Mira stopped, too, swaying against the brick wall of a storefront in a way that Sarafina now recognized meant she’d caught something on the air. A whisper, a murmur, something leading her to Stefan. It had been happening a lot lately.

Jack caught her by an elbow and kept her from falling over. “Did you hear something?”

Mira nodded. “Stefan’s in there, all right, but there are two Atrika with him.” She glanced at Sarafina. “Not Bai, but that doesn’t mean he might not show up.”

Sarafina swallowed down a cold surge of fear at the possibility. “I know. It’s okay.”

“I don’t like this,” said Jack. “It’s too fucking easy. Why isn’t Stefan taking more care not to let you hear him?”

Theo shifted beside her. “Because it’s a setup.”

Mira shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think Stefan’s confident, cocky. I don’t think he feels like he needs to shield his conversation from air magick anymore.”

“He’s cocky because he has an army of Atrika to call on.” Theo growled. “Since Kentucky, we all know that. There’s no reason for him to be coy or careful anymore. He has no secrets left to guard now.”

“He might have an army of Atrika, but we have an army of witches,” Mira answered. “Maybe Stefan will become overconfident and we can take advantage of that.”

Theo just grunted in response.

It was pretty clear to everyone that Stefan had the upper hand. It was nice that Mira could be so optimistic, though. They needed that.

Annie, an earth witch, was standing by the entrance. “The others are all ready.”

Jack was in charge here in Chicago while Thomas was still in Kentucky. He had ordered a group of Coven witches to enter the building earlier. Now they were mingling with the magickal and non-magickal patrons of the club.

“Good.” Jack nodded. “If our suspicions turn out to be true, one of us will send a text message. That will be your cue.”

They weren’t going in there without all their bases covered. There was a plan in place.

Annie, a diminutive brunette, smiled. “We’ll be ready. I hope we get to kick some warlock ass tonight.” She turned and reentered the club.

“Shall we?” Sarafina asked, moving toward the building.

They entered the building and were immediately enveloped in darkness. The beat of the trance music pounded in their ears and the club seethed and pulsed with dancing bodies and roving colored spotlights.