It might have one resident inside, though. I couldn’t tell. The windows I could see were all boarded up.
“I can’t see inside, and it’s too far away for me to hear a heartbeat,” I told Ian, lowering the binoculars.
“Ereshki’s in there,” he said with absolute confidence.
Then she’d chosen her hideout well. The former ski lodge wasn’t near any rivers, and when I sent my senses out to check the ground for water reservoirs, the lack of energy that bounced back practically screamed Parched! to me. There wasn’t even snow on the ground despite this being the height of winter.
“I suppose the Sahara was too far for her to travel,” I said, only half joking. With the earthquake spell at Yonah’s, the teleporting spell to leave Ian’s house, and contacting me through the water spell, Ereshki might not have had the energy to go farther than Vermont. Thousands of years demon-branded or no, that was still a lot of magic for her to wield.
Ian let out a grim snort. “If she wanted to live, then she should’ve conjured up another teleporting spell.”
“She’s probably out of juice,” I replied.
He flashed me a predatory look. “Then this will be easy.”
If it was, it would be the first easy thing that had come our way since we teamed up months ago. Still, I could hope.
“Let’s find cover,” he said, hefting our three heavy bags.
We chose the remains of a large tree for our hiding place on the opposite side of route 30. It was a hundred meters farther from the lodge, plus the surrounding patch of evergreens blocked our view, but Ian assured me that he could feel it if she tried to leave. I hadn’t seen a car in the lodge’s parking lot, but Ereshki could have hidden one in the back. Or she could have done what we’d done and left her car elsewhere—assuming she’d driven to this section of Vermont. This could have been where she’d teleported to when she escaped from Ian’s. That had only been a day ago, even if it felt much longer.
“Ready?” Ian’s casual tone belied the new flare in his aura as he held out a pouch containing several magic-infused stones.
I gave him a level look as I took it. “More than ready.”
Ereshki had said if I knew where she was, I’d murder her and lie in wait for Dagon next to her bones. To give her credit, it was a good idea. I was just changing up the order of events.
We waited until it was so dark that only another vampire or demon could see. This section of road lacked streetlights and the lodge’s exterior illumination had long gone out, allowing blackness to swallow the area. Only the occasional headlight bit through the darkness. Thus concealed, Ian and I began placing the stones around the perimeter of the former ski lodge. Ian set his at the five tips of the pentagram’s star. I placed mine at the five vertices of the inner pentagram. I didn’t have the stealth advantage of teleporting, so in case I was spotted, I wore my usual glamour. Ereshki had only ever seen me in my true form, so she wouldn’t recognize me while I was wearing my slim, blonde Law Guardian appearance.
When we finished placing our stones, we drew a magic circle around the entire pentagram, then went back to our hiding spot. There, I began to fill the double-enclosed space with more magic, taking my time so the spell would be undetectable to all but the most attuned sorcerer.
“Done,” I said over an hour later.
Ian’s aura flared again. “Now, we wait for Dagon to use his tie in Ereshki’s brand to find her.”
Ereshki had said that Dagon checked in personally with her for updates when he wanted one. After everything that had happened, he’d want an update, all right. I only hoped he hadn’t already gotten one in the eighteen hours since Ereshki had escaped.
“If we’re lucky, it won’t be long until you get to kill her,” I said, trying to stay optimistic.
“Impossible.” Fast as a bolt of lightning, Ian’s tone changed to the deadly slice of a knife. “She laughed at what she did to you. Every second she lives after that is too long.”
I’ve had poetry written for me that didn’t make me feel the same warmth.
“You get her, and I get Dagon,” I said softly. “We’re ending this even if we have to sit here all week.”