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“That’s the one,” Pritkin answered.“And this place is crawling with Dark Circle operatives.I can feel the oil slick they call magic in the air.What the fuck happened?”

That last was directed at Zara, who, unlike her companions, had been standing there, dripping and scowling but also listening.“We are in Stratford?”she said as if she didn’t believe it.“How?”

“Lady Bodil is good with portals,” Pritkin said dryly.

“She said that this will get us to the new Pythia,” Æsubrand said, coming up so silently behind the small gaggle of witches that he made several jump and one try to hex him.He deflected the spell with a shrug and shot her a quelling glance before refocusing on Pritkin.“Is this true?”

Pritkin looked conflicted.

“Itistrue, is it not?”Bodil said, looking narrowly at Pritkin.“You said as much to Cassie.That there is a portal from here to this shoe warehouse, and from thence to the city called Vegas.”

“Yes, technically...”he began and then paused for a second, probably to think how to phrase something, but that was not the right answer.Because Bodil suddenly had him by the neck and had lifted him off the ground before any of us could blink.

“Think carefully about your next words,” she hissed.“I have expended much power that I could ill afford to open that gateway.If you now tell me I must somehow get us back—”

Pritkin broke her hold; how, I wasn’t sure, as it happened too fast.Maybe he was channeling some of Mircea’s energy, too, or maybe he was just that good.Æsubrand seemed somewhat impressed, pausing to watch the subsequent scuffle but not interfering even when Pritkin somehow got the lady in a headlock, very much like the one the Ice Prince liked using on me.

Which lasted for about a second before she threw him over her shoulder and across the road, where he disappeared into what I guessed was another ditch because I heard splashing.And cursing, which made my knotted spine release somewhat.That was not the right move, as several witches took the opportunity to attack me again, only to find out that Enid had been playing before.Their spells hit a shield like rebar-reinforced steel that was wielded like a weapon, which flung them back the way they’d come and narrowly missed decapitating one, who barely ducked in time.

That was the youngest, with lavender colored hair that didn’t look like it came out of a bottle, while the others had all shielded, probably expecting retaliation if they didn’t manage to finish me off.The reflected spells ping-ponged back and forth for a moment between the shield walls, lighting us all up and sounding like symbols before flying off into the air.And were replaced by shouts from somewhere nearby and running footsteps.

That included Pritkin’s, who reached us first and hissed at Enid.“Camouflage!Now!”

I didn’t know if she managed because eight men appeared on the road the next moment, holding my attention as they were wearing the dark robes favored by the Black Circle, who liked to lean into their evil wizard reputation.Only this bunch looked low-rent, streaked with half-dried mud and old dirt and with their robes tattered enough to look like they were cosplaying dementors on Halloween.I didn’t think they were likely to see past a Margygr spell, but then, they didn’t have to.

Because something else was with them.

Pritkin gripped my arm, having peered above the ditch alongside me, and I didn’t have to ask why.

Snuffling the road where he and I had just been lying was a hyena almost as large as one of the mages, even though the beast was on all fours.It was brown and spotted and as tattered-looking as the men, with matted fur and a ring of raw flesh around the heavy leather collar it wore.It also had half of one ear missing and long-healed scars in its coat above its muddy flanks.

After a minute, it raised its head and looked straight at me, its eyes shining yellow in the flashes from the lightning storm above.

I froze, and we just stared at each other for a moment.It should have been surreal, seeing something that belonged on the veldt in Africa in freaking Stratford, accompanied by a mob of creatures out of a nightmare, but it wasn’t.Because, for once, I didn’t need Pritkin to clue me in on what was happening.

That was especially true when I noticed the forearm of the mage holding the beast’s collar.He had a sleeve of geometric, golden tats that shone brightly against his ebony skin and constantly changed patterns, like a kaleidoscope.African mages with the ability to transform had been brought over once to help the Circle track down some dangerous escapees from the main lock-up, and I’d seen them in a café in HQ’s main square.Only then, they’d been in golden collars and bright silks instead of scarred leather and a coating of mud.

I didn’t know if this was one of those, but that gaze seemed to have human intelligence.I braced myself, waiting for the howl to go up and our position to be revealed because it “saw” me just as clearly as if I hadn’t been camouflaged.Its nose must be as good as those of the master vamps known as Hounds, whose extraordinary sense of smell allowed them to read a scene with their eyes closed, even going back weeks or months.

We were screwed.

Only maybe not, I thought, as the creature suddenly sent up a howl, all right, but then bounded down the street, dragging the mage holding its collar in that direction.The other mages followed, weapons in hand, and I stared after them, unsure what had just happened.And then Alphonse grabbed me.

I hadn’t noticed him before, even though I’d assumed he’d come along for the ride.Vampires had the ability not to be seen when they didn’t want to, and maybe he’d preferred to sit this particular fiasco out.But it looked like that was over for now.

And I suddenly had a pissed-off master vamp in my face.

“You wanna start talking?”he demanded while I tried and failed to push him out of the way so I could do exactly that—with Pritkin.

“About what?”

“About what?”The glare increased in intensity.“I decide to get a little shut-eye, and the next thing I know, I’m being sucked through a portal, dumped out in hell—”

“This is Stratford—”

“Inhell, with a bunch of murderous witches for company, along with every Black Circle guy for miles.This place reeks of dark magic, not to mention those things—and what the hell were thosethings?”

“What things?”