“Were anyone else’s drinks tainted?” Tasha asked.
“No—no to both questions.” Melanie frowned very hard, then touched her temples as if she’d gotten a terrible headache. “But I can feel something else. Something big. It’s been growing in the last couple of minutes.”
“What?” I asked. My skin also prickled now with something that didn’t feel remotely natural. I shot Thierry a wary look. “Can you feel that, too?”
He nodded. “What is it?”
Melanie gasped. “Get out of here right now while you still can. It’s coming.”
“What’s coming?” I asked, my chest tightening.
When she looked directly at me her eyes had gone a stark glowing white.
I stopped breathing. “She’s been possessed!”
“By what?” Veronique demanded.
I shot her a look through my rising panic. “The correct response to ‘she’s been possessed’ should always be ‘let’s get out of here.’”
Veronique nodded. “A point well made.”
Atticus was at the door first, pulling at the handle. “It’s locked.”
Anxiety clawed at my chest like a vicious hell-kitten. “Unlock it!”
Thomas raced over and began fiddling with the door, yanking on the handle as well. “He’s right. It’s locked, and I can’t unlock it.”
“Break a window,” Veronique suggested. Even her voice now held strain.
Sebastien grabbed a heavy metal sculpture from the bottom of the staircase and without hesitation, hurled it at the large, curtained window to the left of the door.
It pinged back without causing even a single crack to appear.
Everyone in the foyer slowly turned to look at Melanie, who had moved up several steps on the staircase so she could look down at us over the ornate gold railing.
“That’s correct. You’re all trapped here until dawn.” Her eyes continued to glow that eerie bright white. “And don’t bother looking for an escape. There is none.”
Chapter 8
Yes, the werewolf was definitely possessed. Apart from the glowing white eyeballs, she held herself oddly, her shoulders were stiff, her expression creepily calm. I’d witnessed both demonic and ghostly possessions before, but something about this felt different.
Different wasn’t necessarily good—especially when it came with an announcement like that.
Thierry was the first to step forward, his fists clenched at his sides, while the others just gaped at the possessed girl on the stairs. “Who are you? And what do you want with us?”
Her white eyes tracked to him. “What question do you want answered first, vampire?”
“Who are you?”
She raised those bright eyes upward as if searching for the answer on the high ceiling of the foyer. “I am a warning. I am a word of caution. I am a moment of direction in the darkness that stretches before you.”
Was she a fortune cookie, too? She sure sounded like one.
“Are you a ghost or a demon?” I asked.
“Neither.”
“Are you the djinn from the Jacquerra Amulet?” Atticus asked.
“No. I am an echo of the coven of witches who imprisoned this djinn. We have been summoned here due to the amulet and what is contained within it.”
“Which means what?” Thierry had drawn close enough to touch me, but he didn’t take his attention away from Melanie. “The amulet’s missing. Someone stole it and has escaped with it.”
Melanie cocked her head as if considering his words. “Incorrect. The amulet is still in this location, hidden from sight. I am here because it has been damaged. Disrespected. Desecrated.”
Damaged? What was she talking about? “Who damaged it? And how?” I asked.
She swiveled to regard me directly. “By one who wished to manipulate its power beyond what is allowed.”
Huh? Definitely a fortune cookie. “Can you be a little less cryptic?”
She blinked slowly. “No.”
There were eleven of us here in the foyer, including her. Thomas the butler, Sebastien, Atticus, Thierry and me, Veronique and Jacob, Tasha, Anna and Frederic. All standing quietly and as still as statues. Everyone else had left before midnight.
Lucky them.
Sebastien scanned the group of us gathered at the stairway before he stepped forward. “The amulet looked fine when I last saw it.”
“The damage done is not visible to the untrained eye. But it was enough to summon this warning for you all.”
“This warning”—I spoke up, since many of the others had been stunned into veritable silence—“that comes with a supernatural lockdown until dawn.”
“Yes.”
The amulet had been taken and hidden. But why wouldn’t that person have just hightailed it out of here if they wanted to steal something like that? “Where is the amulet hidden?” I asked.
“Here. Somewhere.”
I glared at her with growing frustration. “Helpful, thanks. And we need to find it, like some sort of hide-and-seek game?”
“All magic that has escaped must be returned to the safety of the amulet by dawn.”
“How?”
“You must figure that out for yourself.”
I exchanged a look with Thierry. To see worry in his gray eyes did nothing to ease my mind that all of this would be easily handled.
“Is the person who hid it still among us?” Thierry asked.
“I do not know.”
“What do you know?” His voice turned sharp and impatient. “There must be some reason why you’re here. Some message you must relate other than what is already obvious to us. We’re trapped here. Till dawn, you say. What happens at dawn if we’re unable to return the magic to the amulet if we don’t even know how to do this? Tell us something that might help us.”
“This location has been secured to protect what lies beyond,” she replied. “We must find a way to better contain the escaped magic.”
