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Reaching into my pouch, I pulled out another coin. This barrier was subtly different, more solid than the others. Barden had taught me there were differences in the nature of how barriers could be formed, and in using the right spell, the right technique, I could create different outcomes. In the case of what Ariel wanted from me, the way she wanted me to use my barrier, I understood they hoped I would be able to conceal any conversation we might have from the other shifters.

  I dropped the coin, pushing up the barrier. In doing so, it solidified around us. It added a third layer, another which would be difficult for the shifters to work around, and when it was up, I noticed Ariel watching me. There was a hint of amusement in her eyes.

  “Not quite a mage, is she?” Ariel said.

  “She is as powerful as any mage,” he said.

  “I don’t recall seeing too many mages need to use runes in order to hold something as simple as a barrier.”

  “And I don’t know that you would have seen too many mages who would be able to withstand crossing the Veil and surviving an Ethear.” He smiled dangerously, watching Ariel.

  Ariel turned to me, focusing on me with a new intensity. There was something appraising in her gaze, and she held her focus on me. Now she was within the barrier around us, I could feel her energy, the way she used her magic, far more intensely. That magic was being worked on me, her way of trying to probe and understand more about me. I could feel the way she was sending it rolling toward me, but the first barrier I’d placed remained in effect, and it was able to withstand anything she might do.

  “They are little more than a rumor.”

  “They’re not a rumor,” I said.

  It was time for me to be the one to speak up. I needed to be done having Jean-Pierre speak on my behalf, and I had to show a certain level of strength here. Weakness was not tolerated within the shifters. It was difficult for me. I didn’t feel as if I fitted in the magical world, and yet I had done enough to prove myself.

  “Is that true?” Ariel grinned at me. It was a dangerous and wolfish expression. I could almost imagine her flashing fangs at me the same way Jean-Pierre did when he smiled dangerously at me.

  “Why am I here?” I glanced from Jean-Pierre to Ariel.

  There was a reason he’d called me here, and it was more than just to prove I had a way of triggering the spells, or that I could detect the shifters.

  “She’s feisty,” Ariel said, staring at Jean-Pierre. She was less concerned about me than she was about the vampire. Shifters and the vampires didn’t get along, but Jean-Pierre had made no attempt to attack, and I wasn’t even sure if he would be able to attack one of the shifters. He might be fast and dangerous, but I doubted he would be strong enough to overpower someone with the magical energy I detected from Ariel.

  “There are those within the organization who are plotting their next step,” Ariel said.

  “Which is why we need to find them.”

  “We’ve been looking. After you warned us of their techniques, we recognized the danger to us.”

  That was what this is about? They were trying to use her to help them find the members of the organization? We needed to find John Adams. Now he had failed with his first goal, of raising his daughter and resurrecting her from the dead, I didn’t know what else he might do. The other side of the Veil was dangerous to us, and the more we exposed ourselves to it, the more dangerous it would be.

  “I believe Dr. Stone should be able to help us.”

  “And why is that?” Ariel asked.

  “Because Dr. Stone is responsible for allowing John Adams to escape.”

  That was what this was about? Turning to Ariel, I said, “I didn’t allow him to escape. He escaped and we returned from the other side of the Veil. There wasn’t anything I was going be able to do to prevent it.”

  “John Adams was on the other side of the Veil?”

  Jean-Pierre smiled. “He was with Dr. Stone when she helped rescue Dr. Michaels.”

  Ariel turned toward me, and power built from her again, blasting toward my barrier. I dropped another coin, sending another barrier up around me, this time only around myself. I didn’t know what she was going to do to me, but I wasn’t about to allow a shifter to send her magic rolling over me, regardless of what magic it might be and how she might use it. I knew she and Kate were close, and they had formed a friendship, but I didn’t think I could trust her well enough to not hurt me.

  “I’m going to ask you to stop doing that,” I said.

  Power continued to build from Ariel. The other shifters around us circled, and I looked over to Jean-Pierre. “Is this what you planned on?”

  “Ariel?” he said.

  “If she knows how to find him, then we will have that information.”

  “I told you I don’t – “

  Something attacked me from the side. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but then I saw a shifter slamming into my first barrier. It was the solidified one designed to prevent them from listening in. As they slammed into the barrier, I staggered, nearly falling over. I struggled to hold onto it, and then scooped my hand into my pouch for more coins. What was the point of all of this?

  “We agreed to come for the meeting,” Jean-Pierre said.

  “And this is not the meeting.”

  “You would attack an elder?”

  “I would do what’s necessary to protect my pack.”

  Power radiated from Ariel, and as it washed away from her, slamming into my barrier, I struggled to maintain it, fighting to keep it fortified. The longer I did, the harder it was for me to hold onto it. Eventually, it would crash. When it did, the shifters would grab me. If they were after John Adams, I had little doubt they would use me to find him. There wasn’t anything I was going to be able to do to withstand them.

  Which meant I didn’t have any choice. I flicked a coin, and it worked its way through the barrier, where it struck Ariel. She stared at it, and then I triggered it.

