Chapter Thirteen
Morning light was supposed to make things better. Looking at the mess in my workroom, I didn’t feel like things were better. Officers I’d known and worked with all over north Georgia were dead. Nearly twice that number had sustained some type of injury. Rodriguez was still in the hospital, and I needed to visit him.
Before I could do that, I needed to clean, write up reports, make notes, and do my job. I started with the odds and ends, pencils and notepads that needed to be organized, trash that had escaped its receptacle, and generally organized my desk as I had done with the rest of the office not long ago.
The routine was soothing, letting my hands do the work while my mind was free. As horrible as yesterday had been, it had proved several of my theories. It was better to have lots of people know about demons. This was an area where knowledge was power, and the more people who knew, the harder it would be for demons to hide. Which connected to my second theory. A great many of the horrible things that happened in this world were likely caused by demons. Since so few people knew about them, never mind how to kill them, they could be tugging the strings behind any number of tragedies, and most people would never know.
The one thing getting me through today, and that I expected to get me through a great many days to come, was very simple. I had to be a Hunter, to seek out and kill demons. No matter how much people read about them, there was no substituting real experience. And only by hunting down and killing demons could I save the ones I loved. If Elron had told me about this demon, if I’d been able to see the signs, well, there was a chance Tiffany, Patrick, and nineteen other people would be alive. In the future I had to do better, and Elron had to trust me more. However, right now I needed to focus on the demon and killing him.
With a purpose firmly in my mind, I finally summoned the courage to look at the place mat. To my surprise, it was an ordinary burnt-orange woven place mat. The last message the demon had created was gone, and nothing had taken its place. I grabbed the energy meter and took some readings. It had gone from being very negative to slightly negative. I carefully probed it, looking for any spells. While there were remains of a mirroring spell, nothing active remained. The demon wouldn’t be using this to send messages anymore.
“Damn.” Over breakfast I’d worked out a couple of ways I could use the communication spells. Now that was wasted time. On a hunch, I grabbed the box of items that had given me negative energy reads yesterday. I held my breath as I rechecked each one of them. They were still tainted.
Before I left the training facility, I’d agreed to hand these over to the investigation team. If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to use them. Not that I was completely sure what to do with them, but I had some half-baked ideas about ways to couple them with other spells and draw out the demon.
I huffed out a breath. There was nothing I could do, not without getting permission to keep one of these items, and I knew that wasn’t going to happen. The police were never going to let me hang on to something connected to an investigation involving that many dead officers.
After setting the place mats on top of the rest of the tainted items, I closed the box. It was time to write reports. That way I could deliver the reports and goods at the same time. Between the emotions and memories, the reports weren’t quick to write, but after a couple of hours they were finally finished.
There was one more thing I wanted to investigate before I took a break. Picking up Methods of Detecting Energy, I flipped to the section on single-use devices. The eighteenth spell was the one I wanted. It wasn’t particularly power intensive, but it was a tad finicky. After gathering the reagents, including the wooden charm base, I grabbed a permanent marker. It wasn’t easy to sketch tiny runes around the edge of the disk, and after ruining two charm bases, I wrote them out in pencil before going over them with the marker. With that complete, I sprinkled a mix of herbs over the disk and summoned my wand, then went back over each rune, infusing them with magic. The spell snapped into place.
I quickly repeated the procedure to produce two more of the negative-energy detectors. When they were finished, I took one of them, activated it with a spark of magic, and set it in the box with the tainted items. Over a few seconds, it turned gray. It looked like the negative energy detectors worked.
Satisfied with the charms, I checked the clock. It was well past lunch. Since it was too late to join Landa, I scrounged around in my kitchen until I found a can of soup. No matter how little I wanted to eat, I needed food so I forced it down.
I’d just carried the reports and boxes of tainted items from both Cherokee and Gilmer County out to the car when my phone rang. “Oaks Consulting. This is Michelle.”
“Do you have a minute?” Amber’s voice was tight.
“Sure. Are you okay?”
“I will be.” She sighed. “They don’t want you at the funeral.”
“Oh.” I leaned against the car. “I get it.”
“It isn’t what you think,” she said sharply. “They don’t want any nonhuman there.”
“I knew she didn’t talk about her family, but… really?” It was such a rare attitude. Sure, we all had our differences, but in the end we were as well integrated as anyone could expect given the variety of creatures that had to be included. It wasn’t easy to get dragons and dwarves in the same building.
“They live in a human-only community and won’t allow nonhumans in for the funeral.”
And with that, my mind was made up. “We’ll have our own. You, me, and memories of better times.”
“That would be nice.” I could hear the smile in her voice.
“When?”
“Do you want to come over tonight? Maybe seven?”
“Sure, seven works.” And even if the police wanted me to do something, I’d make time to see Amber and remember Tiffany. It was more important than paperwork or spells.
“We’ll make it a good thing.” As we hung up, I hoped it would end up feeling that way.
