Biting Cold: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel (CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES SERIES)

means to that end. She thought by working dark magic, she’d tilt the balance of good and evil in the world, and that imbalance would force the evil out of the Maleficium .”
    Paige winced. “That’s an ungainly method. It might have gotten the job done, had she been able to finish the spell, but it’s not exactly elegant. A spell that awkward is the mark of a young sorceress. Inexperienced,” she added. “Do we know if she took books or supplies or anything before she left?”
    Ethan shook his head. “We don’t know, but it doesn’t sound like she stopped for anything. She just left.”
    “Maybe she had a backup plan ready,” Paige suggested, “or she’s confident enough that she thinks she can come up with one on the fly.”
    “So where is she now, do you think?” Ethan asked Paige.
    “Nearby and planning, I imagine,” Paige said. “If she’s still using the same method, she’s debating which spell to use and trying to figure out a way to break in here, best me, and be off with the Maleficium .”
    “You’re very nonchalant about the fact that a sorceress is planning to come to break in, best you, and be off with the Maleficium ,” Ethan said.
    Paige sipped her tea for a moment, as if carefully choosing her words. “I know you’re friends of hers, and that she’s a big magical deal in Chicago . . .”
    “I assume there’s a ‘but’ on its way?” Ethan asked.
    “ But ,” Paige said, “while Mallory definitely has some mojo, she’s really just small change.”
    “She tried to destroy Chicago,” Ethan said, a curious tilt to his head.
    “By using the ashes of a powerful Master vampire. That’s not exactly like she’d willed the destruction herself, is it?” Paige shrugged. “I’m sure the light show was big, but that’s precisely why you want a familiar who has a lot of power—so that you can use their power to beef up yours.
    “Look,” Paige said. “I’m not trying to be rude, and I’m not trying to make light of the chaos Chicago was facing. But I’m a magical realist, and I don’t play favorites. Controlling the universe isn’t about pretty lights and colors and irritating humans. It’s about controlling the universe . And if we’re going by the book, what she did barely ranks at all.”
    “Any thoughts about what spell she might attempt this time?” Ethan asked.
    Paige shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never actually read the Maleficium . Not for lack of curiosity on my part, but it’s part of the oath I have to take to serve here. No peeking equals no temptation.”
    “A sound policy,” Ethan flatly said. “Pity no one advised Mallory.”
    “Could she try another familiar spell?” Paige asked.
    Ethan shook his head. “That seems unlikely. The only other vampire ashes in Chicago were Celina’s. Suffice it to say they are no longer in Chicago.”
    Paige nodded. “She could always go the familiar route with something—or someone—else. Beyond that, there are millions of spells in the world, all of them somewhere on the scale between good and evil. She could pick any number of spells on the evil end of that spectrum.”
    “Speaking of evil,” Ethan said, “Mallory isn’t the only one who’s after the Maleficium .”
    Ethan filled Paige in on our pit stop with Tate and his own goal of unleashing evil. By the time he was done, Paige had abandoned her teacup and was leaning back on the couch, arms crossed, gaze glued to Ethan.
    “And this Tate is what kind of creature, exactly?”
    “We were hoping you might know,” I said.
    Frowning, she rose from the couch, moved to the hallway of books, and began to scan the spines. “Unfortunately, there are lots of options, and we don’t have enough information to do a fair diagnosis. Demigod? Djinn? Fairy?” She pulled out one book, flipped through it, then slid it back onto its shelf. “Maybe an incubus?”
    “I don’t know about the others,” I said, “but he’s not a fairy.”
    “We work with them,” Ethan explained, as mercenary fairies guarded the gates of Cadogan House. But that’s not what I’d meant.
    “I’ve also met Claudia, the queen.”
    Paige’s eyes widened. “You met the queen of the fairies?”
    I nodded, thinking of the tall, curvaceous, strawberry blond woman. “During Ethan’s unfortunate demise. We were looking for the cause of the sky turning red. They’re known as the sky masters, so we paid them a visit. They gave us a little information, I