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Chapter Thirty-Four
Epilogue: Tamsin
“Thank you for coming, everyone,” I say, looking around the room.
It’s a few days after the battle in the Valley of Souls, and we’ve called a meeting to discuss a plan for dealing with the Night Guild. We’re seated in the dining room of the new Edinburgh house. I sit at one end, and Rowan Stonecroft sits at the other. Blake sits at my right, and Ven, Ryder, Xander, and Xander’s dragon shifter friend Erik are all there as well, plus Colin and Daniel.
“As I shared after the battle,” I continue, “Darkness’s plan was to infect a majority of the population with drix, the demon drug. It would literally be worldwide chaos. So, while we won the battle in the valley, the war has just begun.”
Rowan chimes in. “The Night Guild is an imminent threat, and we really appreciate everyone joining forces to handle it.”
“Coming together is the only way,” Ven adds. “They are way too massive for anyone to take down single handedly.”
“We’ve had two wins already in a week, though,” Blake says. “The battle against Darkness, and also two successful raids on Night Guild facilities.” He nods toward Ryder, Ven, and Erik. “You want to give a report on your findings?”
Ryder starts. “Ven and I led a team of dragon shifters back to the lab in Costa Rica that we escaped from several weeks ago. It was demolished by Darkness, but we were able to recover Ven and Tamsin’s stolen grimoires in the wreckage. As well as a number of others.”
Now that I’ve reclaimed my magic, I couldn’t be more relieved to have my book of spells back safe and sound. I shoot Ven a look of gratitude.
“Most of you probably know, but a grimoire is virtually indestructible,” Ven continues. “With some spellwork, I was able to summon them from beneath the rubble. Now we’re in the process of going through the grimoires to determine who they belong to. Grimoires are notoriously difficult to open by anyone other than the witch they belong to, so it’s a bit of a process. But these witches are no doubt targets of the Night Guild, just as Tamsin and I were. We need to find out who they are and protect them.”
Erik speaks up now. Of everyone at the table, he’s the one I know least. Blake told me he’d saved his life at the battle, and I know he’s Xander’s best friend, and a member of the Order of Nobilis Draco.
“Using Blake’s intel, I led a simultaneous raid on another Night Guild facility yesterday,” Erik says, nodding toward Blake. “The one he found in Norway. I’m originally from Norway, as are several of the dragons from the Order of Nobilis Draco, from back in our Viking days.”
“Viking days?” Ven echoes.
Xander grins. “Yes, Erik here was an actual Viking. And Rowan teases me for being old at three hundred and some change.”
Rowan elbows Xander and Erik breaks into a smirk, his green eyes shining. “Yes, I’m the old man of the bunch, it’s true.”
I’d have never guessed that the muscular, tattooed man sitting at my dining room table, not looking a day over thirty-five, is in fact hundreds upon hundreds of years old.
“And still a bachelor,” Ryder adds with his own mischievous smile. He apparently has a history with the dragon shifters, too.
Erik rolls his eyes. “Alright, enough about me. Back to business.” He clears his throat. “The Norway facility was a small one. They were producing some sort of drug there, to sell on the supernatural black market, no doubt. Not sure exactly what it does. The staff all fled when we infiltrated the place, so we couldn’t question anyone.”
“I can reverse engineer it at the hospital,” I say.
“Congrats on the new job, by the way,” Ven says, shooting me a smile.
“Yes, I’m thrilled to have a whole new area of medical research to focus on.” I smile up at Blake. “Plus, it’s perfect because it puts me close to home.”
Erik nods. “Great, I’ll get you the samples we took.” His expression grows more somber. “We found something else, too. A half dozen files, like dossiers of a sort, on different members of the supernatural community. We believe they are targets of the Night Guild.”
“Do you have a list of the names?” Ven asks. “I can cross-reference with the names of the owners of the recovered grimoires. At least, the ones we have so far.”
“Yeah.” Erik pulls out his phone, opens an app, and slides it across the table toward Ven. “That’s the list.”
Ven takes the phone and scrolls down the names, comparing it to a list on her own phone. After a moment she stiffens. “I’ve got a match.” She lifts Erik’s phone, which shows photos of the file. On the screen is a picture of a dark-haired woman around my age. “Astrid Olsen. Classification: witch. Location: Skei, Norway.”
Erik’s brow crinkles. “The facility we raided was near Skei. I noticed that and thought it was odd for sure.”
“You don’t think it’s possible they set it up there just to observe this one woman…” Rowan trails off.
Silence falls over the table for a moment as everyone mulls over this new information.
“We need to warn her, that’s for sure,” I say. “And offer her the protection of the Raven Society.”
