Page 103 of Radiant Shadows

“No,” Caesar breathed, his eyes darkening in dreadful understanding. He shook his head. “What are the fucking chances we’d both be found out on the same day.” He kicked the leg of the coffee table in front of the couch.

“I know,” I whimpered. But hatred and fury soon burned through the sorrow, and I gritted my teeth. “I’m going to kill that vampire whore. I’m going to rip her to pieces and use magic to make sure she doesn’t die, so she’ll have no choice but to exist as a mutilated monster for—”

“Slow down, Shea,” Caesar cautioned, putting a calming hand on my shoulder. “I want to avenge Julian just as much as you do, but we have to be smart about this. We need to come up with a plan to get into Heritage Prep and survive long enough to get Julian out. And to do that, we need to keep our cool and channel our anger into something useful.”

My shoulders were shaking with rage, and I wanted to burn the entire damn world to the ground to get Julian back. But I knew Caesar was right. My mind was so charged with murderous intent that I couldn’t think clearly, and that kind of mentality wasn’t going to save Julian.

But without the anger to fortify me, I was defenseless against my fear over what would happen to him, helpless to the onslaught of gory images of things Julian’s captors might do to him before we could rescue him.

“I should never have let him go back,” I lamented. “I should’ve insisted he stay. Fuck the vampires. And fuck the shifters. Dammit, this whole world just sucks!”

He pulled me against his chest and squeezed my shoulders. “We’re going to figure this out. Julian is strong. He’s been through so much over the decades. He’ll be able to hold out until we get to him.”

“But what if his mistress gets tired of him?” I burst, trying hard to ignore the mental flashes of her playing with him against his will, punishing him for his non-compliance. “What if she lets Hadrian kill him after all?”

Caesar shook his head. “I think I know who this vampire is. Did he say the name Marguerite?”

I nodded, trying to control the tremors in my neck and jaw as I did.

“That’s what I thought. From what he’s told me about her, it’ll be a long time before she tires of him. She’s been obsessed with him since before they both became vampires. Now that she has him at her mercy, she’s going to savor every moment of it, and do everything she can to bend him to her will.”

I hiccuped as tears forced their way over my eyelids and streamed down my cheeks.

Caesar hugged me tighter. “Hey, it’s a good thing. Like I said, Julian is strong, and he’s far more clever than me. He’ll find a way to endure for now.”

I leaned into him and pressed my damp face into his chest. “What are we going to do? How are we going to infiltrate a heavily guarded vampire structure and get him out without anyone seeing? We can’t just go in guns blazing. A witch and a gryphon against an army of vampires?”

He sighed, rubbing my upper arm. “I don’t know. I’ll need to talk to Kai. His technical knowledge and electrical mastery might pair perfectly with your magic. We’ll figure something out.”

I nodded against him, even though I didn’t really believe it. I suddenly felt so small and powerless. How could we possibly win this seemingly losing battle?

“I’m going to fetch Kai,” Caesar said. “Then all five of us can sit down and discuss the possibilities of combining witch magic with shifter abilities and technology. Will you be alright for a while?”

“Yes,” I said softly, then wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to him a few frantic heartbeats.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said when I finally let him go. Then he got off the couch and bolted for the door.

I sat there for a moment, staring at the carpet while I tried to regulate my emotions. But sitting made me feel jittery, and I couldn’t just do nothing. I got the grimoire from my room and opened it on the couch, closely studying each and every page for any spells that could help us in our rescue mission.

Anything I found that I thought could be even remotely useful, I marked the page with a sticky note. Protection spells, cloaking spells, locking and unlocking spells. And, of course, anything to do with vampires.

I spilled over the pages for hours, even after Caesar returned with Kai and Aunt Janette, and everyone began planning and plotting. I tried listening in on their conversation now and then, but I didn’t want to miss any helpful secrets this book might have.

I came across the snaring spell and read it over and over. Could there be a way for one witch to use it against more than one vampire at a time? Could I possibly tweak it to do so? Though Gram and Aunt Janette were on board with my unorthodox relationship, I hardly expected them to come with us to save Julian. In fact, I’d avidly refuse if she offered. She was too old and slow. A vampire stronghold was no place for her. Aunt Janette, maybe, but I wouldn’t forgive myself if she got hurt or captured—or worse—trying to help us.

This wasn’t their battle. It was mine and Caesar’s. And though Kai had no allegiance to Julian, he was so loyal to Caesar that he followed him in exile and remained so even after knowing about his intimate relationship with the two of us. Kai had also lost loved ones to vampires, so he had just as much hatred for them as we did. I was grateful to have him on our team.

It was late afternoon when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I couldn’t summon the interest or motivation to pull it out. Everyone I cared about was within a block radius of me or hundreds of miles away, trapped in a tower as some blood whore’s pet. There was Ashlyn and Arya, of course, but my mission was more important than chitchat.

I let the call go to voicemail and continued scanning my current page. But then, immediately after, my phone started buzzing again, the vibration a nagging irritation against my thigh.Fine.

I pulled it out and checked the screen. Arya. I moved to dismiss the call but then paused. Caesar said the asshole general guy had taken over the school for the sole purpose of weaponizing her. What if she needed me? What if I was ignoring her when she was in some kind of trouble?

She would never abandon me if I needed her, no matter her personal problems. What kind of friend would I be if I couldn’t do the same?

I swiped the green answer button and put the phone to my ear. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Shea,” she wept, sniffling. “I’m so fucked up. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.”

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