Page 60 of Midnight Witch

“No, just a bunch of these and some blood in the bishop’s office at the back. It looked pretty fresh.”

Mae’s eyes widened. She could smell a taint of familiar magic coming off the feather.

Gold flashed in Cortes’s eyes. He took the quill off Violet and carefully sniffed it. “This is from Mendes’s harpy eagle.”

“Take us to where you found that blood,” Mae told Violet urgently.

CHAPTER25

Mendesand his coven’s bolt hole turned out to be an eight-thousand-square-foot, opulent, Tuscan-style mansion hidden amidst thirty acres of private woodland two miles from the church. Manicured gardens stretched from the trees south of the estate to a swimming pool and terrace at the back of the property.

“This is a pretty fancy hideout,” Nikolai grunted.

“Bryony did say the guy was loaded,” Mae muttered.

“It’s probably a rental,” Vlad observed.

“Can you tell where he is?” Cortes asked Mae.

Mae had usedRevealon one of the bloodied feathers they’d found in the church to locate the harpy eagle. What she hadn’t told the others yet was what she’d picked up on during that spell. She frowned.

“Mendes is in the master suite on the second floor, at the rear of the property. The bird’s with him. The rest of his coven are spread across the first floor.”

“Are there any black magic users among them?” Violet asked nervously.

“No.”

“That’s always a bonus,” Vlad muttered.

Cortes narrowed his eyes. “How should we do this?”

Mae pursed her lips. “Something tells me these guys won’t listen to reason.”

Vlad clenched his jaw. “Because they’re working for the Dark Council?”

Mae shook her head. “Because they’re scared out of their minds, just like they were back at the reception.”

The others stared.

“I can smell the fear saturating their cores from here,” she said in a hard voice.

“Does that mean the Dark Council is forcing them to act against their will?” Nikolai asked in a troubled voice.

“Probably. I think we should—”

Mae froze. Something had just brushed against her magic. Her scalp prickled.

It was an echo of what she’d detected duringReveal.

Brimstone growled.We need to hurry, my witch!

“What is it?” Violet asked tensely.

Mae jumped to her feet. “We don’t have much time! You guys take care of the coven. I’ll handle Mendes and the harpy eagle!”

Brimstone jumped on her shoulder as she rose inside a red sphere of power.

“Mae!” Vlad called out, alarmed.

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