Page 33 of Grayson’s Challenge

“Be careful, babe,” Wesley said to Virginia and pulled her into his arms.

“I’m always careful.” They kissed for a brief moment.

Virginia was about to step into the portal, when Monique remembered something. “Wait.”

She looked over her shoulder.

“My brothers don’t know you. They have to be sure they can trust you. Take your cell phone and record me.”

Virginia nodded. “Good idea.” She pulled out her cell phone and pointed it at Monique. “Go ahead.”

“David, Zach, you can trust Virginia and Cooper with your life. They will bring you back home. I love you.”

“All right,” Virginia said and shoved her cell phone back into her pocket.

Cooper stepped into the portal with her, and Monique noticed that Virginia grabbed the young hybrid’s hand.

A moment later, Monique was staring at a brick wall again. “Wow.”

“I got used to it,” Wes said with a smile. Then he cast his gaze at Grayson. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Call Charles, and have him meet you in your lab. Since you can’t scry for a vampire, you can’t help us find where they’re holding Cain and Samson. But we’ll need whatever weapons you can come up with that work on vampires—spells, potions, anything that might help us knock them out before they see us coming.”

“Okay, we can do that.”

“So you and Charles, you’re both witches?” Monique asked as they walked upstairs again.

“Yes, and we’re both very accomplished,” Wes claimed.

“So there’s no scrying for vampires?” Monique said. “Are you familiar with voodoo?”

“I know some voodoo magic, but that’s not my strong side.”

“I’ve heard there’s a location spell that voodoo practitioners can perform,” Monique said, remembering something an acquaintance in New Orleans had mentioned once. “But I don’t have any details.”

“Do you remember who told you that?” Grayson asked, interested.

“It was an older woman who took care of the drycleaning of the guards’ uniforms. I should be able to find her contact info.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Grayson said. “Right, Wes?”

“Sure. If I can talk to her about what’s needed for the spell, we can try it out.” Then he looked back at Grayson. “So, I’m assuming that neither Delilah nor Faye have been communicating with their mates via their telepathic bond?”

“No, they haven’t been able to. We’re assuming that they’re unconscious. They knocked Faye out with what we believe was dead man’s blood.”

“That’s bad mojo. It acts like a poison in a vampire’s body. Same can be accomplished with silver nitrate. Though if you wanna keep somebody alive, you would use dead man’s blood rather than silver nitrate,” Wesley said.

“Why is that?”

“Because dead man’s blood won’t kill you. It’s perfect for prolonged torture without the risk of silver nitrate, which will eventually kill the subject. So, if the kidnappers want to prevent Cain and Samson from communicating with their mates, they would use dead man’s blood. It knocks the person out, and makes them weak. Not sure how high the dosage has to be to prevent them from using their telepathic bond, but I assume the kidnappers would inject them regularly, maybe even use an IV to administer it. Though, of course, when it comes to Samson, it’s even easier. Pump him full with any human blood other than Delilah’s, and he’ll be in the same state as if they gave him dead man’s blood. With the difference that he would eventually die.”

“Hmm. I know.”

“Well, I’ll speak to Charles about any possible location spells, and if you, Monique, speak to that voodoo practitioner, put her in touch with me.”

“Thanks for your help, Wes,” Monique said, casting him a grateful smile.

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