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Once Ashworth got off the phone to Eli, I asked, “What do you know about vampires and sunshine?”

“Aside from the fact it ashes them, you mean? There’s a theory in some quarters that the very old do gain some immunity from it, but I’ve encountered no evidence that supports it.” His expression was speculative. “Why?”

“Maelle stuck her toes and fingers into sunlight, and she did not go up in flames. Her skin barely even turned pink.”

“Like we haven’t already got enough fucking problems,” Monty muttered.

“‘Barely’ means her toesdidturn pink, laddie, and that suggests she isn’t immune, just … resilient.” Ashworth’s gaze returned to mine. “Or was she perhaps using some sort of magical shield to ward off the worst of the effects?”

I wrinkled my nose. “She could have been, but it was hard to tell because the whole building was wrapped in protection spells, and all of them were stained with darkness.”

“Is it possible she was merely trying to scare you?”

“She was achieving that well before her toes decided they needed to sunbathe.”

He shook his head. “Then I’ll add it to the ever-increasing list of things we need to research.”

“Perhaps jump it to the top of the list,” Monty said, “because if Maelle is resilient, you can bet the other two will be as well.”

Ashworth nodded, then drained his coffee and rose. “I’ll go pick Eli up and meet you at the park.”

As he left, Monty asked, “What about the demon? Did you ask her about that?”

“I did, and she said it was a grand beastie she was quite fond of.” A smile twitched my lips. “Given she was naked and covered in gore when I questioned her, I’m not sure if she meant that in a rhetorical, ‘I just loved swimming in its remains’ manner or not.”

Monty just about choked on his cake. “God, things just go from bad to worse.”

“Well, look on the bright side,” Belle said dryly. “If she did swim in its remains, then it’s one less monster we have to worry about.”

“I’d like to think so, but given she wasn’t letting you into that club and she was naked, maybe swimming wasn’t all she was doing with it.”

“Eew,” I said, and tossed my spoon at him.

He laughed, caught it, and dropped it back onto the table. “We should get going. We can scout the area out a little before the others arrive.”

I picked up the teapot and rose, transferring the remainder of the drink into a travel cup, then sent a message to Aiden telling him his truck was at the back of the café and the keys in my room. After grabbing my pack, I followed Belle and Monty out and jumped into the back of the SUV.

Monty reversed out of the parking spot and drove toward the dog park, Belle giving him directions via Google Maps on her phone. Monty’s old station wagon came from the era that hadcassette players rather than Bluetooth and GPS—and, like many other things in his car, said cassette player did not work.

It only took five minutes to reach the park. Monty swung into McGrath Street, then parked under one of the old trees that ran along the verge on the right. I took a final sip of tea, then tucked it into the middle console for safekeeping and climbed out, swinging my pack over my shoulders. A couple of dogs were barking in the park behind the trees, though the thick greenery lining the dividing fence made it impossible to see what they were. They did sound like yappy little terriers, though.

“According to Google’s satellite map,” Belle said, studying her phone’s screen, “all the houses in this area have some kind of shed.”

I wrinkled my nose and glanced at the house directly opposite. Like many of the houses in the street, it was an older-style brick building that wasn’t overly large, and the shed—which I could see from where I stood—was the type that stored tools. It would barely be big enough to stand upright with your arms outstretched in let alone lie on the ground pinned by stakes.

“We’re after something larger than a common garden shed,” Monty said, moving around the car and stopping beside us. “We’re probably looking more at a garage-style one.”

“I’m not seeing anything like that here.” She paused, moving her fingers over the image, enlarging one area. “There is, however, an old house back on the main road, with a factory on one side and the dog park right behind it. There are a couple of outbuildings to one side of it that might fit the bill.”

“We might as well check it out from the safety of the footpath, before the others get here,” Monty said, and grandly waved us forward. “The ladies with all the appropriate skills should go first.”

I left the shade of the tree and wished almost instantly I’d thought to bring a hat. It was damnably hot, even though we were barely past lunchtime. As we reached the end of the street, Ashworth arrived and swung in behind us, parking illegally on the footpath.

“Discovered anything yet?” he asked as he and Eli caught up with us. He was very sensibly wearing a floppy toweling hat, though it had very definitely seen better days. Rather like his rock 'n’ roll T-shirt and grungy jeans, really.

“No, but there’s what looks to be an abandoned house round the corner that holds possibilities,” Monty replied.

“An abandoned house is a more likely holding cell than a shed in someone’s yard, no matter what our resident vampire might be sensing through her creature,” Eli said. He was a tall, well-built, and very handsome man in his late sixties, with thick salt-and-pepper hair and bright blue eyes. And, unlike his husband, was impeccably dressed even if he was only wearing cargo shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.