The Beautiful and the Faultless | Cami O'Connell

Chapter 23

The spindle and blood moved as one, until they landed on Morocco. "She's still there," said Ingrid, disconnecting from Freya to get the map of Morocco they used to astral project to Rebekah. She set it down, and the spindle began to move again, this time pointing them to a specific building.

Freya gripped Ingrid's hand tightly, and the two closed their eyes, chanting, "Sang bis najitt trouver. Sang bis najitt trouver." When they opened them, they were standing in a room with Rebekah, as well as a dozen Strix vampires.

"I can't leave you alone for five minutes," said Freya, exasperated.

One of the women seemed to recognize Freya, and lunged at her, but just went through her. Freya shut her eyes and chanted, "Menedk qual suurentava!"

Every vampire in the room excluding Rebekah crumpled to the floor as their necks were snapped.

"Not bad," said Rebekah, clearly impressed. "Now what?"

"We can't touch them because we're not really here," said Ingrid, gesturing to the vampires. "But go around, rip out all their hearts. They'll wake, otherwise."

Rebekah didn't need to be told twice. She sped around, removing all of their hearts to ensure that they were dead. She stopped at the woman who'd attacked Freya. "Who's that?" asked Ingrid.

"Aya Al-Rashid," said Rebekah. "Elijah's old lover. She runs The Strix with Tristan. Oh, hello, what do we have here?" As she ripped out Aya's heart, she noticed something hidden in her jacket. "Look at this." She held up a dark-wood stake that had skulls carved on it.

"Bring it with you," said Freya. "Get home, now."

"I can't go home yet," said Rebekah. "I just need a bit more time to get the spells that were promised to me."

"Are you insane?" Ingrid hissed. "Rebekah, they already sent a legion of Strix vampires after you, there's no way there aren't more on standby. Forget the spells! We'll resurrect Finn and get my magic back some other way."

Rebekah, of course, was stubborn, and sped away before they could follow her.

They exited the astral projection, returning to Elijah's side. He was not happy to hear that his sister hadn't instantly gone to the airport.

"She can't stay there," said Elijah. "Rebekah cannot fight them alone."

"I mean, she could," said Ingrid. "She is an Original. We just have to hope there aren't more vampires flocking her way."

"She's in no mood to listen," said Freya. "We need to locate her again, and this time, you ought to come with us, Elijah. Perhaps you'll have better luck convincing her."

Elijah's phone started to ring. He withdrew it, and said, "It's Marcel," before answering. "Your timing is perfectly horrendous."

"Yeah?" said Marcel. "Well, I need your help. Hayley caught one of Tristan's guys tailing her. Knocked him out, brought him to the gym for a little Q & A. Problem is, it's Shen Min."

Elijah's expression became almost frightened. "Marcellus, do I need to remind you that Shen Min was known as 'The Red Sorrow' before he was a vampire? You execute him immediately."

"Elijah," said Freya, letting him know she'd located Rebekah again.

He finished by telling Marcel, "Before he wakes, you tear that heart from his chest." He hung up, taking Freya's hand as she chanted, "Sang bis najitt trouver. Sang bis najitt trouver."

Rebekah did not look pleased to see them.

"I'm too close to getting Finn back and Ingrid's magic!" she protested. "I just need a bit more time."