42. TOO LATE
ONE HOUR AFTER LEESA and Cali left Brennan Field, Dominic strode quickly across the empty meadow. After so many painstaking and frustrating months, he hoped he might at last be drawing near to finding Leesa. The magic was long gone, he knew—it had been at least an hour since its vibrations had jarred his senses on the bus—but it had been so powerful he could still sense where it had occurred, across the field near the edge of the woods. The picturesque Weston college campus spread out behind him, but before he began his search for Leesa there, he wanted to examine the place where the magic had originated to see what he might learn.
He slowed his pace as he neared the trees, his senses guiding him unerringly to a spot a few feet from the boundary of the field. This was the place. He stood perfectly still and slowed his breathing until his chest barely moved, focusing his concentration on the tiny vestiges of magic that remained. That he could still sense the vibrations at all was more evidence of how strong the magic had been. What kind of magic had been performed here, he could not tell. The remnants of the weaves were familiar, yet they were not. In some tiny details, they were different from anything in his long experience. In one way, he knew this was a good thing. Had the magic been identical to his, it would have drawn the attention of the same enemies who for so long had been seeking him. He wondered if perhaps they might have sensed it anyway. They had no reason to be anywhere near here—he hoped the distance combined with the differences in the weaves would be enough to hide the magic from his foes.
When he was certain he could learn no more from the remnants of the magic, he let his focus widen—and was surprised to detect traces of vampire. What had happened here, he wondered? A dozen questions flashed through his brain. Had Leesa somehow become involved with vampires? If so, had she survived the encounter? There was no way to know. He did not even know if the magic had anything to do with her or was something else entirely.
He walked slowly, in an ever-widening circle, seeking answers. He found a spot where the brown grass was crushed and twisted, telling him there had been a struggle here. Kneeling down, he examined the grass and the ground more carefully. He sensed a slightly stronger vampire presence in this spot—more than one of the creatures had been here, he decided. The whole thing was becoming more mystifying by the minute. Had a pair of vampires ganged up on someone or something? He had no way to tell.
He continued on with his search. Happily, he detected no sensation of death. Whatever had happened here, no one had died. He breathed a sigh of relief—if Leesa had been involved in this, she was still alive, at least. He prayed she had not been taken by the vampires; that would be just as bad.
Unfortunately, he still could not detect any direct sense of Leesa. He did not know for sure if she had been here, and if she had, he had no way to follow her trail.
He turned and headed back to begin his search of the Weston campus. If Leesa was indeed here, that was where he would most likely find her.