Authors: Bilinda Sheehan
He took a step toward me and my heart rate picked up speed as he reached out to me. Before he could touch me, Nic was there, his body blocking Jason.
There was no time to react; Nic planted his hands into the centre of his brother’s chest and shoved him backwards with enough force to send the taller brother stumbling backwards.
“Back off, Jason. This isn’t the time or the place.” Nic’s voice was little more than a growl, his words filled with a fury I wouldn’t have expected from him, especially over something as stupid as Jason trying to touch my face. And anyway, it wasn’t as though I couldn’t have protected myself.
Jason laughed, the sound void of any happiness, and it hurt my ears. “It’s always the right time, little brother; don’t you forget it,” Jason said before stalking away towards the entrance to the church.
“What was that about?” I said, catching Nic’s hand in my own.
“Forget about it, he’s an asshole,” Nic said, but I could tell from the anger in his eyes as he stared at his brother’s retreating back that there was more to it than he was telling me.
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” I said.
“He likes you,” Nic said.
“Not possible—he’s suspicious of me.”
“He’s that, too, but he likes you, can’t quite put his finger on what it is about you….” Nic trailed off and I stared at him waiting for him to continue.
“And?”
“It’s his nature, as a witch hunter; his attraction to you is borne of his desire to own you, to destroy what you are…. Over time, it becomes an obsession.”
Laughter bubbled past my lips and Nic shot me a surprised look as I bent over and let my giggles escape me, the sound verging on hysteria.
“This is funny why?” he asked.
“Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?” I said, wiping my hands across my eyes and swearing silently as my mascara smudged across the back of my hand.
“It’s true; I read about it in one of his books. The Saga believed it was a last-ditch attempt by the Shadow Sorcerers to protect themselves from the witch hunters, a way to hide what they were in plain sight and prevent their destruction. How could the Saga kill something they love more dearly than their own lives?”
Nic’s words sent a sobering shiver down my spine.
“How do I stop it?” I said, searching my memory for any mention of such a spell in the grimoire I’d found at Nic’s.
“You don’t. There were rumours of it causing the Sorcerers to fall in love, too.” The pain in Nic’s voice caused an ache in my chest that threatened to cleave my heart in two.
“That won’t happen,” I said, but Nic was already shaking his head, his expression hardening as he mentally distanced himself from me.
Clearly, he’d already decided on how it would go, and as far as I was concerned, that was nothing but crap. I was my own woman; I would fall in love with whoever I wanted, not because of something he’d read about in a book….
“What about Lily? Won’t he fall in love with her, too?”
Nic shrugged. “I don’t know, but from everything I’ve read, he already knew what she was before he met her. It voids the magic.”
I didn’t answer him; he seemed far too certain of what was going to happen and, well, I couldn’t see into the past—it wasn’t as though I could say if it was true or not. All I did know was that I had no feelings toward Jason….
“There has to be a way to stop it,” I said, refusing to believe that my path was not my own. Hell, until recently, I hadn’t even known what I truly was. I’d come a long way, but that didn’t mean I had to become what the Shadow Sorcerers of old had.
Nic nodded, his smile forced. “I love your optimism,” he said, cupping my face.
“Not optimism, it’s the truth.”
It was his turn to fall silent, the kiss he pressed to my forehead feeling far too much like goodbye. Anger boiled in my veins but before I could open my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, he was gone, jogging across the church courtyard in the same direction as his brother.
Sighing, I turned back to the scene in front of me. My stomach rolled uncomfortably, but there was nothing left in there for me to purge. It was all so complicated and if there was one thing I hated, it was complications.
Drinking in the sight laid out on ground, I allowed it to sear itself into my brain. It was a bad start when a crime scene as gruesome as this one was simpler to navigate than the dating world.
“
H
e didn’t look too pleased
,” Graham said, his sudden proximity making me jump.
“Stop with the sneaking up on me, all right?” I said grumpily.
Graham raised his hands in mock surrender and grinned. “I didn’t think I was sneaking, but it’s nice to know I’ve still got stealth on my side.”
It was his way of trying to pull me out of the misery I was rapidly sliding into, but it was already too late. The combination of a failed date and the crime scene spread around us was enough to drive anyone to drink.
