by Clare Kauter
We’d come in at the tail end of the fight, and now it appeared that the weres weren’t so into it anymore. They were obviously losing, mostly because they were trying to fight magic with brawn. Hecate, Daisy and Henry looked like they were having the times of their lives brawling with the lowest lowlifes Hell had to offer. A couple of wolves made half-hearted attempts to attack me, but I just blasted them away with little bursts of energy when they got too close.
Too worn out to continue, the wolves retreated. Their leader howled and the others joined, following her to the door.
“We’ll be back for you, goblin scum,” said the leader.
“Looking forward to it,” replied the bartender, who had been caught in the fray a moment before but was now back to polishing glasses behind the bar like nothing had happened.
I walked over to join the others.
“That was the most fun I’ve had in years!” said Hecate. “Maybe I’ll start coming here more often.”
“It’s a good way to vent your anger,” Daisy agreed. “And practice duelling. Perhaps we should start bringing the coven here to train in protective spells.”
“What a brilliant idea! What do you think, three times a week?”
While the other two were caught up with planning excursions for their witchy sisters, I turned to Henry. “That punch you dished out to Alfonse was maybe the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen.”
Henry grinned. “He deserved it.”
“Oh, I know. I wish I could have had a go at him too, but it looked like he was having enough trouble just trying to run away from you. Somehow it didn’t seem fair to gang up on someone so pathetic.”
Henry laughed. “He was a lot scarier back in school.”
“You showed him, though.”
Henry grinned. “Were you really that impressed?”
“Oh, you have no idea. You were majestic.”
“Majestic? Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you praise anyone so highly.”
“I don’t think I ever have praised anyone that highly,” I said. I paused. “Have I ever praised anyone at all?”
He laughed. “I’m sure you must have at some point.”
I shrugged. “Who knows? The point is, you beat up a bully and you looked damn fine doing it. I would have preferred to see you in your human form afterwards, but you can’t have everything.”
“My preference for my animal forms is one of my many flaws.”
“Many?”
“The craziness is another pretty big one.”
Again, my conscience reared its head. “The craziness is mild. It’s probably more drunkenness and stress than actual madness,” I said. “Besides, I think Dick has the market cornered on crazy. I’m pretty sure he actually thinks he’s attractive.”
Henry grimaced. “Surely not.”
I shrugged. I was certain I was right.
Our conversation was interrupted by one of the goblins approaching our little group.
“Evening,” he said. “I’m Bogalon. Thanks for your help back there. Usually lightweights such as yourselves don’t like getting their hands dirty. Not that I think you’re a bad guy, Henry – it’s just that I didn’t really expect you to join in.”
Henry smiled. “That pack’s full of idiots. They deserve whatever’s coming to them.”
“Truer words,” said Bogalon. “Now, tell me what brings you here. Since you aren’t sitting and no one has bought a beer yet, I’m guessing you didn’t come to drink.”
Henry shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I’ve got some bad news, Bog.”
Bogalon looked down at the floor then back up to Henry, eyes filled with sadness. “Gnawlack?”
Henry nodded. The clan must have noticed he was missing.
“What’s happened to him?”
“We found him dead earlier tonight.”
Bog bit his lip but I could still see it wobbling. “Wolves?”
Henry shook his head. “We’re not sure. It doesn’t look like a typical wolf attack, though.”
“Something to do with that friggin’ rock, then.”
That got my attention. “Rock? What rock?”
“The one that got stolen from that bank in Australia. Gnaw was looking for it. Reckoned someone used it here in Hell earlier today. That’s why we came here.”
“The Doomstone?” I said.
Bog nodded. “That’s the one.”
“How did he know it was here?” I asked.
Bogalon shrugged. “No idea.” He gave a sad smile. “He was so excited that someone had used it and he could finally trace its energy. Now it’s got him killed.”
Henry nodded slowly. “You think whoever has the stone killed him?”
Bogalon nodded. “If it wasn’t a werewolf, it was whoever took that stone.”
I could feel the stone pressing into my leg through my pocket. Bogalon had certainly given me something to think about. I knew that Gnawlack hadn’t found the stone, and that the person who had it hadn’t killed him. But what if he’d managed to find the person who’d originally taken it? After all, that particular thief had a history of murdering people over the stone. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to imagine him doing this.
I needed to talk to Ed.
Chapter Nine
Back in my room, I scrounged together what materials I could for the summoning. I hadn’t seen Dick since he’d run away at the pub and I’d been tempted to buy magical supplies whilst he was gone, but I didn’t have any money (this quest business had wreaked havoc on my savings) and I didn’t have time to hustle some from tourists. Instead I’d returned to my room, deciding to make do with what I had.
There were some herbs I’d taken from the demon kit Satan had given me earlier, plus a crystal I’d slipped into my pocket while cleaning Satan’s attic. (Dick had been too preoccupied telling me how he didn’t trust me to notice me stealing supplies right in front of him.) I’d return the crystal eventually, but I knew Satan wouldn’t mind me borrowing it in the meantime.
