A Little Wicked (The Bewitching Hour Book #4)(42)

“Leave? Do you have any idea what’s happening, Sam? Or are you too far up in your tower to give a second thought to the people down here? Claudia is supposed to protect us from this. Where the hell is she? We’ve got darkness sitting at the head of the building and our fearless leader is in hiding somewhere. Well, there’s new management in town now.”

Sam looked him down. She probably should’ve worked harder to hide the look of disgust, but the idea of bowing down to him literally made her stomach churn. “This isn’t a democracy,” she reminded him. “You can’t call a vote to overthrow Claudia. She could crush you like the bug you are.”

“Yeah, well, to do that she’d actually have to show her face. Now are you going to let us through or not?”

She was about to tell him, in graphic detail, how he could go to hell, but Derek used his left hand to show her his phone screen. It was a text from Parker saying that Claire was gone. Damn it. She was going to find her best friend and then strangle Claire herself. She clenched her hands into fists, putting out the fire, and stepped aside. “Fine. Go get yourself a soul sucker,” she said with sickening sweetness.

Derek didn’t drop his weapon as he and Sam both moved aside to let the wave of sentries through while some went around the side of the building, obviously looking for any sign of Claire escaping through the back. A minute later, Parker and Dante came out the front and Derek finally lowered his weapon, even if he didn’t holster it. He motioned with his head for everyone to walk a bit down the street.

As soon as Angela saw Derek, she pulled out her own sidearm. Phillip stood aside and glared at them but didn’t make any move to attack. Probably because he was too unsure about Sam’s sudden control over her powers and the strange anomaly that was Derek. Now that Dante and Angela were there, he really didn’t know what he was dealing with.

But Sam didn’t count him out by any means. “Who the hell is that?” asked Angela once they were a few buildings over.

“Fucking Carpenter,” said Dante.

“Phillip fucking Carpenter,” clarified Sam. “The Carpenters are one of the main families. Mom always said they picked that name because they think they’re the second coming of Christ.” She wanted to smile at her mom’s joke, but then she remembered what was currently happening to her mother and she couldn’t smile. “He’s got a bone to pick with my family, and now that Claudia is showing more vulnerabilities than ever before, he’s trying to pounce. But we can deal with him later. Where is Claire?” Sam stopped and turned around to make sure they weren’t being followed. But just because they didn’t see anyone didn’t mean no one was looking in. “Dante?”

He nodded and brought his thumb to his mouth and in a quick motion, bit through the skin hard enough to draw blood. Angela’s eyes widened, but Derek didn’t show any surprise. Sam didn’t know whether that was a good or bad thing that he was getting used to this.

Dante bent down and drew a symbol on the sidewalk. The blood he drew didn’t go far, but as long as it was represented in the symbol, the magic should work. Sam remembered enough from school to know how the ritual worked, but she didn’t know the symbols required by heart. Dante was an expert in knowing the ins and outs of witchcraft, a skill Sam really wished she shared now that she could control her powers.

Once the symbol was done, he stepped on it and held out his hands. Sam took one while Angela carefully took the one with the sore thumb. Derek looked annoyed that he had to holster his gun, but a second later, he took Sam and Angela’s hands. The moment the contact was complete, it was as though they were hit with a loud whooshing sound, and a second later there was nothing. Dead silence surrounded them. No wind. No honking horns. No sirens. No cars. Nothing.

“This should last a few minutes,” said Dante. “What happened?”

“We were out for a walk and when we came back, they were there,” said Derek.

“They said they were there for Claire,” said Sam.

“Who you apparently lost,” accused Derek.

Sam could feel Dante’s hand tighten on hers and knew he wasn’t too happy about that either.

“She was stressed, understandably,” he bit out. “So she was sleeping and I was giving her space. When I checked on her a few minutes ago, she was gone.”

“Gone or taken?” asked Derek. “Because if you didn’t know, there’s a psychopath who wants her dead.”

“Gone,” said Angela. “Her phone was missing. If she still has it on, Derek and I can try to get a rush trace on it.”

“Have you tried calling her?” asked Sam.

“For fuck’s sake, that’s the first thing I did. She’s not answering my calls.”

“We need to find her.” Sam started to filter through her mind for where Claire might’ve gone.

“Do we think she’s gone into hiding?” asked Angela.

Everyone was quiet and she knew Derek and Dante were thinking the same thing she was. “Claire wouldn’t hide from us.” If she left, it was to track down Abigail. “We need to find my mom.”

“You can’t use magic? Like a locator spell or something?” Sam frowned at Angela and the woman shrugged. “I watch TV. I know some things.”

Even though locator spells were a thing, they wouldn’t work. “The darkness is shielded from our magic. Like Derek is.”