“Have the forensics picked up on anything else?” I asked, forcing myself to concentrate on the scene in front of me.
Graham shook his head and stared ahead. I couldn’t tell if he was looking out at the mess or if he was simply too lost in thought.
“Did you call Victoria?” I asked.
He nodded almost absentmindedly but didn’t speak, and my impatience got the the better of me.
“And she said…?” I prompted.
“Nothing. I had to leave a message. No answer from her cell phone,” he said, finally snapping out of his own dark thoughts. “Do you think this is Fae?” he asked, glancing in my direction.
“I don’t know. I suppose until someone walks the scene, we won’t know…” I answered truthfully.
How something could do so much damage…. I knew Victoria was powerful, but something like this would be beyond even her capabilities. But that didn’t mean there weren’t other types of Fae that could create this much carnage.
“Are you ready?” he asked, his question snapping me out of my reverie.
“Ready?”
My heart sank; I didn’t really need to ask him what he meant, I already knew the answer. There were plenty of others from the Elite who could walk the scene, but none so easily as me and definitely no one who would get as clear a picture as I would.
“I’m going to need a pair of….” Before I could even get the words out, Graham thrust a pair of coveralls in my direction and I snapped them from his grip.
Evidently, he’d thought of everything….
Unrolling the coveralls, I stepped into them, one booted foot at a time. The legs were wide enough that I didn’t need to worry about getting caught inside them and my dress barely rode up as I jerked them up over my torso.
Once I was in the coveralls, Graham held a pair of plastic boot covers out toward me and I groaned. There was no way to avoid getting up close and personal with the human soup spread everywhere, but staring at the boot covers made it more real.
Dragging them on, I let Graham balance me before I sucked in a deep breath, the stench causing my nose to wrinkle in disgust. It was becoming more and more important that we find out just how long the bodies had been out here for. I wasn’t a shifter, but my nose was pretty sensitive, and despite it being night, the bodies were already on the turn, the smell of raw meat slowly ebbing to be replaced by the stench of rot.
Heading to the grass verge, I paused and stared down. Rolling my shoulders back, I stepped out into the scene, ignoring the wet squelch of the grass beneath my plastic covered boots.
Magic rushed over my skin, causing the hairs on my body to stand on end. The second I felt it, I knew my mistake. There was no way I should be out here. The magic clawed at me, searching for way in, a weakness in my armour, and I fought it back, power pulsing in my veins and in my head as I struggled to draw in a deep breath.
The world spun and it took every ounce of my willpower just to stay on my feet, but the second I felt it inside my head, my body stopped fighting.
What are you?
it asked, its voice like velvet, causing me to shiver as it pulsed and ran its long fingers inside my mind.
Drawing my power forth, I fought to push it out, but now that it was in my head there was no shaking it off.
You taste of magic, of power…
it said, causing me to cry out as it stretched inside my head and I got a taste of what it was.
Fae magic flooded my veins, dampening my own power as though it were nothing. And in the face of the thing that had gotten inside my head, it was nothing.
You don’t like what I’ve done?
Its question caught me by surprise and silence echoed inside me as though there was nothing but the creature in there.
“You killed all those people, and for what?” I said, only vaguely aware that the question left my mouth and didn’t echo inside my head like the creature’s had.
For sport, because I am strong and they were weak…
it answered. Its callous reply caused a shudder of revulsion to race through me.
I struggled toward the grass verge but the magic in my veins pulsed once more and I cried out, my spine jerking backwards as the Fae inside my head bent me to his will.
I could make you do what I want … I could make you my instrument….
I knew it the second its magic touched against my demon mark. The two magics refused to mix and my body suddenly felt as though it were being ripped asunder.
I screamed this time, flashes of the carnage that had occurred flashing through my head; the scent of blood warm against my skin; the growl of wild animals that filled me with a dread I hadn’t known was possible driving me forward.
Reaching the path, I tried to draw my body off the grass but the creatures chasing me took a hold of my ankle, teeth like razors sliding beneath my skin with the same ease as a knife through warm butter.
