“The Assembly is falling apart.” Benchley stared into his tea, then poked the ice with one finger. “It’s all going to hell.”
Returning the jug of tea to the fridge, Samantha sighed. Austin felt like an enclave surrounded by chaos. They weren’t foolish enough to believe The Summoner would not come for them. He was taking his time for his own nefarious reasons. That truth made Samantha very scared.
“The Assembly was never that strong to begin with,” Aimee chimed in. She was adding pinches of various herbs to her cauldron. “Most of them were having fun playing researcher and historian. There weren’t that many real warriors in the mix. Cass and I figured that out right away.”
“There are a few teams of actual fighters that are in hiding.” Jeff sounded annoyed. Samantha knew he was a huge supporter of The Assembly but she didn’t think they had done much to help other than to constantly report bad news.
“Waiting for the last big battle to help?” Aimee rolled her eyes. “Lovely.”
“We’ll need them.” Benchley sipped his ice tea. His big shoulders sagged and he looked depressed. Samantha hadn’t heard him rattle on about gaming in weeks. She supposed imagining fighting bad guys was very different from actually doing it.
Picking up the Wonder Woman glass, Samantha sipped the sweet liquid, then wandered over to the bubbling food. The spicy food made her stomach rumble. “Chili?”
“My own recipe.” Baptiste sauntered into the kitchen dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt. Not only was he a powerful magus, he was the most amazing cook.
“Not as good as Texas chili,” Samantha said, lifting her chin haughtily, teasing him.
“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Baptiste answered with absolute confidence. “It’s ready. Take a bowl. Fresh cornbread is in the covered pan.”
“It really is good,” Aimee said to Samantha. “It’s scary good. I think he’s cheating and using magic.”
“Ha, ha.” Baptiste walked over to the white board and started making a notation. “I just heard from my cousin. We have a confirmation on another child of The Summoner.”
“Let me guess. No one has seen them since July?” Benchley shook his head. “Same old story.”
In the last few weeks it had been confirmed that three of The Summoner’s children had still been alive, but had disappeared soon after The Summoner had revealed himself at the graveyard in Fenton.
“That makes four, but there is serious doubt there are any more surviving. He did tend to kill them after all.” Baptiste finished writing down the information.
“So why are these four alive?” Aimee asked.
Samantha spooned some chili into a bowl. “I betcha they got the rings for him.” Lifting the cover on the cornbread, she felt her mouth start to water. The coarse yellow bread was already dripping with melted butter.
“That would explain how they got favor with him,” Baptiste said, sounding impressed.
Jeff gave her a proud smile. She beamed back at him. “That’s my girlfriend. Always seeing the obvious stuff we miss. Those four get him his rings, then go to him when he summons them.”
Samantha slid into a chair at the table and set her meal in front of her. “I bet they’re not alive anymore.”
Benchley raised his head. “Why would you say that?”
“Because he’s a dick?” Samantha said. “Just a thought, that’s all.”
“Why keep them alive? They’re not necromancers.” Baptiste folded his arms over his chest and shrugged. “It sorta makes sense. He was ready to kill Rachoń.”
“But he has Etzli on his side,” Benchley said, pointing at the chart on the white board. “She’s not even his creation.”
“But she’s a vampire with unique abilities.” Aimee continued to measure herbs just by pinching a bit with her fingers or piling them on her palm. Samantha wasn’t too sure how accurate that method was compared to measuring cups and spoons. “She can call blood out of people once she wounds them with her daggers.”
Jeff rocked back and forth on the back two legs of his chair. “Well, if you think about it, he’ll want to have a lot of minions, but very few top dogs. He’ll want to sit on the top tier, but have someone that can keep the others in line. I’ve been reading up on what we know about his history and that’s his pattern.”
“And he’s so old he’s going to stick with what he knows,” Samantha agreed. “Hell, my grandma can barely use her iPhone, and he’s way older than her.”
“You’re missing something very important,” Benchley said. He picked up a napkin and blotted his sweaty forehead. “If those four vampires all had a ring, that means he has nine rings. Meanwhile, we’re just sitting here like a bunch of morons guessing what he’s up to with our thumbs stuck up our asses ...” Benchley’s voice trailed off.
“We still have one,” Samantha said. That was their mantra now. It was the only real solace they had as the situation became increasingly dire.
Jeff leaned toward his friend and gave him a direct look. Samantha recognized it as Jeff’s serious business face. “This is the deal, Bench. In the end we don’t know what the hell The Summoner is doing other than gathering the rings and wiping out The Assembly. All we can do is depend on our connections to give us an idea of what is going on with The Summoner and prepare.”
“In other words, what we’re already doing.” Benchley’s frustration was very evident in the way he ground his teeth together and hunched over his tea.
Aimee brandished the spoon she was using to stir the contents of her cauldron in Benchley’s direction. “This is the reality of the situation. You have to accept it, Benchley.”
“I’m tired of us not doing anything, Aimee! We just sit around and collect all this useless information. We don’t do anything but wait to die!”
“Actually, I work all damn day preparing spells,” Aimee retorted. “While you’re sulking, I’m doing something.”
The witch rarely raised her voice, but the steel in it now silenced the entire room. The only sound was Samantha’s spoon scraping against the edge of her bowl as she ate.
“Well at least you have something to do while you’re waiting for the end of the world,” Benchley spat out.
Samantha plopped some of the warm chili in her mouth and chewed. It killed her to admit it, but it was better than any she’d had at a chili cook-off. Baptiste gave her a knowing smile and a wink. She stuck her chili-laden tongue out at him.
There was a loud pop and a wash of glowing white energy flowed through the kitchen, pierced the walls, and vanished into the backyard.
Samantha twisted about in her chair. “What was that?”
“I just reinforced the ward,” Aimee answered.
“How are the perimeter alarms working?” Jeff asked.
He appeared just a tad grumpy. Samantha knew he hated that he couldn’t see the magic taking place around him. Samantha had to admit it looked really neat and wished she could share it with him. Instead, she tried to describe what she saw to him when he asked.
“Any supernatural crossing Austin’s city limits will trigger the alarm and a tracking spell attaches to them immediately. Cass took out two vampires last night in Oak Hill. We think they were a scouting team.”
“Why didn’t anyone say that before?” Benchley exclaimed.
“I was waiting to report it to Cian,” Aimee answered.
“Jeff’s the one in charge!” Benchley glowered.
“Cian’s the master of the city,” Aimee stated calmly and started to eat, not looking directly at Jeff.
“But Jeff’s the leader of our hunting group!”