Usually I didn’t need supplies to call on a ghost, but I didn’t know where Ed was, and if he was chilling out in Heaven then it was going to take a little fortification of my usual summoning ritual (which basically consisted of me calling someone’s name out into the ether) to drag him down to Hell. Plus I wanted to have some supplies on hand so I could ward him off if he tried to attack me. OK, so he’d given me the stone, but that didn’t mean I trusted him. I wanted some magical protection on hand just in case.
Sitting in the moth-eaten green armchair in the corner of the room, upholstered in a fabric that might once have been velvet, I held the crystal in my left hand and set the herbs on the wooden floor in front of me, ready to ignite them should this meeting go south. Lighting something on fire on a wooden floor probably wasn’t a great idea so I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to make use of them, but they were close enough to my foot that I was pretty sure I could stamp them out before the flames took hold.
Sighing, I stretched out my neck. All these weeks with no magic and now I was about to perform my third summoning of the day. I was tired from all the work and cranky from the lack of sleep. Not to mention the fact that I’d headed up two rituals and had no cash to show for it. I was already broke enough when I started my first quest, but now that I was on the third I had so little money I was tempted to steal from beggars on the street. I didn’t usually work for free, but I couldn’t work without a licence, apparently, so I had no choice but to do what I was asked until Dick finally decided I was qualified. You’d think I’d have proved it by now, but apparently not. I was growing more and more certain that The Department was keeping me on a leash intentionally.
I’d made sure the door was locked so there was no chance of interruption from Dick. My materials were ready. It was time. I took a deep breath, shut my eyes, and reached out to the ether. Without being in a circle I wasn’t strong enough to dip into the ether properly, and even if I had been I wouldn’t have done it – way too much chan
ce of drowning if you go diving without someone to keep an eye on you – but that wouldn’t be necessary for what I wanted to do tonight.
“Ed,” I called.
“Yes?” said a voice from right in front of me.
My eyes flew open and I jumped back in my seat, startled by the noise. I hadn’t expected summoning him to be so easy. Either I was a lot stronger than I thought I was or he had been nearby.
“What?” I said, momentarily confused.
Ed put his hands on his hips. “You were the one who summoned me.”
“Oh, right. Yeah.” My heart pounded in my chest. Even though I was fairly sure Ed didn’t plan to kill me, having a murderer right here in my room was still kind of terrifying.
He raised his eyebrows at me. “This is the part where you say hello.”
“I have a question for you.”
“We need to work on your social skills.”
“It’s important.”
“Of course it is,” he said with an eye roll. “Doing another fun job for your Department pals, are you?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He sighed.
“Fine,” he said. “What’s the question?”
“Have you murdered anyone lately?”
He stroked his chin. “Define ‘lately’.”
I decided not to dwell on that response.
“Tonight?”
He shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint.”
I let my breath out slowly. It had been something of a long shot, but I’d still been hoping he’d be able to tell me something. It would have been so much neater if Ed had done it. Bam, case solved. Give me a licence. Let me go back to my rickety old shack by the cemetery where I could perform séances for normals without a Department chaperone.
Ed sat down on the edge of my bed, facing me. “You’re looking into another murder?”
I nodded. “I found a body, then Henry found me and called Hecate and Daisy to come and help out since they were here in Hell anyway.”
He raised his eyebrows. “The old gang is back together.”
“Well, the important members.”
He smiled. “Sounds like a fun time. I know how much you adore having The Department breathing down your neck.”
He was right. Having The Department around was somehow both boring and dangerous. Speaking of dangerous, that reminded me. “Oh! I can’t believe I almost forgot – we have a problem.”
“We do?”
I nodded and filled him in on Henry’s memory returning.
“Are you in love with him?” Ed asked, trying to keep a straight face. “Maybe that’s what broke the clouding spell. We all know that love is the most powerful magic of all. Like in Harry Potter.”
“This is serious! Do you not get what’s going on here? I murdered people,” I hissed. “If Henry has started to remember then maybe the others will too. I’m going to end up in prison!”
“What, for killing a couple of grabbers in self-defence? I doubt it. Not even no-fun Henry would arrest you for that.”
“But the fact that the officials with me had their memories clouded seems sus. The Department doesn’t want to let me out of their sight, and that would be the perfect reason to lock me up and do experiments on me or whatever their end game is.”
“OK, so they’ll label you as a murderer. Whatever. We can be on the run together.”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe I’d be better off in the dungeons.”
“You’re breaking my heart.”
“You don’t have a heart,” I said. “Why did you bother clouding them in the first place if you don’t care whether they find out about my magic or not?”
He shrugged. “I needed you to get me the Doomstone. Now that you’ve done that I don’t care if they arrest you.”
“Yes, you do. If they arrest me then the stone will fall back into the government’s hands.”
He sighed. “Fine, I do care. But I really don’t think they’ll arrest you. Especially once they know how you’ve historically reacted to being cornered.”
“I don’t want to hurt them.”
“Doesn’t mean you won’t.”
That was a depressing thought.
“Oh, don’t go getting all morose,” he said, seeing the look on my face. “Nothing bad is going to happen. Henry’s already convinced that he’s in the middle of a breakdown due to your brilliant quick thinking.”
