The cold began to get oppressive, sinking through my clothes and down into my bones, so I ducked inside the coffee shop and got an Americano before walking back to my car. Coffee did taste richer and more flavorful to my mortal taste buds, not dull like it had to my vampire tongue, but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
Why the hell wouldn’t anyone believe that?
Chapter 17
Evan chewed the inside of his cheek. He wore layers of plaid, like he secretly dreamed of leaving the farm behind and running off into the woods to become a lumberjack. Given what he’d found in his barn, I didn’t blame him. He kept looking over at the barn and then shuddering, his shoulders hunched. When he caught me watching him, he straightened, squaring his shoulders.
After my encounter with Angela last night, I was in a sour mood, which was perfect for examining the scene of yet another ritualistic murder.
The sky was a gray mess of clouds, and while it wasn’t raining yet, the powerful gusts of wind that shook the trees on the farm’s perimeter meant the sky might open up at any moment.
Erin was livid. She was pacing back and forth, muttering about stringing the killer up by their toenails. Neither of us had seen the bones yet, as Evan wanted to wait for the rest of the Elders before opening the crime scene again. He’d found the body—or what was left of it—and the ritual circle a little after noon, when he’d gone into the barn to grab a rake.
Erin and I had arrived about fifteen minutes ago. Jones, the man with the white hair, had come with Beverly, the redhead who had glowered at me and dressed like a librarian in long skirts and sweaters. They had arrived a little before us, and both of them were inside the farmhouse drinking tea. They saw no reason to stand out in the cold while waiting for the others to arrive. Evan seemed afraid to let the barn out of his sight, like the skeleton might get up and walk away if no one was watching.
“Any idea who did it?” I asked Evan.
“Someone with balls,” he said, turning his gaze back to me. “Magic that powerful is bound to be loud. I’m a sound sleeper, but still. I could have woken up. I could have caught them.”
The barn was a good distance from the farmhouse, but it was plainly visible from several of the house’s windows. He was right. It was ballsy. All he’d had to do was look outside at the wrong time and the perpetrator would have been caught.
“It was a dumbass move,” Erin said angrily. “Because now I’m personally going to make sure they pay.”
“Using Evan’s barn does seem reckless,” I said.
“Honestly, if I were going to do black magic and death rituals, I’d pick a very private place,” Kiki said, trotting up to where the three of us had gathered around the side of the house. She wore jeans and a light blue parka and held a Starbucks cup in one hand. I was glad I wasn’t the only one bundled up. I was 99 percent sure the spell my attacker had thrown at me two nights ago had worn off—Erin insisted it must have by now—but there’s nothing like magic to make you paranoid and I was still so cold. “I mean, come on, at least go into the woods or something.”
Erin stared at Kiki like she was speaking in an alien language, arms folded over her chest. “It’s not funny,” Erin finally said.
“I didn’t say it was,” Kiki argued. “Just that whoever did it wasn’t being super smart.”
Carla arrived a moment later, ducking into the house before joining us. Jones and Beverly trailed behind her. Carla wore a pantsuit and heels and a red peacoat, and had annoyance painted on her face as thickly as her makeup.
“What’s she doing here?” Carla asked, pointing a gnarled finger at me.
I wondered if Byron had told them I’d been at the other scene, the one with the body I thought was Bea’s, or if Carla was only now finding out I was sticking around until the murderer was caught and vampires stopped dying.
“Another vampire’s been murdered,” I said. “I have every right to be here.”
“How so? You’re not a vampire,” she said immediately.
Kiki cleared her throat.
Carla shot her a look.
“Evan invited her. It’s his farm,” Kiki said.
“This is a shared Guild space,” Carla said. “And this is Guild business. She’s not of the Guild and she’s not one of the vampires. I want her gone.”
“No,” Evan said firmly. Erin nodded, folding her arms over her chest.
“We need an objective set of eyes,” Erin said.
