Damion had not said a word until now, but Evarius's last line hit him like a boulder to the head."What?!""How do you know?""Oh my god!"The room is full of exclamations and questions of all sorts and all eyes are now turned toward Damion."Did you know?" Brent asks him."No, I didn't," are the first words Damion says since he had screamed Lilia's name in the jungle."How much chance is there that it's true?" Esther says.Damion turns his mind back to the times Lilia and he had had spontaneous sex in the recent past without protection. "I don't know how or when," he says, "but it's certainly possible...""Wait a minute," Sabina says, turning to Evarius, "How do you know?""Yeah,' prompts Esther."I heard them," Evarius explains, "I did not register it at the time because I was too focused on saving everyone's life. But I was the first one to reach there, and while I was roaming around the edge of the clearing to find the best way to attack, I caught snippets of their conversations.
“I think we should first do a locator spell to find out where Lilia is,” Esther says.“But we don’t have any personal items of hers,” Tasha says.“I do,” Esther says, “I brought her hairbrush and a map, just in case.”“You are brilliant,” Damion says appreciatively.Esther smiles and says, “It’s in the car. I’ll get it.”Esther returns a minute later with both things, and Tasha stretches the map out on the table. She takes Lilia’s hairbrush in one hand and does a spell, waving her hand over the map. All the others wait patiently.“I don’t understand,” Tasha says after a while.“What is it?” Damion asks immediately.“According to the spell, Lilia is here, in Arrowall, and because we are so close, I am sure she is in the jungle.”Damion looks at the others in confusion, “Does that mean they just shifted to a different part of the jungle.”“Could be...” Brent says.As all of them discuss how far the Junta could go from the original position and where to search, Tasha’s mind takes a diffe
Carl is sitting with Luther and Garrit. Luther is doing some spells to pinpoint where the Junta might be. They know that the Junta does not like them very much, but it seems like they like the original vampire much less. Aren't enemies’ enemies friends?Luther opens his eyes, and Carl asks immediately, “Did you find them?”“Yes. Arrowall.”“Should we go there?” Garrit asks.“You are forgetting,” Luther says impatiently, “they have the binder, and we can’t go near the binder. We won’t be able to reach them.”“So, what do we do?” Carl asks.“We send them a message.”“You can do that?”“Of course. We just need to make sure we say the right thing. Give me a pen and paper.”Garrit gets a notepad and pen for Luther and hands them to him.“Okay,” Luther says, “How about we can help you against the original vampire?”“Are you absolutely sure that the original vampire is who they are going after?”“A Serafina witch created vampires. What else could it be?”Even though Luther seems absolutely c
Damion is pacing in the forest as Tasha and his grandmother are practicing magic, sitting under a large oak tree. He can sit down too, like Evarius, who is sitting a few feet away with his eyes on Tasha. Damion stops to look at him carefully and thinks that either Evarius is just a really good actor or he is thinking of something entirely different or he is in love with Tasha because the softness in his gaze is such that Damion feels like he is intruding on something very personal or intimate. He looks away and starts pacing again. He does not think he can take just sitting and doing nothing. Maybe Evarius is okay with it because it seems like the girl he cares about is right in front of him, but not Damion. His Lilia is far away, in danger.His heart aches as he imagines the situations in which Lilia could be right now. He is not even sure if she is pregnant. Does Lilia know herself? What a beautiful moment it would have been for them had the situation been different. But now, Lilia
Carl, Luther, and Garrit are on edge, waiting for the Junta’s reply. It’s been over half an hour, and there has been nothing.“Maybe they are not interested,” says Luther.“Or maybe,” says Garrit, “they just need some time to come to a decision. We are not exactly friends. Are we?”Carl likes Garrit’s reasoning better, maybe because he himself wants to believe that. Then, suddenly, they notice smoke in the middle of the room. A golf ball-sized ball of smoke just hangs in mid-air, then a crumpled-up paper falls to the floor, and the smoke vanishes.“It’s them,” Luther exclaims.Carl grabs the paper off the floor. His hands shake a little as he opens it. It says, “We are ready to meet.”There is also a mobile number.“Yes!” says Luther, who had read the message from the other side.Carl immediately takes out his phone and dials the number.*Tasha has been sitting under the tree with Anastasia for about two hours now, or at least that’s what it feels like to her. She hasn’t checked the
Carl and Luther are driving to Arrowall. Garrit and some other members will follow them sometime later. They didn’t want to head down to the town all at the same time and make it look like a procession. So, they have decided to come in batches.Carl is the one driving, and they are about one hour into the trip when his phone pings with a message. He glances at it, expecting it to be Garrit, but it’s not. The name on the screen makes his heart flutter with anxiousness. It’s Evarius.With one hand on the wheel, he unlocks the phone with the other and quickly reads the message.“What is it?” Luther asks. “You look tense.”“Evarius just texted me. He wants to meet.”Carl turns the phone to Luther so he can read the text.“He doesn’t say why?” Luther asks.“Nope. Just one message. What should I do?”“The timing is fishy, don’t you think?”“Yeah, yeah, of course. We contact the Junta, and within two hours, Evarius contacts us. Looks like he knows...”“But how?”Carl shrugs, “It could be a c
Carl turns around to look at what is happening with the four people and is surprised to see the girl standing and the men on the floor. He had felt that she is not a vampire, which had led him to deduce that maybe she is a werewolf or a hybrid. It hadn’t crossed his mind that she might be a witch. From the look on Luther’s face, he had not anticipated this as well. Carl sees Luther being pushed back by whatever the girl had done and knows that now they are screwed. He and Luther had planned to make one perfect move that would let them escape. Meeting Evarius would have meant they would know what he wants, which they could have told the Junta after escaping. But now Carl feels that their one chance to make a move has been messed up.Before Carl can even get to Luther, he sees a blur that is Evarius get off the ground, seize both of Luther’s hands, rotate them and pin them behind his back.“Aaaagh,” Luther screams.Carl is feeling panicky now. If Luther is in pain, he would hardly be ab
Carl directs Damion to drive to the town museum. It is actually the largest museum in the city. When Carl asks Damion to stop right in front of the museum, he exclaims, “You’ve got to be kidding me! You are saying that you have kept the Alexandrite stone in the museum. That it was here all along?”“Yes. But I doubt anyone would find it unless they know exactly what they are looking for and exactly where to look.”“But still,” Damion says, “the stone is so important to you, and you kept it in a place that hundreds of people visit regularly.”“The best hiding places are in plain sight,” Carl replies, as Damion parks the car and all of them get out of it.The sunset is not far, and the sky now has a tinge of orangish-red. The museum has reached its closing hours. So, Carl compels the museum guard, and they walk inside.Carl directs them around the paintings and then through a photo gallery where a lot of small relics are kept. All of these have historical significance. Tasha looks around