Page 63 of Unbound

“Was it? Vivian is crafty. But I don’t know if she’s crafty enough to assume I would be crafty enough to piece all of this together.”

“I think you’re crafty,” Mabel says encouragingly. “And a good singer.”

“Thank you.”

“They had vials of Claire’s blood,” Leo says, thinking aloud. “At that point, didn’t they already know they needed fresh blood?”

“Maybe they collected it before they realized it needed to come directly from the source,” I suggest. Then I shake my head. “Either way, even if this is some kind of setup, I’m going to find her. She deserves to know the truth about where she came from.” My stomach twists. “And she’s going to fucking die if Vaelric gets to her first.”

“Vaelric is a powerful demon,” Marie says carefully. “But I still don’t know enough about him. I don’t know exactly how his powers work, how dependent he is on a conduit, or whether freeing the Crone is easier for him than finding someone new who can wield his necromancy.” She takes a breath.

“So be careful. I know you would willingly walk into a trap for this girl, but think twice before you do. I have a feeling the rest of your family agrees with me.”

“We definitely do,” Leo says.

“And let’s not forget we’re hunters. We can try to find her the old-fashioned way first.”

“Vivian is also a hunter,” Antonio points out. “If Vaelric is inside her now and has access to everything she knows, then he has the Order’s resources at his fingertips too.” He makes a face. “And not many people even know she’s possessed.”

“Oh, shit.” I hadn’t thought of that. Vivian could walk into Order headquarters tomorrow and be treated with exactly the same respect she would’ve received a year ago.

“I’m going to call the group home and see what information I can get,” Antonio says, getting to his feet. He looks at Leo. “I want you to call the local police department. Use Ryder’s FBI contact if you need to, assuming it hasn’t already been flagged or marked invalid by the Order. See what you can get on Claire.” He shakes his head. “She’s a seventeen-year-old runaway about to age out of the system. It would be easy for her to slip through the cracks.”

“Accidentally or intentionally,” Leo adds. He looks genuinely sympathetic. And he’s right. Girls like Claire don’t always get much attention. She’s almost an adult. Once she turns eighteen, if she’s still technically considered a runaway, I’m not even sure how much anyone will care.

“If there’s anything to find, we’ll find it,” Antonio assures me. “In today’s digital age, it’s not that easy to disappear. Especially if she’s trying to get somewhere specific.”

“Yeah.” Though I know perfectly well it can still be that easy. Claire could be lying dead on the side of a road somewhere. At the bottom of a ditch. Scattered across the woods after animals found her body. Or Vivian could already have her. I shove the thought away.

At least Claire knows what Vivian looks like now. And if her powers are finally coming in, maybe she’ll be able to sense that something is wrong with her. She might not understand that Vivian is possessed, but hopefully her instincts will tell her to stay away.

“I’m going to keep digging here,” Marie says. “I’ll keep you posted. And you keep me posted.” Her voice firms. “And promise me, Wren. Don’t cast that locator spell. I have a bad feeling about it.”

I bite the inside of my cheek.

“If you absolutely cannot resist,” she continues, “tell me first. I’ll come get you and bring you to the Covenstead. At least there, we can protect you while you do it.”

“I won’t cast the locator spell,” I promise. Not right now, anyway. I keep that part to myself. Because it is still the quickest and easiest way to find Claire. And once the sun goes down, I’ll have vampires on my side. Having vampires on my side is also part of the reason I’m so desperate to get to Claire before Vaelric does. One of my biggest fears about necromancy has always been what it could mean for Xavier. Things are already bad enough with his alliances falling apart from every direction. Vaelric knew exactly what he was doing when he manipulated the Reapers into performing that ritual.

And even though we killed the chaos demon, the circumstances surrounding that whole thing left us with more questions than answers.

How were the Reapers influenced? Were they possessed by lesser demons? Manipulated? Was the chaos demon ever the real objective? Or was it always meant to keep us distracted?

“I’ll call you back in an hour,” Marie says. “Even if I have nothing new to report. Just to check in.”

“Okay.” I hesitate. “And thank you for helping me. Seriously. You don’t have to be doing any of this right now.”

“I know,” she says warmly. “And you’re welcome.” She pauses. “This is what family does for each other. And once you’re part of our coven, you’ll be family too.” We end the call. I can immediately feel everyone staring at me.

“Yes,” I say, more irritated than I mean to. “She wants me to join her coven.” I spread my hands. “I’m a witch, okay? I’m supposed to be around my own kind.”

“What about us?” Mabel asks. Her face falls. “I thought we were your family.”

“You are.” I turn toward her quickly. “You guys are my family. I love all of you. And I love Xavier in a very different way.” My voice threatens to break. “But everything happening right now is happening because I’m a witch.” I look away.

“And I can’t stop thinking that maybe if I understood my powers better, or understood where I came from, I could’ve gotten myself out of this mess before it escalated this far.” I shake my head. “Or maybe I never would’ve gotten into it at all.”

“Then you never would’ve met me,” Mabel says. I look at her. “I know it’s not the greatest silver lining,” she continues, “but I really do believe things happen for a reason.” Her expression softens.