“She’s a friend of the vampires. That’s not objective,” Beverly said, her cheeks turning red when I shot her a look. She quickly turned her gaze to the ground.
“Henri is staying,” Evan said. “End of story.”
There was a long silence, during which Carla and Evan had a staring contest and an unspoken argument.
Finally, Carla sighed. “Well, shall we get this over with?” She made it sound like she couldn’t imagine why we were all just standing around. Her attitude reminded me of Eric, the manager at the restaurant who’d fired me. A pang of regret vibrated through me. Not that I missed him, but there were moments I did miss the restaurant, especially as a reliable source of income. After giving cash to Elliot, I was trying to figure out how to make rent. I wouldn’t know how big my final check from the restaurant was until it arrived, but it would include most of my tips from the last week I’d worked. I had to hope it would cover it.
“Byron’s not here yet,” Jones told Carla.
Carla sighed again like this was the worst news she could possibly get and then stared with envy at Kiki’s coffee cup. Beverly shivered, pointing out how cold it had gotten, and I shivered too, remembering the cold burn of magic I’d felt the other night. Jones read something on his phone. Finally, what felt like an hour later but was probably only a couple of minutes, we heard a car pull up and a door close.
Byron came limping around the corner. He wore a thick winter parka and jeans. He winced every time he put weight on his left leg. Ice ran down my spine.
“What the hell happened to you?” Kiki asked at the same time Beverly said, “Are you okay?”
“I was attacked last night,” Bryon said.
“What?” Erin demanded, catching my eye. “Who attacked you?”
Byron shook his head. “Don’t know. They wore a lot of black. Hit me with a freezing spell and then knocked me on the ground. I managed to fight them off, but only because I’d just recharged my rings.” He waved his fingers that all bore silver rings where he stored his magical energy.
“Shit,” Evan said.
I swallowed, my mouth going dry. Bryon was the right height to be my attacker, and I’d stabbed my attacker with the stake right in the meat of their left thigh. He could be lying about being attacked to explain his injury.
“Henri was attacked, too,” Erin said. “The night before last.”
Byron’s eyebrows went up. I couldn’t tell whether his surprise was genuine or not. “By whom?”
“Hell if I know,” I said. “They also wore a lot of black. I’m guessing it was whoever did the ritual last night, hoping to grab me for their circle. And maybe when they failed to get me, they went for you.”
I watched Byron’s face carefully, looking for signs that he was the one behind all of this, but if his horror was faked, he was a damn good actor. For all I knew, he was. Whoever was doing this was deceiving a lot of people, particularly if they were not only part of the Guild, but part of the Elders. Still, he seemed pretty disgusted by the idea.
“That’s really bad,” Kiki said.
“No shit, Sherlock,” I said, before I realized the words were leaving my mouth.
Kiki rolled her eyes. “It means this person is willing to sacrifice a fellow witch.”
I bit my tongue hard enough that it bled, just to keep from making a nasty remark about how the person being willing to sacrifice vampires and ex-vampires like myself was equally shitty. Of course, I had no evidence that that had been my attacker’s goal. But then again, they clearly weren’t do
ne sacrificing people. If they wanted me out of the way, surely they’d kill two birds with one stone given the chance.
Carla, impatient, gestured to the barn. “Let’s get this over with and get inside the house where it’s warm.”
As we headed across the field, I heard Evan mutter, “I didn’t invite you inside,” under his breath.
* * *
A circle had been etched in the dirt, about an inch thick and an inch deep. Salt lined the bottom. The sight of the skeleton in the center of the circle sent my heart leaping into my throat. The victim had been another vampire, with fangs jutting out of his jaw. He—I was sure it was a he, though I didn’t know why—had been tall. Something about the bones was familiar, but that was impossible. Why would I be familiar with anyone’s bones? I was seeing things that weren’t there, impressing some need to have solidarity with this skeleton over reality.