For a moment I stood there and let the wind caress my face and the soft rustle of trees ease my aching heart. Then I got in my car and drove to the police department. It was a short drive, and I didn’t have time to think about anything, which was nice. After parking, I collected the box of goods from this county. I walked into the building, planning on dropping off a few things in Rodriguez’s workroom.
As I was passing through the squad room, I was surprised to see Rodriguez at a desk. He had his head down, working on a report.
“I told you I’m fine. They’re just reports.” He didn’t even look up.
“I’m not here to give you crap about being at work.”
He jerked up. “Sorry!”
“I get it.” I set the box holding the items tainted with negative energy and my report on his desk.
Rodriguez motioned to his arm in a sling. “They see this and get all worried. Mother hens, the lot of them.”
I laughed. “Sure, and how’s your actual mother taking this?”
He sorted. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“Sorry.”
“She’s mostly gotten used to the danger, or the idea of it, but we”—he fumbled the word—“we lost three, and other departments lost more. Current body count is twenty-one. Three officers are still in critical condition, another five serious, and several more still enjoying a doctor’s attention.”
“Who?” My mouth was so dry I couldn’t finish the sentence. Other than Patrick Westmoreland and Nolan Brown, I didn’t know the names.
He said three names I didn’t recognize. “I’ll try to be at the service.”
Rodriguez nodded. “Initial report from the GBI witches is that there was a lot of negative energy around, nearly a thousand spell nodes. They said there were multiple things that pointed at a demon being the cause.”
“I’m not sure of the number of spells, but that sounds right.” I sighed. “They’re right about the demon too.”
He straightened. “Let’s hunt it down,
bring it to justice.”
“Hold your horses.” I glanced around, but no one was paying much attention to us. “This would be a better conversation to have in your workroom.”
Rodriguez nodded. I grabbed my stuff, followed him to the workroom, and closed the door.
“It isn’t that simple.”
“Sounds simple from where I am.” He lifted his braced arm.
“Demons can’t be held for trial. There’s not a good way to bring one of them to traditional justice. They’re an evil spirit hanging out in a stolen body.”
“I’m not seeing the problem.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t see the questionable legality?”
Shrugging, he said, “They issue kill orders on dragons, wyrms, and fey who’ve gone mad. I don’t see why that couldn’t be done for a demon.”
“Huh.” I should have thought about it that way last time, but it’d been so long since a dragon had caused that kind of trouble I’d forgotten about that part of the law. “Could you look into that for me?”
“Can I get in on the kill?”
“If you can make it legal, you can be there.” Having the police officially in the know would simplify the matter and keep me out of trouble. Plus they could add some resources to the problem, and that would be a benefit to both sides. “How many people know about demons?”
“At this point?” He thought for a moment. “A lot. There’s been paperwork, announcements, and the like. The official line is ‘Thanks to our partnership with Oaks Consulting, we have knowledge of this type of entity, commonly known as a demon.’ No one’s saying you killed one, but I can read between the lines.”
“Great.” That had been a risk when we created the pamphlets, but everyone had thought it was worth it. Now I was a little less sure. “Are they opening an investigation into how I acquired the knowledge?”
He raised an eyebrow. “They can’t do that while they’re training everyone on the material you sent over and singing your praises.”
Well, that was something. As long as everyone stayed grateful and didn’t start looking to prosecute me for doing the world a favor, I didn’t much care what they said.
“So.” Rodriguez looked at the bag. “What’s in there?”
I pulled my thoughts back to where they were supposed to be. “I found a few items in the to-be-disenchanted pile that were tainted with negative energy. I’m returning them because they could be connected to the attack. Send them off to the GBI for analysis. I’m think they have some commonalities with the power used in setting all those spells.”
“Will do.” He unpacked the bag and filled out some paperwork on the items. “Are those files for me too?”
“My reports about my actions and findings.”
“Thanks.”
I nodded. “Do you need me for anything else? I’ve got to drive up to Ellijay.”
“We’re good. And I’ll look into the kill order.”
After a few minutes of conversation and some careful avoidance of Patrick’s name, I thanked him and headed back to my car. Sitting in the driver’s seat, I called Wells. He answered on the first ring.
“Hey, it’s Michelle. I have the reports and black market goods you wanted. Can I meet you at your desk in about fifty minutes?”
There was a long pause. “I’m on my way to the medical examiner’s office.”
“Oh.” I didn’t want to see the medical examiner, but I needed to get close to him if I was going to test my theory.
“You’re welcome, but he’ll be working on Westmoreland’s remains.
“I can manage.” I’d have to manage if I wanted to get close to the medical examiner.
“See you soon.”
I hung up and headed out. This was my chance to collect some evidence on the medical examiner, but I had to keep my emotions under control. I couldn’t start crying because Tiffany and Patrick were gone. I couldn’t be rude because he’d accused me of being involved in Tiffany’s death, and I couldn’t let him know I suspected he was anything but a regular old medical examiner.
