Page 114 of Blood and Trouble

“We’re coming,” I attempted to tell him. “Hang in there. We’re coming.”

I had no idea if it worked. No response came from his side, only the anguish of whatever they were putting him through.

“If Evelyn’s trying to complete whatever Marx started,” Bridge said, “she’d be holed up some place private. Something with ley lines or ancient magic. Something tied to her specifically.”

“The old magic runs deep here,” Serpent said. “That could be a million places.”

“I called Smiler on our way back,” Mick said. “He’ll get a cleanup crew out there. It’ll be a gas main before the evening news.”

“Thanks, Mick,” Orion said.

“Why would she take them?” Ava cut in. “She was after me. She was only supposed to be interested in me.”

“It’s a trap, obviously,” Aquila said. “She’s trying to lure you out, get us on her turf.”

“Mill?” Orion barked.

“Hold, please,” he said, eyes flicking over his laptop screen. “Just tapping into the police security cameras with the bypass Mick gave me, trying to track her.”

“We still don’t know what we’re walking into,” Ren said. “We can’t go in blind.”

“We have the mechanics,” Leander added. “We know what kind of curse Marx was working on Maeve before she killed him. Assuming Evelyn is doing the same thing⁠—”

“That’s a big assumption,” I added, crossing my arms.

“You’ve got a better idea?” Leander asked. “Let’s hear it.”

My wolf bristled at the condescension in his tone.

“If some stupid vampire could steal a shifter’s magic, why haven’t we heard of anything like it before?” I matched his arrogance with my own, perhaps fueled by Lycan’s agony and Ava’s panic. “You think Marx was the first piece of shit in history to have a grudge with a pack of shifters?”

“I didn’t realize you were the pinnacle of knowledge when it came to magic,” Leander growled. “By all means, educate the rest of us.”

I’d just been about to lay into him when Guin interrupted me.

“Marx is dead now, so why does it matter?” she said. “Evelyn’s got no reason⁠—”

“I have a theory,” Bridge said, drawing my attention away from the shithead warrior to the group. “It’s wild…but hear me out.”

“Go on,” Orion said.

“Let’s lay out the facts. Ignore any assumptions.” She cast a sideways glance at Leander. “We know the spell specifically targeted the Kennedy bloodline. Marta knows what she heard when she helped you rescue Maeve, and I did my own research. Whatever Marx did to Maeve wasn’t just a suppression curse. This was meant to fix something that was already there, something that already existed in the Kennedy line.” Bridge rubbed at her forehead, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “This is blood magic…old and powerful. Magic like this needs an anchor, something living, something that will hold the magic in place for as long as the anchor survives. That’s the whole appeal. Put it in something that doesn’t die, and neither does the spell.”

“Vampires,” I said.

“Vampires,” she agreed. “And once it’s cast, it can’t be destroyed. It has to land somewhere. Otherwise, it will go back to where it came from. Back to the anchor.”

“That’s what Evelyn’s doing, isn’t it?” Maeve asked. “You said she’s trying to fix whatever he fucked up?”

“No, I’m saying the ritual Marx did on you wasn’t the first time he tried it with a Kennedy,” she said. “He tried the curse before. Maybe a previous ritual got blocked, and he was trying to rectify whatever blowback that caused. Now he’s dead, and Evelyn is picking up the pieces almost like she’s personally invested. Almost like the blowback hit her, too.”

For a moment, no one said anything.

“How did she look when you saw her at the royal reception?” Bridge raised an eyebrow.

“She was using glamor magic,” Ava said.

“But she stank,” I added, “more than usual.”