Strong arms wrapped around mine, dragging me forward, and the creature’s ferocious grip disappeared the second I was no longer touching the grass.
Graham’s concerned face stared down into mine and I fought to slow my racing heart. My ankle stung where the creatures’ jaws had tried to crush my bones and I scrambled upright, my hands jerking the torn leg of the coveralls up over my leg, revealing the rapidly healing bite mark that took up half of my lower leg.
“Jesus Christ.” Graham whistled, staring down at my leg as the last of the skin knitted together and the bones reconnected with a pop. “What was that?”
“That,” I said, scrubbing my hands down over the place where the bite had been as though my mind itself refused to believe that it was truly gone, “was whatever did all of this.”
“It’s still here?” he asked, suddenly wary. He glanced around as though at any second the creature that had attacked me was about to jump out on us both.
“No, just a memory, but whatever Fae it is can reach out through the magic…. The combination of the blood and the symbol,” I said, gesturing up the mark burned into the wall, “amplifies its power.”
Graham nodded as though he’d understood everything I’d just said, which simply wasn’t possible because not even I fully understood it. “Did you get anything useful?” he asked.
Shaking my head, I cast a wary glance back at the crime scene. There was nothing on this earth would get me to step back out onto the grass again. I’d felt it inside my head, felt his power, and I knew without a doubt that what he’d said was true; he could control me, use me as his weapon if he so wished.
It felt like a violation and the more I thought about it, the more I just wanted to get back to my apartment and take the hottest shower known to man. Especially if that meant I could get away from the scene stretched out in front of me.
“Nothing aside from the fact that he’s really powerful, Graham,” I said, swallowing past my own fear which threatened to block my throat.
He didn’t answer me but he didn’t need to. I could already see the cogs in his head turning as he contemplated the Elite’s next move. It made me glad I wasn’t in his shoes; the last thing I would be capable of doing was making such heavy decisions.
“Go home, Amber. I’ll call you in the morning if I have anything,” he said finally, smiling at me.
Was he disappointed? I couldn’t really tell, but I had the sneaking suspicion that I’d somehow let him down, failed to deliver the Fae that had created so much pain and death. But my power wasn’t infallible and maybe there was a way for me to face the Fae that had done all of this without losing myself completely…. But if there was, then I hadn’t figured it out yet.
“Fine, call me,” I said, starting for the walkway that led down the side of the church, anger fuelling me.
“Amber!” Graham called after me, but I ignored him, picking up my pace as I rounded the corner and went out of sight.
T
he second I
made it around to the front of the church, I instantly started to strip out of the coveralls. I’d fallen when the Fae had tried to take me over and the white plastic was streaked with bright and rust-coloured blood. Walking home in the coveralls, while more comfortable, would only raise too many questions and I didn’t fancy getting picked up by the cops and trying to explain to them who I was and why I was covered in someone else’s blood.
Stepping out of them, I balled them up and used the clean inside to wipe my hands as clean as I could. Nearby, there was a trash collection set up by the Elite for the express purpose of disposing of bio-hazard waste, so I dumped them in there. I headed for the front gate but my eyes were drawn back to the front door of the church.
The last time I’d been here, I’d come as close as I ever wanted to losing my life. I could still remember the feel of the demon’s breath on the back of my neck, the touch of its claws on my body….
Knowing what it wanted, what it would have done to me had I not already had a demon mark of my own, still gave me nightmares. Without really knowing what I was doing, my feet carried me toward the still-cordoned front door of the church.
The demon that was Father Matthew had killed Father Bailey. From everything I’d heard, he’d been a good man, a kind man always willing to help those in need. He was just one of the many people I’d failed in my short time working for the Elite.
Pulling aside the tape, I stepped inside, silence flooding around me, drowning out the noise of the forensic teams moving around outside. After Father Bailey’s death, the Vatican had declared the church lost—or at least that’s what Jason had said. Tainted by evil, the ground no longer consecrated. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder if that was why I could enter the church itself without setting off the alarms.
No matter how much good I tried to do, in the eyes of God, I was still an abomination. I’d learned that from my slow perusal of the book I’d gotten from Nic’s apartment, Brigid Dubhacht’s grimoire. The Vatican were clear on the role of the Shadow Sorcerer; we were evil, pure and unadulterated.