  Power exploded. I knew the nature of the paralytic could be challenging, but I didn’t know if it would even hold on a shifter. If she had enough of an ability to heal herself quickly, she might be able to work her way beyond that kind of spell.

  When it struck, she went rigid, and then she shifted into wolf form.

  Bumblefuck.

  I had to find another option. I took out a fistful of spells, sorting through them as I sent them one at a time toward her, and tried to ignore the way she was lunging at my barrier.

  The next spell I used was another paralytic, thinking that I could trap her in wolf form. If I did, she couldn’t shift. Didn’t Kate tell me something about shifting healing them? I tried to think about the shifter she’d rescued from the hospital, and the way he’d been injured, and what she had needed to do in order to help him. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.

  I focused, sending power through the coin, and triggered another paralytic. Following that, I used a sleeper, thinking I could combine the effect. But when each one struck, they had no effect on Ariel. If my spells were going to work on her, then there had to be a way just to hold her.

  I sent another coin to her, and she snapped at it. As she did, I triggered it, holding a barrier around her. She lunged at that barrier.

  “I’d like to go,” I said to Jean-Pierre.

  “This is not what I was expecting.” His words were clipped and his voice tight. There came a surge of fear – this time definitely from him.

  “Obviously you thought sharing with them that I knew John Adams would be helpful, but it seems they have their own experience with him.”

  “That’s what it seems,” he said.

  “Can we go?”

  “I don’t know it will be safe to do so. The moment you release your barrier, we will be set upon by the shifters.”

  I glanced at my palm. I had about a dozen more barrier coins, and I could use them in sequence.

  “Let’s just move. I will hold it as long as I can.”

  Jean-Pierre studied me, w
atching me as we went, making our way toward the car. With each coin I dropped, the barrier shifted. They were overlapping enough so we were still within two barriers at all times, but we weren’t able to take more than a step at a time. I could feel it when the spell that was holding onto Ariel exploded. As it did, I went staggering forward. I dropped to my hands and knees, and without thinking, I burst power outward from me, exploding all the coins in my hand all around us.

  It sent a surge of energy radiating around us. The barrier formed, but I had triggered all of the barrier coins I’d brought with me.

  I looked up, meeting Jean-Pierre’s eyes, and shook my head. “Well. It seems I made a bit of a mistake.”

  Power slammed into my barrier again, and it was a continuous assault. We were still several paces from the car, far enough away I wasn’t sure I was even going to be able to reach it. But if we didn’t, we would be overwhelmed by the shifters.

  4

  Everything within me trembled. I reached for another couple of spell coins, but I had used all of the barriers I’d brought with me. I should have grabbed more, and in the time since we had crossed the Veil, I’d held onto enough of my coins, knowing there was a possibility I might need to have more protections than I typically carried. Barden had helped me create dozens upon dozens of coins. In my spare time, I created as many coins as I could, thinking that if I had them, I wouldn’t be caught unaware.

  The only problem was I needed to have them with me.

  “Get your feet, Dr. Stone,” Jean-Pierre said.

  I dusted my hands off on my pants, looking around. It was difficult to make anything else out. For each of the spell coins I had triggered, as many barriers were around me. There was almost a sense of a translucency around us. I was able to withstand the attack for now, but only because there were so many barriers held. The moment they collapsed, we wouldn’t be able to escape. And worse, the moment they collapsed, even if we did manage to reach the car, we weren’t going to be able to get anywhere. We couldn’t outrun shifters.

  “It is unfortunate you don’t have any way of transporting,” he said.

  I frowned to myself. Didn’t I? Barden had been working with me on those spells, and though I hadn’t tried it before, I did have a couple of spell coins which might be able to help me transport. He had thought it might be beneficial for me to have the possibility to transport, to prepare for the possibility we might need to use it, knowing that members of the organization had used the same ability to transport using coins. And if it were possible, I wouldn’t be trapped here.

  I searched through the pouch, looking for something, when the first of the barriers collapsed. I glanced up, focusing. How many were out there? I had been holding onto a dozen different coins, and if there were a dozen layers to it, then it would take them time. But then, all that was dependent upon my ability to hold onto the barrier long enough for it to be effective. And distracted like this, my focus was shifted, and I wasn’t able to maintain the barriers.

  Another surge struck.

  A second barrier collapsed. I focused on it, thinking about what it might take to hold onto the barrier, to be prepared for the possibility of another one falling. I didn’t know exactly how many barriers I still had up, but it was enough for every attack on us to bounce off, rebounding from the shifters as they attacked.

  More and more power continued to build, and it slammed into me, and I ignored it. I sorted through the coins in my pouch, looking through them. There were dozens of different attack spells. Many of them were paralytic. They had been beneficial against the organization, but they hadn’t been the most effective. The organization had begun to understand what it took to overpower a paralytic, and so in the time we had started using it, they had uncovered a way of ignoring it.

  There were other spells. The sleeper was particularly effective, but the key was in finding something unique, something they hadn’t experienced before. That was why Barden worked with me. With his connection, he was able to help store different spells into the coins.

