Midnight Marked

By the time we gathered in the conference room, we were leather-clad and katana-wielding. Ethan wore a black moto-style leather jacket over dark jeans and boots, his hair pulled back with a leather cord. I’d added my apotrope to my ensemble.

Lindsey, Kelley, and Juliet were also dressed in leathers. Luc and Malik would remain at the House—Luc to keep it safe, and Malik to keep it under control. As Ethan’s Second, he’d be in charge of the House in Ethan’s absence—and the hundreds of vampires who’d come here to escape the magic.

Malik joined us, as did Paige and the Librarian, Catcher and Mallory, Gabriel, Eli, Jeff, and Fallon. Jonah walked into the room with Scott, which filled me with relief. I rose, met them at the door, could feel Ethan’s gaze on both of us. But since Jonah had jumped out in front of me and probably saved my life, he could bear a little jealousy.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Not bad,” he said with a smile. “Thanks for dragging me out of the line of fire.”

“Thanks for taking the hit for me.” I smiled up at him. “And don’t ever do it again.”

“I’ll make a note.”

I stepped aside so they could walk to the table, was surprised to see Morgan walk in behind them. He was as leather-clad as the rest of us, a yellow katana belted at his waist. And his expression was fierce.

He found Ethan. Morgan, the dark-haired Master of the nation’s oldest vampire House, matched against Ethan, the blond-haired Master of the city’s most active House. A former boyfriend matched against my forever love, and a vampire who’d been too human matched against one who, until recently, hadn’t been quite human enough. It was interesting how things had changed.

“I hadn’t expected you to fight,” Ethan said, extending a hand.

“You don’t mean that as an insult,” Morgan said, “but it’s embarrassing all the same. I should have been fighting a long time ago, against Reed and otherwise. Better late than never, I hope.”

Ethan nodded. “You’re here now. That counts.”

“I hope so.” Morgan glanced at me, smiled with disarmingly boyish charm. “I’ve seen Merit fight. She can avenge me if I go down.”

“Let’s hope no one needs avenging,” Ethan said.

“We’re ready,” Luc said when he and Jeff had finagled a small projector in the center of the table that shot an image onto a screen that descended at the far end of the conference table. Luc dimmed the lights.

A map of the Loop that showed Towerline—or its currently skeletal frame—and the surrounding blocks was projected on one half of the screen. Jeff’s projection of the QE filled the other.

“This is the Quinta Essentia,” Ethan said as heads turned to look at the symbol. “I don’t want to spend too much time on the magical details. Suffice it to say we believe Adrien Reed, his sorcerer, and his vampire, who’s been identified as Logan Hill, a Rogue, have been working on a complex alchemical equation. That equation is intended to provide one or all of them control of every supernatural within the boundaries.”

“Control,” Scott repeated, incredulous.

“Control,” Ethan confirmed. “They’ve manipulated a shifter and, as of earlier tonight, several trolls. They’re dead,” he said, and glanced at Gabriel. “Your shifter?”

Gabriel just shook his head. “No sign of him.”

“So he could still be under Reed’s control,” Ethan said.

“What’s his long game here?” Scott asked. “He can’t have imagined this would work out well—that people wouldn’t notice what he was doing.”

“I believe Reed expected we’d take much, much longer to figure out what he’s doing. We literally stumbled onto the Wrigleyville symbols.”

Mallory nodded. “If we hadn’t figured out the what and where of the magic, he’d be doing all this right now, only without police surrounding the building. We’d fall to his control, and he would have a supernatural army, and we would be none the wiser. And with that magical army, with that power, humans would be hard-pressed to argue with him.”

Ethan paused to let that sink in.

“If the QE is kindled, we’re all at risk,” he said. “The House is warded. All supernaturals are invited to shelter here. Mallory will have wearable countermagics for anyone on the go team.”

“How, exactly, does the magic work?” Morgan asked, leaning forward and linking his hands on the table. “And how can we use it against them?”

Ethan nodded at Mallory, who stepped forward. “The alchemy utilizes, combines, the sorcerer’s magic and the vampire’s magic. That’s where the control arises.”

“So we can just take out one of them?” Morgan asked.

Mallory shook her head. “It’s not that simple, unfortunately. Their magic gives effect to the QE, yes. But once the QE is on, it’s on. Taking them out won’t affect anything; that’s part of the fail-safe they’ve built into the alchemy. Ditto erasing the symbols,” she said, glancing at Paige, who nodded. “The only way out is backward. We have to use a countermagic—literally reverse the magic to remove its effect.”

“And you can do that?” Scott asked.

“We can,” Mallory said, looking at Catcher with adoration and pride. “They’ve got a vampire and a sorcerer. We’ve got three sorcerers. I say we win.”

I couldn’t help smiling despite the circumstances.

“Where do you need to be?” Ethan asked.

“On the ground.”

Catcher nodded, gestured to Jeff, and the picture switched to the street view, and a shot of the Loop I’d never seen before—almost completely devoid of people.

“The CPD’s cordoned off a two-block radius around the construction site,” Catcher said. “Chuck and Arthur Jacobs are coordinating from the ground.”

“I want to be here,” Mallory said, pointing to the plaza in front of the building. “I think this is the best place to set the countermagic—draw the reverse QBE. And then we’ll kindle the magic, begin to reverse theirs.”

“You’ll be in full view of the public,” Malik said quietly. “If they see you do this, they’ll know what you are, and what you can do.”