It didn’t take me long to put together the rudiments of a plan. Liam would be proud. “Frank, you got enough juice to raise the dead?”
He pushed his glasses up his nose. “For sure. How many do you want?”
I let out a slow breath. “Enough to piss off three covens, so really, as many as you can. They will be a good distraction. I’m thinking if we can keep them busy long enough, maybe we can slip in and out without them knowing we are even there.”
Pamela, though, was already shaking her head. “They could pick up on me as I get closer, though. Milly said witches with experience can sense other witches.”
“We don’t have a choice. Besides, with so many witches there, you think you are going to stand out?” Maybe I was missing something.
“Everyone has their own magical signature,” she said, her eyes narrowing like I’d pissed her off. “They won’t recognize me as one of theirs.”
I let out a sigh and Tracked witches as a whole. I got a ping off Pamela, but I worked around it, looking for the central mass of witches I’d felt earlier. Tying that to the threads of the three kids, India, Kyle, and Simon, I had a perfect bead on where they were. If I knew where we were, that would help, though.
“Berget, any idea where we are?” I took another look around the room.
“Near the Colonial Theatre,” she answered, moving silently to my side. “This is one of the few buildings that still stands from the early nineteen hundreds and has been a safe house for my kind for as long as it has stood.” Her words were soft and I heard the echo of her parents behind what she said. She knew only because her parents, her vampire parents, had been here before.
“Great, didn’t need the history lesson.” I did my best to soften the words as they shot out of me, but I was nervous as hell. Berget’s eyes met mine in a silent communication.
“I’m sorry. I take much from them.”
“Wasn’t them I’m worried about. They know I’ll kill them if they step out of line again.” I gritted my teeth and then Berget seemed to get what I was really worried about.
She moved to my side, her eyes worried. “They won’t know we’re here.”
“Still too fucking close for my taste,” I muttered, my hands going to weapons out of sheer habit, the feel of them soothing my anxiety only a little.
Pamela cleared her throat. “Well, we are trying to get there without them noticing, aren’t we?”
Of course, Pamela didn’t realize I was referring to my parents, mine and Berget’s, and not the coven.
Berget covered for me. “Yes, of course that’s what we’re trying to do.”
I looked at our group. Erik and I were pretty much bristling with weapons, Alex didn’t have his collar anymore, which meant it was fucking good it was dark out. Frank, Pamela, and Berget looked the most ‘normal’ of the six of us.
“I’ll take the lead with Berget. Erik, you and Alex bringing up the rear. Frank, you stick close to Pamela and listen to her.”
“She’s younger than me,” he muttered, but I heard him.
“She’s also a hell of a lot more experienced with this kind of shit than you are,” I snapped, my temper and nerves getting the better of me. Again.
Perfect. I grimaced. “Let’s get the fuck out of here then and get this over with.”
I started toward the side of the empty building, assuming I would find a door at some point. Alex trotted beside me, disappearing in the darkness, only a faint glimmer of his eyes giving him away. Pamela lit a small globe of fire above her hand and I cringed. Pamela and fire were a bad combination.
She saw my flinch and frowned at me, her face in shadows from the flame. “I can do this better now. Milly taught me how.”
I hoped to hell she was right. The last time she’d helped with a little fire she’d burnt down a house. With me in it.
This time, we made it to the door with no major issues other than a softly whistling Erik.
I pushed the door open and into the wane light of a weak looking moon. Dark storm clouds hung distended over the city, thick and ominous, which made the night even uglier than it normally would be. The wind was not strong, not like North Dakota, but the bite of the air was damp and heavy.
The street we were on was fairly quiet. A side street with a dead end and no active stores, dirty and abandoned. At the other end of the dead end, traffic zipped by; no one even looked our way as the humans rushed about their lives. Like watching a movie, we all stood, staring at the flash and blink of traffic, the constant flow a perfect foil to the nearly silent alley in which we stood.
“It’s like we don’t really exist,” Pamela said softly, echoing the feeling that rippled through me. The humans were blind to the world around them; I could only hope that would include my parents.