Page 272 of Sigils & Spells

“Onyx!” I screamed.

* * *

I woke myself up,gasping for breath. My hands felt clammy and my throat felt drier than the Sahara Desert.

“Interesting,” said Harvey as he hopped onto the sofa to sit beside me. “Onyx used a dream to communicate with you.”

“He did.”

“The dhamphyre is more powerful than I thought.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, refusing to give Onyx a compliment. “He utilized an emotional moment to communicate with me because my senses would be most awake during that time. A strategic move. A smart move. Very Onyx.”

Harvey’s cheeks puffed in and out. “Mmm hm.”

I swiped at the tears on my cheeks. “Onyx is captive, and I have no idea where.”

“At least you know he’s alive,” murmured Harvey.

“But in trouble.” I pulled the blanket closer around my body. “It’s not like Onyx to ask me for help. He would only do that if his life was in danger, and he had no other choice.”

CHAPTER9

Tick Tock– 25 hours left.

As soon asthe sun slid below the coastal mountains, I met with Gavin and René in my office. I motioned for them to take a seat across my desk.

Gavin wore a perfectly pressed police uniform topped with a cop scowl. He nodded and folded his muscular body into a chair.

René, my savant vampire student sank onto the other chair with the grace of an aristocrat at a prestigious gentleman’s club. He appeared to be seventeen, but in real time he was my age, twenty-five, and cut a dashingly handsome figure. His young face dominated by big, brown eyes were outlined by the longest, curly eyelashes I had ever seen. His dark skin had a healthy glow, and he smelled like the night air.

“I’ll cut to the chase,” I said. “The Fang Hunter has Onyx.”

Gavin grunted. “Figured that.”

René cleared his throat. “I’ve organized all the vampires in town. As we speak, search parties scour the grounds for clues. Try not to worry, Ms. Rebel. We will find him.”

Says a dead man. I scoffed. “Thank you for that, and thank you for leaving us a report.” I fingered the file on my desk. “I infiltrated the mage guild today, and long story short—we can rule them out. That leaves Claudia and the stranger.”

Gavin’s denim-blue eyes darkened almost to black like a perfect storm brewing on the horizon. “You didn’t stick to the plan.”

“No, I didn’t.”

He growled and my teaching license on the wall shook. “My pack is roaming the forest trails. Donovan has the shifters covering the mountain and wizards scrying.” He stopped for a moment and looked toward the window. “The local cops are managing all the checkpoints we’ve set up.” His nostrils flared. “And the town witches, well, they’re doing what witches do.”

I made a face at him, knowing he had said that just to annoy me.

René lifted his chin. “When I left the residences, I asked Ice to bring Claudia to us in ten minutes. They should be here any second now. She’s number two on my list.”

Teachers aren’t supposed to have favorites, but if I did, Ice would be one of them. He was a muscle-bound guy of few words with a big heart. His impulsiveness unfortunately got him into a lot of trouble, and that’s how he ended up at Fangsters under my supervision. But, his heart was helping him find his way.

Gavin turned to René. “You do the questioning. I’ll observe.” Then he glanced my way.

“Okay,” I said.

Ice, wearing his trademark gray sweat suit with the word Fangsters, escorted the young woman in. He nodded to me.

According to her student file, Claudia was a two-hundred-year-old vampire who Alessandro turned at the age of eighteen to save her from dying from syphilis. While she had behaved for the first century and a half of her undead life, she had recently got into a lot of trouble.

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