by Trim, Brenda
Sweat was trickling down my spine, and I had to fight from shifting my feet around. I hated keeping secrets. I made it a point in my life to be honest, and transparent. Too many bad things happened when things were hidden. The past eight months have taught me there are times keeping secrets is necessary. Thankfully, I was fast becoming accustomed to the opposite, but it didn’t come naturally to me.
“I think you missed the conversation about how the summoner would need to be close and expend energy constantly to maintain control over it,” I explained.
Aislinn’s eyes flared slightly, and she leaned toward me. “Ah. So, they’re more of a puppet master. And, I take it bad things would happen if the master died.”
Thanos snorted. “To put it mildly. A few centuries ago, a demon broke from a weak summoner in Sweden. By the time I caught up to it a week later, no humans or supernaturals were left alive within a fifty-mile radius. Piloting a demon takes proximity and power.”
“That means whoever did this definitely lives here in Cottlehill,” I pointed out. “Or, at least has been here for months. The escalating kills are how they gathered enough power to do the summoning.”
Thanos’ eyes were melted steel when he looked at me. Talk about smolder. The guy had mastered seduction. Which made sense, given he’d been alive for centuries. I hadn’t stopped to consider how long he’d lived. “Which is why I need you...your help. Particularly you, Isidora. You know this town better than anyone.”
“Only I can’t leave my house. I will not paint a target on Fiona’s back. To the town, I am dead, and it needs to stay that way. Besides, I will not allow myself to be possessed. This body is not up for grabs unless it’s for a night of passionate sex.” I didn’t blame Isidora. I wanted to choke Thanos for even suggesting it.
“Grams!” Fiona protested.
Thanos choked on a sip of tea, and I pounded on his back. He was coughing and laughing for several seconds. “I can’t promise that. I’m trying to attract an extraordinary woman, and having casual sex won’t endear me to her. But there might be a way to help tether your soul to your body. It won’t stop the cravings for the flesh, but it will eliminate the vulnerability of being taken over.”
Fiona squealed. “Is that really possible? I’ve felt horrible since we discovered what I did. We’ve all searched high and low for answers, and nothing has given us a way to help Grams.”
Isidora’s expression softened when it landed on her granddaughter. “I told you it’s not your fault. If anything, it’s mine for not preparing you better.”
“I’m not entirely certain if it will work with a ghoul. I’ve never heard of it being used in these cases, but that might be because their souls are on the other side and not present for the process. I will ask Aidoneus as soon as I have this situation handled. I’m not about to ask my boss for help with a problem when I haven’t solved the case that he assigned me.”
Aislinn put a hand over her mouth while she chewed another cracker. Poor thing. I bet she’d been living on them for days. They were all I ate for weeks when I was pregnant with Ben and Bailey. “I’m surprised you never grabbed any souls out of the Underworld and tried to stuff it back into a ghoul. I’d think UIS agents would be asked about helping with lost loved ones often.”
Thanos chuckled. “Souls cannot leave the Underworld. Cerberus ensures those waiting in limbo are secure. Once they’ve been sent to their final destination, it isn’t often that they get out. Isidora is the exception. And the fact that she and her decedents can pull it off would normally put them at the top of my suspect list.”
“So, we need to figure out who did this,” I interjected.
“Have you looked at Camille? She’s plenty powerful,” Isidora replied in a casual tone as if she was asking whether Fiona picked up bread when she was at the store.
“Camille would never do something that evil, Grams. Our family magic brought her to me when I needed help with my new role. I expected it to identify her, but it didn’t. It wouldn’t do that if she were Tainted or Dark, right?”
Isidora growled. “Why do you have to point out the obvious? Being questioned by Thanos would teach her to be humble. Alright, what about Derek or Seraphine? They’re right behind Camille in power. Although, if they’ve been stealing power, they bypassed Tainted territory and are encroaching Dark as night, so it could be anyone.”
That was helpful… Not. I had never thought about the contention between Isidora and Camille. It was old and embedded deep between them if she wanted the other witch accused by an agent of the Underworld. One day I wanted to know if it had to do with a power discrepancy or a guy. It was usually one of those two that came between friends. That was for later. Right now, we needed to find the asshole that had crossed into dark territory. Perhaps Mae had gotten information about personality changes, and we would have a place to start.
Chapter 18
I kicked a rock and sent it flying through the park. Mae knew nothing more but was eager to get the details of the events that brought Faye out of her coma. Apparently, I was the talk of the town. Word on the street was that I had been earmarked for a spot on the town council.
I wasn’t sure I would ever consider it, and I wasn’t going to think about it now. Thanos tilted his head and looked at me. “You alright, or do you suspect that vendor of being the one?” He gestured toward a big guy with dark blond hair and gold eyes sitting at a table full of books.
I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. Not ideal when you were supposed to be looking for a suspect. In my defense, I was new to the whole detective thing. I spent my entire life taking care of my kids until I opened my bookstore.
I cleared my throat. “Ah, no. Filarion is an opportunist and thief, but he’s not Dark. He’s too obsessed with money to bother with expending so much energy when he would get no money in return.”
