Drink Deep - Chloe Neill [113]
“No, she only has the book this trip. She takes the ashes four days later. Runs the same play both times—the same magic, I mean.”
“Why the delay?” Malik wondered. “Why take the risk? Why not take them both at the same time?”
In the silence, I’d been piecing together the quilt of my experiences with Mallory and Tate over the last few days—what I’d learned from Tate about magic, and what I’d seen of Mallory.
The finished product wasn’t looking good.
“Because she didn’t know she wanted the ashes,” I quietly said, then glanced at Malik. “She probably learned about the Maleficium while working with Simon. She’d used black magic before. Maybe using it made her curious.”
“That only explains the book,” Luc said.
But I shook my head. “When I visited Tate, he listed some spells that might require the mixing of magic we’ve seen this week. One of them,” I said, “is making a familiar.”
“A familiar?” Luc asked.
“A kind of magical assistant,” I said. “They help sorcerers funnel the magic they have to wield. A familiar gives them extra capacity, like an external magical hard drive.”
“That’s a frightening benefit,” Luc said. “But I’m confused—you think Tate’s making a familiar?”
“Not Tate,” I said, nerves and stomach rattling. “I think Mallory might be. She’s used black magic before, and she’s created a familiar before. A cat. But it’s not right—there’s something wrong about it. She gave me an excuse, but now . . . I don’t know. And she’s mentioned she wished there were more of her to help work the magic.”
The room was quiet, everyone considering what I’d said.
“A sorceress is being tested this week,” I continued. “A sorceress who understands how to make a familiar, at least on a small scale, and who’s stolen a book of magic that can help her do more than just dabble in black magic. Ethan’s ashes are gone, and now the city is falling apart because good and black magic are being mixed.”
“That’s a far-fetched idea,” Kelley said. “Attempting to revive a vampire to make them a familiar.”
“Unfortunately,” Malik said, “it’s not entirely far-fetched.” He looked at me. “Do you know why there are no sorcerers in Chicago, Merit?”
I shook my head.
“It is an anachronism from the days when relationships between vampires and sorcerers were more strained than they are today. If things have progressed the way you suggest, it is not the first time sorcerers have made such an attempt.”
The room went silent, all eyes on Malik.
“The making of a familiar requires the application of powerful magic to something—or someone—who the sorcerer desires to make a familiar. The capacity to make that kind of magic is rare, and the capacity of the familiar depends upon their power.”
“So a vampire can hold more magic than a cat,” I offered.
Malik nodded. “And a Master vampire can hold more power than a still-pink Initiate. The last time a sorcerer tried to make a vampire into a familiar, a Navarre House vampire was kidnapped. She was discovered later in the sorcerer’s lair, a mindless, slathering thing.”
I shuddered involuntarily.
“The sorcerer exerts a measure of control over the familiar,” Malik said. “They become service animals, in effect. Mindless, without free will.”
Even as a part of me was thrilled by the idea that Ethan could return at all, hope curdled at the thought that Mallory was attempting to turn him into a mind-controlled zombie. I suddenly had a little less sympathy for her stress—and a lot more sympathy for the cat.
“The sorceress was identified, and she was dealt with by Navarre House. And when that was done, vampires forbade the Order from working in Chicago.”
That explained why the Order hadn’t wanted Catcher to visit Chicago, and why they’d kicked him out when he insisted. It also said a lot about Ethan—that he’d been willing to take Catcher in upon his arrival despite what sorcerers had once done.
“If a sorcerer tried this before,” Luc asked, “why didn’t we see the same kind of effects? The natural disasters?”
“We did,” Malik assuredly said. “We saw the Great Fire.”