Read Online Something Witchy This Way Comes: A Jolie Wilkins Novel by H. P. Mallory - Free Book Online Page B

trouble
, I thoughtto myself, terrified that my darkest fears might have just become a reality. The question of whether the vampire disappearances had been orchestrated by the Lurkers was a moot one—the Lurkers were absolutely responsible, of that I was convinced. Why? Because they were our only enemies at this stage of the game. And now all I could do was hope and pray that Sinjin wasn’t one of their victims. Yes, on the face of it, it seemed I could reanimate pretty much anyone but I still didn’t like the idea of Sinjin … dead. And where my abilities were concerned, nothing really was etched in stone.
    Exactly thirty minutes later I found myself sitting at the head of the conference table in my massive library, my stomach in knots. I hadn’t been able to wipe away my fears about what might have happened to Sinjin. And although I had to remind myself that the chances of him being among the twenty or so victims were slim, it did nothing to allay my concerns. I felt my toes tapping seemingly of their own accord and I tried to concentrate on my panel to take my mind away from the constant onslaught of worry.
    Rand sat to my right, Mercedes to my left, Odran and Trent beside her. Varick was at the far end of the table, flanked by Klaasje on one side and Mathilda on the other.
    “Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” I started in a wavering voice as I glanced around the room. “Varick has some very upsetting news for us, and therefore I will turn the meeting over to him.”
    I looked at Varick and he nodded as he cleared his throat. “It was brought to my attention at dusk thattwenty of the vampires simply disappeared yesterday.”
    “Crazy, huh?” Trent asked Odran, elbowing him in the side as if to say the news really was that shocking. Odran just frowned down at him.
    “What does that mean?” Rand asked at the same time, leaning forward on his elbows.
    Varick faced him, his lips in a straight line. “It means there is no trace of them.”
    “No piles of ash, no bodies?” Rand continued, not paying any heed to Varick’s less than polite response.
    Varick shook his head, one eyebrow raised. “Nothing. Only minor signs of struggle.”
    “Do you know who are among the missing?” Klaasje asked with trepidation. And that was when I realized she was as worried about Sinjin as I was.
    “Yes,” Varick said, and fished into his coat pocket, standing up as he produced a three-by-five index card. He strode to the head of the table and offered the card to me. I took it with a shaking hand and glanced through the list of names, feeling relief beat through me when I didn’t recognize any of them.
    Sinjin wasn’t on the list. Sinjin was safe
. And then something occurred to me—Sinjin was no longer a member of my kingdom, which meant his safety was of no one’s concern. So not being on this list really meant nothing. I had to swallow down another attack of dread.
    “Anyone we know?” Klaasje asked, her eyes wide.
    I glanced at her and shook my head, understanding her gist. “No one I am acquainted with. You might know some of them, though.” I handed her the card.
    I faced Varick again. “Twenty,” I started. “Werethey all in the same location when they were abducted?”
    Varick glanced at me and shook his head again. “They were in four different territories.”
    “Boot all happened at the same time?” Odran demanded, shaking his head as he appeared to grasp the situation.
    Varick nodded. “As I understand it, yes.”
    This was how it always was with Lurker attacks. Their M.O. was to attack in random one-offs, but the attacks were fully orchestrated and planned out, exemplified by the fact that they’d hit us in more than one territory at the exact same time. Which had to tell me they’d been scoping out their victims.
    “We will need to re-create the scene to fully understand what happened,” Mercedes said softly, and stood up, facing Varick. “Were you able to locate anything of a