I wasn’t entirely convinced myself, but as time went on and the demon mark gained strength, I was beginning to have my doubts on the truths I clung to.
Making my way slowly up the centre of the church, I paused next to the top pew and stared up at the altar. Without ever having to close my eyes, I could see Father Bailey as he’d lain across it, his face frozen in terror.
He’d prayed before the end, prayed for the God he’d devoted his entire life to, to spare him. God hadn’t.
This I knew without having to walk the scene. Some crimes were so traumatic, so horrific, so abhorrent to nature herself, that an imprint was left behind.
Dropping into the first pew, I buried my face in my arms. I was supposed to help those who needed it and yet it felt like at every turn I failed.
“Ma’am, you can’t be in here.” The familiar voice echoed through the church and I spun around in my seat.
The last time I’d seen Dex, they were carting him away in the back of an ambulance after he’d been possessed by whatever the hell came with the Bone Blade. He looked slimmer and from what I could see of his face that wasn’t completely hidden in shadow, he’d become gaunt.
Guilt ripped through me. I hadn’t gone to see him, hadn’t even called him up. I’d thought about it but every time it came to do it, my nerve deserted me. I was nothing but a pathetic coward.
“Dex, how are you?” I asked, pushing up onto my feet and taking a step toward him.
His expression changed, recognition filling his eyes before it was replaced by what could only be described as disgust. Disgust and hate.
I couldn’t blame him of course. I gotten him into the mess and he’d been just another person that I couldn’t protect.
“You can’t be in here; it’s an active crime scene outside,” he said, his voice icy.
“I know, I was out back a few minutes ago…” I said, before cutting myself off. Biting down on my lips, I contemplated on what I was supposed to say to him. How could I explain any of it to him?
“I know what you are,” he said, suddenly blurting it out into the dark church.
My blood froze in my veins and my breath caught in the back of my throat. Part of me had expected it; I’d driven out the spirit possessing him with my power … half killed him in the process, and despite it being self-defence, I felt terrible.
Not terrible enough to pick up the phone and call him
, the voice in the back of my head reminded me.
“What do you mean?” Ignorance seemed like my own option. If it was true and he really knew what I was, then he was a danger. But even if he went to Graham and told him, well, Graham already knew the truth.
“Don’t lie, Amber, it’s not becoming of you…” he said harshly, his words cutting across me like a slap to the face.
He’d changed so much.
When we’d met, he’d been so arrogant—convinced that no matter what, he knew the best course of action. His arrogance had very nearly cost Graham his life. But beneath the facade he put up for the world, I’d caught glimpses of a fun, life-loving young detective determined to make a difference in a world of monsters, human and preternatural alike.
Now when I looked at him, all I could see was darkness. Harsh cynicism marred his face and the hate in his eyes as he stared at me made it difficult to meet his gaze.
“What do you know?” I asked instead.
“I’d suspected you were a witch … but now I know you are. But you’re something else too, I felt it,” he said. Fear crept into his voice, but it didn’t reach his eyes. They remained cold and impassive.
“And what are you going to do with that information?” I asked, keeping my voice low and neutral.
Dex shook his head and laughed a bitter sound that hurt my ears and reminded me of the one Jason had shared earlier. “When I decide, you’ll know—or is that too vague for you? Will you hurt me again, Amber?”
Confusion washed over me and I opened my mouth to answer him, but he shook his head again and laughed once more.
“Don’t bother, I already know the answer to that. I know what you’ll do to me,” he said before he stalked away toward the door. “But not if I get to you first,” he said, the threat spoken so softly that I almost missed it.
I knew my mouth was hanging open as he disappeared out through the front door of the church and I let him go. Part of me wanted to race after him, confront him, but what good would it do? He was afraid of me, afraid of what I was….
And how could I blame him for that? For centuries, what I was had been bandied about like the bogeyman; we were nothing but monsters with access to power, power unlike anything the world had ever seen. Perhaps his fear of me would force him to keep his mouth shut, but where Dex was concerned, I really wasn’t convinced of that.
Where he was concerned, anything was possible.