Sam and Derek were almost back to her apartment when the cars arrived. Sam’s first thought was that Abigail was coming to finish off Claire, but when the backseat of the first car opened and the handsome man stepped out, she was faced with the sinking realization of what was really happening.

She could feel Derek stiffen next to her and reach into his jacket pocket, but she put a hand on his arm to signal that he didn’t need to draw his weapon. Yet. “Phillip,” she said, the tension evident in her voice. “What are you doing here?”

He looked her over dispassionately as the other car doors opened. There were four cars in total, and each was packed full of sentries. Except it was becoming apparent that these weren’t Claudia’s men. Mainly because each was looking at Sam with the kind of disdain she would expect from people hanging around Phillip Carpenter.

“I’m here for the soul sucker.” He looked to the building. “She’s at your old place, right?”

She didn’t want to think about where he was getting his information from. Sam moved to stand in front of the entryway, and without even thinking, the flames came to her and her hands ignited, ready to go at any sentry who came at her. “If you want to get through this door, you’re going to have to go through me.”

Derek probably had no idea what the hell was happening, but the second she caught on fire, he pulled out his handgun and moved to stand as close as he could without being burned by the fire.

Phillip’s eyes widened when he saw the fire. He was the one she was paying attention to. He might have twelve guys with him as backup, but Phillip was a high-ranking member of the families, and if he wanted something done, it normally got done.

And as far as he knew, Sam had no control over her power. The fact that she stood in front of him like this would be a shock. It had better be enough of a shock to get him to turn the hell around, though.

“Let me pass,” said Phillip, a not-so-subtle hint of warning to his voice. Phillip was used to people doing what he said. Even if he wasn’t strong enough to get humans to do whatever he wanted, his good looks and money went a long way. He was just under six feet, but he had his hair gelled up and back to give him another inch or so of height. His well-trimmed brown goatee was in style, and he looked as though he could’ve walked off a fashion magazine. He and Sam were the same age and had been in the same classes all through school.

Even though her family had been in control the entire time, Phillip had never missed an opportunity to remind her how much of a disappointment she must be to her lineage.

And now he was living his dream. Her family was crumbling and here he was, surrounded by the men who used to work for her grandmother. Claudia had sent most of the sentries away once she found out they might be influenced by the darkness. Phillip obviously didn’t share that fear. But what had he said to them to get them to follow him? It didn’t matter now. She wasn’t going to let him through.

“Come on, Samantha. I know you’re a spoiled brat, but you didn’t honestly think you could keep a soul sucker as a pet without facing consequences, did you?”

“She has me as a pet too.” Derek pointed his Glock right at Phillip. “And I bite.”

Phillip snorted at the threat and waved a hand at Derek. Sam could only assume he meant to toss Derek aside like a ragdoll, but the charm she’d given him so long ago still worked against lesser magic. “What....”

“I’m not kidding around, Phillip. You need to leave or we’re going to make you leave.” She wasn’t about to tell him what was protecting Derek. Let him be afraid. She felt strong and she knew she was stronger than all of the sentries individually, but all together? That might be more than even she and Derek could face.

“Leave? Do you have any idea what’s happening, Sam? Or are you too far up in your tower to give a second thought to the people down here? Claudia is supposed to protect us from this. Where the hell is she? We’ve got darkness sitting at the head of the building and our fearless leader is in hiding somewhere. Well, there’s new management in town now.”

Sam looked him down. She probably should’ve worked harder to hide the look of disgust, but the idea of bowing down to him literally made her stomach churn. “This isn’t a democracy,” she reminded him. “You can’t call a vote to overthrow Claudia. She could crush you like the bug you are.”

“Yeah, well, to do that she’d actually have to show her face. Now are you going to let us through or not?”

She was about to tell him, in graphic detail, how he could go to hell, but Derek used his left hand to show her his phone screen. It was a text from Parker saying that Claire was gone. Damn it. She was going to find her best friend and then strangle Claire herself. She clenched her hands into fists, putting out the fire, and stepped aside. “Fine. Go get yourself a soul sucker,” she said with sickening sweetness.

Derek didn’t drop his weapon as he and Sam both moved aside to let the wave of sentries through while some went around the side of the building, obviously looking for any sign of Claire escaping through the back. A minute later, Parker and Dante came out the front and Derek finally lowered his weapon, even if he didn’t holster it. He motioned with his head for everyone to walk a bit down the street.

As soon as Angela saw Derek, she pulled out her own sidearm. Phillip stood aside and glared at them but didn’t make any move to attack. Probably because he was too unsure about Sam’s sudden control over her powers and the strange anomaly that was Derek. Now that Dante and Angela were there, he really didn’t know what he was dealing with.

