"Nearby and planning, I imagine," Paige said. "If she's stil using the same method, she's debating which spel to use and trying to figure out a way to break in here, best me, and be off with the Maleficium."
"You're very nonchalant about the fact that a sorceress is planning to come to break in, best you, and be off with the Maleficium," Ethan said.
Paige sipped her tea for a moment, as if carefuly choosing her words. "I know you're friends of hers, and that she's a big magical deal in Chicago…"
"I assume there's a 'but' on its way?" Ethan asked.
"But," Paige said, "while Malory definitely has some mojo, she's realy just smal change."
"She tried to destroy Chicago," Ethan said, a curious tilt to his head.
"By using the ashes of a powerful Master vampire. That's not exactly like she'd wiled the destruction herself, is it?" Paige shrugged. "I'm sure the light show was big, but that's precisely why you want a familiar who has a lot of power—so that you can use their power to beef up yours.
"Look," Paige said. "I'm not trying to be rude, and I'm not trying to make light of the chaos Chicago was facing. But I'm a magical realist, and I don't play favorites. Controling the universe isn't about pretty lights and colors and irritating humans.
It's about controlling the universe. And if we're going by the book, what she did barely ranks at al."
"Any thoughts about what spel she might attempt this time?"
Ethan asked.
Paige shook her head. "I honestly don't know. I've never actualy read the Maleficium. Not for lack of curiosity on my part, but it's part of the oath I have to take to serve here. No peeking equals no temptation."
"A sound policy," Ethan flatly said. "Pity no one advised Malory."
"Could she try another familiar spel?" Paige asked.
Ethan shook his head. "That seems unlikely. The only other vampire ashes in Chicago were Celina's. Suffice it to say they are no longer in Chicago."
Paige nodded. "She could always go the familiar route with something—or someone—else. Beyond that, there are milions of spels in the world, al of them somewhere on the scale between good and evil. She could pick any number of spels on the evil end of that spectrum."
"Speaking of evil," Ethan said, "Malory isn't the only one who's after the Maleficium."
Ethan filed Paige in on our pit stop with Tate and his own goal of unleashing evil. By the time he was done, Paige had abandoned her teacup and was leaning back on the couch, arms crossed, gaze glued to Ethan.
"And this Tate is what kind of creature, exactly?"
"We were hoping you might know," I said.
Frowning, she rose from the couch, moved to the halway of books, and began to scan the spines. "Unfortunately, there are lots of options, and we don't have enough information to do a fair diagnosis. Demigod? Djinn? Fairy?" She puled out one book, flipped through it, then slid it back onto its shelf. "Maybe an incubus?"
"I don't know about the others," I said, "but he's not a fairy."
"We work with them," Ethan explained, as mercenary fairies guarded the gates of Cadogan House. But that's not what I'd meant.
"I've also met Claudia, the queen."
Paige's eyes widened. "You met the queen of the fairies?"
I nodded, thinking of the tal, curvaceous, strawberry blond woman. "During Ethan's unfortunate demise. We were looking for the cause of the sky turning red. They're known as the sky masters, so we paid them a visit. They gave us a little information, I nearly bit one of them, and yadda yadda yadda, we learned they had nothing to do with the color change."
"You can't yadda yadda yadda nearly biting a fairy," Paige said.
"You can if the fairy queen baits you into it by shedding fairy blood. Tip for the future: Fairy blood is rather aluring for vampires."
"Noted," Paige said, selecting another book and bringing it back to the couch.
"While we're on the subject of Tate," I said, "I think… something about him has changed recently."