I groaned. “I feel awful.”
“What, for telling your lover lies?”
“What is your problem?” I snapped. “Are you jealous that I kissed Henry too?”
He snorted. “Oh, yeah. Super jealous. As I recall it, it ended with him turning into a gorilla and you screaming at him.”
“As I recall it, my kiss with you ended in extreme lip pain for both of us.”
“Yes, but that was because of Step-Mum Satan, not because of me.”
“I’d rather kiss Henry a thousand times than kiss you again.”
Especially after seeing him in that bar fight. Oof. Was being attracted to a gorilla weird? Yes, definitely. But until you’ve seen one throw a punch you just wouldn’t understand…
“Oh, Nessa,” said Ed, snapping me out of my daydream. “One tiny betrayal and suddenly you don’t like me anymore.”
“You and I have different definitions of ‘tiny’.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. “I gave the stone back.”
“Because you couldn’t get it to work, not out of any sense of loyalty.”
“Speaking of getting it to work,” he said, “you didn’t tell me why Daisy and Hecate were here in Hell in the first place. They’re still trying to track the stone down, right?”
“Yes.”
“And they figured out it was here.”
“Yes.”
“Which means you used it.”
I sighed and nodded. He looked at me expectantly.
“Details?” he said finally.
“I summoned a demon to be Satan’s new bouncer at one of the clubs. Midway through my new examiner tripped and fell into the pentagram, releasing the single biggest demon I’ve ever seen.”
“Just before you continue, I have to know – have you made out with the new examiner yet?”
I rolled my eyes. “No,” I said. “I think he might be the one person I find more repulsive than you.”
His jaw dropped. “Wow. He must be awful.”
“You have no idea.”
“So he set your demon free.”
“And it was an absolute monster. I tried to use my magic but it wasn’t strong enough, so I put my hand in my pocket and touched the Doomstone.”
“And then?” Ed breathed. He was leaning towards me, pupils dilated, fascinated by my story.
I shrugged. “And then it activated. My crazy purple death magic came back, but stronger than I’ve ever seen it. So I strangled and gutted a demon in front of my supervisor and a bunch of tourists.”
Ed nodded. “That sounds pretty cool.”
“It saved my life.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“What do you know about it? The stone?”
Ed shrugged. “I know I can’t work it.”
“How did you know I’d be able to? What actually is it?”
“Why all these questions?”
I took a deep breath. “I think the dead guy was after it and I want to know how people can track it to see if I can cloud it somehow and keep them away.”
Ed frowned. “Who’s your dead guy?”
“He’s a goblin gang leader.”
“Gnawlack?”
Well, that was interesting. Maybe summoning Ed hadn’t been such a bust after all. “Yes. You know him?”
Ed nodded slowly. “Yeah, I do. How did he die?”
“How do you know him?”
Ed sighed. “I didn’t kill him.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not like you haven’t done it before.”
“I could say the same to you.”
/>
“Well I didn’t kill him either,” I said.
“I know you didn’t.”
“He was after the Doomstone,” I said. “That’s why I called you. I thought maybe…”
“What, you thought I’d killed him to protect you?”
I glared at him. “No. I thought you might have killed him to protect yourself.”
“That sounds much more like me,” said Ed. “But I didn’t. And I don’t think he was killed because of the stone.”
“You don’t think that maybe someone else thought he’d found it and tried to take it from him?”
Ed frowned. “Why, did it look like he’d been mugged?”
Uh… “Not exactly.”
I described the scene to him, but he looked just as perplexed as I felt.
“It definitely sounds ritualistic, but it’s not like anything I’ve ever encountered,” Ed said when I’d finished telling him what Gnawlack’s body had looked like. “And that’s odd, because I’ve done my fair share of reading on dark magic.”
“Really? Someone as sweet and innocent as you? I had no idea.”
“Don’t go acting like you don’t know plenty about dark magic too,” said Ed. “We both know better.”
He was right there. “I’m uncomfortable that neither of us know what it means,” I said.
“You said Satan saw the body?”
“Yes.”
“And she didn’t know what the ritual was?”
“If she did, she didn’t say.”
Ed nodded, smiling as if he suddenly understood something.
“What? What is it?”
“I’ve had a thought.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’d figured that much out for myself.”
“If this ritual is related to you somehow –”
“I didn’t do it.”
He rolled his eyes. “I know you didn’t. But if the ritual has something to do with what you are…”
“Then Satan wouldn’t be able to tell me, even if she knew what it was for,” I finished. Of course. It seemed unlikely that Satan would have no knowledge of the dark ritual that had been performed on Gnawlack. It combined her two favourite things – dark magic and torture. Ed had told me that there was some sort of secrecy spell around me, and for that reason no one could tell me what I was until I found it out for myself. If the ritual was somehow related to that, even Satan wouldn’t be able to tell me. I found it annoying that she hadn’t even tried to hint, though. Truth be told, Ed was the only one who seemed to care that I found out what I was. He had tried to give me clues – one of them being the Doomstone – whereas everyone else just seemed to avoid the topic.