Page 57 of Cold Curses

We walked around the park together, but found no sign of anything unusual related to the wards or otherwise.

“I am forced to ask myself if this is a trap,” Connor said.

“We were already in Dante’s condo,” I pointed out. “There’s no point in his sending us somewhere else to be captured.”

“That’s a good point.”

“But what exactly are we looking for?” Theo asked.

“We will know it when we find it.”

* * *

An hour later, and even with the help of four CPD officers, we’d found nothing.

Well, we’d found trash, a few remaining bits of broken boar (sorry, not sorry), and several abandoned dog toys. But nothing that would clarify Dante’s assertion that the wards were done.

Theo picked up a nearly new tennis ball, offered it to Connor. “You want?”

He was absolutely earnest, which was probably why Connor didn’t slap the ball out of his hand.

“I’m good, thanks.”

Theo chucked it back into the grass.

“Thoughts?” I asked, hands on my hips as I surveyed the landbelow us, the cops’ flashlights still bobbing around beneath trees and under picnic tables.

“I’m wondering if he just wanted us out of his place,” Theo said. “Mission accomplished.”

“If this had something to do with the breaking of the wards,” Connor said, “there must be some connection to the wards here. Why was this originally on the list?”

“Magical criteria,” I said. “We were looking for places with very high magic—that would be the wards—next to places with very low magic. That would be the cornerstone.” The stones had been spelled to seem magically neutral, so demons couldn’t easily detect and destroy them.

“Why did you decide there wasn’t one here?”

I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. “Demon showed up; ward didn’t trigger.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t just broken? I mean, the system was more than a hundred years old.”

I had to pause a beat. “I guess not.”

“So, let’s assume there’s a ward, but a broken one. The ward could be anything—including cursed animal statuary that Rosantine was able to use against you.”

“If there’s a ward, there’s a cornerstone,” Theo said. “So that’s what we need to find.”

“Where are they usually located in relation to the ward?” Connor asked, looking around. “Just outside it, right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “The Guardians didn’t want them too close together. So not necessarily in the park, but near the park.”

We hustled back down the stairs. “Walk the perimeter,” Theo said to the mingling group of CPD officers.

“You’re looking for a big rock,” I added.

The officer in charge nodded. “You’re the boss. The vampire. The boss vampire.”

“Elisa is fine,” I said.

“Big rock,” he confirmed, and sent the team in different directions.