Chapter 30

30

GAbrIEL

I woke slowly, squinting against the late-morning sunlight in my face. Evangeline was going to be deeply irritated about getting a late start, I thought blearily, then pushed myself up and took in the empty bed next to me. Well, not entirely empty, unfortunately; Pothos was curled up on Evangeline's pillow, and he let out a jaw-craving yawn that showed off every single one of his sharp teeth. It seemed silly to be put out by waking up alone, but I enjoyed the moments I could have with Evangeline before she put on her armor for the day.

Stretching languidly, I prepared for the day, making sure to dress in clothes I wouldn't mind getting sooty. As I passed the bed, I gave Pothos a gentle pat, and he looked at me with pure disdain. I quickly pulled my hand away before he could poke me.

I padded downstairs in socked feet, assuming Evangeline was probably in the kitchen. But, no, there was no sign of her, not even one of our rarely used dishes in the sink. I felt a twinge of worry and tried to push it down, but it only grew.

Evangeline wasn't in the library or in the guest suite. Worry started to give way to panic. Had someone managed to get into the manor and take her? Surely she would have put up a fight loud enough to wake me. I reached out my mind for hers, hoping to feel the faint shape of it nearby, but there was nothing. Wherever she was, she was too far away for me to feel her presence.

Theo, Vic, and Lissa were out in the garden, sipping their morning blood out of mugs.

"I mean, yeah, but she seems so cool," Theo was saying.

"Great hair, too," Lissa added, and Vic nodded solemnly.

"Such great hair," Theo agreed. "And she told me she used to be a dark witch, so… I don't know, maybe the vampire thing wouldn't be a dealbreaker."

"Have you seen Evangeline?" I blurted, and all three of them turned in their chairs to look at me.

"You look terrible, darling," Lissa said. "I haven't seen her this morning, no. I assumed you two were, ah… having a bit of a lie-in."

"No," I said. "She was gone when I woke up, and she's not in the house." My voice was starting to get away from me, going thin and frantic. "Do you think someone could have taken her? The manor is fairly secure, but the people we're up against seem to have a great deal of resources at their disposal. I mean, they managed to take Nathan right from under our noses, and?—"

"Gabriel," Theo said. "Deep breath, okay?"

"Maybe she just went out," Lissa said.

"I just…" I bit my lip. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Evangeline's strong," Vic said. "She can take care of herself."

"I know," I said. "I know."

"If someone broke in, they would have left signs of it," Lissa said, tapping a manicured finger against the rim of her mug. "Do any of the rooms look as though someone tried to search them? Your study, perhaps?"

"I haven't checked the study," I said, then jolted into motion, practically running back into the house. My studio door was half-open, and I could feel my long-dead heart hammering in my throat.

I slipped inside, bracing myself for a room that had been thoroughly tossed, but it looked… well, normal. The fear was curdling, turning into something strange but just as unpleasant. I felt as though I was viewing my own body remotely as I stepped around the desk and pulled open the drawer where I'd put the box containing the array for safe keeping.

The drawer was empty. I sat heavily in my desk chair, collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. It was only then that the folded slip of paper on my desk caught my eye.

Hopefully I'll be back before you wake up, but I'm leaving this just in case. I figured out why I had such a hard time pinpointing where they'd hid the array yesterday—the wards were reacting to having a vampire nearby, so I'm heading back solo. Well, solo plus Isabella, so not really solo, I guess. Anyway, I'll be back ASAP.

A lead ball sank into the depths of my stomach. Perhaps the note should have soothed my nerves, but it had only made them that much worse. Evangeline had hoped to be back before I woke, and it was already nearly noon. I yanked out my phone with a clumsy hand and dialed Evangeline's number. The phone rang once, and then a polite, robotic voice informed me that the number I was trying to reach was unavailable at this time. The line went dead.

My hands shook ever so slightly as I tried calling Isabella instead. Again, one ring, the same robotic message, and the call ended. I shot up to my feet, pacing frantically around the room and then dashing back out to the garden.

"Something's happened," I said, thrusting the note into Lissa's hand. "I tried calling Evangeline and Isabella, and both their phones are off. I need to go."

Lissa scanned the note, then looked up at me with flinty eyes. "You and Theo should go," she said. "Vic and I will stay here in case they come back."

"And we should let Marcus know," Vic said.

Theo was already on their feet, looking grim. "I'll make sure we're ready for whatever we find," they said, clapping me on the shoulder. "Vic's right, you should tell the old guy."

If I were in a different mood, I might have pointed out that we were probably all older than Marcus, but I didn't. "Call Marcus," I told Lissa and Vic. "Tell him what's going on."

Theo and I went to one of the lesser-used rooms of the house. Calling it an armory was excessive, but it was where we kept the weapons we'd accumulated over the years. Swords and spears hung on the walls, along with crossbows, guns, daggers, and a few more novel choices. I wasn't in the mood for novelty. In a dark wood wardrobe in one corner were modified stab vests, streamlined with magical innovations and more than capable of turning away a stake to the heart. I strapped one on as Theo grabbed one of their old war hammers off the wall, tossing it from hand to hand. Vampires, as a whole, considered armor largely decorative, since we could only be permanently killed by being struck through the heart and burned, but going into this with our chests protected seemed wise.

As Theo donned their vest, I selected a long, thin sword from the wall and strapped it to my hip. As an afterthought, I took a pair of thick black gloves, each finger tipped with a wickedly sharp claw.

"What about the special drawer?" Theo asked. They didn't look happy about asking the question. We exchanged one tense glance, and then I opened the drawer.

Nestled in the drawer was a row of marlinspike daggers—spikes of dark, lacquered wood with handles meant to make it as easy as possible to drive the sharp point through a ribcage. In another compartment of the same drawer, dozens of small lighters were laid out. They were designed to be waterproof and wind-resistant, and were the sort that would stay lit if thrown. Next were small aerosol cans to help flame spread if needed. Grimly, Theo and I both took what we needed.

In the foyer, Lissa was talking to Marcus in low, worried tones. Vic was by her side, nodding occasionally.

"We should hurry," Marcus said when he saw us. The perplexing jocularity I had come to expect from him was gone, leaving steely certainty in its wake.

Wordlessly, we climbed into Floyd—now a comfortable four-door sedan—and went to go find Evangeline.