Page 137 of Blood Curse

The man with the case stopped between the gateposts.

“Is this the boundary?” he asked.

Lenora pointed at a pale groove cut across the drive. “According to the old estate map.”

He gave me a sidelong glance. “You aren’t going to say anything ceremonial?”

“Would it help?”

“Probably not.”

“Then go.”

He stepped over the groove.

Nothing flashed. He took three more paces, turned and stared back at us.

“Well?” Mara called.

He opened and closed his hands. “Nothing.”

“Can you feel the oath?” I asked.

His expression changed. “I can remember it.”

“Remembering it isn’t the same as feeling it.”

“I know.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “It used to sit here. I stopped noticing until it was gone.”

The woman beside him stepped over the groove. “You could have warned us freedom felt strange.”

Mara snorted. “Would you have believed him?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then he saved his breath.”

“Try coming back,” the woman beside him said.

“I thought the point was leaving.”

“The point is choice. Come back so we know the gate works both ways.”

He swore, crossed onto the drive and walked out again.

The second time, he laughed.

The others followed. One woman tested the groove twice. The vampire with the blood bottle walked straight to the road and kept going.

“Where will you go?” Bryony asked.

“Somewhere with a roof that doesn’t leak,” the man with the case said.

“That rules out half of Britain,” Mara said.

The woman testing the line stepped back onto the estate. “I might stay.”

Bryony almost smiled. “Either choice is yours.”