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“Maybe he was standing on the edge of the roof when the spell took his mind,” she whispered.
Nick reached for the door, and Cara readied one of her stakes. The door didn’t budge.
“It’s enchanted,” Nick said.
“Let me take a look,” she said.
Nick grunted, and he let the darkness swell. A moment later, the magic was gone, and he felt stronger. The door opened easily this time, and he nodded to Cara.
***
Chapter 60 - Cara
They passed half a dozen vampires lying on the floor. Nick kept his mace ready to swing, just in case they were faking it, but none of them jumped up.
They stayed silent since they didn’t want to give away their position, but Cara knew they were both relieved and shocked in equal measure that the spell had actually worked. All the vampires were unconscious.
She took a breath, calming herself and unintentionally breathing in the vampire essence that surrounded them. It was everywhere, and even without the sleeping bodies on the floor, she would’ve known instantly that this was the home of a large number of vampires.
She cast a quick tracking spell, keeping Quinn and Julia at the front of her mind. She tried again, picturing Julia alone, and then Quinn, and then she tried both of them again. Finally, she tried Brett, even though she didn’t think she could track a daywalker. Again, nothing happened.
She shook her head at Nick, and he frowned.
Disappointing, but not a surprise. They discussed it earlier. Samuel must have figured out how they found Brett, and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. The girls were shielded by something that prevented tracking.
A noise came from upstairs. The floorboards had creaked, just for a second, and Cara glanced at Nick.
He nodded towards the shadows in the corner, and they moved over to the side. Moments later, a door at the end of the hallway opened, and two vampires approached. There must have been a staircase behind that door.
They didn’t seem to be aware of Cara and Nick, and they walked straight past their hiding place. They investigated the entrance, taking a look to make sure the door was closed.
Nick’s presence beside her reassured her, but she kept one hand tight on the bag of wooden stakes, and the other was empty, ready to use magic if she needed it.
A moment, a pause, and then one of the vampires tilted his head. His fingers twitched, and Cara noticed the knife on his belt.
He whirled around and hurled the knife at them.
Nick shoved her out of the way, and the knife missed her by the breadth of a hair. She felt the air rush past her skin. The blade stuck into the wall behind them, and the vampires rushed at them.
Cara fell against the wall and grabbed a stake from the bag.
Nick let the void out, spreading black veins across his skin, and the vampires hesitated. Nick swung once, and the first vampire fell. He pulled back and stepped towards the other one, but Cara sent a stake flying through the air, and the vampire cried out and clutched his chest.
The vampire fell, landing on top of a pile of ash, and he dissolved with a gasp.
“I guess sneaking is out of the question,” Nick said, walking straight towards the open door the vampires came from. “Their hearing is too good.”
Cara grabbed the wooden stake from the pile of ash. “It was worth a try.”
“You said only the older vampires would be able to resist the spell. Samuel’s inner guard and his friends, probably. I’d bet those two came from wherever he is.”
It was the best guess they had, so Cara followed him up the stairs. She kept her free hand at her side, sensing the energy around them. The air was polluted with vampire essence, and her senses were flooded with it.
“There’s too many of them,” she said. “I can’t tell if they’re nearby.”
“Let’s be ready for the worst and hope we’re wrong,” Nick said.
They reached the next floor, and three guards froze, standing out of reach in the hallway. She sent a stake flying, and Nick threw a dagger, and two of them fell. The third panicked and turned to run, and he was gone before they could catch him.
