Page 79 of Unmarked Magic

In the back seat, Colt spoke to someone on his phone. I zoned out, remembering only his directions. I veered left, heading to the end of the road, and the streets of Cutters Cove became a blur. My insides did a somersault when the last driveway came into view; it stood before an ominous building at the center of the curved drive, one I had avoided my entire life.

I slammed on my brakes at the threshold to an estate strangled by fog. “Colt,” I started, my breath lodged in my throat. “Why are we here?” The estate loomed ahead of me, all windows and shadows and vampires. The legends I’d heard about this building growing up suddenly felt less like scary stories told under torchlight and more like a horror movie come to life. The magical side of Cutters Cove knew they existed, but us witches kept to ourselves, mostly. I raised my voice. “Tell me why I’m parked in the driveway of an estate owned by vampires?” I heard nothing from the backseat as I stared vacantly out the front window. Like I was stuck in a nightmare and couldn’t pull myself from out of it. “Please tell me this is some sort of joke,” I demanded again.

“Drive, Scarlet,” Colt ordered.

If it had been any other situation, I would have laughed. Because Colt had never ‘full named’ me in my life.

Holding my breath, the building got bigger and more ominous as I maneuvered us closer. I didn’t understand why we were here. It felt like a bad idea. The worst, in fact. Pulling the vehicle to a standstill, my attention locked on the front door like it owed me something. I couldn’t explain it.

Behind me, the door opened, and I turned to find Colt pulling Reid from the pickup. He heaved him over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing more than a toothpick.

Terror tore through my veins, my voice pitching higher than usual. “What are you doing?” Getting out of the vehicle, I followed Colt as he strode up the driveway. “Colt!” I stomped after him, but he didn’t slow down, plowing ahead like he had a plan and there was no stopping him. Another vehicle sounded behind me as it came to a stop. When Tyler stepped out, he jogged over to me.

Emotion slid down my face, my hands shaking. “Why would he bring us here?” I tried to gather my thoughts into words, but it all seemed like a jumble in my head. “He won’t tell me anything,” I stammered, fighting back the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. The feeling I desperately tried to ignore. I wasn’t stupid, but refused for a second to believe the obvious.

Tyler’s hand landed on the small of my back, and I felt his comfort immediately. “It’s okay. I’ll find out what’s going on.”

Colt’s knuckles rapped on the hardwood door, and it immediately swung open. In front of me stood the vampire who I knew to be Callan. He was the oldest, wiser one of the two who occupied this estate, or so I’d heard. His posture was impossibly perfect: shoulders back, chin raised, filling out each stich of the expensive-looking suit he wore as if it was tailored to fit.

Callan’s lips curled into a cruel smile, and his hands slid into his suit pants as he spoke. “He said he’d rip my throat out if he returned.”

Returned? As in, Reid had been here before?

“Is your lower lever occupied?” Colt didn’t hide the distaste in his tone. “It’s starting.”

Callan stepped closer, dipping his head to the side. His pale finger tilted Reid’s head toward him as he studied him like one would scripture, his observation lingering. “That surprises me. The botanical — I really believed it would be salvageable.”

“The botanical?” I questioned, completely, and utterly confused.

Callan’s cold eyes traveled over me, and I felt his acknowledgement like one would frostbite. “I don’t believe we’ve met.” His words came out slowly, curiously. Something in his eyes glinted, and I didn’t miss the way they dropped to the crook of my neck.

That motion alone ripped a new wave or terror down my spine. “What about the botanical?” I demanded. “Why are we here?”

Callan darted a look at Colt, humor licking his tone. “The cold one’s mate?”

Colt nodded once.

Opening the door wide, Callan held his hand in the air, motioning us inside. “Please, dear, come in.”

The stain of his words clung to me. He had no right to call me ‘dear.’ I raised my chin, feigning confidence as I followed Colt. Entering the threshold of the estate, I stepped into a room that left me wide-eyed and even more curious. Mohogany everything. Trims, mantles, stairs. It all screamed century old wealth, and not the type you worked hard for. The type you inherited.

He veered through a side door, his silent footsteps on the long mat that stretched the length of an equally long hallway seeming too quiet. Like he held no weight at all.

I peered back at Tyler. “Where is he taking us?” I whispered.

“Downstairs,” said Callan. He stopped short of a bookcase halfway down the hall, and we halted behind him. Sliding it to one side, it revealed another mahogany staircase leading to a lower level.

A prickle of warning moved over me, my nervous system firing its warning through my body in every way it could. The hairs on my arms raised, my stomach suddenly churning. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” I murmured to anyone willing to listen.

Ignoring my comment, Colt headed down the stairs. His voice echoed behind him. “It’s our only option.”

Was he insane?

I assumed there was only one way in and out of here, and bile sat at the base of my throat, threatening to purge my breakfast from my stomach. I stood motionless, staring down the darkened entryway to the level below. I didn’t know what would wait for us at the bottom of these stairs: a room, basement, dungeon. But anything with only one exit sounded just as bad as the next.

Reid mumbled something incoherent from over Colt’s shoulder, quickly forcing reality back on me.

Tyler’s hand landed on arm. “I’m right behind you.”