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.
Chapter 5
The 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.
Chapter 6
I wasn’t keen on hanging around for the next police officer to come and berate me for loitering in places I wasn’t meant to. I headed for home. It would have been easy to get a cab or catch the subway, but I needed the time to clear my head and walking was one of the best ways I had for doing it.
I took the long route home; my feet carried me forward as my mind fought to come to terms with all the things I’d learned. I didn’t need Dex threatening to spill my secrets to the world, but after everything he’d been through, how could I blame him for holding me responsible?
I hadn’t possessed him but I also hadn’t stopped it from happening. At the end of the day, the best of intentions didn’t really cut it.
Dragging myself free of my thoughts, I peered around at my surroundings, my stomach flip flopping as I recognised the area.
Sonia and Steve had been buried two days previous and I, being the coward that I was, had hung in the background watching the proceedings take place from afar. The second it was over, I’d hightailed it out of there like all the demons in Hell were chasing me. And perhaps demons were chasing me, but they weren’t from Hell, at least not in the biblical sense.
Pushing open the cemetery gate, I followed the path that led up through the new sections, following it around until I found myself in the old section, the graves there dating back far enough that the writing was no longer legible.
Steve and Sonia’s double plot sat in the middle, the makeshift grave marker causing my stomach to clench uncomfortably. Someone had even put a tiny cherub next to the cross, probably one of the family members….
Crossing the soft dew damp grass, I crouched down next to the grave and read the plaque in front of the cherub.
“We never had the chance to meet, but know you were loved….”
The words brought tears to my eyes. It had all gone so wrong. If the shifter hadn’t followed me home, Steve would still be alive, Sonia, and their unborn child. As it was, they were all gone, and I would have to live with the memory of the expression in Steve’s eyes after he’d murdered Sonia.
Closing my eyes, I pressed my hand to the top of the grave, but the earth was cold beneath my fingers and I could feel nothing of the people who had died. What was in the earth now was nothing but the shell of who they had been.
The hairs on the back of my neck lifted and I jerked my hand back from the grave. I wasn’t afraid of cemeteries; I’d learned from a young age that there wasn’t anything worth being afraid of in them. The dead were just that; dead. The only way they could pose a threat was with a helping hand from the living. And from my cursory glance around the graveyard when I’d first entered, I was the only living soul within the walls.
Something shivered down my spine and I turned, pushing up onto my feet as I made a slow half-circle turn.
The woman stood on the other side of the cemetery, her dark eyes watching me with an intensity that set all the hairs on my body standing on end.
The second she realised I was staring back at her, she jerked as though I’d slapped her.
Cemeteries weren’t haunted as a rule. Ghosts had no business inside them; it was simply the place where their physical form rested and unless they were bound to it, there was just nothing for them in a graveyard. Of course, bound ghosts were just that. Bound meant they couldn’t even move from the cozy confines of their coffins, forced to wait for the complete decay of their bodies. “Dust to dust” had more than one meaning.
The ghost took a trembling step forward, the dark gaping holes where her eyes should have been staring at me as though she could peer straight through me and into my very soul.
And maybe she could. I wasn’t exactly an expert when it came to ghosts.
Between one blink and the next she was gone and I sucked a breath in through my teeth. There was something about her, something terribly familiar that made me think I was supposed to know exactly who she was. But no matter how hard I tried to force my brain to grasp the faded edges of the memory that whispered through my mind, it refused to.
Instead, I was left standing in the cemetery, alone, with the hairs still standing on the back of my neck as the sensation of being watched refused to fade away.
Chapter 7
The second I made it home, I peel
ed the blue dress off my body. It wasn’t exactly how I’d hoped the night would end but then maybe it was for the best. I liked Nic, but if I was honest with myself, the depth of my feeling for him frightened me.
We had no idea if we would even work out and at the rate work kept on throwing obstacles in our path, we would never get the opportunity, but I felt as though I’d known him my whole life. It was a lie my heart told my head to make me simply accept the way I felt for him.
Dragging on a sweatshirt, I stared down at the plastic-covered mattress and the pile of bedding I’d left in preparation three days previously. Working late nights didn’t exactly make me a fan of housework and even when I had a day off like today, I still wasn’t interested in cleaning house. My mother considered me a slob.
The plastic crackled beneath me as I climbed onto the bed and dragged the still-unused, clean sheet from the pile of bedding. Drawing it over my body, I stared up at the ceiling and the headlights that passed by.
Something shifted in the darkness and I jolted awake. Holding my breath, I strained to listen my heartbeat echoing in my ears. How long had I been asleep?
Someone took a deep, sighing breath and I froze. The darkness was absolute and panic crowded my brain as I realised my hands were stuck. Less stuck and more bound. The second it occurred to me that my hands were bound, I could feel the silk bonds wrapped around my wrists; every time I struggled the bonds grew tighter and my panic increased.
“Who’s there?” I called out.
“Don’t you remember me?” The voice slid across my skin drawing up the memory of the voice in my head from just a few short hours ago.
The panic turned to stark terror as his hand slid up over my foot and onto my ankle, the same ankle that had been bitten by whatever creature had killed those people at St Anne’s.
“You’re a deep sleeper. I worried about waking you when I slipped the silks on your wrists—”
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