Thanos chuckled. “Griffins are known for their avarice, much like dragons. So, this is where you shop for uncommon goods in Cottlehill. Not a bad selection.”
I bobbed my head and scanned the hidden market. “Staves & Stoves has been here as long as the town has existed. It doesn’t seem like it, but there are far more residents here than you would think possible. The city limits stretch along the cliffs and into the farms and vineyards inland.”
I waved at Lucia as we passed and considered grabbing one of her Pink Sevens. I needed to get some good sleep, and the beverage would make me pass out. That was precisely why I kept walking. The Fae alcoholic beverage packed quite the punch and would put me on my ass in no time.
I shifted gears and turned toward the tiki hut stand run by Desyra, an elf with spiky black hair and tattoos running up and down her arms. “I’m going to grab some clegriale bonbons. Would you like some?”
Thanos followed me to Desyra’s stand. “They look exactly like the treats you can buy in a regular store.”
Desyra was beautiful with her heart-shaped face and bright green eyes. Her lips were full, and her features accented her pointed ears perfectly. And I hated the way she leaned forward and displayed her breasts in her low-cut top. “Mine are far better than any you can buy in the store. I use fresh fruit from Eidothea. It’s sweeter and juicier.”
Ugh. Could she be more obvious? The woman wasn’t even trying to hide what she was referring to or what she hoped to get from Thanos. The lava in my veins heated and scalded me inside.
Thanos shrugged his shoulders. “My lady would like some of the clegriale bonbons.” He said ‘my lady’ like a knight from centuries ago. It made my heart skip a beat. I’d never felt so wanted in my life. Not even when Dathan and I were young and were filled with hormones. This was a genuine desire for me.
Desyra straightened as her face turned pink. “Hey, Violet. I didn’t see you there. Who’s your new guy?”
“This is Thanos. An agent with Underworld Investigative Services,” I explained.
Desyra’s eyes widened. “Is this about the attack on Faye?”
I bobbed my he
ad up and down. “As you know, I didn’t have anything to do with it. He’s here to find and contain the demon. Speaking of. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary? Like, maybe someone that’s angrier than they used to be.”
Desyra grabbed a plastic bowl and lifted the lid on one of the freezers. With silicone tongs, she held several brown, white, and blue balls. “I haven’t noticed anything. Derek practically bit my head off earlier tonight, but that’s typical for him. That’ll be six dollars.”
Thanos handed her money before I could retrieve my wallet. I thanked her and popped a chocolate ball in my mouth. “What’s it like in the Underworld?”
Thanos snagged a white orb and tossed it in his mouth. He chewed and hummed in appreciation. “These are delicious. Desyra was right.”
I stopped and gestured to the stall. “You can always go back. I know she’d be happy to show you more.” The words came out hard and biting despite how hard I tried to hide my jealousy. I didn’t want to acknowledge it, let alone let him see it.
He reached out and took a blue clegriale, and gave me a knowing smile. “There are places in the Underworld that are a lot like this market. Some sections are barren. The dirt is dark, the trees blackened and devoid of any leaves and massive rocks. And then there are sections like the cliffs where I live with green grasses and trees overlooking the ocean. There is far more variety there. You’ll like it.”
He wanted to be with me. Message delivered. I started walking again and headed to the exit. “What kinds of creatures have set-ups in your market? I’m picturing stalls with heads for sale and others with livers and fava beans.”
He laughed, the sound deep and husky. I loved it entirely too much. I’d mastered being single. I hardly remembered what it was like to be in a relationship anymore. “There are stalls that sell both. Most of them sell some food item or another. The others sell candles and fey lanterns. There’s no electricity in the Underworld, so we use magic or candlelight.”
I nearly choked on the bonbon in my mouth. “I was joking about the heads and liver. That’s not like our market at all.”
Thanos chuckled. “Things are definitely darker there than here. The creatures that live often have horns or breathe fire and eat differently than you do here. I equate it to the butcher you guys rely on for meats. Except there, the butcher doesn’t do as much dissection of the animals.”
As much as the idea churned my stomach, it made sense. I wasn’t going to think about it too much. “So, do you only have one house? Or, do you have any?”
“I have the one. However, UIS has several safe houses in various realms, including this one, that agents use when we are on assignment.”
We walked through the plinths that mark the entrance/exit. Only supernaturals could see them and the Gargoyles sitting on top of them. The stone creatures watched the market and ensured none of the beings that visited went off the rails and attacked others. They also made certain violence didn’t get very far when they tried to enter S&S.
The swings and teeter-totter human children played on during the day came into view, and I veered us to the left and toward my house. We’d been walking around town for hours hoping to come across some sign of the demon or its summoner, and we’d come up empty-handed.
“How often are you away from home? The week I spent in Eidothea was hard on me. I couldn’t do that often.”
Thanos took the empty bowl from my hand and tossed it in a recycling bin as we passed. “I’d venture to guess it was the fighting and injuries that made it even more difficult for you. But to answer your question, I’m away from home about half of the time. There have been times when I haven’t been home for more than a handful of days per month. Aside from Aidoneus and the other agents, I have little to tie me there. Here, you have friends and family. Plus, your bookstore.”
