Biting Cold (Chicagoland Vampires #6)(23)
Author: Chloe Neill

Ethan held out a hand for Gabriel, but Gabriel ignored it and wrapped Ethan in a bear hug that nearly lifted him off the ground.

"And that’s but one of the weird things I’ve seen tonight," I muttered.

"It’s good to see both of you," Ethan said. "What brings you to Nebraska?"

"They’re the escorts for the Maleficium," Paige said. "They dropped it off before Malory escaped."

I pointed a finger at Jeff. "That explains why you weren’t at work yesterday. You were on your way out here with the book."

He shrugged his narrow shoulders with impressive machismo.

"A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do."

"After much begging, we’re here to retrieve it again," Gabriel said. But he cast a dark glance back at the burning farmhouse.

"But something tels me we might be changing our plans."

"The Maleficium has been destroyed," I said, and Gabriel’s eyes went wide with horror. "And it seems the evil it contained was destroyed along with it. Or most of it."

"Most of it?" Jeff asked.

"Seth Tate touched the book just as Malory finished the spel," Ethan said. "He split into two."

Gabriel blinked. "I don’t understand."

"One Tate became two Tates," I confirmed.

"The book burned to a crisp, and they propeled themselves through the missile shaft." Ethan looked back at the farmhouse.

"We came outside to discover the house on fire."

"What is he?" Gabriel asked, and I think he meant it rhetoricaly. Even if he didn’t, it wasn’t as if we could answer.

"That’s the milion-dolar question," I said. "Whatever they are, one or both of them set Paige’s house on fire. It’s not hard to imagine they’ve headed back to Chicago to make more trouble. We need to get home."

"Actualy, there’s trouble at home, too," Jeff said.

"Oh?" I asked.

"Four cops beat the holy hel out of a couple of vamps and two humans they were hanging out with."

"Were they from a House?"

"Rogues," he said. "The cops say the vamps attacked them.

The vamps say they were hanging out near a bodega with the humans and the cops jumped them for no reason, shouting obscenities about vamps and humans mixing together. Pretty clear things have gone a little downhil in the CPD since your grandfather left."

"Racism is alive and wel in the twenty-first century," I ruefuly said.

"When the mayor tels the city vampires are the enemy," Ethan said, "such violence isn’t surprising."

"And having to register with the city isn’t going to help us," I said. That was one more thing I needed to add to my to-do list.

"There won’t be any way to blend in when we have to carry papers that show our identity."

"Sad but true," Jeff agreed.

"What are you going to do with her?"

We al looked at Malory.

"She’s going back to Chicago with us," Ethan said. "After that, it’s up to the Order."

"They didn’t do so wel with her the last time. Not even twenty-four hours before alowing her to escape."

"No," Ethan agreed, "they did not."

Gabriel looked at Jeff. "Could you excuse us for a moment?"

When Ethan waved a hand colegialy, Gabriel led Jeff a few feet away. Heads together, they began to whisper.

"What’s that about?" I quietly asked.

"I’m not entirely sure," Ethan said, but there was no denying the curiosity in his voice.

After a moment, they walked back toward us. "We’l take her," Gabe said.

Stunned silence filed the air.

"You’l take her where?" Ethan asked.

"We’l take custody of her. The Order didn’t manage her before. You know I’m not one to get involved in politics, but I’d also realy prefer that the city not burn down around us, since we’ve decided to stay in it."

Ethan looked completely befuddled. "I’m sorry, but I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around this. Where would you take her?"

"We have a place" was al Gabe said. "And you’d be

welcome to visit her at your convenience. Catcher, too," he said, looking at Malory. "She wouldn’t dare try that bulshit she puled on the Order with us."

He gave her an ugly, pointed stare that should have scared the shit out of her. It scared me a little, and I wasn’t even the one in trouble.

"She’l need caretakers," Ethan said. "She believes she’s il – that she has a magical imbalance that necessitated what she’s done."

Gabriel’s lip curled. "She doesn’t need to be coddled. She has acted like a criminal without remorse. If she were one of mine, the problem would have solved itself."

Gabriel had been betrayed by his youngest brother, Adam, and we hadn’t heard from Adam since. "She won’t work magic around us. We can arrange that fairly easily. As it is, she doesn’t need excuses. She needs to get her shit together."

"And you can help her do that?"

"No," Gabriel said, eyes narrowed at Malory. "No one can help her. She either does it or she doesn’t. That’s the choice we’l give her."

So he was taking the tough-love approach. It certainly didn’t sound easy, but nothing else had worked. The Order put her in a medical facility – gave her around-the-clock care and treatment  – and look where that got us.

"I’l want to check on her," Paige said to Gabriel, apparently wiling to let them have the burden of watching her.

He nodded. "I understand decisions wil need to be made about her long-term status. She has amends to make. Many amends, to friends and family." Gabriel looked up at me. "I’m going to give her the chance to do that. Success or failure is up to her."

"It’s a lot of responsibility," Ethan said.

Gabriel nodded. "And I’m not looking for new responsibilities. I’ve got a wife and a son and problems of my own. But if I can help address this now, I won’t have to worry about it later. Besides," he said, turning his golden eyes on me, "you’ve helped us before. I stil owe you one."

Gabriel had made a prophecy about me and my future with, or without, Ethan. It had something to do with a favor I was going to do for him, but of course he hadn’t given away any details about that.

Ethan glanced at Malory. "Are you sure you can make it back to Chicago without her causing trouble?"

Gabriel chuckled. "There’s always a solution to that problem."

He walked over to Malory and crouched down before her.

"How are you doing?"