Assuming I could do all that, there were some added difficulties. Demons had magical abilities. Even after studying Varro’s notes, I wasn’t sure how demon powers compared to what I could do. I was betting that I could use the charm for detecting negative energy without the demon, if Dr. Wilson was the demon, noticing or somehow hiding its true nature. Since he didn’t have flames in his eyes, I was more looking for a reading that would indicate contact with a demon. Of course, that was assuming I could activate the charm without Dr. Wilson noticing and the charm worked.
Luckily, my current lack of magic wasn’t a factor in triggering the charm. It only took a tiny nudge, and even as drained as I was from yesterday’s effort, I could still manage that. Hopefully there wasn’t any type of confrontation, because I’d be useless. If the medical examiner turned out to be the demon, I’d be hard-pressed to cast effective spells. Tomorrow I’d have more magic, and in a couple of days I’d be back to normal, but for now I was less useful than a hedge-practitioner.
For a drive that usually felt slow, this one passed in a blink of an eye. Before I knew it, I was parking the car and looking at a building holding some very bad memories. Memories I couldn’t let surface if I was going to get this done.
I slid an energy-detection charm in my pocket, picked up the box with the tainted items from Gilmer County, and got out of the car. I walked into the building. Just like last time, Wells was waiting for me.
I had to shake off the feeling of déjà vu. This wasn’t going to be a repeat.
“Wells.”
“Oaks.”
There was an awkward pause that we both tried to fill.
“Here are the files…”
“Could you…”
Shaking my head, I waved my hand. “You first.”
Wells smiled for just a moment. “I need you to take a look at Westmoreland’s body. I’ve been talking to Dr. Wilson, and I don’t quite understand a few things.”
My stomach knotted. One friend’s body was enough this week. “If Dr. Wilson will let me. Am I still a suspect for Tiffany’s murder?”
Wells shifted his weight back. “Things have settled down. Not everyone is happy with how often you’ve been involved in our investigations, but that was always the case.”
“It’s just worse now,” I said grumpily.
“Getting better.” He dragged a hand across his hair. “I don’t get it. There really isn’t any evidence there, they simply want to think that of you.”
“The demon.”
“What?”
Everything clicked into place. “It’s the demon. It’s done something to change their perception of me.”
“As good of an explanation as any, but it doesn’t help me much.” He sighed. “Do you know who the demon is?”
“No.”
His eyes drilled into me. “But?”
I pursed my lips, holding back all my suspicions about the medical examiner. “Can we talk about this later? I’d like to get through dealing with Dr. Wilson and examining Patrick’s body. Then we can talk about it as much as you want.”
“Fine. You said you had something for me?”
I handed him a box and a folder with my reports. “Here’s my report, and the box contains black market goods that have similar magic to what was used at the training facility.”
“Thanks. I’ll pass it along.”
“Hope all that helps.” I glanced at the hall leading to the room where I’d looked at Tiffany’s body. The same room that was holding Patrick’s body. “What do you need me to do?”
Wells shifted from foot to foot. “When I look at the initial reports, I don’t see any mention of magic, just the physical damage. Now that’d be fine, but I know magic played a part in his death, and I know we have the equipment to identify basic magic interference. With what happened, there’s no way the body is free of magic.”
“And you want me to check.”
; He nodded.
I frowned. “It isn’t really my place. The department isn’t very happy with me… I’m not sure how Dr. Wilson is going to feel about my poking around, and you’re partnering up with the state on this one.”
“If the body goes to the state, it’ll be autopsied by someone who wasn’t there. I know you. I trust you, and you know exactly what to look for. If there’s been any tampering or… I know you’ll find it and tell me the truth.”
Even though I really wanted to argue with him, I couldn’t. He was right, and if I didn’t do it, I’d always wonder what I would’ve found had I taken a few minutes. It didn’t have to be much of an examination. Considering what the spells had done to other people, there wouldn’t be much of him to examine.
“Let’s go.”
“I owe you one.”
“No you don’t.” My voice was barely audible. “I owe Patrick.”
He rocked back on his heels and studied me. “I don’t know what you think you did, be it not saving Patrick in that moment or giving the demon a reason to go after us, but neither of those are your fault.”
I opened my mouth to protest.
Wells glared at me and kept talking. “That was a police-only event, without any publicity. The facility is private. The driveway is gated but doesn’t have a sign. You might have given the demon extra reason to target the police, but it didn’t put that attack together just because of something you said or did. It took planning—days, more likely weeks. None of this is your fault.”
Logically I knew he was right, but that didn’t stop my heart from hurting. I looked up at him. “I still feel responsible.”
“That’s something you need to work on.”
I nodded. The words hurt because they were simple and truthful.
With that he let it go, and we started donning our protective garments, gloves, and glasses.
A Witch’s Demons (Witch's Path Series: Book 6) Page 13