I opened my mouth to respond when something tickled my senses. There was something here. “Do you feel that?”
Thanos closed the distance between us. The look of explosive violence in his gaze was terrifying. If he wasn’t standing next to me protectively, I would likely take off running. Few things held the promise of pain and death like his expression.
“The summoner spent time here. Based on the sense of death permeating the area, I’d say he or she killed in this spot.” Thanos crouched down and pulled one of his devices from his back pocket.
It resembled a cell phone with dials on one side and arms on the other. How the heck did UIS create these contraptions without electricity? The hum vibrating against my leg told me it didn’t run on electricity. Magic powered the thing. I shouldn’t be surprised by that, but I was.
The screen lit up with a geometrical pattern. It shifted between colors while the dials and nobs lit up. A few seconds later, yellow shot out from the side, floated through the air and settled over a patch of grass under a tree a few feet away.
I followed Thanos to the area and was shocked when I was hit with pain and terror. “Someone was definitely killed here. I can feel the echo of their death. How can I feel that? I’ve never been able to before.”
“My molecular de-itemizer and imager picked up on the various signatures in the area and heightened this one. It magnified its properties so I can examine what went down here.”
That was one powerful device. “That sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie. Countless supernaturals passed through here. Why did it select this one in particular? Your molecular-thingy made me feel the fear of the victim. I just don’t understand how it picked that out of all that had to be here.”
Thanos looked up at me from his crouch and waved the funky phone at me. “We designed this to be attuned to Dark energy. It can get confusing when a Tainted witch and Dark witch are in the same city. But when that happens, nine times out of ten, they’re working together. The other time they’re trying to kill one another, so we haven’t bothered to refine the settings any further. One will inevitably lead us to the other.”
The yellow light spreads out in a thin line and moves away from us. Thanos popped up and started following the lights. “I take it we’re on the trail of the summoner. Thank the Gods. I was about to pull my hair out.”
“Don’t do that. Your hair is one of your best features,” Thanos said as he moved on silent feet.
I touched my hair. I’d pulled the long, blonde locks into a ponytail when we left my house. It was thin and wispy, and I hated it. I had always wished it was thick and luxurious.
We hadn’t made it far before the light stopped moving. Thanos hit the molecular device-thingy on his palm then shook it in the air vigorously. Nothing changed. With a rough curse, he knelt down and pulled a wand from one of the pockets inside his leather jacket.
I giggled then covered my mouth with my hand. It was so very Harry Potter. I shouldn’t find it amusing. Sure, witches in the real world didn’t use wands, but some Fae did. It was really the mages that relied on the magical devices. The wand acted as a funnel and would direct power to a precise location. It would also pull it from a practitioner and force it where the witch desired.
Before I managed to ask, he slammed the wand into the ground. The yellow light shot into the sky then pulsed where he was kneeling. The wind was blowing hard enough to turn my ponytail into a whip that stung my eyes. “Cast a spell to reveal the rest of the trail,” he called out to me. “They stopped after fleeing the scene to obscure their presence. They knew UIS would be on the case.”
The lava in my veins iced over. I did not like the idea of using my magic again. “Or they knew the Backside of Forty was onto them and would be tracking their asses before long.”
Thanos stood, leaving the wand in the ground. “You three do make a formidable opponent. I wouldn’t want to face you. But we need you to cast the spell so we can finally track their ass down.”
I sucked in a deep breath. The fire was back to flowing freely through my limbs and into my stomach, where the heat soured the bonbons. I did not want to do this. Which bothered me on more than
one level.
I was a witch. Magic and spells were in my DNA. Ever since I was a little girl, my skin would start to itch, and my brain would throb if I didn’t cast for long stretches. Whatever the source of my curse, it was winning and would eventually kill me. Unless I got help.
I couldn’t focus on it until we vanquished the demon and summoner. I kept my desire to see the steps the Dark one took firmly in the front of my mind. “Revelare.”
Energy swirled around us, creating a magical funnel cloud. It picked up leaves and trash from the ground. I ducked to avoid an empty soda can before it hit me in the head. I lost my focus, and the energy I funneled into the spell died, taking the winds with it.
Despite that, I bent at the knee as I sucked in short breaths. My arm hurt, but the glue Fiona used to hold the skin together held. The med magic used by Zreegy could have made it go away, but I didn’t bother with it. The real problems for me came from the aches all over my body from when the demon attacked me in my home.
I didn’t have much stamina on a good day. I wasn’t one of those women like Aislinn that ran daily or went to spin class to stay in shape. I had more curves than a mountain road, and I liked it that way.
Thanos ran a hand up and down my back. “Are you alright? Did the magic rebound and hit you?”
I turned my head. “I’m peachy. Out of shape and still healing from that damn demon. My life would be a lot better if you got your hands on it and sent it back to the Underworld.”
“So would mine. Let’s try this again. If we maintain physical contact, I can share some energy with you,” Thanos offered.
The burning in my lungs remained high and didn’t seem like it would calm down anytime soon. I’d have to cast while gasping. Dizziness made it challenging to stand up, so I closed my eyes and concentrated on what I wanted.