That wasn’t exactly an answer, but it sure wasn’t good news.
From the stunned looks on the others’ faces, I’d be willing to bet this was their very first possession. I didn’t think there was a suitable Hallmark card for that.
To me, information was the best way to stave off panic. Don’t get me wrong—I had plenty of panic, growing by the second. I’d honestly thought dealing with Atticus’s accusations and investigation, and then Sebastien’s claims and threats, was bad enough.
This wasn’t a fantastic third layer to this supernatural club sandwich.
“Escaped magic,” I repeated. “What does that mean? Are we in danger?”
“We will find a way to contain a portion of this magic before we leave. That may help you.” She said this as if discussing the weather. No tone, no emotion. Just flat words.
“What happens if we don’t restore the amulet by dawn?” Thierry asked.
An excellent question.
Melanie regarded him for a moment in silence. “When the sun rises, if the amulet has not been restored, all the magic will have escaped from it. The mortal world will be at risk. The amulet will be destroyed and this location will cease to exist.”
Anna let out a squeak of fear and clutched at her husband’s arm.
“Cease to exist,” I said slowly, trying to wrap my head around her casual announcement. “You mean, we’ll cease to exist, too.”
“Yes.”
The single word clutched my heart and squeezed. “Then I guess we’d better find it and restore it.”
Jacob had been silent until now, his eyes so wide they looked like they’d pop right out of his head. He clutched Veronique’s book to his chest as if it was a shield. “Don’t listen to this thing,” he snarled. “It’s a demon—a demon sent from Hell to devour us all!”
“Darling . . .” V
eronique touched his arm. “Calm yourself.”
He flinched away from her. “Calm myself? Just the opposite. I need to protect myself from this beast!”
With that, he hurled Veronique’s heavy memoir right at the possessed werewolf’s head.
He had an excellent arm and perfect aim.
However, the book froze three feet from her face, suspended in the air. She regarded it with interest.
“What is this?” The cover fell open and the pages flipped forward. “Oh, yes, very good.”
“Why, thank you.” Veronique smiled up at her. “I’m quite happy with how it turned out. If you’d like a signed copy, I’d be happy to provide one.”
“We can use this to contain some of the magic. It will help, although not nearly enough.”
The book flipped to the last page and closed. Then it exploded in a burst of bright white light that made me wince and shield my eyes.
Veronique blinked with dismay at the spot where her book had hovered before it had been destroyed. Had that been the equivalent of a bad review?
“We, the coven’s echo, will not return,” the possessed Melanie said. “For it will be too late. At dawn, the outcome will either be positive or negative. Either way, the mortal world will be safe from harm. The only lives at risk are your own.”
My stomach lurched and I grabbed Thierry’s arm.
“What now?” I mouthed to him.
His gaze moved to Sebastien, who stepped forward, his face pale. “Wait! It’s my fault the Jacquerra Amulet was here in the first place. I should have kept it under lock and key. I will stay and search for it, but let the others leave.”
This guy was full of surprises. One moment he was Mr. Vengeance, the next he was selfless and self-sacrificing. Which was the real Sebastien Lavelle?
Melanie regarded him and shook her head. “It is too late for that now. It is after midnight and you are already wasting precious time. We suggest you use that time. Find the amulet. Restore it to its full power by returning to it all of its magic.”
“How do we do that?” I asked.
“You will need to figure that out without our help. Farewell to you all.”
“But wait—” I began, confused and frustrated, but it was too late.
Without another word, she closed her eyes, let out a sharp gasp, and fell forward. She would have fallen down the stairs, but Thomas was there to catch her.
“Are you all right?” he asked her.
Melanie smiled up at him. “What happened?”
“Nothing good, I’m afraid.”
He was right about that. Everyone was silent for several long, uncomfortable moments.
“If whoever hid the amulet wants to step forward and admit it so we can fix this mess right now,” I said when no one else spoke first, “that would really help. No judgment.”
Atticus glared at each in the group turn. “No judgment other than that I will kill the guilty party where they stand for this inconvenience.”
I shot him a withering look. “No, you won’t. Can we all agree that if someone wants to admit what they’ve done, we’re fine with it? Just speak up and tell us where you hid the amulet and all is forgiven. Whatever it takes to keep this from getting worse.”
“Worse than this?” Anna said, her voice pinched.
“Actually, yes. By the sound of it, dawn will be much worse. Or did you miss the part where she basically said this location will be destroyed along with everyone in it?”
Her black eyes flashed. “I didn’t miss it. I was standing right here.”
“I agree with Sarah’s plan,” Veronique said. “Speak up and we will forgive the thief.”
The others, including Atticus—but not including Jacob, who’d drawn back from us into a corner—mumbled their agreement, and we waited for someone to step forward and confess.
But, of course, nobody did.
That would have been way too easy. Besides, we had no confirmation that the guilty party was still among the eleven of us. They could have hightailed it out of here after the free champagne and hors d’oeuvres.
