He replies right away, and I watch the screen as the little dots appear to let me know he’s typing.
Easton: Mel and I are good and things seem normal here in the city.
Me: Good.
Easton: Have you watched the news recently?
Great, now what?
Me: No, do I want to?
Easton: Three bodies were found strung upside down from trees in Sedona, AZ with their throats slit and bodies drained of blood.
“Shit,” I grumble.
“What is it?” Lucas asks.
“Bodies were found,” I start, looking away from the phone. “In Sedona.”
“Am I missing the significance of that?”
I nod. “A Ley line runs through Sedona. It would be nothing, but when bodies are strung up from trees with all their blood drained, it’s usually something dark, demonic, or both if we’re really lucky.”
Lucas gets my computer off the dresser and opens Google to search for the news article. “There’s not much more information here, as expected. I hate asking, but does Easton have any connections to the police out there?”
“I don’t know. I’ll ask him.”
Me: Are you able to get any more info?
Easton: Melinda is going to call around. We had some friends out there we’ll try reaching out to.
Had. I know a lot of their old hunter friends stopped associating with them after Easton refused to shoot both Lucas and me. He was accused of “going soft” and got called out for letting a vampire live. It made him the better hunter in my mind, able to make his own conclusions about who’s really a monster or not.
There are plenty of humans who have done worse than vampires in a shorter amount of time.
Me: Thanks. I’ll see if I can get anything on my end too.
Easton: Sounds good. And same here.
“I don’t know exactly where the Ley line runs through Sedona,” I tell Lucas, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “Ruby might know. Ley lines are covered in introductory magic.”
I tuck my messy hair behind my ear and pick up my sweater from yesterday, which was discarded on the floor next to the bed. I pull it on and go to my dresser, grabbing a random pair of pajama pants from the bottom drawer. They’re gray with little black cats printed all over. I got them from some random gothic website that showed up as an Instagram ad, back in the days when I’d go to bed with a large glass of wine, mindlessly scrolling through social media and doing too much online shopping.
Lucas and I go into the library, where I keep my small collection of books about witchcraft, including my Book of Shadows, which is displayed on a stand near the window. There’s a protective circle cast around it, and another drawn with chalk on the hardwood floor, covered by a circular rug.
“I have like a page on Ley lines in here,” I tell Lucas. “It won’t give much information, but maybe I can narrow things down.”
“I’ll check it,” he tells me. “Send Ruby the note.”
Nodding, I go to a large wooden desk in the center of the library. The whole room is glorious, if you ask me. I didn’t want the shelves restored any more than necessary, which gives the library the look—and smell—of its original state. Lucas goes to the book, flipping through pages with vampire speed, making me cringe just a bit that he’s going to go too fast and might rip a page.
Sinking down into the desk chair, I open one of the drawers and pull out a notebook and a pen
Hey Ruby,
Bodies were found in Sedona, and given the shit going on, I want to make sure it wasn’t over a Ley line because then we could all be fucked. (I’m not familiar enough with exactly where the lines run.)
Thanks,
Callie
Not the most eloquently worded letter, but it gets the job done. I go to the fireplace, using magic to send the letter to Ruby’s office. She’s probably teaching a class right now and won’t see it for a while. I have no idea if she goes into her office between classes or what her schedule is like today.
“It doesn’t specify in here.” Lucas closes the book.
“I didn’t think so. I should get some books from the Academy and make my own entry, you know, whenever I have time.”
“This week,” Lucas tells me. “Do it this week.”
I get what he’s implying, and I don’t disagree. We’ve been trying hard to take it easy, to put the demon hunting on the backburner until Elena is born. “Okay,” I tell him with a smile. “I will, and taking the rest of the week off sounds really nice.” I close my eyes as I exhale. “I want a quiet day, that’s for sure, but I also can’t sit idly by. We know the demons are planning something, and whoever is going to try and take over is going to do something really drastic. I don’t want Elena born into a world filled with demons and darkness.”