Midnight Marked (Chicagoland Vampires, #12)(20)

“Do you have any idea what the alchemy might be used for?” Ethan asked.

“Not without translating,” she said. “But I can tell you this—whatever it is, it’s big. Most alchemical equations are pretty simple; that’s the nature of alchemy. Right or wrong, alchemists believed you could change matter—change one thing into another, realize the true ‘essence’ of something—if you applied the right kind of solvent at the correct time of year, under the influence of the right heavenly bodies. It can get more complicated, sure.” She gestured to the board. “But this? This is a lot of symbols, plus pictographs—the hand-drawn elements. And there’s no explanatory text whatsoever. I think that’s the point of the pictographs—concealing the instructions. As far as I’m aware, they’re unique to the sorcerer, in which case the puzzle will be even harder to solve.”

“Bottom-line it for me,” Ethan said.

“Someone cared enough to be very careful and very specific about the thing addressed here. I’m just not yet sure what that ‘thing’ is. But you’ll be the first one to know.”

Ethan’s phone rang, and he pulled it out, checked the screen. “Give us a minute, would you?” he asked, and Paige and the Librarian nodded and disappeared into a row.

“It’s Gabriel,” Ethan said when we were alone, and pressed a button. “Ethan and Merit.”

Gabe didn’t waste any time. “I need a favor.”

Ethan’s brows lifted, and he put his hands on his hips. “I’m listening.”

“I’ve got an address for Caleb, but I can’t get away to check it out. I’ve got obligations as Apex related to the death, the wake.”

Ethan lifted his brows again, and I could guess the line of his thoughts: Why did an Apex have obligations to a member who’d defected? I didn’t doubt Gabriel was grieving; we’d seen it last night. But the Pack prided itself on loyalty. We simply didn’t have the entire story.

“If you could take a look, or get your people to take a look, maybe you’ll find something that ties him to the sorcerer, to the vampire. Something that explains why he was killed.”

“We’ll take a look,” Ethan said, nodding at me. “The address?”

Gabriel read it off. “I understand it’s near Hellriver. So be careful.”

In the 1950s, Hellriver had been “Belle River,” a pretty suburb near the Des Plaines River. That changed forty years ago, when an ugly chemical spill sent most of the neighborhood packing. The houses, churches, and stores were still there, but Chicago hadn’t been able to get the funds for a cleanup, and nobody wanted to live in still-toxic Hellriver.

“We always are. How did you find the address?”

“Damien made some calls. Caleb may not have been a Pack member, but he still had friends inside. It’s not supposed to work that way—defection is defection—but I can’t stop what I don’t see.”

“And now you can see it,” Ethan said.

“Yeah. We’ll be having some discussions about that.”

“Good luck to you,” Ethan said. “We’ll take a look and let you know what we find.”

“Appreciate it.” There was a thunk on Gabriel’s end. “Goddamn whelps. Somebody pull those *s apart! Later,” he said into the phone, and the call ended.

“Sounds like he’s having fun.”

“If Mastering vampires is akin to herding cats, mastering shifters is akin to herding bull elephants.”

“So you’re saying you don’t envy him.”

“Not in the slightest.” He put his phone away, looked at me. “Are you up for a field trip?”

I smiled. “As long as I can take my sword. I’m curious to learn more about our defecting shifter.”

“You aren’t the only one, Sentinel,” Ethan murmured. “We should probably warn Luc we’re going.”

“Why? What could happen at the house of a dead shifter beside a toxic neighborhood? I’m sure everything will be fine.” I didn’t bother to hide my sarcasm.

“We’re clear,” he called out, and Paige came back with a thin black easel. She set it up, then placed the poster in the crossbar.

“Unfortunately,” Ethan said, “I won’t be able to volunteer Merit quite as early as I’d imagined. Gabriel has a lead on the shifter who was killed, and he’s asked us to check it out.”

“No worries,” Paige said with a smile, and she probably meant it. “I’d like the chance to take a look before I assign anything to Merit.”

The Librarian came back to us with a tablet and cord in hand. He plugged it in, arranged it on the tabletop for Paige to use. “Thank you, Arthur.”

His cheeks flushed with pleasure. “You’re welcome,” he said, then put his hands on his hips, surveyed the setup.

“I think we’re good to go here,” Paige said.

“Excellent,” Ethan said, putting a hand at my back. “We’ll get to our business with the shifters. If there are any developments—if you learn anything—please let us know.”

“We will,” Paige said, settling herself into a chair. “And good luck.”

“I’ll grab my sword,” I said when we’d left the library and were back in the hallway again.