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“No one is kicking anyone’s ass, Ezra, not yet. I just need to talk to Maurice and find out what he wants. My blood is of no use to him. He doesn’t want to be human. Do you think he’d honestly risk his life over us taking down his lair? He knows we can’t be killed unless …”

I paused, looking up at Caleb. “Caleb, when was the last time you checked on the dagger?”

“The dagger?” Leah barked. “I thought Joel teleported it somewhere we weren’t supposed to know about?”

Caleb turned to her. “Simon and I teleported to its location and retrieved it to protect Joel. He isn’t strong enough to defend himself against a witch trying to read his mind. I have it hidden in Abigail’s mansion.”

Simon looked down and tried not to make eye contact with Leah and Ezra.

Leah gasped out in surprise, and Ezra threw his hands up.

“The fuck is wrong with you two?” Ezra said. “That would’ve been nice to be included in that decision when our fucking lives depend on whether it’ll be found by our enemies.” His tone was full of both anger and panic. He then turned to Simon. “I expected something like this from Caleb but not from you, man. You put us all at risk.”

Simon shrugged.

“Enough!” I yelled. I was too exhausted for this shit. “Caleb, we need to go check on the dagger. Now. Simon, you, and the others need to run surveillance and gather as much information as you can about what happened to Tatyana. Follow up on Ezra’s theory of a potential second killer.”

Dorian was still adamant about going with me to see Maurice, so it looked like Caleb, Dorian, and I were going on a little trip together after we made sure the dagger was where Caleb had put it.

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WE CLIMBED INTOCaleb’s car and went to the mansion, heading up to the second floor and into Caleb’s bedroom. He lifted the floorboard, opened the safe, and cracked open the lid.

All we did was stare for a long moment. It felt as if all the air had left my lungs, yet I managed to speak.

“Caleb, how could this happen? You said this would be more secure, that there were security spells on top of the safe’s lock. How did someone get into the mansion in the first place?” I asked him while keeping my eyes on the empty safe before us.

His mouth gaped open.

“Caleb?” I repeated his name, watching him blink several times before turning to face me.

“Only a witch could have opened this,” Caleb finally answered.

“We’re such fools,” I added. When I felt a cool touch, I looked down to see Dorian’s hand wrapped around mine, gripping it firmly.

“Maurice will never lay a hand on you again,” Dorian said. “I’ll kill him myself if I have to.”

Caleb narrowed his eyes to where I held Dorian’s hand, but I didn’t care. I was furious at Caleb for being so careless about hiding the dagger without going through the coven first. I should have moved it somewhere safer the moment I found out it wasonlyin a safe in the mansion.

“Let’s go,” I said to them both before we headed out of the mansion and drove toward Salem, where Noah had just reported having seen Maurice.

CHAPTER 17

Mercy

THIS NEW LAIR was vastly different from the gothic mansion Maurice had lived in. It almost looked normal. Almost too normal. There was no security gate or sentries guarding the door. There were no signs of movement from within the building.

Something was off.

Noah reported he had spotted Maurice coming in and out of this two-story Victorian-style home several times a week since he started to trail him. We guessed this was his new home.

I could already feel my powers spark beneath my skin, but I had to take a few deep breaths to conceal it so I didn’t lose control. My father taught me how to subdue my powers whenever I’d get too angry during the few weeks that I stayed with him. We found that whenever my emotions took over, so did my magic. The result would be massive bursts of destructive energy. We believed it was due to me not being able to gradually get used to them over the course of twenty-two years, which is why witches didn’t get all their powers at once. It was too overwhelming. In the last year, I had not only learned what I was, but I’d gained all my magicandmy mother’s all at once. I thought I had control, but it was evident that I didn’t.

“We should just knock,” I suggested. Dorian and Caleb looked at me like I was crazy. “If he feels threatened, he’ll attack us without a second thought.”

They must have known I was right because they didn’t argue with me.

Slowly, we walked up to the door and knocked.

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