43. Tate

43

TATE

"How did you not hear her?" I roar at Torin as we stare at the empty bed. "Have you lost your vampire senses?"

Torin glares at me, fangs bared. "I was downstairs with you two, remember, a bit preoccupied with trying to figure this clusterfuck out."

"She was shielded," Bram murmurs. "That inscription you gave her, it shields her."

I glare at him. "I know that, you fucking prick. That's why I gave it to her!"

"So how do you expect Torin to have heard her?"

It's a logical and reasonable question, but I'm past logic and reason. "Well, she's clearly not fucking here now, is she?" I snap, running a hand through my hair in frustration, and dodging the question.

Bram narrows his eyes at me. "Fighting isn't going to help. We need to find her."

I take a deep breath, trying to calm the panic rising in my chest. Ivy's gone. She has run, and we have no idea why or where.

"I'll use my magick to search the area," Bram says, his hands already glowing with power. "I know her taste, maybe the shield will let me in."

I close my eyes, reaching out with my magickal senses. There's a faint trace of Ivy's energy lingering in the room, but it's already fading.

"Fuck," I mutter. "She can't have gone far. Not without clothes."

"Back home?" Torin asks, already heading for the door. I'm right behind him as we pile down the stairs. I could blink there, but I'm not convinced that is where she is. Something isn't right here. I need to get outside and see if I can track my own magick in a way that doesn't lead back to me.

We burst out onto the street, scanning frantically for any sign of Ivy. The early morning is dark, crisp, and quiet; no one else is around at this hour.

I close my eyes, focusing on the faint trace of my own magick lingering on Ivy from the protection spell. It's weak, but there - a shimmering thread leading away from the house and across campus.

I follow it at a run, my heart pounding. Why did she run? What spooked her so badly that she fled without a word, without clothes? The questions swirl in my mind as I race across the grass with Torin and Bram behind me. I'm surprised neither of them has gone to her house, but they know what I know. Something is wrong about this entire situation, and she wouldn't have gone home. Or would she? Would she think that we'd think she wouldn't have gone home, thus being the perfect cover?

I feel slightly ill about losing her. I swore I'd protect her, but now I don't even know where she is.

The trail leads us across campus, fading with each step. My heart pounds as I push myself faster, desperate to catch up to Ivy before the trace disappears completely. I wish my magick extended to being able to find a creature just by thinking about them, but it doesn't. All I have to go on is the faint trail of my own magick.

Suddenly, the thread of magick snaps, vanishing into thin air. I skid to a stop, nearly falling as Torin and Bram crash into me from behind.

"What the fuck?" Torin growls. "Why did you stop?"

"It's gone." I scan the area frantically, but there's no sign of Ivy or my magick. "It's like she just disappeared."

"Or the magick trace is too faint," Bram says.

I shake my head. "No, I had it, and then it vanished. It didn't fade away. Someone took her."

"That's a reach?—"

"Don't you dare," I turn on Torin and grab him by his shirt front. "Not when Ivy's life is at risk."

We're standing at the edge of campus, near the town's border. There are dozens of directions she could have gone from here, with dozens of different creatures .

I shove him away from me as his eyes fill with something I've never seen before. Fear.

It makes this worse. Torin doesn't fear anything. He literally gives zero fucks. I try to give off that vibe, but I know the fear of abandonment cripples me, and right now, Ivy has abandoned me. The memory of last night flashes through my mind - Ivy, soft and pliant between us, crying out in pleasure as we worshipped her body. The tenderness in her eyes as we held her afterwards. It doesn't make sense.

Unless she regrets it. The thought sends a stab of pain through my chest that makes me double over with the fierceness of it. Did we push her too far? Did she wake up and realise she'd made a mistake?

As these numbing thoughts drift through my mind, a faint whiff of something familiar hits the back of my nose. I straighten up and spin around, going dizzy at the speed. "Vex," I growl as I spot his house, shimmering with wards of all kinds and colours. There is no way we are getting into that house unless he lets us in, but I'm not going to let that stop me.

I blink out, leaving the others to catch up. Torin skids to a stop next to me when I rematerialise, and Bram smokes in with his fancy fae magick. We stare up at the house silently, trying to figure out a way in.

I place my hand on the ward, and it burns like fuck, singeing my palm so that it smokes. "Fuck. Vex!" I roar. "You fucking bastard! Where is she?"

There is nothing but silence.

"Do whatever it takes to break those wards," Torin growls, shoving me forward enough that the tip of my nose burns. But he's right. The panic is real, and now it's time to show this arsehole once and for all who the fuck he's messing with. I close my eyes and reach deep inside myself, drawing on every ounce of power I possess. The magick builds, a roaring inferno that is eager to devour me from the inside out. I've never attempted to break wards this powerful before, but for Ivy, I'll risk anything.

"Tate, wait—" Bram starts to say, but I'm beyond listening.

With a primal roar, I unleash my magick against Vex's wards. The air sparks and fizzes with energy as my power slams into the shimmering barrier. For a moment, nothing happens. Then, with a sound like shattering glass, a small crack appears in the wards.

Encouraged, I push harder, pouring more of myself into the spell. The crack widens, spreading across the barrier like a spiderweb. I can feel the wards fighting back, repairing themselves, but I don't slow down.

My vision starts to blur, my body trembles with the effort of maintaining such powerful magick. But I can't stop now. Ivy needs me.

Just as I think I might pass out from the strain, I feel Bram's hand on my shoulder, lending me his strength. On the other side, Torin does the same. United, we push against the wards with everything we have.

With a deafening boom, the wards finally shatter. The backlash of magick sends us flying backwards, crashing to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Shoving Bram off me, I struggle to my feet, swaying as the world spins around me. Every cell in my body aches from the massive expenditure of power, but I force myself to focus. We're in.

"Vex!" I roar, stumbling towards the steps of the now-unprotected house. "Show yourself, you bastard!"

My foot hits the bottom step, and then I rear back as a figure looms in front of me, looking like something out of a creepy horror movie.

"Not so fast," the pale-faced, red-rimmed-eyed, ghoul type creature says. "You three are becoming a serious pain in my arse." With a clap of its hands that nearly bursts my eardrums, the world goes black.