I could use another glass of that champagne right about now.
“Do you think my book was really destroyed?” Veronique asked glumly. “I don’t understand why she would do that.”
“The book is real,” Jacob mumbled. “My God, the book is a real memoir.”
“We’re trapped here all night.” Anna watched him, twisting a pale finger nervously through her long black hair. “I haven’t fed today. I’ll need blood before dawn.”
“Unfortunately,” Sebastien said, “the only blood I had on hand was bespelled and it’s all been used.”
Again, my desire to punch Sebastien in the nose returned in full force. He’d been all selfless a minute ago while bargaining for our escape, but now he was back to sounding like a jerk.
Anna hadn’t taken her attention off Jacob. “It’s fine. Luckily, we have a perfect food source among us.”
Jacob’s eyes widened further. “Do not look at me like that, creature of darkness.”
She shrugged and her lips peeled back from her sharp fangs, her previous fear vanishing. “You’re the lone human among us. How else should I look at you? Human blood has always my preference.”
“Close your mouth, Anna.” Frederic sounded disgusted with her. “You’re scaring him.”
She didn’t close her mouth. I could have sworn that, if anything, her fangs got sharper and longer. “Any human surrounded by nine vampires who isn’t scared would be a damn fool.”
Jacob pressed back against the wall and let out a whimper. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“She will not come near you, I promise.” Veronique went to stand near him, but he scrambled to get away from her.
“Don’t touch me, you monster,” he hissed. “None of you monsters dare touch me. Do you know who I am? I could buy and sell every one of you if I wanted to. You’re disgusting! Come near me and I’ll kill you!”
With that, he pushed past Veronique and ran up the stairs to the second-floor landing, quickly disappearing from sight.
I watched him flee. “Seems like a perfectly reasonable reaction to me.”
Veronique sighed. “I should go after him and make him see reason.”
Anna smiled broadly. “Or I should.”
Veronique turned to face her, her own smile in place. “Darling, if you touch one hair on that human’s head I will personally rip out your fangs and make pretty earrings from them. Do you understand me?”
Anna’s smile disappeared. “Bitch.”
“Yes. And please don’t forget it.” She glanced at the rest of us. “If you’ll excuse me.”
With that, she headed up the stairs to follow after her panicked, but no longer ignorant, human boyfriend.
Had to admit, I was more than a little impressed by how intimidating she could be when she wanted.
“We must start searching for the amulet,” Thierry said with a glance at Sebastien. “Agreed?”
Sebastien nodded. “Let’s get started.”
I remembered something from earlier. “I felt the magic from the amulet when it was four feet away from me. Did anyone else?”
“I did,” Thierry said.
“Not me.” Frederic’s words were tight and unhappy.
After a quick check, it seemed that only Thierry, Melanie, and I had sensed the magic. Since we were the ones who already had a few extrasensory chips in the cookie dough, I wasn’t too surprised about that. But that meant that along with hide-and-seek, we could play hot potato, cold potato and maybe be able to sense the amulet before we saw it.
That could help.
“We should separate into groups.” Atticus paced back and forth between the stairway and the locked front door. “We’ll keep the search organized and structured.”
&n
bsp; “No,” Frederic said with a sneer. “You do your thing; I’ll do mine. I don’t take orders from anyone associated with the council, especially not its current leader.”
Atticus sighed with annoyance. “These aren’t orders. They are firm suggestions.”
“Anna, let’s go.” Frederic nodded to her. “We’ll find the amulet ourselves without the help of these people.”
“Fine.” But she didn’t sound excited to spend time with a husband she’d been publicly squabbling with a very short time ago.
The two headed down the hallway, back toward the parlor.
“There are six hours before dawn,” Thierry said, crossing his arms over his chest. The strain on his face probably wasn’t only because of the missing amulet. He was thirsty and trying very hard to deal with that. “Whether we search individually or in pairs, we should reconvene here in three hours and assess our progress.”
I couldn’t help but be impressed. Even while dealing with a bloodlust spell, Thierry was the epitome of organization.
“Agreed,” Sebastien said. “Everyone, please be careful.”
Before I could celebrate the fact that Sebastien had agreed with a plan made by the man he claimed to despise and wanted to destroy, he turned and disappeared down another hallway.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Thierry was already walking away from me in the opposite direction, his steps swift. Without a second thought, I followed him, leaving Melanie, Thomas, Atticus, and Tasha behind me.
“Where are you going?” I asked him.
He didn’t turn. “The library.” Finally, he glanced over his shoulder. “And you shouldn’t come with me.”
I’d had a funny feeling he’d say something like that. “And yet, here I am.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you sometimes make extremely unwise decisions.”
Well, that was a rather nice way of saying it.
I followed him into the library, where we’d been earlier, fighting the urge to touch my tender neck. “I’m officially keeping an eye on you, but I promise not to get too close.”
His jaw was tense as he scanned the shelves of books. “Your decision. I know how futile it is to argue with you.”