by Keri Arthur
Ryanne frowned. “Wouldn’t it be better to totally erase them?”
“Full erasure really isn’t possible.” Which wasn’t exactly the truth; a strong enough telepath could do so, but it wasn’t something that was either recommended or often even tried, as it left the recipient extremely confused and sometimes unable to fully function. “But we can certainly cloud her memories of the event. She’ll know what has happened, but it’ll no longer have the same immediacy or effect.”
“When can your friend get here?” Ryanne immediately said.
I glanced at Karleen rather than replying. Her smile was tight—she did not want another outsider in the compound. Especially when that person was linked to me. “It would perhaps be better if Jeni is taken out of the compound to be treated.”
“But surely—” Sean began, only to be cut off by a look from Aiden’s father.
“Is there anything else in her mind that could help?” Aiden said.
“No.” I returned to the end of the bed and then glanced at Jeni’s parents. “If you want to give us a call at the café later this morning, we can make arrangements for Belle to come and see Jeni. I’d keep her sedated though—her memories are… harrowing.”
They both nodded. I flicked my gaze over to Karleen. “Thank you for allowing me up here today.”
“You’re quite welcome.”
Her reply was as insincere as my thank you, and amusement stirred. Hopefully, I managed to keep it in check. I glanced up at Aiden. “If you want to get back to the crime scene, just drop me off outside the compound, on the main road. I’ll get Belle to come pick me up.”
“After all the help you’ve been giving us, the least I can do is take you home.” He glanced at his parents. “I’ll update you when I know more.”
With that, he touched a hand to my back and guided me out the room. He didn’t say anything until we were back in his truck and heading out of the compound.
“I’ll drop by later this afternoon to get a composite of the two Empusae. The likelihood of them hiding in plain sight might be remote, but I don’t think we can risk it.”
I nodded and rubbed my arms. While the morning air held a bite, the chill was more an inner one, its source the wash of Jeni’s horror and terror still echoing through my brain.
Which is not dissimilar to what happens when you go too deep with a psychometry reading, Belle commented.
And means it’s something I don’t need to be doing too often.
With that, I agree. Ask Aiden if he’d like a coffee and an egg and bacon sandwich to be waiting for him when he gets here.
I passed the message on, and got a brief but bright smile in reply. That would be a yes, thanks, Belle.
Once we were out of the compound, Aiden hit the accelerator. It didn’t take us long to get back to Castle Rock. Belle was waiting, as promised. Once I’d handed him the coffee and sandwich, I leaned across and kissed him. He brushed the hair out of my eyes and then gently ran his fingers down my cheek. “Are you going to be all right?”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t look convinced, but didn’t comment. I climbed out and, once he’d left, followed Belle back into the café.
She came out of the kitchen with two mugs of coffee. “The council isn’t going to keep this one quiet.”
“No. And are you sure you’ve put enough alcohol in those coffees?”
She raised her eyebrows. “You can’t possibly smell it from there—I wasn’t that heavy-handed.”
I accepted the mug and took a sip. The whiskey was evident but it certainly wasn’t overpowering. “Maybe my great love for the malted stuff has made me hyperaware of its presence.”
“Maybe.” Belle’s expression suggested she doubted it. “Anyway, I got a call from Monty about ten minutes ago. The tracer is staying in town for the next couple of days.”
“Is she intending to question us some more?”
“She didn’t say, and he wasn’t certain. He did suggest we keep our spelling to a minimum though.”
“As long as the Empusae don’t decide to attack, I’m good with that.”
“Even if they do attack, it might be better if you leave the magic stuff to Ashworth and Monty.”
“A very sensible suggestion.”
“And one you may or may not follow.” Her voice was wry.
I grinned. “You know me too well.”
“I’m your familiar. It’s part of the job description to know your thoughts before you have them—not that many of them are worth knowing.”
“Deliberately so—such eccentricity stops you from getting bored.”
“I’ll certainly admit boredom has never really been a problem over the years.” She drank some coffee and sighed in appreciation. “Monty’s heard from his source in Canberra. Apparently, he’s got some snippets about the tracer and the Empusae we need to hear—although when it comes to the latter, I suspect it won’t be much more than what we’ve already found.”
“Meaning he’s using it as an excuse to get a decent meal and to do some Belle watching.”
“I suspect so.” She shrugged. “As long as he keeps his amorous thoughts to himself, we’ll be fine.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Do I sense a slight softening in attitude?”
“You do not.”
“Believing it.”
“You should.”
“Totally.”
She gave me the look—the one that said I was dead if I didn’t shut up. I grinned, but resisted the urge to tease her any further.
We finished our drinks and then concentrated on the day’s chores. Custom was steady rather than busy, and Byron’s murder was very much the topic of conversation. Which was interesting, given there’d been four other murders before the Empusae had lashed out at him.
