Midnight Marked (Chicagoland Vampires 12)

“Control,” Scott repeated, incredulous.

“Control,” Ethan confirmed. “They’ve manipulated a shifter and, as of earlier tonight, several trolls. They’re dead,” he said, and glanced at Gabriel. “Your shifter?”

Gabriel just shook his head. “No sign of him.”

“So he could still be under Reed’s control,” Ethan said.

“What’s his long game here?” Scott asked. “He can’t have imagined this would work out well—that people wouldn’t notice what he was doing.”

“I believe Reed expected we’d take much, much longer to figure out what he’s doing. We literally stumbled onto the Wrigleyville symbols.”

Mallory nodded. “If we hadn’t figured out the what and where of the magic, he’d be doing all this right now, only without police surrounding the building. We’d fall to his control, and he would have a supernatural army, and we would be none the wiser. And with that magical army, with that power, humans would be hard-pressed to argue with him.”

Ethan paused to let that sink in.

“If the QE is kindled, we’re all at risk,” he said. “The House is warded. All supernaturals are invited to shelter here. Mallory will have wearable countermagics for anyone on the go team.”

“How, exactly, does the magic work?” Morgan asked, leaning forward and linking his hands on the table. “And how can we use it against them?”

Ethan nodded at Mallory, who stepped forward. “The alchemy utilizes, combines, the sorcerer’s magic and the vampire’s magic. That’s where the control arises.”

“So we can just take out one of them?” Morgan asked.

Mallory shook her head. “It’s not that simple, unfortunately. Their magic gives effect to the QE, yes. But once the QE is on, it’s on. Taking them out won’t affect anything; that’s part of the fail-safe they’ve built into the alchemy. Ditto erasing the symbols,” she said, glancing at Paige, who nodded. “The only way out is backward. We have to use a countermagic—literally reverse the magic to remove its effect.”

“And you can do that?” Scott asked.

“We can,” Mallory said, looking at Catcher with adoration and pride. “They’ve got a vampire and a sorcerer. We’ve got three sorcerers. I say we win.”

I couldn’t help smiling despite the circumstances.

“Where do you need to be?” Ethan asked.

“On the ground.”

Catcher nodded, gestured to Jeff, and the picture switched to the street view, and a shot of the Loop I’d never seen before—almost completely devoid of people.

“The CPD’s cordoned off a two-block radius around the construction site,” Catcher said. “Chuck and Arthur Jacobs are coordinating from the ground.”

“I want to be here,” Mallory said, pointing to the plaza in front of the building. “I think this is the best place to set the countermagic—draw the reverse QBE. And then we’ll kindle the magic, begin to reverse theirs.”

“You’ll be in full view of the public,” Malik said quietly. “If they see you do this, they’ll know what you are, and what you can do.”

The public knew a lot about supernaturals. But they hadn’t yet learned about sorcerers.

Mallory looked at Catcher, squeezed his hand, then looked back at Malik. “We know. On the one hand, it can’t be helped. And on the other hand, it’s about damn time.”

“And their magic?” Scott asked. “What’s their HQ?”

Luc switched the image to photographs of the building’s current “roof.” It was a square of concrete, one of the building’s previous upper floors, surrounded by the steel framework that remained around it. The photos showed several figures moving around a large black structure that was partially hidden by a cloth. Probably a drop cloth to keep it covered until they were ready to go.

“It’s the sixty-eighth floor,” Catcher said, stepping forward. “They’ve got two construction elevators that go all the way to the top. The CPD confirmed by drone that there are six figures on the floor, but they shot it down before they could confirm their identities.”

“It’s most likely Reed, Logan, the sorcerer, and supernaturals to keep them safe,” Ethan said.

“And possibly Sorcha,” I said. “She’s always at his side.”

Ethan glanced at me. “You think he’d bring her into this?”