But Sam didn’t count him out by any means. “Who the hell is that?” asked Angela once they were a few buildings over.

“Fucking Carpenter,” said Dante.

“Phillip fucking Carpenter,” clarified Sam. “The Carpenters are one of the main families. Mom always said they picked that name because they think they’re the second coming of Christ.” She wanted to smile at her mom’s joke, but then she remembered what was currently happening to her mother and she couldn’t smile. “He’s got a bone to pick with my family, and now that Claudia is showing more vulnerabilities than ever before, he’s trying to pounce. But we can deal with him later. Where is Claire?” Sam stopped and turned around to make sure they weren’t being followed. But just because they didn’t see anyone didn’t mean no one was looking in. “Dante?”

He nodded and brought his thumb to his mouth and in a quick motion, bit through the skin hard enough to draw blood. Angela’s eyes widened, but Derek didn’t show any surprise. Sam didn’t know whether that was a good or bad thing that he was getting used to this.

Dante bent down and drew a symbol on the sidewalk. The blood he drew didn’t go far, but as long as it was represented in the symbol, the magic should work. Sam remembered enough from school to know how the ritual worked, but she didn’t know the symbols required by heart. Dante was an expert in knowing the ins and outs of witchcraft, a skill Sam really wished she shared now that she could control her powers.

Once the symbol was done, he stepped on it and held out his hands. Sam took one while Angela carefully took the one with the sore thumb. Derek looked annoyed that he had to holster his gun, but a second later, he took Sam and Angela’s hands. The moment the contact was complete, it was as though they were hit with a loud whooshing sound, and a second later there was nothing. Dead silence surrounded them. No wind. No honking horns. No sirens. No cars. Nothing.

“This should last a few minutes,” said Dante. “What happened?”

“We were out for a walk and when we came back, they were there,” said Derek.

“They said they were there for Claire,” said Sam.

“Who you apparently lost,” accused Derek.

Sam could feel Dante’s hand tighten on hers and knew he wasn’t too happy about that either.

“She was stressed, understandably,” he bit out. “So she was sleeping and I was giving her space. When I checked on her a few minutes ago, she was gone.”

“Gone or taken?” asked Derek. “Because if you didn’t know, there’s a psychopath who wants her dead.”

“Gone,” said Angela. “Her phone was missing. If she still has it on, Derek and I can try to get a rush trace on it.”

“Have you tried calling her?” asked Sam.

“For fuck’s sake, that’s the first thing I did. She’s not answering my calls.”

“We need to find her.” Sam started to filter through her mind for where Claire might’ve gone.

“Do we think she’s gone into hiding?” asked Angela.

Everyone was quiet and she knew Derek and Dante were thinking the same thing she was. “Claire wouldn’t hide from us.” If she left, it was to track down Abigail. “We need to find my mom.”

“You can’t use magic? Like a locator spell or something?” Sam frowned at Angela and the woman shrugged. “I watch TV. I know some things.”

Even though locator spells were a thing, they wouldn’t work. “The darkness is shielded from our magic. Like Derek is.”

“Fine,” said Angela. “Then we’ll go magic-free. Pierce and I can go to the precinct and put out an APB on Abigail. We’ll have it so it’s sighting-based. Anyone who sees Abigail will call us and we’ll know where she is. Since she has a history with the department, she’s going to be recognizable. And she’s worried about Claudia and Claire; she’s not going to worry about cops.”

“Okay. We’ll go to the station and—”

“No,” said Dante.

“What?”

“I’m going to look for Claire. I’m not going to let her go off and sacrifice herself.”

“Sam, go with Dante,” said Derek. “I’ll take care of cop stuff—you do witch stuff.”

Sam opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She didn’t want to leave Derek for even a second. Not with so many things in motion. But if she did go with him... what was she going to do? She couldn’t help him set up an APB. “Dante should go with you,” she said weakly. “If anyone needs coercing—”

“No one needs their mind controlled,” snapped Angela. “We don’t need Dante for this.”

“Then it’s settled,” said Derek. “We all have phones, so we’ll be in contact.” He looked to Dante. “Don’t stop trying to call Claire. If she’s ignoring us, she wants to talk. We just have to wear her down.”

Dante nodded as he pulled away from the circle. All of a sudden, the noises of the city came back. Even the mostly silent night seemed almost deafening compared to what they just had.

Sam looked around them but didn’t see anyone nearby. She would’ve felt better if she’d seen Phillip standing there. Because she knew he wouldn’t have let them just walk away without trying to keep tabs on them. It was unnerving to know you were being watched but have no idea how.

“Come on.” Dante started down the street in the opposite direction from the police precinct.

Sam wanted to say a solid good-bye to Derek, but Dante was moving too fast. All she could do was give him one last wistful look before she followed Dante down the street.