Monty came in as things were quieting down and walked over to the table we generally kept reserved for Aiden, Ashworth, and him if we knew they were coming in. We’d placed a basic ‘mute conversation’ spell around it when we’d first begun dealing with the rangers, initially to prevent any unwanted information about either Belle or me from getting out, and then later to stop the gossip brigade hearing any tantalizing tidbits about the investigations we were helping with.
Penny took his order and, once it was ready, I delivered it and silently activated the spell as I sat down opposite him.
“So, what did you learn about our tracer?”
He grimaced. “Not a lot—she’s playing her cards close to her chest.”
“So you don’t know who sent her?”
He picked up his cutlery and began to eat. “No, but I suspect the order comes from Clayton rather than your father.”
“Why?”
“Because I contacted a few friends and asked them what they knew about a tracer being sent to my reservation. Their replies were… interesting.”
My stomach flip-flopped. Interesting wasn’t good. “In what way?”
“Apparently, Clayton is desperate to have children but the numerous lovers he’s had over the years have been unable to conceive.”
That might have something to do with the hex I put on him, Belle said.
Hex? That’s the first time you’ve mentioned that to me. To Monty, I added, “And how does that relate to the tracer being here?”
You were pretty out of it at the time, Belle said, and there was little point in mentioning it afterward.
Hexes can bounce back rather badly—
Unless they’re used to save oneself. Your trauma is mine, remember, and it was pretty damn fierce that night.
“There’s rumor currently doing the rounds up there,” Monty said. “That he married in secret but the woman disappeared not long after.”
“I take it my name isn’t on the short list of possible suspects?”
“As far as I can tell without pressing too hard, no.”
“Because why would he marry an underpowered witch—even one with the best family connections—when there were plenty of other women w
ho’d be willing to step into the breach?”
He nodded. “The rumor has been given weight by the fact the records are sealed—no one can gain access to them. Clayton, of course, denies the rumor and the fact he had anything to do with said records being sealed.”
“Of course he would. What he and my father did was against the law.” To Belle, I silently added, What sort of hex did you cast?
A limp willy one.
Laughter silently bubbled through me. How very appropriate. Is there seriously a spell that can do that?
Yes. And in Clayton’s case, I didn’t add a time limitation, which means his dick will never man up—and it serves him right.
That will explain why he hired the tracer. Given he certainly didn’t have that problem when he tried to rape me, he obviously suspects we’re the source of his problems.
Yes, although it doesn’t explain why he’s left it so long to try and find us.
Maybe it wasn’t until the Fitzgerald brothers were jailed and blabbed their mouths off that he suspected where we were. We might have changed our names, but I don’t think there’s another green-eyed royal witch who hangs out with a Sarr. It wouldn’t be hard to put two and two together.
It wouldn’t have been hard to do a finder spell using some of your personal items, either, Liz. As I’ve noted before, if they seriously wanted to find us, they would have.
And yet they’ve resorted to a tracer rather than a spell. Perhaps we were better at covering our tracks than we thought.
“Which is why the records were no doubt sealed,” Monty was saying. “I’ve asked my friends to keep me updated on the goss, so hopefully they’ll let me know if and when Clayton suddenly leaves town.”
If Clayton did leave town, I had no doubt it’d be so well concealed no one would be any the wiser. “And the Empusae? Anything new on them?”
“Well, there is one textbook that suggests the best way to get rid of Empusae is to swear at them. Apparently, insults send them screaming away.”
“Somehow, I can’t see the rangers accepting that as a suitable method of dealing with them—especially after Byron’s death.”
He straightened. “What?”
I quickly filled him in on the two murders and on what I’d seen in Jeni’s mind. He swore and thrust a hand through his hair. “Shit, Liz, this is bad.”
“Considering we’ve currently no leads on these bitches and five dead people, that’s something of an understatement.”
“What about the White Lady? She must have some way of locating the Empusae if she’s been dogging their heels for decades.”
“She’s already told us she hasn’t been able to trace them since she bound and drowned the younger.”
“Well, that’s terribly inconvenient.”
“Indeed.” My voice was dry. “In fact, I haven’t seen her since Belle talked to her.”
Which was rather weird. If nothing else, she should have been there last night, because the Empusae had taken two men rather than the one; even if she’d been some distance away, she would have had time to get there. Besides, whether they were watchful or not, she was capable of killing them.
She killed the weakest of the three, Belle commented, and only then because she caught it off guard.
It’s still surprising she wasn’t there last night.
Maybe our chat took as much out of her as it did me—and spirits don’t recover as easily as us.
Maybe. I still think it’s odd, though. To Monty, I added, “Did you get any practical information on killing Empusae?”
“Nothing much more than what Vita has already given us. One book did suggest they can be killed the same way as you’d kill a vampire—stake through the heart, burning, or chopping off their heads.” He paused. “I suggest we avoid burning—vampires can’t regenerate, but these things are shifters and might be able to.”
“After our confrontation with the soucouyant, I don’t even want to think about creatures on fire.”
“A sentiment I can certainly get behind.” He mopped up the last bit of tomato sauce with his burger bun. “I might get one of the rangers to take me up to the crime scene and check it over myself.”
