Page 55 of Vampire United

“Alec’s gone.”

That brings Caleb to his feet, thinking he’s been double-crossed. “What? Where did he—” But where Alec had been standing, a large stake rests. “Is that it?”

“The weapon?” Cora asks.

Caleb nods. “Is that the thing we’ve been hunting this whole time?”

Cora crosses her arms and dons a stony expression. “It must be.”

He glances down at Maddy and then back at the weapon. The plain metal stake isn’t at all what he expected. It’s about twenty-four inches long and as plain as something a grandparent might use in their garden. This? This is the weapon they’d been hunting?

But there it is…

The weapon they needed to stop Orion from destroying everything Caleb loves.

Time to take this fight to the Faerie world.

Chapter21

Madeleine

Alec’s standing in the hallway as they emerge from the reading room. “I’ve used the book and opened the portal in one of the other reading rooms, and you’ll both be able to go through this time.”

Maddy shakes her head, and the movement has her dizzy again, making her stomach roll. She squints at Alec. “That’s not true. I couldn’t go last time.”

Alec raises an eyebrow. “Oh. Is that so?”

She puts her hand to her chest and shows her teeth. “Where have you been? I’m a vampire. Fae magic will attack me.”

Alec’s shrug infuriates Maddy, but she still doesn’t feel great after the poison, and she’s not sure how to respond.

He points to her. “If you go now, it’ll hurt less, and you’ll actually be able to get through.”

Caleb studies the stake, the dark metal almost seeming to absorb the light. “She’s going to get better before we go. She’s not one-hundred-percent yet. There’s no way.”

Alec sniffs. “You don’t have time to wait.”

“Of course, there’s time,” Caleb counters. “An hour, two, maybe five. What’s it to you?”

“If you go now, Spider’s venom will leave a residual Fae magic inside you. Since it was throughout your body, and you’re not completely recovered from it, it’ll hide your vampire cells from the Fae magic. It might pinch a little when you go through, but you’ll be fine.”

Maddy scowls, and she grasps the wall to keep from swaying. “How can you be so sure?”

Alec seems disinterested, as though none of it is his concern. “Spider was Fae. His magic and his venom are Fae. It filled every inch of your veins, and your veins haven’t yet had time to refill with vampire blood, have they?”

“No,” she says, drawing out the word, not making the connection.

“The residual will mask the vampire in you. Go now or don’t go at all.”

Caleb lowers the stake. “Are you serious? You want her to go now?”

“Up to you. I’m not the foolish mortal.” Alec shrugs and marches out of Veritas without another word, disappearing as quickly as he showed up.

“Is he always like that?” Maddy mutters. “He’s not nice at all.”

Caleb lays his hand on her forearm. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine.”