Later, Callum took a shower so hot that the bathroom filled with steam. It went on at least half an hour. He still felt dirty.
He remembered the motel. He remembered the look of fear on a vampire's face, and then he understood why he had been feeling the way he was feeling.
That day he had ended a lot of lives.
Yes, they had been vampires. But he could not stop asking himself the question. Why was it so easy? He had only just started learning magic, and he had already wiped out an entire nest of monsters.
Callum thought: if I were a villain, there would be nobody in this world who could have stopped me.
He looked at the power sitting in his own hands. Perhaps the Guild was right about the restrictions after all.
But he disagreed with himself immediately. If we had left all of this to the Guild, Clara would still be a hostage.
He looked at his reflection in the mirror. He needed a solution. The motel fire would destroy all of the evidence. But there was no guarantee that the Langleys' details would not spread anyway.
Callum regretted it. I wish I hadn't gone down into that basement with the shapeshifters. If I'd been smarter I would have handled everything alone, and only Jessica would know. There would have been a little more hope of staying in Vignette. But now it seemed that maybe it was time to move on.
At the police station, the sheriff had only just arrived.
He asked whether the agents had come.
The woman at the counter confirmed it. They were waiting downstairs.
Arthur sighed tiredly. Hopefully they had not sent a vampire.
Reaching the lower floor, he picked out the distinct signatures of a wizard and a fae. Two agents. He took his hat off and greeted them.
There was a woman in dark clothes with blue-tipped hair, and beside her a tall blond man.
The man spoke first. "Alpha Langley." He introduced himself. "Ray Danforth. And this is my partner, Agent Felicia Black."
The sheriff welcomed them. "I hope the Guild's team can solve this case. I'll help however I can."
Ray asked immediately, "How is the motel cleanup going?"
Arthur explained it. The rest of the Guild's personnel were already out there. He was ready whenever they wanted to inspect the bodies.
Both agents exchanged a silent decision.
A little later, in the morgue, Ray crouched down beside a body and examined it. "All the wounds are identical."
The sheriff agreed. "Clearly it's not the work of a shapeshifter. We have no idea how this is going to be solved."
A strange smile came onto Ray's face. "I will know."
He called Agent Black over to the body.
She approached and placed her hand on the head of the corpse. A strange power released a bluish light. Suddenly her eyes lit with the same hue and her head jerked upward. A moment later she reported normally.
The first vampire had seen nothing. He had been asleep at the time of the attack.
The old sheriff got worried. This agent can see the memories of the dead.
Felicia continued. The other one had heard gunshots but was pulled down before he could react.
Ray said, "At least one of them must have seen something."
Felicia insisted. "There was just confusion. Nobody knew what was happening."
Ray concluded, "The killer must be very experienced."
Arthur slowly composed himself and whispered, "It's a very frightening situation."
The agent asked, "What did you say?"
The sheriff brushed it off quickly. "I was just saying what a disaster this is."
Ray clearly did not believe him. But he only said that he understood.
Then he informed him. "Alpha Langley, we'll have to spend some time in Vignette. If someone of this level is loose, it's very dangerous."
Arthur offered to arrange rooms. But Ray told him there were some people they had to interrogate first.
The old man's heart sank.
Ray explained his theory. If the local pack was not involved, there were two options. Either the killer had just been passing through Vignette, in which case maybe he would never be caught, or some local, unaffiliated with the vampires, had been provoked by them.
The Alpha assured him there was nobody in town who could destroy an entire vampire nest.
The blond agent insisted. "We want to confirm that ourselves."
Arthur's heart went after his stomach. Clearly nervous, he simply said that everything was fine.
Somewhere else, Callum stood in front of a suitcase, holding the contents in his hands and contemplating them. This was what the vampires had. Weapons, money and a few other items recovered from the nest. Computer drives.
The weapons looked ordinary. There was ammunition, but the bullets were a different story.
Silverite, mordite and chloride minerals, crafted together. According to the online forums, those materials worked against shapeshifters, vampires and fae.
Shifting the items around, his eye caught a glimpse of a magical symbol on a ceramic plate. What is this? He guessed it would be a source. He noted that he had to research it later.
He opened the suitcase again. He had saved that for last.
A million dollars in cash, and gold bars. The recent investment in the house had limited his options, so he set most of it aside as an emergency fund. That was what would ensure survival in the worst case scenario.
But magical supplies had to be replenished too. Random items from the local equipment shop were insufficient for intermediate techniques. Whatever source had made this ceramic plate, it had certainly not been bought from any small shop in Vignette. Perhaps custom items would have to be ordered.
Then, suddenly, the screech of tires outside.
Callum came to his feet. His heart was pounding. Somebody had already found him.
Fast. The suitcase. Nobody can see these contents. The cabinet door slammed shut, and then two sharp knocks came at the door, and he peeked through and breathed.