“Why? If they’d left anything in the way of a magical fingerprint, Ashworth would have found it last night.” Anything else, the rangers would have found.
“I know, but I’d still like to investigate the area myself. Then I’ll head over to the coroner’s and ask if I can view the bones of all the victims.”
I frowned. “Why the bones specifically?”
“To see if any trace of magic remains.”
“Why would there be magic on their bones?”
“I don’t know, but I remember a uni professor once mentioning that some supernatural creatures leave traces of magic behind in their DNA. Given you said the Empusae licked the bones clean, it’s possible their saliva left such an imprint. If that is the case, we might be able to use it to work up a tracking spell.”
“That’s a whole lot of ifs.”
“Maybe, but they’re better than what we currently have.”
Which was another of those understatements. “Let me know if you find anything.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Like you let me know about last night?”
“Hey, I suggested you should be contacted. Aiden decided your crutches would be a problem given the wide kill splatter.”
“The sooner I can get rid of the damn things and walk properly again, the better,” he muttered. “But, if the Empusae hit again, I’d like to be advised at the time, even if it is impractical for me to be present.”
“If I’m there, I’ll do so.”
“Better than nothing, I guess.” He got out his wallet. “How much do I owe?”
“Nothing. You may be distant family, but you’re all I’ve got.” Or wanted. In the odd low and emotional moment, I might want to see my mother again, but that came with all sorts of dangers—especially when I had absolutely no idea whether or not she’d agreed to either the use of the spell that had made me sign the marriage certificate, or the subsequent drugging that had forced submission to Clayton. Better by far to avoid them all. “And I’m surprised you let Ashworth’s poking get under your skin.”
“The one thing I don’t like being accused of is being a freeloader, so—”
“Do you really think Belle would let you get away with freeloading?”
A reluctant grin touched his lips. “Well, no—”
“So just put the wallet away—at least when the café is doing well. If that changes, you’ll soon be asked to ante up payment.”
“Okay, then.” He shoved his wallet away and rose. “I’ll talk to you later.”
I nodded and collected his plate and coffee mug, taking them into the kitchen as he left. Once the café was closed, Belle headed out to smudge Jeni’s memories, while I cleaned up and did a bit of prep for tomorrow.
Belle returned around five. I made us both a coffee and then sat down opposite her at a table bathed in sunshine.
“How did it go?”
She scrubbed a hand across her face. “About as well as could be expected. She’ll always remember the horror—it simply went too deep to risk hazing it—but I did at least manage to put some distance between her and it.”
Meaning she would view it as something that had happened some time ago rather than just yesterday. “And you?”
“Okay.” She paused and shuddered. “But dealing with memories that heartbreaking and foul is not something I ever want to do again.”
“Hopefully, we won’t have to.” I drank some coffee. “How are Jeni’s parents holding up?”
“Okay. They’re going to go away for a few weeks.”
“A good move.” Especially given the Empusae might just decide to go after our one and only witness. “What do you think about Monty’s suggestion we contact Vita again?”
“If she’d known a way to easily find the Empusae, she would have mentioned it. She wants them dead as badly as w
e do, remember.”
“Any idea as to why she’s not been sighted, then?”
“No.” She paused to sip her latte. “The spirits do say your guess about her strength is right. They also state there’s a stirring to the south of Castle Rock.”
“I don’t suppose they’d care to define stirring.” My voice was dry. “Or perhaps give a more definite location? To the south isn’t exactly helpful.”
She grinned. “They suggest we start looking in the area around the old Garfield Water Wheel. The stirring will become evident.”
“As much as I’d like to grumble about the continuing lack of information, I guess that is far more than they’ve given us previously.”
“And they appreciate your acknowledgement of this fact.”
“While they’re in such a good mood, I don’t suppose they want to track down the Empusae for us?”
“That would be going against the rules.”
I raised my eyebrows. “There’s rules for spirit guides?”
She hesitated, obviously listening to her guides. “It’s more things they can and can’t do. Their main purpose is to guide and provide advice. They cannot directly intervene, which is what providing such direct information would be.”
“Suggesting they do know where the Empusae are.”
“They can neither confirm nor deny that.”
“Then they remain in my ‘annoying’ category.”
Belle’s expression was momentarily intent. “They say this pleases them, as they wouldn’t know how to cope with you actually being friendly toward them.”
I chuckled and drank some coffee. “Have they at least got a suggestion as to when we should check?”
“They suggest you put your coffee in a travel mug and depart straight away.”
“Then I shall do so.” I pushed to my feet. “Can you call Ashworth and tell him what’s going on? I might pick him up on the way through if he’s not busy.”
“Wise plan.”
“Is that your thought or the guides’?”
“Both. Going anywhere by one’s self is not something they suggest doing right now.”
“Great. Even the spirits are spooked by the Empusae.”
“They’re not spooked. They’re just not liking the current trajectory of kills.”