Grave Dance(48)

I made one more stop by the bed to tuck Falin in as much as possible with him lying on top of the unmade comforter.

If you ignored al the blood, he looked almost peaceful, as if he were just sleeping. “You real y think he’s that dangerous?”

“Al, I don’t think. I know. And he has the blood on his hands to prove it.”





Chapter 12

I woke with a jolt and slammed into the mattress a moment later as if I’d jumped in my sleep. My eyes snapped open and I blinked at the chaotic swirl of colors fil ing the darkness.

Something was wrong.

I snapped my shields closed and sat up, brushing aside the comforter as I moved. A comforter with a stiff, lacy trim.

My comforter doesn’t have lace trim.

But I wasn’t in my room or my bed—I was in Caleb’s guest room. The glowing red numbers on the clock beside the bed told me it was 3:49 a.m. Is that it? Is it just the unfamiliar room?

No. There was something else wrong.

I blinked, trying to figure out what felt off. The air hummed with the familiar resonance of the Glen—the neighborhoods surrounding the Magic Quarter, where most of Nekros’s witches and fae lived—and the grave essence reaching from the nearest graveyard felt the same as it always did.

Then I realized the issue was as much what I wasn’t feeling as what I was. I felt the magic in the Glen, and not the sheltering buzz of Caleb’s wards.

Why are the wards down?

I didn’t know, but I was going to find out.

Sliding out of bed, I padded as silently as possible across the room, but I wasn’t familiar with the layout and the moonlight streaming through the closed blinds wasn’t nearly enough to il uminate anything. I stubbed my toe against a box—Caleb used the room for storage—and cursed under box—Caleb used the room for storage—and cursed under my breath. PC’s tags clinked softly as he lifted his head, trying to decide where I was going.

“Stay,” I whispered in the general direction of the bed, but I heard his paws land on the hardwood a moment later.

I reached out, feeling along the wal until my fingers traced over the light switch. Then I blinked in the sudden glow of fluorescent lighting.

I hadn’t brought my boots downstairs, but I’d dropped my dagger in my purse and that was on the nightstand. I dug out the dagger and unsheathed it. I hoped I wouldn’t need it, but the wards going down in the middle of the night was seriously suspicious. Besides, if I didn’t take the dagger, I’d feel like that ditzy blonde in every horror movie who goes out unarmed to check on strange noises. Nothing ends wel for those girls.

I crept across the room, cringing as the floorboards creaked under my bare feet. Of course, I’d turned on the light, so it wasn’t like I was being super stealthy. The oblivious dog trailing me didn’t help either.

Opening the door a crack, I peeked into the hal beyond.

My vision being what it was, I couldn’t see anything but the pil ar of light escaping the guest room. I opened the door wider, and a shadow crossed the doorway.

I threw a hand over my mouth to strangle the sound that tried to escape my lips and jumped back, away from the door.

“Al, you okay?”

Caleb.

I pul ed the door open wider. Like me, Caleb must have woken when the wards fel , because the light pouring from my room revealed light green skin and dark, pupil-less eyes. Caleb never walked around without his glamour intact. In one hand he held a mal et, and in the other a vial containing a spel that pricked at my senses, so it probably did something real y nasty if released.

“What happened?” I asked as I joined him in the hal .

“What happened?” I asked as I joined him in the hal .

He shook his head. “Not sure yet. The wards were taken down from the inside. You want me to hazard a guess at who might have done that?” His whispered words were sharp, leaving no doubt whom he was referring to: Falin.

I couldn’t think of any reason Falin would dismantle the wards. He was unconscious when last I’d seen him, and even if he did wake, it wasn’t like the wards prevented him from leaving. I opened my mouth to say as much and then snapped it closed again. Now wasn’t the time to argue.

“Stay here,” Caleb whispered as he crept along the hal way.

That was a good suggestion. Unfortunately, I wasn’t taking it. I closed PC in the bedroom, and then, clutching the dagger tight, I fol owed Caleb.

Someone had turned the lights on in the front of the house, which was good for my eyes but probably not the best sign, since we’d turned them off after we’d finished the movie we’d watched before bed and I’d said good night to Caleb and Hol y. Caleb motioned me to wait as he opened the door to the den. He stepped inside and then gave a sharp hiss. I fol owed a moment later.