Page 69 of Stalked

He chanted a spell, and the dagger slipped from Caleb’s hands and zipped through the portal entrance.

I cocked my head to the side. “Where did you send it?”

Joel opened his mouth to speak, but Caleb interrupted, “Don’t tell us where. There are mind-reading witches out there, Mercy. The fewer people who know, the better. It’s safer this way.”

Joel nodded in agreement.

I turned to Lily but felt Caleb’s hand wrap around my arm. “We need to go. Every witch felt it as soon as your Awakening happened, and some witches are aligned with vampires. They would have reported to the clans by now. Your blood is very desirable to them, and their witch allies will lead them to you. We must take you somewhere safe until we can devise a plan.”

I wormed out of his grasp. I was done with him dragging me wherever he wanted. He took me away from my family during my Awakening, and we were only in this situation because of it.

“Joel?” I called, turning to my uncle. “Where can we go?”

Caleb rolled his eyes and spoke before Joel could answer, “St. Peter’s Cemetery in Salem. Can you teleport us?”

Caleb’s eyes were on mine, pleading for me to stop pushing him away. I looked down but didn’t resist this time when I felt his hand wrap around my fingers.

Goddammit.

Joel let out a heavy sigh. It was evident how exhausted he was. The side of his head had dried blood from where Caleb had struck him, and I was aware of what the teleportation spell did to his energy.

“Honestly, I can take you anywhere you want to go,” Joel said, “but why there?” I felt admiration welling in my heart. My uncle was willing to do anything to keep us safe, even if it meant taking every ounce of energy from him.

Caleb hesitated for a beat, but when I drew my brows together, he understood his vague responses had to stop. He continued, “There’s a safe house under one of the mausoleums. One that has protected witches for decades.”

Once everyone agreed this was the safest place to hide, we followed Joel into his portal, passing through space until we reached Salem.

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“I’VE BEEN HEREbefore,” I said, looking over at a large stone mausoleum across the cemetery. “In a vision, anyway.”

Caleb nodded. “It used to be a vampire lair. You and I snuck in there once to take out a vampire planning to strike a werewolf pack. We owed that pack a favor.”

“At the time, I thought it was only a dream,” I explained. “Someone threw me down the entryway from behind.”

Bits and pieces of that vision came back to my mind. “I had looked down some stairs inside a coffin in the mausoleum. They had come up from behind and pushed me inside.”

Caleb smiled as if recounting memories of his own. “Yeah, that guy got what was coming.”

I looked at him curiously. “That actually happened?”

“It was as if they knew we were coming. They struck you from behind, and a crowd of angry vampires surrounded you when you landed.” He smirked. “But don’t worry, we were right behind you.” He winked at me and grabbed his phone from his pocket. “I need to call Abigail. She’s going to worry about me.”

“Are you serious right now? Your aunt Abigail? The one who followed and attacked us at the library?”

“She’s not going to hurt you, Mercy. She’s on our side. I’m sure she couldn’t help herself when she smelled your blood. She didn’t mean it.”

I scrunched up my face. “Are those words actually coming out of your mouth?” The disbelief on my face as he dialed her number caused him to smile.

We entered the mausoleum’s doors, and there was a coffin at the center. Joel slid the coffin lid open, and there stood a long set of stairs that led under the ground, and Joel went in first.

“Climb down in a few minutes,” Joel instructed. “I just need to make sure it’s safe first.”

Five minutes later, we entered the lair, and I looked around. It was bigger than I had imagined. There was furniture in every space of the walls; there was even a kitchen and a few bathrooms.

After an hour of exploring the safe house and securing it with a shield spell, we heard a tap at the door.

“Do you really think she’ll be safe here, Caleb?” Abigail said as she walked inside. “A vampire’s lair?”

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