Silver-blond hair streaked with bloodred. Pale skin gone gray. Mounds of magically blue chiffon against the stark green of a frost-tipped field.
The vampire Oakley Riddle, dead a second time for all to see.
The vision cut to black.
The circle stirred, everyone seeming to come up for air at the same time, like those very talented synchronized swimmers in the summer Olympics (who were often witches, by the way).
Embry blinked around. The Elton-Bentleys seemed both relieved and reserved, particularly Alistair, who very clearly didn’t want to let anyone down, nor stay under Balthazar’s influence. Lazarus blinked at his daughter, pain flashing in a wince. Rye was as white as a sheet and staring straight at Embry, mouth parted, breath shallow—he’d seen the body yes, but not the murder scene.
Embry squeezed Rye’s hand. He squeezed back.
“Okay,” Lazarus said, clearing his throat, “that’s as good of an indication as any that you are not currently corrupted. Time to find Balthazar.”
“Just as a point of explanation.” Natasha raised a hand. “Our son isn’t an app. He can’t locate the sorcerer. What he can do is divine something that will happenwithhim.”
They nodded. Natasha returned her hand to Lazarus’s grip. Embry forced herself to breathe and squeezed perhaps a little too hard on both Rye’s and Alistair’s fingers.
Again, the rich purply blackness on the backs of her eyelids flooded with blurry color as the scene developed from the vision’s point of view.
Shadows hardened into sketchy lines and then solid ones, forming people, place, movement. Lots of people. Places. Movement.
When the colors finished sharpening, the scene splayed across the backs of her eyelids was a melee. Magic pulsed from all corners,launched like lasers from a spaceship in a big-deal action movie. And, at the center of it all, were two points of focus.
One, Balthazar Hale, hands raised and pulsing with power.
Two, the grave of Hiram Woodcross, with its self-serious statue gazing out on new lands, tomb lid ajar.
CHAPTER 40
THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE
“WE CONFRONT THE SORCERER AT THE GRAVE OFHIRAMWoodcross.”
Lazarus’s instructions were as loud and clear as the crowd was silent and staring.
Embry stood next to Daddy in the coven pentagram, with Rye beside her and Alistair and his mothers at their backs, looking out at the coven members who could come at a drop of a hat—all fifty of them. And, apparently, each one was confused.
Merle was the first to speak. Because of course he was. “All of us… or…?”
“All of us,” Daddy answered in a calm tone, but Embry noticed the vein in his temple bulge—he was not pleased. He gestured toward the family of diviners, previously introduced. “There were plenty of people in Alistair’s vision. We don’t know who, so we’re just going to assume it’s the coven at large. And why shouldn’t it be? This sorcerer is trying to frame us as zealot vampire hunters and get us disbanded, or worse, tossed in jail. We need to capture Balthazar Hale and bring him to justice for his crimes, not just to protect the coven and let him feel the consequences of what he’s done to the Riddle clan, but to ensure he never does this again to another group of vampires or witches.”
There was a copious amount of nodding after that, much to Embry’s relief.
“Is there a time we’re supposed to arrive? Or, you know,a plan?”
The snarky side of Embry wanted to ask Merle if he had somewhere else to be? A specific outfit he wanted to wear? Maybe a round of dynamic stretching he wanted to squeeze in before literally ambushing the answer toalllllllof their problems.
But she’d made a vow ever since Rye’s explanation of her mentor’s (former mentor’s?) history to be nicer to the man, and she decided sassing back now would not only cancel out setting him up with Jonesy but also be of no help to the group as a whole. Also, maybe where he had to be was with Jonesy. Perhaps for a lunch date before her afternoon classes.
Embry smiled. “The time is as soon as we’re ready, the plan is to be ready for a fight.”
“Exactly,” Daddy replied, stabbing his palm for emphasis. “At present, we have the element of surprise. We need to balance preparedness with maintaining our current advantage.”
“Butwe”—Merle gestured grandly at the coven at large—“don’t fight. I’m the only one trained, and that was extremely evident when the rabid vampires showed up.”
“We have defensive and stunning spells,” Lazarus pointed out. “If the coven uses what we know, we can surely hold one sorcerer, even if he is juiced up on dark magic.”
Embry cleared her throat. “I know what we saw in Alistair’s vision.” She nodded here to the diviner, who sat flanked by his mothers among the coven. “And it was definitely a lot of people—all of us. But I do want us to consider the possibility that Balthazar isn’t alone. The other people in the vision were a blur. We could be dealing with his family, too.”
