Tess looked at her phone, turned slightly, and pointed. “That way, about a hundred yards.”
“Okay, lead off,” I said.
Tess held the handlebars with one hand and her phone against the gas tank with her other hand. Maia did the driving, following Tess’s instructions. We pulled out of the church parking lot and took a right. On the opposite side of the church, Tess pulled into the first driveway that led between old trees into a shady area.
The house was stone and probably quarried on the mountain. Enough moss grew on the rock to make the structure look to be too old to exist in this part of the states. Even the slate roof had dark moss growing over nearly a third of its surface. The front door was mostly wood, with a small window at eye level for checking on guests. Nearly a third of the door was covered by a carved crucifix.
An old Ford pickup with a camper shell was parked at the side of the house. Pine straw covered the camper’s roof. Obviously, it hadn’t gone anywhere recently. A neatly manicured lawn survived in an area that had to be in shade all but a few hours of each day.
Maia stopped on the concrete driveway a few yards from the pickup and Tess dismounted.
“This must be the place,” she said, pocketing her phone.
Beast stopped and I dropped the kickstand for appearances sake. I waited while Cris dismounted and then followed her to Tess.
I looked around. Through a gap that appeared to be an old path through the woods, I could see the church. “Looks like this may have once been the rectory.”
“Or still is,” Tess agreed.
“Are we going to knock or just stand around chatting?” Cris asked as she started down the walk for the front door.
“Leave Bruno here,” I said. “We don’t want to alarm anyone with your weird pet.”
Bruno growled and blew a short blast of fire toward me. It went about a foot before dying.
Tess lifted him gently from her shoulder and set him on Maia’s shoulders. “Stay here and behave. Maia, watch him.”
“As you wish,” Maia said.
Tess and I hurried to catch up with Cris. I unzipped my jacket as we walked, the day was cooler here than at Cris’s home, but it was still warm. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tess unzipping.
The house didn’t have a true porch, but a small portico that would keep guests out of the rain while they waited for the occupants to answer. There was also no doorbell, but there was a knotted rope on the left side of the door. Cris eyed the rope and then gave it a quick double pull. Inside, I could hear a bell clanging loudly.
“How quaint,” Cris said.
A minute passed without me hearing anything. I glanced at Tess, she was listening to something I couldn’t hear, and I assumed she had her senses tat active.
“Better kill that tat before we go inside. We don’t want the old guy detecting it until we’ve had a chance to explain ourselves.”
Tess nodded.
The knob rattled and the heavy old door drew back on silent hinges.
Rather than an old man, a young woman in her early thirties stood there. She wore a darkly colored dress with a calf length skirt, a green that match the pines around us, and sensible black shoes. She eyed the three of us for a few seconds and then said, “May I help you?”
Cris nodded. “We’re here to see Monsignor Padalecki.”
The woman eyed us again. Since the vampire spell, Cris looked more eighteen than the twenty-eight actual years she had. Tess and I didn’t appear much older, I might could pass for my mid-twenties, but Tess hadn’t reached twenty yet. From the woman’s gaze, I gathered young people didn’t visit the Monsignor often.
“The Monsignor is resting. If you’d like to make an appointment, just leave your number and I’ll call you when he’s available.”
“Ma’am,” Cris said with a deferential tone. “We don’t mean to interfere with the Monsignor’s nap, but we’ve come a long way and need to see him. We can wait until he wakes, if that’s alright?”
The woman was shaking her head in a definite negative before Cris finished. “It isn’t alright. The Monsignor doesn’t see drop-ins. You’ll have to make an appointment and come back then.”
She started to push the door shut.
Cris stepped forward and blocked the door with her foot.
“Ma’am, I was Abigail von Norris’s apprentice a few years back and I met the Monsignor then. He gave me the impression that I could come to him if I ever needed help.”
The woman didn’t budge an inch. “He may have met you ‘a few years’ ago, but times change. He’s retired now and doesn’t see people.”
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to insist that you at least tell him that Cris Ronue is here and needs to see him.”
“I am not going to wake him. He’s not well and needs his rest. You can leave me your number and I’ll call you if he’s feeling better when he wakes.”
Cris muttered something under her breath as she raised her right hand. She spoke a spell I’d heard her use before. The green flash surprised me and instead of the woman being temporarily paralyzed, Cris froze.
The woman’s eyes grew wide and she slammed the door in Cris’s face. The door struck Cris’s outstretched hand and knocked her backwards. I caught her and held her upright.
“What was that?” Tess asked.
“That was a paralysis spell. It should have frozen the woman, not Cris.” I put my hand against the front door. I felt nothing. Damnit, I was helpless.
“Tess, see if you feel a ward on this doorway,”
