Page 103 of Vampire So Vengeful

“But you’ve done the spell. Now all we have to do is figure out the direction issue.”

“How do we do that?”

“I’ve no idea,” Eve said, somehow managing to make it sound like a positive. “But don’t you see?The Circle must be bound to the Cardinal set aright.It’s in the immobilization spell too. This is exactly what we needed to know where we’re going wrong. Now all we need to do is figure out how to get it right!”

“You’re a little energizer bunny. I wish I had half your enthusiasm.”

“I can go all night long, babe.” Eve waggled her eyebrows at her, then grew serious. “All right. Let’s try aligning the candles more carefully to the compass points, and give it another go. Which way is north in this house?”

*

“Still off by about ten degrees,” Eve said, and Cally lowered her hand.

“Damn it. Every single time.”

“I don’t get it,” Eve said, scratching the back of her head. “We’re absolutely certain those candles are aligned, right?”

“Short of using a compass.”

Eve sighed. “Let me have a think about it. I think we should prepare the immobilization spell, so at least it’s ready.”

“Yeah, but unless I’m standing on top of Nico Aldobrandini, being off by ten degrees means it’s going to miss.”

“Fine. You start learning that incantation, I’ll go see if Marcel has a compass.”

“Actually, there’s an app on my phone—if I knew where it was,” Cally added pointedly, stretching her stiff legs as she rose and went for the tome.

“Good point.” Eve pulled out hers and swiped for the app. “But they’re not that accurate, are they?”

“Worth a check?”

Eve already had her phone flat, rotating it around while she watched the screen. “We’re off by maybe a couple of degrees. Not enough to account for your error. We need accuracy here; I’m going to go and bug Marcel.”

“Find my phone before you go, please? I need it for the phonetics.”

Eve retrieved it from behind a cushion, then handed it to her with a wink and headed for the door.

Cally turned to the immobilization spell with determination. It was more complex than the finding spell Eve had chosen for her to practice, but the similarities were clear. It made sense that both had a requirement for location, but she wondered how accurately she would need to know where the vampire was. Something to discuss with Darian.

She felt a thrill of anticipation. In only two days, she’d be casting this spell. If it went well, they’d kill the vampire responsible for the death of her mother.

No. Not merely ‘kill’. Execute.

It wasn’t revenge, it was justice, when no other form was possible.

Cally didn’t care if that was merely a convenient excuse. The vampire didn’t deserve to live. It wasn’t just her mother; it preyed on humans, killing indiscriminately.

So does Gabe. So does Antoine.

Whatever she’d said to Eve before, there was a hypocrisy here, one that made her uncomfortable.

How could she reason that one vampire was good, and another was not?

Slippery moral grounds.

But Antoine wasn’t a monster, he was a victim. And she was living proof he didn’t kill. Whereas Gabe… well, she owed Gabe for her life, and for Antoine’s.

Could vampires be good?