Asylum (Causal Enchantment #2)(46)

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Mage observed, interrupting my paranoia. “Should you make a couple more, just in case?”

I nodded. A regular sorceress would be foolish to use her magic in this way, knowing she was going into battle. It took a significant amount of magical reserves. But I had more than enough helixes floating around my body. I went to work, sending two more tracker links out within seconds to do our bidding. “There. When the links find fresh blood, they send back a message to their sister-half.”

“So, now what?” Mage asked, hawk-like eyes surveying the street.

I drew the three links from my hand around my wrist. To anyone without a clue, they looked like purple glow-in-the-dark bracelets, the kind teenagers wore to raves. Except they were covered in blood. “Now we wait.”

Approaching heels clicked against the sidewalk. We all turned to see a young woman in a long dark trench coat and woven red beret hurry past, her furtive eyes glancing down the alley to see six people staring back. She sped up, casting a worried glance over her shoulder at us. That was the worst thing a person could do with a group of vampires behind her. I shifted my weight, ready to ground them with magical ropes if necessary. But they remained still, Amelie admiring the woman’s leather boots. Not even one vein pulsated in their eyes. I began to relax. Maybe Mage was right . . .

Bright purple light began flashing in the alley. I looked down at the helix links. One’s identical twin had found fresh blood; it was pulling me to the right. “Come,” I hissed, magical bolts of fire ready at my fingertips as I set off at a brisk pace. The streets were nearly empty at this hour. Thank God. We passed ten people in the first block. Each time, my attention bounced from the passerby’s face and hands—looking for signs of a Sentinel spy—to the five vampires traveling with me, assessing everyone’s level of control. Each time, Mage turned to meet my gaze, to assure me, “They’ll be fine.” It wasn’t much, but it was the support I needed.

As if we’d walked into a solid wall, all six of us suddenly stopped, hit with the pungent scent of freshly spilled blood. Both Amelie and Fiona let out cries of pain, the crushing urge to feed catching them unprepared. Caden and Bishop each threw their hands out to grab them by their shoulders.

“I’m okay!” Amelie cried, though her emerald-green eyes were morphing. I checked all of their eyes. They had all morphed, but none were quite so full of veins as before. That was a good sign. It meant they had some level of control.

I moved ahead, hugging the wall so closely that my shoulder grazed the bricks, gaining distance from the others as they hung back. The link was pulling me to an alley ahead. What would I find there? Jonah and his posse of mutants? No; trapping and disposing of them all in an alley would be too easy. I slowed to a creep, edging forward until I could peek around the corner into the darkness. No mutants, from what I could see. Two fire sparks instantly ignited at my fingertips, though. I wasn’t taking any chances.

Caden and Bishop came up and flanked either side of the alley. With boyish, commando-like signals, they waved me through.

“How about we stay on guard out here,” Mage suggested, her arms linked through Fiona and Amelie’s.

I nodded and entered the alley alone, heading toward the dumpster in the back corner. My stomach sank as I spotted a trail of red leather, torn and bloodied. It led to the far side of the dumpster, to a pair of long, pale, female legs, lying in a pool of blood. Evangeline’s precious face flooded my mind then, paralyzing me for a moment. I forced myself to continue to the other end of the dumpster and looked down. My teeth clenched so tightly, I thought they would crack.

There could be no doubt: this was the work of newborn mutants.

By the silky material around the woman’s thighs, I could tell she had been out enjoying New York’s nightlife. Her last night out. From what I could see of her face, she looked young, no more than eighteen. My heart instantly swelled for her parents. This girl was someone’s Evangeline.

Mage suddenly appeared beside me to observe the body, but only lasted a second before turning around and stalking to the other side of the alley, the blood no doubt the cause of that. “We need to keep moving,” she said through tight lips, adding, “fast. If anyone finds that . . . ” She didn’t need to finish. I knew what would happen. It would make front page news.

I sighed, then muttered, “We can’t leave her here.” We couldn’t have this much attention this close to Viggo and Mortimer’s place. The Sentinel would certainly put two and two together, if they hadn’t already.

“Then you had better do something, and quick. They’re likely still traveling in a pack. They wouldn’t think to do otherwise right now. But soon enough, they’ll scatter.”

And then we’d have five mutants heading in five different directions. I brushed away the giant snowflake that had landed on my nose as I weighed my options. I couldn’t burn the body; the smoke and flames would draw too much notice. And cloaking spells were temporary. I didn’t have time to weave the spell that would mask the evidence properly. Those kinds of spells took more time than we had. I looked at the dumpster. A very unimaginative, human way of disposing of a body.

“I’m sorry for this,” I whispered, throwing open the top of the large green bin. Delicately, careful not to soil my clothes—I enjoyed blood as much as the next vampire, but I didn’t enjoy bathing in it—I hoisted the body up and tossed her in, rubbing my hands to get all evidence of blood off afterward. There. At least when she was discovered, it would take time to trace her back to here. I assessed the blood pool on the pavement. Perhaps I could lift it all—