“What year were they assigned to Darwin?”
“My parents weren’t witches, but rather psychics. The hair and the little magic I possess come from my grandmother, who was the result of a brief dalliance with a blueblood. She was both unregistered and unvetted.”
“Which rather conveniently means there’s no way of checking your story other than checking your birth records and tracking down your family.”
“Good luck with the latter,” I said, with a very real edge of bitterness in my voice. “Because they want as little to do with me as I do with them.”
“Because of your magic?”
“Yes.” I didn’t bother hiding either my anger or the lingering hurt. It was
real, even if the rest of the story wasn’t. “Neither of them shared my grandmother’s attraction to witches or magic. They spent my growth years trying to smother the skill.”
“Which is a perfectly believable explanation for the free-spirited nature of your magic.”
And not one she actually did believe, if her expression was anything to go by.
“Why the third degree?” I asked bluntly. “In case it’s escaped your notice, that bastard has tried to kill me twice now. How about using your considerable power to track him down rather than trying to unravel my unremarkable past?”
“Fine,” she said, her expression hardening. “Why did you lie when Blume asked if you had any means of tracking the vampire?”
“It wasn’t a lie, because I’m not sure I can track him. All I have is a piece of jewelry he might have given Karen.” I shrugged again. “Whether he’s held it long enough to enable me to find him is debatable.”
“So why haven’t you made an attempt?”
“I was intending to tonight, but sadly the zombie quest and another attempt on my life sidetracked me.”
If she heard the sarcasm, she ignored it. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d need the power of the moon to bolster your resources.”
“Then you thought wrong.”
Her smile was polite but her eyes gave the game away. They glittered with annoyance. She waited until Tala had walked past, and then said, “May I see this pendant?”
Though it was posed as a question, it really wasn’t. I rose and walked down to the reading room to collect it.
Anna held out her hand when I returned and I dropped the bloodstone into it. She frowned, and once again a strand of her power reached out, this time examining the pendant as she rolled it over in her hand.
“There is definitely some sort of spell attached to this stone, but it’s been very cleverly disguised.”
“Hence the reason I wanted the moon’s help.”
She nodded. “Now that I’ve seen this, I can understand your caution. The spell threads alter composition and appearance from different angles.”
“It also feels foul.”
“That is natural, given blood has been used in whatever incantation has been placed on this.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to unpick the spell, or even trace him through it?”
“Possibly.” She closed the fingers around the pendant. “I’ll try tonight. It would be a shame to waste the power of the moon.”
I hesitated. “Do you want some help?”
“You’ve barely enough strength to stay on that chair.” She patted my arm—a comforting gesture that nevertheless felt patronizing. “I’ll cast a full circle—between that and the moon, it should be more than enough to cope with the likes of our vampire.”
“Except our vampire has studied the dark arts and appears to have at least some working knowledge of common witch spells,” I said. “And given what happened to me, I’d also be very wary of the wild magic if you’re heading into the woods. It’s unguarded, so—”
“No,” she cut in. “It’s not.”