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Lincoln looked over to Nikki. “Do you want to explain it, or do you want me to?”
Nikki sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “That’s why you needed me.”
“Yep,” Lincoln said. “We tried what we could find, but it wasn’t fresh or pure enough.”
Nikki pressed her lips into a thin line. She asked Blake, “How much do you know about the Tribe?”
Blake raised his eyebrows. “I guess I don’t know as much as I thought I did because I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”
Nikki said, “The Tribe has one weakness, the horn of an alicorn. Think of it like Kryptonite to Superman. That’s why there aren’t many of us still alive.”
“I thought you were the only one still alive,” Blake said.
Nikki clicked her tongue. “I am. I’ve stayed that way because I stay as far away from the Tribe as possible.”
“So, your horn kills them?”
Nikki got out of her chair and leaned her weight on the table. “If only it were that easy. The only way to kill a Tribe witch is by summoning an empousai. To do that, you need the power from my horn. Alicorns have been the only species that can control the empousai and prevent them from losing control because they do not want to go away quietly once summoned.”
“By the love of the Goddess. This keeps getting better and better,” Blake said.
“I know, right,” Ford said.
No one said anything. What was there to say?
Blake was never good with tense silence. He finally said, “This is a bunch of shit.”
Ford slurped on a straw, making a loud, obnoxious noise. Everyone glared at him.
He scrunched his face. “What? I wanted a drink and didn’t realize my cup was empty.”
“So your plan is what?” Blake asked Lincoln. “Summon an empousai and storm the castle, so to speak?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Lincoln said.
“I think you’d have an easier time convincing Tristan to go on a vacation.” Blake laughed at his joke but stopped abruptly when no one else did. He glanced at Nikki because, surely, she got it. But there was no humor in her face.
Tough crowd.
“I’ve never faced an empousai,” Nikki said. “What makes you sure I can?”
“Well,” Lincoln said, “if the legends are true, you will know how to do it. Instinct, I guess.”
Nikki snorted. “Legends are mostly half-truths and exaggerations.”
Lincoln narrowed his eyes, studying her. He walked to Washington’s laptop and pushed a button on the keyboard. The picture he’d shown Blake of the power source popped up. “We believe something is going on at this place that centers on this. If these people are hunting shifters and hiding it as well as they are, this is not something good for any of us.
Blake pushed out a big breath. “This just keeps getting worse and worse.”
“We still aren’t sure how wide the ramifications reach, but this needs to be stopped before it can get any bigger,” Lincoln said.
“Agreed,” Blake said. “But you’re going to need a better plan.”
“Oh, we didn’t say we don’t have a plan. We do, and it involves you,” Washington said.
The man had been so quiet that Blake was almost startled when he heard his voice. “Me? Me specifically?”
“Well, not necessarily you, specifically, but a dragon,” Washington said.