Kiki lifted a shoe that had been left outside the circle, a shiny black Italian shoe. I swallowed uneasily and took it from her, checking the size. My stomach roiled.
It was a size 10. Sean’s size. The body was the right height. And if I was right about Bea, it was possible the perpetrator was grabbing vampires with connections to the Factory, and Sean was very connected.
I grabbed my phone and sent him a text. Just a question mark. I couldn’t think of anything else besides “Tell me you’re alive right the fuck now,” and that was too much to type.
I rocked uneasily as I waited for my phone to buzz, staring at the bones and willing it to be anyone else.
Not that anyone else deserved to be reduced to a skeleton, killed to generate magical energy for a witch who was probably standing in the barn right now, feigning innocence as they betrayed their Guild for some unknown purpose.
If this was Sean, I was going to tear out everyone’s eyeballs with my fingernails until one of them confessed, and then make sure the killer suffered.
It wasn’t Sean. It couldn’t be. He was 900 years old. If I could fight off the attacker, so could he.
But then, the freezing spell was way more effective on vampires, and vampires could be staked and subdued while frozen. My attacker had been unsure what to do when I’d come out of the spell too quickly, unprepared to take a human alive. They couldn’t stake me like they could an immortal. But they were well practiced in taking vampires.
“Henri,” Erin said, in a tone that told me it wasn’t the first time she’d said my name. “Hello?”
“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head.
“You see anything?” Byron asked. Carla was across the barn, on the other side of the skeleton, watching me with a strange expression. Kiki was staring at the bones like they might jump up and bite her. Beverly had gone back outside. Jones and Evan hovered near the door.
“I told you, I’m not a psychic,” I said. “I see what you see. A murder victim.”
“Yes, well, I don’t see any clues as to who might have done this.” Carla walked around the circle, reaching us in a few long strides. She glanced at Evan. “Though Evan was the only one here.”
“I didn’t do this,” Evan said, a hard edge in his voice.
“Can you prove that?” Byron asked mildly, like he was asking about the weather.
Evan clenched his fists. “I was alone last night. But if I were the rogue witch, why would I do this in my own barn and then tell all of you about it when I could easily destroy the evidence and no one would be the wiser?”
It was an excellent point.
“Or perhaps,” Carla said, “you simply knew we’d think that, and would rule you out once you showed us your dirty work.” Her eyes bore into Evan like she was trying to dig a hole.
Evan shook his head vehemently. “That,” he pointed to the skeleton, “is some seriously fucked up magic. Not to mention, the perpetrator is capturing and killing vampires. Whoever this is has a death wish.”
“Or the opposite,” Byron said under his breath, so quietly I didn’t think he expected anyone else to hear. I didn’t comment on it, but I did store it away to mention to Erin later, along with the fact that Byron’s injured leg was the same one I’d stabbed with my stake.
I saw something move in my periphery, near the skeleton. A mouse, maybe. I tried to see what it was, but all I saw were bones on the dirt floor.
“Can we go inside?” Carla asked. “We have other matters to attend to.”
Erin glared at her. “Other matters? Someone left a body on my brother’s property.”
“Yes,” Carla said. “Which we can discuss in the house.”
The air smelled like burned charcoal and ichor, with a smattering of the almost indistinguishable scent I could only describe as “magic.” It was a faintly smoky aroma with a hint of spice. I couldn’t stop staring at the bones, trying to superimpose flesh and skin on top of them and form a picture of a living being.
“Well?” Carla pressed.
“If Ms. Dunn wants extra time to examine the body, you shouldn’t push her out,” Byron said.
I raised my eyebrows, surprised Byron of all people had come to my defense.
“I’m not pushing. I’m merely suggesting we don’t stand out here until we freeze to death,” Carla argued. “Take your time,” she added in my direction before marching through the barn doors.
“Let’s go. Her majesty wills it,” Kiki muttered, turning to follow Carla.