  Another of my barriers collapsed. I kept going through the coins. They were different enough I was able to sort them off to the side. I had to have the transport spell somewhere! I wished I had better organization, but I had scooped up a handful of coins when we had left. I hadn’t even considered whether I would need a transport spell. If only Jean-Pierre had warned me we might face something like this.

  Then I found it. There was one. I gripped it tightly. We had only one shot at this, and the moment I used it, the moment I triggered it, would be the only opportunity we had.

  The only problem was that I had never used it before. Part of that was because Barden wasn’t sure whether it was safe for me to do so, and part of it was because I was a little nervous. It would take a different power, and there was a risk it might overcome my natural ability.

  I had to find enough strength, but I also had to know how to use it. It was different from using the other spell coins. With those, I had to focus on the target, and in doing so, I was able to direct to the nature of the magic. When it came to the transport coin, I suspected it involved me holding onto an image of where we wanted to go.

  I had no idea where I would take us. There weren’t so many places I could go which would be safe. I couldn’t take us to the condo. I wouldn’t be able to go directly inside. The protections around the condo were enough it would prevent that, so it meant I would have to go somewhere else. I didn’t want to end up appearing outside of someplace dangerous, so I would have to find another option.

  What would it take? Could we go to one of the vampire homes? Jean-Pierre would be able to offer us protection, though if I did that, it was a protection I wasn’t sure I could rely upon. I didn’t like the idea of counting on the vampires to keep me safe. If it came down to it, they might be able to help, but it was also possible they would use me the same way Jean-Pierre had. Right now, I didn’t think any vampires knew I was his familiar, but it wouldn’t take long for that secret to get out. When it did, what would they do? That was something I didn’t know.

  Jean-Pierre hadn’t taken on a familiar in a long time. How would the vampires react if they learned he had taken on a familiar who was a hedge mage? Would it diminish him in any way to the other vampires? I had no idea about the politics involved among the vampires, and I didn’t want to end up diminishing Jean-Pierre.

  There was another possibility. It was a little bit more dangerous, and it might end up with Barden getting angry with me, but he’d always told me if I needed anything I could go to him. But in going to him, I would be revealing his location to Jean-Pierre.

  Not that Jean-Pierre wouldn’t have any way of finding Barden on his own. With Barden’s natural protections, he likely was able to defend himself against anything Jean-Pierre might do.

  Taking a deep breath as another of the barriers collapsed, I looked over to Jean-Pierre. “We have one shot at this.”

  “You can transport us?”

  I nodded. “I can transport us, I think, but we only will have one shot at it.”

  “Then I would like to go to the Vangalor house – “

  I shook my head. “I’m not going to a vampire stronghold.”

  “As my familiar, you will be protected.”

  “I am sure of that, but what will they do to you?”

  “I am a vampire elder. They will do nothing to me.”

  “I’m not so certain. We’ve both seen your vampires aren’t always thrilled with the nature of command.” In the time I had been working with Jean-Pierre, I still didn’t know anything more about the hierarchy within the vampire world, though I did understand his position as elder wasn’t always secure. I didn’t know why that would be the case, though he was the oldest of the vampire elders, and there were younger ones who wanted a change in leadership. In order to change that, that meant they would have to overpower others on the council, and others who could take his place.

  I didn’t know what that would mean for Jean-Pierre
. I suspected he was one of the few who was reasonable about the expectations of the council, and he wanted to maintain the traditional role of the vampires. Some wanted to take on a greater role within the magical community. As far as I knew, they even wanted to unsettle the nature of the role of the vampires within the community. If they did, there was a possibility the vampires would openly battle with the shifters and the mages – and then the Veil would be in danger. If that happened, there was a real possibility that creatures on this side of the Veil might be able to more easily cross. Having seen it myself and experienced what was on the other side, I had no interest in experiencing anything coming across to our side.

  “Where would you have us go?”

  “I would have us go to – “

  Another of the barriers collapsed, and this one was close. I felt several layers still out there, and forced more energy through it.

  When I did, Jean-Pierre tensed. Was I borrowing power from him? I didn’t think I was, but then again, I was his vampire familiar. He claimed I would be given benefits – I hadn’t expected those benefits would come directly from him. Was I drawing from him the same way I drew from Barden when I was using the wand he had created? If so, why would he have allowed me to become his familiar if it would weaken him in some way?

  I forced more power out, watching Jean-Pierre as I did. But I couldn’t see any reaction. Maybe I’d been mistaken before.

  “We don’t have any more time,” I said.

  “I’m impressed you’ve been able to withstand them as long as you have.”

  “Well, I did happen to trigger about a dozen barrier spells on accident.”

  Jean-Pierre smiled at me.

  I turned toward the car. Now the barriers had begun to fade, the translucent haze diminished and I could make out the details of the car. I had placed a barrier around it with protection for the chauffeur, but would he still be safe? If he wasn’t, then my delaying made no sense. There was no point in holding out if there was no purpose for it.

  Power slammed into the remaining barriers around me. Now I could see the shifters. There were five of them, and all of them were circling me, though they didn’t circle me near the car. That was odd.