Page 45 of Transfiguration

Sam frowned, stopping before entering the office. “You think they mean to unravel Seiran’s control? Someone has a death wish for the entire world?”

“We have seen no caution from them, have we? Perhaps they only mean to keep us all occupied, searching for trouble elsewhere?” Hart waved at Sam. “Go home to your men, and prepare to move. Something big is coming.”

Bigger than a field full of corpses, the unraveling of the Dominion, the rise of Human’s First and this Kresnik group, and maybe a traitor in the Fellowship? Sam didn’t want to be a part of this madness.

He opened his phone, as he headed out, finding a text from Seiran first, and a link to a lot of their data from the first case. Seiran hesitated to hand it all over to the Fellowship and had been keeping things between the two of them. Mainly some things they’d found at the site of the cabin after the removal of all the corpses. Sam thumbed through a bunch of pages, images, and details laid out like a profiler’s dream because Seiran was more than a little OCD with his crime investigation stuff.

Maybe you could show this to Con? Get his opinion? Find out if he knows anything about these Kresnik people?

Seiran highlighted some facts of the case, including a mark that was branded into some corpses. Sam suspected most of the bodies were marked with the symbol but had been too badly damaged for the investigators to find them all. There were traces of the symbol at the site of the mass graves. Broken up, or carved out, like they had worked to hide it. Not a rune like Sam was familiar with Con’s runes, but a logo, maybe, or an elaborate spell. He wondered if it was some sort of call to action for this unknown group, and if it was tied to the witches, or had they been manipulated, too?

Sam flipped back to his texts, realizing Con had sent him a half dozen. The most recent were videos, the thumbnails showing very sexy times. He groaned at the idea of missing out on all of it, but knew if he headed home, he could play for a while. He didn’t turn on any of the videos. The last thing he needed at that moment was a boner.

He scrolled back to find the picture Con asked him about. Sam’s stomach flipped over. The drawn symbol Con had tried to replicate was the Kresnik symbol that Seiran and Sam had found branded into bodies and partially hidden at the mass grave sites.

WTF?He sent back in a flurried text, suddenly terrified.

These people had killed dozens of vampires and hundreds of witches. Was that who was gunning for Sam and his guys now? Not an ordinary witch coven with Dominion elitism on their mind, or even some human hate group, but an actual organization that hunted supernatural beings? If anyone was trying to end the world, it sounded like it would be that sort of person, bent on genocide.

Where did you see that symbol?He sent to Con a few seconds later. He forwarded the image to Seiran, his heart racing as he made his way back down to the garage. Sam took a Fellowship vehicle, not hiring a driver, but steering himself toward the memories of that place. He was scared he was the one these guys were after. He was a vampire and a witch, and worried about putting other drivers at risk, as he had a minefield full of questions that made him a thousand times pricklier.

Seiran sent back,Where is this from?

Con sent it to me.Sam replied.

The bunker where I found Bella.The reply came back from Con. Sam cursed. His head spiraling. This was bad. Why had they had Bella?

Is it the same?Sam sent to Seiran. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe his memory was off. Hundreds of bodies, pictures and endless evidence he’d been part of recording, but maybe his brain was piecing it together wrong.

Sam drove out to where the yellow tape was still up, cordoning off the area that had been a killing field. One of the three they’d found so far. How many more were there?

Looks like it.Seiran sent back.Has Con seen it before?

Sam got out of the car a half mile from the site and headed in, the field still rolling with power, the ley lines seeming to vanish into the symbol. He saw it. Seiran saw it. But something had been really strange about this area. Part the size of the damage and the runes carved to create it, part Seiran and Gabe’s power messing things up. Sam wondered if he shifted, would he see more? He’d tried it once and felt very disoriented while shifted. Much like he heard Seiran often describe. Called by his element, perhaps? But there was no fire here, and Sam only had one animal to shift to.

The trees surrounding the cabin, filling the woods, had all been marked with the symbol Con had sent. Many burned to hide the mark. But not all of them erased. Careless, or interrupted? Was that why the symbol ached with power? Sam believed Con would understand all of this more than Sam did. Con had been studying all of those secret tomes of dark and forbidden magic for years. Would he make better sense of the runes pulsing in the earth, tying the ley lines together, and causing an edge of madness to tug at Sam’s awareness?

What is it?Con asked.

Sam texted Seiran.Can you come to the site? I’m going to have Con come out and look at it.

How did he say he was freaking out without freaking everyone else out? Because he was totally freaking out. The pulse of power ached in his bones, and he turned, rushing back toward the road and away from the mess of magic. Was it strange that it felt vaguely familiar? But he couldn’t recall anytime he’d encountered anything like this. His heart raced as he texted Con back.

Kresnik.

We’re on the way. Seiran sent back.Con coming?

Sam hated the idea of pulling Con from Luca or putting Con in the middle of this at all. Was it a vampire problem? A witch problem? Or both?

What is Kresnik?Con asked.

Vampire hunters,Sam sent back, his heart racing.Vampire hunting witches. Fuck. Are you awake… Obviously you’re awake since you’re texting me… can you meet me somewhere? I need to show you something.

NINETEEN

WTF!Con’s phone pinged with the text a few seconds after he finished cleaning up and dropped himself into bed. “Love you,” murmured Luca sleepily.

“Sleep,” Con told him, running his fingers through Luca’s hair.