Wicked Bite (Night Rebel #2)(71)

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.”

He grinned, his expression changing from intense avenger back to his normal, cheerful arrogance. “Hope it’s not that long. My bollocks are already freezing into ice cubes.”

It always circled back to genitals with men. “They’ll thaw,” I said dryly, and began unpacking the rest of our bags.

Half an hour later, we were redressed in the tactical gear Ian had brought, with bone knives sheathed at our belts and other weapons strapped to our arms and legs. Then we crouched behind the remains of the fallen tree and waited.



I gave the setting sun a hopeful look despite it being the third one I’d seen from my cramped perch behind the tree. Darkness meant another chance that Dagon would arrive—maybe. This would be a hell of a time for the demon to get modern and contact Ereshki by text instead of a personal visit.

We were running low on blood bags since we were both eating more to keep our energy at peak levels. We were also getting texts from Ian’s people saying that Silver was acting “morose.” I hadn’t liked leaving him behind, but an outdoor stakeout was no place for a pet. I also couldn’t risk Silver getting hurt when Dagon—hopefully—arrived and the fighting began.

“You’re sure Ereshki’s still in there?” I couldn’t help but ask. This whole time, she hadn’t once left to get food or water.

Ian gave me a baleful look. “For the third time since we started this stakeout, yes.”

He made no effort to hide his annoyance, but I was starting to wonder if Ereshki had tricked us. We’d never gotten close enough to the ski lodge to verify that Ereshki was inside since we hadn’t wanted to risk being spotted. Could she have soaked an object in Dagon’s power and left it there to throw us off her trail? She knew that Ian had the Dagon-power-sensing spell in him, so despite my vow not to kill her, she might have taken precautions to avoid being detected.

Several hours later, I was so convinced of this theory, I was about to summon my friend Leah. The ghost could enter the lodge to check if Ereshki was in there without being spotted. In fact, why hadn’t I thought of this days ago? If Ereshki had tricked us, she could be continents away by now—