Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) Read Free

felt raw from the tattoo’s
blistering warning.
    When she would have issued a dozen different ones,
he’d cautioned her against it. Being decapitated by the tattoo-like slave
collar was not how he wished to return to the Spirit Realm.
    For the time being, the magic under his command was
limited to the ability to hide in shadow, track his prey, and detect evil
should it venture within range. He didn’t even know what that ‘range’ was as of
yet.
    But he would learn, and overcome these new
disabilities.
    He watched Lillian as she came to her feet at the
arrival of her brother and uncle. After brief hugs, they exchanged stories.
    “The whole town has been asked to remain in their
homes,” her uncle was saying, “until such a time as it is deemed safe for
residents to venture out again.”
    Gran cleared her throat, “In other words, we’re in
lockdown until they have poked, tagged, and categorized everyone to their
heart’s content.”
    “Those were my thoughts exactly,” Uncle Alan agreed
with a nod, a frown darkening his expression.
    “So,” Jason said, not a hint of his usual jovial attitude
in attendance, “when, where, and how are we getting out of dodge with the
lockdown in place?”
    “We’re not.” Gran’s voice held a fierce edge, one
Gregory admired.
    She knew the reasons they couldn’t leave. Not that
Gregory was going to be run off by a pack of misinformed mortals.
    “We can update our disguises and cover stories, and
start over elsewhere,” Jason continued doggedly. “It’s not like the Coven
hasn’t done it before. It’s a damn better option than getting tagged and bagged
for some scientist to dissect in a lab.”
    “Jason has a point,” Lillian’s uncle added as he
rubbed at his beard. “It’s going to get a little tense around here. There’s no
way we can avoid the medical teams they are sending house to house, not without
shouting we’ve got something to hide.”
    “Doesn’t matter.” Gran shook her head. “We can’t run.
Not this time. Lillian’s hamadryad is here. If it was a regular hamadryad,
Lillian could take a cutting and start over somewhere else. However, this
hamadryad is presently also the Mother’s Sorceress. I do not feel comfortable
leaving such power within easy reach of the humans. Perhaps the humans will
never guess she is more than a tree, but I won’t risk all the remaining magic
in this realm on wishful thinking.”
    Gregory stretched and shook out his wings, and then
dropped to all fours. He walked to Gran’s side and gave her a playful head
butt. “Both wise and beautiful. No, I won’t leave Lillian’s hamadryad, nor will
I abandon my other Fae allies. Many of the Clan are tied to the land and their
territories, and cannot move easily.”
    “Flattery will get you everywhere,” Gran said with a
twinkle in her eye. “We’re going to stay and give the humans exactly what they
think they want.”
    Lillian’s curiosity washed over him, resembling a
turbulent wave even with several feet of space separating them. As he expected,
she jumped into the conversation. “You plan to use magic on the humans, to
somehow make them think they’ve tested us already.”
    “A good guess, but no,” Gran said with a grin. “While
that would work, it would take a huge amount of magic and planning. No, I plan
on giving the samples, but then later following them back to their lab where we
will switch them with samples of human blood. We already have some in storage
for just such a need, but we didn’t plan on such a large scale situation. To be
safe, we’ll require enough for the entire Coven membership. For that amount,
we’ll immediately start canvassing neighboring towns for unsuspecting humans
matching Coven members’ appearances. With luck, we should be able to trick the
human scientists without having to use magic upon them.”
    Lillian cleared her throat. “Still, it isn’t going to
be easy sneaking in and switching samples.”
    She compressed her