Erin shot me a questioning look and I shrugged, though I didn’t entirely know what she was asking. If I wanted to stay and look around more, maybe poke at the bones? She headed for the door of the barn, trailing after the rest of the group who’d been quick to exit the scene.
I stepped toward the skeleton and then eyed my phone, which was frustratingly silent. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d known this vampire, despite how completely ridiculous that was.
Well, except for the fact that the supernatural world was a small one. I didn’t know every vampire in the Pacific Northwest, but I’d probably crossed paths with a good majority of them at one time or another. The odds were that we had at least met.
“Well, this sucks, huh?” I asked the skeleton. It didn’t reply, of course. I walked a circle around it like Carla had, but nothing stuck out at me. No clues of who else might have been here, performing this terrible magic. Nor did I find any more hints as to the skeleton’s identity.
I stopped on the far side of the circle. Through the open barn doors, I could see the fence that ran along the field, and one corner of Evan’s farmhouse, but that was it. It was quiet, too, and I couldn’t hear much in the way of chitchat from the group. Erin was standing outside the barn, talking to Kiki, a few yards away. Everyone else had gone inside.
I caught movement at the edge of my vision and looked down at the bones. Had something near them moved, or was I seeing things? I took a single step into the circle. As soon as I crossed the line, electricity cracked through the air, setting my hair on end.
I jumped, swallowing uneasily, and waited for the circle to fill with fire or poison or something. Nothing happened. I was about to call out to Erin to ask her what the hell had just happened when the bones twitched again.
That was the only warning I got. A skeletal hand shot up from the ground and grabbed my ankle. I screamed and twisted out of its grasp, almost falling over in the process. The skeleton got to its feet in a single smooth motion, like a puppet being yanked up by its strings.
It shambled forward, unsteady on its bony feet. I dug into my purse for a weapon, but a stake and a Taser weren’t going to do jack shit against bones without flesh on them.
It bared its teeth at me, snapping its jaw. Its vampire fangs were still razor-sharp. I crossed the circle, hoping it would have to stop at the edge, but it stepped over the salt ring like it wasn’t even there.
Its arms shot forward, skeletal fingers closing around my throat. My hands flew to my neck to try and pry them off as they tightened around my airway. I kicked, struggled. The bony hands held fast, squeezing harder until I couldn
’t breathe. I clawed at my neck, at the bones. My head ached and my heart pounded even as my lungs started to burn from lack of air.
Something hit the skeleton from behind and it froze, back arching. Its grip loosened. Not much but enough. I twisted out of its grasp. It tumbled forward. I stumbled back.
Kiki stood behind it holding a rake she’d pulled from the barn’s wall. She used it to hold the skeleton at bay, the tongs of the rake stuck in the creature’s ribs, as it tried to turn and attack her. She was quickly chanting a spell, a bracelet on her left wrist glowing red as magic traveled down the rake to the bones.
I scrambled to the side of the barn, leaning against the wall to catch my breath. Air wheezed through my throat but filled my lungs until I could breathe again. The ache in my forehead and lungs decreased with each inhalation.
A second later, Erin joined Kiki, dumping something from her purse—salt, I thought—onto the bones while chanting the same words. The smell of putrefied flesh filled the air as black smoke rose out of the bones and dissipated. The skeleton collapsed in a heap, lifeless once more.
Kiki panted slightly, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of one hand as she lowered the rake in the other. Erin leaned over, hands on her thighs. Both of them looked exhausted by the effort of diffusing the spell that had animated the bones.
Byron and Evan had come running back, and behind them, the rest of the group filled the barn’s doorway, with Carla several yards behind everyone else. I headed for the door and pushed through the crowd. I needed to get the hell out of the barn full of horrors.
Outside, I took big gulps of crisp autumn air, letting it fill my lungs and pushing it back out again. I didn’t know how long I stood there, breathing in and out and trying to convince my heart it could stop racing. When I looked up, Carla was watching me with her brow knit.
“What happened?” she asked. Clearly she’d missed the show.
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