway was a ray of moonlight that had escaped the overnight sky and pierced the tall windows overlooking the front courtyard.

We crept closer to the doors.

One of them was ajar. A sliver of brightness escaped from the room beyond.

Voices drifted through the gap as Bo and I pressed against the wall.

“Who—who are the people you brought with you tonight?” Marcus stammered agitatedly. “I just smelled wolfsbane and silver on one of them!”

“I’m surprised you managed to detect that with your weak nose.”

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