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Meaning he must have been in the area anyway, because even if he’d broken all land speed records, he couldn’t have gotten to Argyle from Castle Rock in such a short amount of time.
“I’ll see you soon,” he added, and hung up.
Aiden returned with several branches of ash. Once they were cleaned and sharpened, he said, “How many stakes do we actually need?”
“If she’s a distant relative of the vampire, then one should be enough. But I’d use them all, just to be safe.”
He nodded and did the grisly deed, shoving one stake into her heart and the rest into her chest. I watched through narrowed eyes, but there was no reaction and there surely would have been if there’d been any life left in her.
Relief stirred, its force so strong my knees threatened to collapse. Aiden caught me and tugged me close.
“Why don’t you go up to bed,” he said softly. “It’s going to take me a while to deal with this mess.”
“Monty’s only a few minutes away. Wait for him to get here, just in case you need magical help.” I rose on to my toes and quickly kissed him. “This is not how I’d hoped the night would end.”
“Me neither.” His quick smile was rueful. “But there’s always the morning.”
“There’d better be, or I may just scream.”
I kissed him again, this time with all the frustrated hunger that still burned within, then headed upstairs for a shower.
I didn’t hear Monty arrive. I had no idea what time Aiden slipped into bed and gathered me in his arms.
But the morning, when it finally arrived, was glorious.
It was late the following afternoon when the phone rang, and it was another unknown number. I hit the answer button and said, somewhat tentatively, “Lizzie Grace speaking.”
“Elizabeth, it’s your mother.”
My heart skipped a beat and then started to race. “What can I do for you, Mother?”
“It’s your father. He’s been shot.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Is he alive?” I might not want my father in my life, but I’d never wanted him dead. Despite everything, he was still my parent.
“Yes. Lawrence set a new perimeter alarm spell around his office, and while the thief managed to slip past the other spells, he missed that one.”
Which suggested the thief might have been familiar with the placement of the other spells, but not the new one. It also meant the new spell had probably given my father enough time to throw himself sideways but not to raise a retaliatory or protective spell. “Was the shooter caught?”
“No. But it wasn’t Clayton, if that’s what you’re thinking. He was across the other side of town, at an official gathering.”
I snorted. “It’s not hard to hire a killer, Mother. Not if you have the right connections.”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t know.” It was somewhat stiffly said. “And I’m sure Clayton wouldn’t know, either.”
She was severely underestimating Clayton’s slip into madness, but I didn’t bother saying so. Like my father, she’d known him for too long—she still saw the man she’d known rather than the one he’d become.
“How did the shooter escape?”
It was odd that he had, especially given that, despite them being two of the strongest witches in Canberra, they’d always had security guards on the front and back gates—and those guards were generally of mixed blood, meaning they were at least sensitive to magic even if they couldn’t perform it.
“Via a spell, as far as we can ascertain.”
I frowned. “The guards would have sensed a concealment spell.”
“He wasn’t concealed. It was something else.”
