car parked at the curb. She touched a wand to the lock, opened the door, and shoved Elyssa inside. Climbed into the driver seat and hotwired the car with her wand.
A few minutes later they reached a road jammed with cars and people. Bella muttered something and got out. She spoke with a man and got back in the car. "The police have blocked the road. Looks like we'll have to walk the rest of the way."
Elyssa nodded and pulled herself out of the car. Her legs felt leaden. She just wanted to lie down and go to sleep. A fierce look from Bella quashed that notion. The sorceress motioned the Templar to follow. After a long slog through back alleys and side streets, all while dodging police barricades, they made it back to the outskirts of La Casona.
The burnt-out shell of her father's vehicle still gave off plumes of greasy smoke. The front end looked like it had been dipped in molten lava. The SUV Elyssa and Justin had been in looked almost as bad. The other vehicles were gone. A man in a black suit and dark glasses talked to a police officer nearby. Another similarly dressed man caught sight of the two women and approached them.
His eyes gauged Bella, and then Elyssa. He said something in Spanish.
Elyssa didn't understand. "What?"
"I said you'll have to leave this area. It's off-limits during our investigation."
"You're a Custodian?" Elyssa said.
The man's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
"Elyssa Borathen."
"Ah." He nodded and pointed toward a black sedan. "The driver will take you to the compound. It's important you don't speak with the local authorities Let us deal with them."
"I understand," Elyssa said.
"What are Custodians?" Bella asked as they approached the waiting car.
"They clean up supernatural incidents so the noms don't notice."
"Mhmm, so these are the same Templars who cleaned up the mess at the Friendly Hotel after Vadaemos's rampage?"
Bella's question reminded her of Jack. Her brother was dead. Her father was dead. "Yes." Elyssa muttered. Even talking was an effort.
The driver pulled out of the cordoned off area and into a blind alley.
"What are you doing?" Bella said, her voice alarmed.
The driver, a woman in the same type of black suit as the men, didn't say a word, but slashed her finger across what looked like an arcphone display in the dashboard. The car rose into the air. Bella gasped. Through the front window, Elyssa saw the hood shimmer into invisibility. Within seconds, they were skimming silently in the air over the jam-packed streets below.
"You Templars get the best toys," the sorceress said, watching the city roll past beneath. "I thought my flying rug was neat. How do you power invisibility for so long?"
"I couldn't say, ma'am," said the driver. "I just work here."
A short time later, the car set down in the center of a compound at the outskirts of the city. A young woman with dark hair, fair skin, and a strong Italian nose met them as they disembarked.
"Trouble follows your boyfriend everywhere," she said with a frown.
"Good to see you too, Fausta," Elyssa said, overcoming the urge to simply grunt at her. "What happens now?"
Fausta bared her teeth. "We kick some vampire ass."
"That's the spirit," Bella said holding her hand out for a fist-bump.
Fausta quirked an eyebrow but didn't leave the enthusiastic Arcane hanging. "I'll take you to the briefing room."
They entered a circular building in the middle of the compound. A guard unsealed the door to the room and let them in. The moment the door opened, Elyssa felt her knees go weak. Fausta and Bella gripped her before she slumped to the floor.
Bella looked up and gasped.
Thomas Borathen met his daughter's gaze for a brief second before continuing his speech. It took everything Elyssa had not to run over and hug him.
He's alive!
Relief and anger collided in her stomach with the force of a locomotive. Why hadn't anyone told her he was alive? Why hadn't he called her?
Bella seemed to know what she was thinking. "We went after Justin in the middle of all the confusion, dear. He probably didn't realize you thought he was dead."
She was right. Elyssa nodded and sucked in a deep breath to combat the flood of tears threatening to shatter her forced composure. She squeezed Bella's hand in gratitude and happiness.
Dad is alive. Justin has to be alive. And I'll save him.
"Maximus has heavy backing," Thomas said, "and he has numbers. Today we saw him attack with scroll casters, nearly a hundred untrained