Page 46 of Searching for the Prince
He opened a portal into the living room of the unsuspecting John Collins. The poor bloke shrieked, not prepared to be accosted by someone wearing his own face, and Jack silenced him before he had the chance to kick up a ruckus and alert the neighbours. “Are you going to contact Ashley?” Hyax asked.
“Yeah, Ashley will collect our friend, and leave him in stasis until I’m done borrowing his persona. The Warlock Ruling Committee will look after him and he’ll think he’ll have been ina coma, then we’ll arrange for him to come into some sort of unexpected windfall.”
Hyax hadn’t expected the guy to be compensated. “Very generous of you.”
“We’re not vampires, and the kidnap and sedation of an innocent man isn’t something we’d usually condone, but there’s too much at stake.”
Jack levitated the sleeping form onto a sofa, in the corner of a small, not very nice flat. It was a bit odd to see the two of them together, knowing they weren’t twins. Hyax thought this John bloke had got lucky—a long sleep and a lottery win and he’d be able to escape his mediocre existence without ever knowing why.
There was a plastic document wallet on the table and on closer inspection, Hyax saw it was the papers John would need for his first day all completed. “He’s even done the forms for you.”
Jack gave them a cursory check. “Looky here, there’s a space for a preferred name. John’s gonna be a Jack from now on, which will make things easier.”
“Best get going,” Hyax said.
Jack was going to use John’s car to travel to the facility as John was a local living in the nearest town about five miles away. Hyax would catch a ride to the perimeter to avoid using his magic and see what he could glean from the outside. He wasn’t expecting much, but he was doing that more to find alternative escape routes for Gwil than for rescuing Simon. John’s car was parked in a designated bay at the back of the block of flats, and it was a box on wheels with an unhealthy amount of rust. It started first time, which was something, and Jack didn’t seem bothered about driving it.
“Have you heard from Gwil?” Jack asked as they drove along.
“Not yet.” Alex had sent word that Sebastian had got a text from Robin saying they’d been chosen. “We agreed he’d onlycontact me once he was somewhere safe. Since Sebastian has let us know they’ve been selected, I guess I’ll just have to be patient.”
“I’m guessing they won’t take them to the facility until the morning, it’ll make it more disorientating to have them stay a night somewhere else then drive them around a bit first.”
It made sense to Hyax. “Good job you’re starting on the night shift then.”
“Yeah, I’d have preferred the morning, I’m not nocturnal. I’ll need to keep my wits about me, although I rarely sleep more than five hours in a go.”
Hyax wondered if that was the influence of his siren side, but he wasn’t rude enough to ask. “I suppose in your line of work you have to adapt to whatever’s going on.”
“You’re the one with a vampire boyfriend, hasn’t that meant you change things up?”
Hyax shrugged. “A little but the fae don’t need the sleep humans do, even after they’ve been turned into bloodsuckers.”
“Aww… cute pet name.” Jack sniggered. Hyax liked him, he wasn’t as serious as Ashley but he was as powerful.
They left the town and headed into the country where the roads were narrower and dark due to no streetlights. “Did Robin mention to you about how he saw Simon wearing a set of golden cuffs?” Hyax asked.
“Yeah, I haven’t had much time to look into them, but I suspect they’re what’s containing Simon’s magic.”
“Agreed, they could be fae or elvish, the examples I know of are used to bind criminals during trials and then punishment.”
“Trouble?” Jack asked.
“Pretty much. If they are something similar to the ones I’ve seen, you won’t be able to get them off easily without damaging Simon, and I imagine they are keyed to the wards or the lich, so you’ll need to factor that in.”
“I need to find a way to drop the wards so you and Ashley can portal in and contain the lich, but those cuffs might make things tricky.”
Hyax had been thinking the same. “I’ll keep researching from my side, but once you get the chance to check them over, let me know if you can, it might help me find a way to get them off or block them long enough that we can work.”
“Between you and me, I think we’re being a bit optimistic on how this might turn out,” Jack admitted.
“You don’t think the plan will work?”
“It’ll work up to a point. The vampires aren’t known for their patience and this has all been done in a rush. While I think the magic you’ve used for the transfiguration is sound, the rest of the plan is a bit less thought-out.”
“I didn’t want Gwil involved, but he was adamant he’d help,” Hyax said. “Do you think Gwil’s in danger?”
Jack sniffed. “I heard he’s been undercover before. I’m less concerned about him and more about Robin not being able to control himself when he sees Simon and giving the game away before we can act and the lich disappears with Simon.”
