To be Claimed by Her

Chapter 28

Eveleen's POV

   The sparks with Brandon completely shocked me. I had already accepted that there was a connection with Gabriel's family, but Brandon wasn't a part of them, only a close friend. For now, I just had to push it aside and focus on this locator spell.

The men all watched intently as I unfolded the map and began placing herbs in the silver bowl. I added the scrapings North had taken from the car. " Is anyone squeamish?" I asked them. They all gave me odd looks, but then flinched when I ran the athame across the palm of my hand, letting the blood drip into the bowl first, and then onto the map as I recited the spell, "Trí fhuil, iarraim thú, trí fhuil, marcálann mé ann, taispeáin dom cá bhfolaíonn an scáth - By blood I seek thee, by blood I mark thee, show me where the shade hides."

Smoke began to rise from the bowl as my blood began to crawl across the map. After a few moments, it stopped, pooling and then searing the map before vanishing.

"Okay, I admit, that was beyond cool," Kota marveled. "So where are we heading?"

"I know you all want to help, but I'm not entirely sure what we are walking into. I need to focus on the shade while you focus on the victims, okay?" They all agreed. "Gabriel, I need you with me. You're going to need to trust your instincts and just let the magic come to you."

"Wait, Gabe's got magic? Man, what the hell has been going on with you guys?" Brandon huffed.

"More than we've got time to cover for now. Are you going or staying?" Nathan replied.

"Oh, I'm going alright." Brandon gave me a sly wink. Another flirt - should have known.

I handed each of them a small pouch. "These are only good once, but the potion inside should freeze everything around you for about ten minutes. Use it if you need an escape.". We all loaded up and headed south of town following the map.

When we pulled up to the row of abandoned houses it reminded me of a ghost town. House after house stood in varying degrees of decay. The map didn't show the specific house and I didn't have any more car shavings. Before I could say a spell, I heard Gabriel whisper, "avsløre veien - reveal the way" in old Norse. He gave me a side glance with a cocky grin as a soft blue light began to streak towards the last hour on the right.

Victor came up beside me and whispered, "I'm coming with you and Gabriel." I started to argue with him, but he cut me off, "I'm not asking, I'm telling you. My gut says to stay with you, so I am." The fire in his eyes was radiant. I simply took his hand and nodded my acceptance.