Page 18 of Transfiguration
“I am more than willing to be Con’s enforcer,” Sam said. “Humans or whatever. I don’t care. They come at us; I will end them.”
Con didn’t need an enforcer, but he wondered if he could extend some of his spells to his guys. He had never tried. The sort of cloaking and magnetized spells that kept all his hair, skin cells, and any trace of him to himself, he powered with runes he’d had tattooed into his chest and arms, worked into the artwork to keep anyone from realizing what they were. He always fed power into it, ensuring it would be ready whenever, but covering someone else was hard. His power might recognize Sam and Luca but riding along the edge of their power was a bit like pushing the wrong sides of magnets together. It took more energy and devoured his strength.
“I also suspect, because of Mr. Pierson’s age, as he wasn’t very old in vampire terms, that whomever is creating these spells is powerful. It could be an entire coven of witches or even sorcerers. Which means getting in and out without being detected is ideal,” Hart continued.
“Was the coven Seiran took out part of this cult?” Sam asked. “Maybe they gave Matthew this power to use him against other witches?”
“Unknown. There are a lot of unanswered questions. How did they know to target him? Did they plant him to take on Rou? How would they have known that Rou would be powerful? Rou was a child when Pierson approached. Pierson hunted other vampires for years before resurfacing. No one knows why. Not even you, Sam, and you helped him. And we still don’t know who Pierson’s sire was.”
“I thought it was Roman,” Sam said.
Hart shook his head. “The researchers dug as deep as they could. They changed Pierson on or around the car crash in which everyone thought he had died. Roman wasn’t even on this continent when it happened. We have our team crawling through Matthew’s family history, and there are glimpses of witches here and there, but none with much power. Most are dead. An unrestrained new vampire always destroys the mortal ties that once bound it.”
“I didn’t,” Sam said.
“You’re not exactly normal, babe,” Luca said. “Plus, even as messed up as he was, you had Santini. His power has never been something to sneeze at, even hidden as he was.”
“True,” Sam growled, not happy with the reminder.
“If they planned this long term, that means they have a seer,” Luca said. “Someone discovered the relationship Pierson had with Rou and thought of taking advantage of it. Or more detailed, they knew what Rou would become and put a boulder in his path hoping to damage him, control him, or completely reroute fate.”
Con stilled at that idea. Seers were one of those things that everyone denied existed. A person who could see the future would have been a crazy powerful tool for anyone to have control of. Would they have seen Kat’s death and done it all, anyway? How far back did this go?
“We are all pawns of fate,” Con said quietly. His heart aching for a minute at the idea that some regular living person had seen his sister being abused, controlled, and finally killed by the very organization that should have protected her. She’d been little more than a kid, much as he had been. Looking for love, anyone to love her. Life in a Dominion family was always toxic. And they, pawns in someone else’s game.
It made him angry. He stared at that urn, wanting to smash it and ground whatever was inside under his feet. How many lives had to be manipulated and destroyed for all of this to happen?
Bella squeezed his hand. He looked down at her, an edge of tears blurring his vision that he wouldn’t let fall, her little fingers wrapped in his. Just a kid and they had sold her, forcing her to do terrible things, and it was all fate? Or a game? He hated everything in that moment and had a powerful urge to cut like he hadn’t had in over a decade.
Usually when that burning began, he got another tattoo or piercing and it eased. The pain was temporary, sometimes a singing siren of desire to be free, even when it was sharp or burning. But even those he hadn’t experienced in a while. Was it the panic tearing him up? The thought of facing the demon of Sam’s past? Or that this little girl had it worse than he had and he still couldn’t save her?
“More answers we don’t have. Go home,” Hart said finally. “Get some rest. I’ll have files gathered and sent. It will probably take you a few days to go over all the information. Once you work up a plan, we’ll get you moving toward the retrieval. There will be plenty of time later to find the book.”
“What about Bella?” Con asked. Her grip on his hand tightened.
“I need to stay with Con,” Bella said, startling him. He looked down at her with wide eyes.
“What?”
“Kat said so. She said you’d take care of me.”
Con felt like he’d been hit in the chest again.
“You see his sister?” Luca asked.
“She stayed with me a while,” Bella said. “Told me stories.”
“But she’s not here now?” Sam asked. He looked around the room. “I’m not seeing ghosts.”
“I don’t believe this is a power you can borrow,” Hart said. “Much as you can’t borrow Constantine’s double shift. Perhaps if he were your Focus, you’d have broader access to his power. But you haven’t been able to borrow Page’s summoning power either.”
Sam frowned at Page. “Sorry. Ripping souls out of people doesn’t sound fun. Not really a power I want.”
Page nodded. “Me neither. If I could give it away, I would.”
“I borrowed from Santini,” Sam said. “Can still raise zombies.”
Con gaped. “What?”