Thea Grove Vampire Hunter Boxset by Molly Webb

Author:Molly Webb [Webb, Molly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-06T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I sprint back down the alley, Marcus close behind me. Even after the screams subside, the crowd is a churning knot, clamoring with shouts and cries of alarm; from its edges, I can’t tell what’s happened. There’s no point in trying to wade through the mass of bodies. I catch Marcus’s arm and pull him to a stop. “Keep your distance. I’ll see what’s going on.”

From the air, it’s not much clearer, but at least I spot the ringleader, still surrounded by the ring of Arcanskin magic—a Clawskin, this time, looking frightened and uncertain and much too young to be in charge of anything. I drop to the ground beside him and pluck the amplifier charm—carried by a coat button, it looks like—from his fingers.

“Don’t worry, I’m a friend of Harlan’s,” I tell him. “Let me handle this.” While he opens and closes his mouth, trying to come up with a response, I bring the button to my lips and summon a brisk, authoritative tone that hopefully says adult in the room. “Is anybody hurt? Bring anyone who’s injured into the ring. Double quick, people, let’s go.”

The crowd thins to make way for clutches of kids hauling the victims forward. My heart drops: there are four of them. Four kids held up by their friends, pale and shivering. Four throats marked with that telltale black line. This time, I don’t get any pushback as I assign groups of clanfolk to escort each of the marked kids safely home. The club breaks up and disperses without argument, even taking my suggestion of traveling in groups for safety. Maybe it’s the amplifier charm, or maybe they’re as shaken as I am by the attack, but they actually seem relieved to have someone take charge—still kids, in the end.

“We should check the area,” Marcus says, coming up beside me as the last clutch of Clawskins head down the street, away from the parking lot. “Just in case she’s decided to linger.”

“Yeah,” I say bleakly, “considering I’ve provoked her into doing four times the damage, maybe she’s sticking around to get a last word in.”

“What should you have done?” His question is a challenge, but a gentle one. “Let yourself get cursed instead?”

I sigh. “I know, I know.”

“At least we know what we’re dealing with now,” he offers.

That’s cold comfort. “Ghosts aren’t exactly my area of expertise.”

We argue briefly about how to survey the area—he thinks we should split up, like before, so I can take the bird’s-eye view; I’m not about to let him get cursed, too. He wins, eventually, by pointing out that it was when he showed up that the woman vanished. Anyway, as it turns out, it doesn’t matter. There’s no sign of her, even after we search half the industrial park.

“We should head back downtown,” he tells me when I finally touch down beside him. “It’s late. Well, early. You’re not going to solve this case tonight.”

“Oh yeah? Who says?”

When he smiles, easy and warm, I have to admit that’s what I was angling for.

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