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Jeff leaned toward his friend and gave him a direct look. Samantha recognized it as Jeff’s serious business face. “This is the deal, Bench. In the end we don’t know what the hell The Summoner is doing other than gathering the rings and wiping out The Assembly. All we can do is depend on our connections to give us an idea of what is going on with The Summoner and prepare.”

“In other words, what we’re already doing.” Benchley’s frustration was very evident in the way he ground his teeth together and hunched over his tea.

Aimee brandished the spoon she was using to stir the contents of her cauldron in Benchley’s direction. “This is the reality of the situation. You have to accept it, Benchley.”

“I’m tired of us not doing anything, Aimee! We just sit around and collect all this useless information. We don’t do anything but wait to die!”

“Actually, I work all damn day preparing spells,” Aimee retorted. “While you’re sulking, I’m doing something.”

The witch rarely raised her voice, but the steel in it now silenced the entire room. The only sound was Samantha’s spoon scraping against the edge of her bowl as she ate.

“Well at least you have something to do while you’re waiting for the end of the world,” Benchley spat out.

Samantha plopped some of the warm chili in her mouth and chewed. It killed her to admit it, but it was better than any she’d had at a chili cook-off. Baptiste gave her a knowing smile and a wink. She stuck her chili-laden tongue out at him.

There was a loud pop and a wash of glowing white energy flowed through the kitchen, pierced the walls, and vanished into the backyard.

Samantha twisted about in her chair. “What was that?”

“I just reinforced the ward,” Aimee answered.

“How are the perimeter alarms working?” Jeff asked.

He appeared just a tad grumpy. Samantha knew he hated that he couldn’t see the magic taking place around him. Samantha had to admit it looked really neat and wished she could share it with him. Instead, she tried to describe what she saw to him when he a

sked.

“Any supernatural crossing Austin’s city limits will trigger the alarm and a tracking spell attaches to them immediately. Cass took out two vampires last night in Oak Hill. We think they were a scouting team.”

“Why didn’t anyone say that before?” Benchley exclaimed.

“I was waiting to report it to Cian,” Aimee answered.

“Jeff’s the one in charge!” Benchley glowered.

“Cian’s the master of the city,” Aimee stated calmly and started to eat, not looking directly at Jeff.

“But Jeff’s the leader of our hunting group!”

“That consists of you, your sister, Eduardo and Jeff.”

“And Samantha!” Benchley thrust a finger in her direction and Samantha batted it away. “Right, Samantha?”

“Why can’t we all be one big group?” Samantha asked.

Her boyfriend was slowly ruffling his hair, his expression tense. Jeff and Cian did work together, but Jeff was bullheaded about acknowledging Cian as their official leader.

“We are one big group consisting of two factions,” Baptiste said calmly. “And we answer to Cian. Even Jeff. Because in the end Cian has hundreds of years of experience and knows The Summoner better than we do. He also knows all our strengths, our weaknesses, and how to utilize us. Jeff, you lead our research, but you’re not the military leader of this outfit.”

“True,” Jeff admitted, though his expression was sour.

Under the table, Samantha propped her bare feet on his leg and caressed his knee with her toes. She smiled when his hand settled over her ankle and squeezed it lightly.

“This is bullshit,” Benchley growled and stormed out of the kitchen.

Silence fell over the remaining group. After a few seconds, Jeff started to get up to follow.

“I need to discuss something with you, Jeff,” Samantha said, her tone quite serious. “I came up with an idea on how I can gain more control over the ghosts.”