wasn’t for Shiloh and Edmund . . .” More softly he said, “They took the kid.”
“Not your fault, either,” I managed, feeling for my belly and the deep gash that had been there. I encountered only bloody clothing and smooth flesh. It was still tender and felt like I was brushing ground glass across it when I touched the fresh scar. But I’d live.
“They raced in through the fallen ward,” Evan said, “timewalking. They cut Lincoln. Stabbed the werewolf with silver. And took my son.”
Alex said, “They didn’t move like Janie. They were less timewalking and more time-skipping. Here and then gone and reappearing a moment later in a different spot.”
Angie pushed away from her father’s arms. She was sweat-soaked and the stench of her anger burned the air. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I tried to save us. But EJ wouldn’t wake up. I carried the baby to Unca Lincoln, who was hurt. I opened a ward over them. I was going back to get EJ, but . . .” Tears spilled down her face. “The vampires got there first. I couldn’t save my brother.”
“No, sweetums. This is not your fault.” Big Evan pulled a hankie from his pocket and wiped his daughter’s face. “Not your fault. Not at all.”
“It is. The vampires put a light on us. I made mine go out, but EJ’s chest was glowing like a light.”
“A witch finder,” Big Evan said softly. Pressing the handkerchief into Angie Baby’s hand, he looked up to me. He reached up and removed a leather thong from around his neck. Hanging from it, a marble was encased in a macramé basket, looking remarkably like the one in EJ’s pocket. I blinked at it. “Witch finders are devices that draw on an unshielded witch’s personal energies and glow so they can be tracked. They were used extensively in the Dark Ages during the fangheads’ ethnic cleansing of witches, but we’ve never seen one here. The moment the hedge fell, the vamps knew where my children were.” With a finger he spun the marble and said, “Persequor.” In Beast’s sight, I saw a tendril of power flow from the witch into the marble. It glowed brightly and pulled hard to the left. “It’s following EJ. Following the matching marble charm he has in his pocket.”
“Oh,” I whispered. “Right. The charm.” Hope of finding EJ shot through me. “I could take that and track him in animal form.”
Hope and then anguish flashed across Big Evan’s face. He said, “No. It’s tied to me, to my magic. If I had the time, I could modify it and make that work, but . . . we don’t have time.” The marble went dim and stopped moving. The big witch stank of rage and frustration and helplessness. The entire room stank of fury and guilt and failure, the stench coming from all of us. “The full diameter of the tracking device is only one mile. They just passed that.” Evan looked down at me. “He was moving north at speed.”
“North,” I whispered. Better than nothing.
Molly shoved to her feet, raced from the suite, and outside. I pulled myself to my feet and followed, leaning on the wall for support. She was standing on the back stoop. She screamed. Her death magics rippled out, a wavering, half-controlled beam of black light. The three evergreen fir trees nearest the tree line began to wither. To dry. They crumbled. A dozen closer to the sweathouse browned and dropped needle leaves; bark cracked and fell.
Evan set me aside as if I weighed less than his daughter and began to play his flute, the same kind of soothing anti-magic he had made for were-creatures. The Everhart witch clan all appeared, human and witch sisters, gathering on the stoop to huddle behind Big Evan. The witch twins were enraged, magics boiling around them like heat off a hot road. The human sisters were carrying enough firepower to supply a platoon of warriors, and both girls sported bruises. Their eyes look odd. I wondered fleetingly if the vamps had knocked them out getting to EJ.
Angie threw her arms around my hips and I slid down the wall to cradle her on my lap. “It’s my fault. The bad guy came in so fast,” Angie whispered, tears shining in her eyes. “Brute jumped on him, but the other vampire man got behind the werewolf and hurt him bad. I picked up Cassy. EJ was running to us. But the bad man grabbed my brother.