It was also ironic that the last time I’d been caught in this spell, it had resulted in Ian and I being forced to marry.
Had that only been two months ago? It felt so much longer.
“Finished,” Xun Guan told Haldam.
He gave a short nod, but stayed as far away from me as he could without being obvious about it. He needn’t worry. I wasn’t going to kill him, even if more than a small part of me was still convinced that he deserved it. Instead, I settled into the web spell as if it were a warm blanket.
I had nothing to do now but wait, so I may as well be comfortable while I did.
Vermont in winter wasn’t a hot spot for vampires, so it took over two hours for the first of the council’s reinforcements to arrive. They consisted of three Enforcers and two more Law Guardians, who took up positions around the exterior of the ski lodge. I had been carried inside the lodge over an hour ago, then dumped next to one of the broken circle traps. Only scorch marks on the floor revealed where they’d been.
Well, that and the two dead Anzus inside Ian’s former circle.
The Anzus had gotten a lot of attention, not that I could blame the council members. It wasn’t every day you saw the remains of two creatures that had been thought to be only myth up close. The Anzus were poked, prodded, and examined, then ordered to be brought back to Athens for further study.
I stayed where I’d been dropped, pretending to doze. If not for Ian’s suspicion that one of the people here had traces of Dagon’s power in them, I might have napped for real. But he’d told me to keep my guard up, so my dozing act was to see if anyone tried to take advantage. There was a lot going on, with council members arranging for transportation, scheduling an emergency trial, and arranging for even heavier security to transport me than the Law Guardians who were already here. All that on top of the Law Guardians chronicling the magic traces left over, gathering up the stones at pivotal points in the pentagrams, and making sure any nosy humans didn’t disturb us.
With all that, someone could attempt to sneak up behind me and slip a silver knife into my heart, if Dagon did indeed have a secret acolyte among them. If that happened, they’d discover I had a bulletproof vest beneath my black shirt, and I’d discover that the power-seeking spell inside Ian wasn’t on the fritz.
But thus far, I was ignored by all except Xun Guan, who kept casting looks at me that ranged from angry, to sad, to betrayed.
I regretted hurting her, but my lies had been a matter of survival, not preference. Vampires often looked down upon humans for their many bigotries, but in reality, we were no better. We simply chose different reasons to oppress each other.
“The helicopter will be here within the hour,” Hekima announced from the other side of the lodge. “It will take us to the airport, where a plane will be fueled and waiting.”
“Good.” Haldam’s voice, disgust dripping from it. “This hovel stinks more than I can stand . . .”
His voice trailed off. I opened my eyes from their mostly closed slits to see what had distracted him. Then my eyes widened and I pulled myself into a sitting position.
The air had turned to gold. That’s the only way I could describe the thick shimmer that now filled every crevice of the blood-spattered, garbage-strewn lodge. If my hands had been free, I would’ve swept them through the golden haze to see if that glorious shimmer would coat my skin instead of merely hanging in the air, but I couldn’t move beyond stunted crawls.
Hekima did it for me. No, the bright shimmer that looked as if a cloud of gold dust had gently exploded didn’t stick to her skin. It also didn’t coat her hair or her clothes. It might be so thick that it made the room hazy, but somehow, it wasn’t tangible enough to touch.
Haldam turned toward me. “Stop that this instant!”
“I’m not doing it,” I replied with the absolute truth.
“Then who?” he demanded.
Who indeed? Was this some sort of spell from Ian? He was the only one who knew we were here, except for the demons who’d fled. But Ian hadn’t been in any condition to do this kind of magic, and demons didn’t flood a place