Midnight Marked (Chicagoland Vampires 12)

I nodded.

“You’re all right?”

I nodded. “I’ll do.”

He watched me for a long, silent moment. “I told you, when he killed Caleb, that I wanted him. I’d say you’ve got a claim, too.”

I nodded. I could admit I wanted my chance at the Rogue.

Our deal done, Gabe looked at Ethan again. “And we don’t know anything about the sorcerer?”

“He belongs to Reed,” Ethan began, “knows alchemy, and doesn’t like to be seen.”

“And apparently has the ability to control a shifter, to make him fight like a damn marionette.”

“Is Kane trustworthy?” Ethan asked.

Gabriel made a rough and ragged sound. “I wouldn’t have said no before tonight. But what kind of judge am I now?” He put his hands on his head, turned around, and looked back at the House. “We’ve wrought destruction here tonight.” He glanced back at Ethan. “But there may be worse coming. It was alchemy? What he saw?”

“The symbol the sorcerer drew could have been alchemical. But there’s nothing we’ve translated so far about controlling shifters.”

Ethan glanced at me for confirmation, and I nodded. “Nothing in the parts we’ve been able to translate. But we’re still missing some glyphs.”

“It may not just be shifters,” Gabriel said. “He’s not known to have any specific animus against us. We may have been the unlucky ones they’ve tested this on. The rollout may be larger.”

“But the purpose might be the same,” I said. “Not just controlling supernaturals, but using them to fight.” Just as they had with Farr.

“You’re talking about an army,” Gabe said. “A supernatural one.”

“We don’t know how long he’s had this in the works,” I said. “But he knows we’ve been watching him, and that he’s been connected to the Circle. He wants control of the city. Supposedly wants to bring order to it. More likely, he wants to unify his kingdoms. The Circle’s got plenty of guns and money. Supernaturals would make a fine army.”

Ethan glanced at Gabe. “At the risk of minimizing what he’s done to my House, if Kane’s retelling the story accurately, I don’t entirely blame him. This is as disturbing as it gets.”

“Yeah,” Gabe said. “For you, for us, for the city.” He glanced back at his shifters. “I’m not going to object to their arrest. A little prison time might knock some sense into them.”

Ethan nodded. “You, of course, still owe us.”

“Acknowledged,” Gabriel said, teeth gritted.

“You can start by arranging medical care for the human guards and preparing the House for dawn.” Ethan checked his watch. “We don’t have much time.”

“Then I’ll need to get on that, Your Highness.” Gabe’s tone was flat, and frustrated magic seemed to swim around him as he gestured for Fallon. “And I can now worry about the shifter I’m missing and the possibility a man with an unbridled ego has figured out some kind of charm to control us. Helluva goddamn night,” he said, then gestured toward the damage to the House. “Reed wants to hurt sups, or make us look bad in the press, he couldn’t have planned this better.”

“Who says he didn’t?” I said.

Ethan and Gabriel looked at me.

“I’m not saying he finagled getting your people to the bar, but the sorcerer and vampire were smart enough—and had authority enough—to take advantage of the situation they found themselves in. They play with the shifter, and then they turn the heat onto us. That keeps us from working on the alchemy, getting closer.”

“It’s a distinct possibility,” Ethan agreed with a nod.

Gabriel ran a hand through his tousled waves, which glinted gold under the House’s security lights. Even at night, even in darkness, Gabriel seemed touched by the sun.

“Actually,” Ethan said with resignation, “there is something that will make us slightly more even.” He pulled from his pocket Caleb Franklin’s key.

About damn time, I thought.

“What’s that?”