by T. G. Ayer
“We have more bodies here,” I yelled, pointing at my feet.
Asher’s mouth was open, as if he was about to ask me a question—or more like yell at me for trespassing on his case—but whatever he’d ended up saying, I didn’t hear.
His words were cut off as I tumbled into the Veil, losing consciousness as I hit the ground hard.
Chapter 41
My head throbbed, and I opened my eyes as the memories returned in a rush. I blinked and looked around me, unsurprised to see that I was chained at the ankle, lying on a stone floor in what appeared to be the very same basement in which I’d seen him eat the bodies of those three poor girls.
I knew now what had happened. The warlock had likely laid a trap for me, leaving the bodies where he knew I’d come to investigate them. He’d spelled the area around the redhead’s body, and I wondered if whoever had happened upon the corpse first would have been sucked into the void.
Could this be how he’d procured his victims, possibly taking them out of thin air even in the safest of places?
“Ah, I see you are finally awake. You have been terribly poor company, I must say.”
I grunted, turning my head to study the man standing beside me. His features were sharp, long thin nose with wide nostrils, his light brown eyes gleaming with satisfaction as he smiled at me. He wore a necklace of teeth around his neck and was dressed in tribal garb—probably from whatever African tribe he hailed from—a skirt of reeds, and a crown made of braided brown animal skin and reeds. He stood there so nonchalantly that you’d never say he was a mass murderer, not to mention a deadly vampiric lightning-generating bird shifter.
My head hurt just thinking about it.
I shifted to sit up, back against the stone wall behind me. I stared at the chain around my ankle, confused as to how he expected as simple metal cuff to hold me when he knew I was a jumper.
Perhaps he was new to the whole magic thing if he didn’t realize his captive wasn’t really a captive and could escape at any time. Though I was tempted to leave immediately, I knew I had to at least try to figure out how to get rid of him.
Right now, poor Drake would still be standing in the loft, waiting for me to return for him.
I cleared my throat. “What do you want from me?”
He laughed. “You mean you don’t know by now?” he asked, his smile sending chills up my spine.
I inhaled slowly and shifted my gaze from his face, seeking calm. I scanned the walls around me. To my right, a woman hung on the wall, suspended by iron manacles driven into the brick, her clothing torn in ragged strips from her body. I may not have looked had she not had that distinctive hair, curly and fine, standing around her head almost like a dark halo.
Lorin.
My stomach twisted in horror and heat filled my head. I understood now why she’d been afraid. I wanted to scream my fury at the warlock.
Had I done this to her, drove this psycho to kill her because she’d helped me?
I shifted my attention back to the warlock, gritting my teeth. I wasn’t about to waste any more time with him. “I know you’re killing the girls because their sacrifices are going to boost your virility. What are you aiming at? Making a new brood of ishilogu in your image?”
I snapped the words at him, and he faltered.
“You know what I am?”
I shrugged. “It wasn’t hard to figure out, what with the lightning following me everywhere I went.”
His smile had disappeared, and he took a step closer to me.
“I admit I underestimated you at first. But now that I know the truth about you, I think I know the extent of your power.”
“What do you know?” he sprang forward, hissing, the image of his beaked, feathered face overlaid on his human one. “How do you know?”
I hesitated, showing him the fear he wanted to see. “I…I have the book. The book of spells. It came to me, and I read some of it.”
He sneered. “I’ve read the book too. But it’s of no use to me.”
I stared, feigning shock. “No use to you? So, you don’t know what it says?”
“I know exactly what it says.”
I sighed. “Thank goodness. At least you know now not to eat your heart.”
He lifted an eyebrow, his eyes flashing lightning. “What did you say? How do you know about the heart?”
“The book…the book says you need to be sure not to eat the heart. It says eating it will kill you,” I said hesitating at just the right points to make him believe I was lying.
His gaze flitted left and right, suspicion filling his eyes, and yet he seemed taken with the idea. “You’re just telling me that so I’ll stay away from it.” He took a few steps back. “So you don’t want me to eat the heart, huh? You know what? I’m onto you. You’re just ensuring that I stay away from it. And if I listen to you, then I’ll never be free.”
He spun around and looked up at the ceiling, then let out a piercing scream. “This must end. I can’t be in this prison anymore.”
I remained silent as he fought his own demons.
After a while, his shoulders hunched, and he said, “It doesn’t make a difference anyway.”
“Why not?” I asked, sounding relieved although all I wanted was for him to head to that room, open the box and chow down.
“Because she hid the box. It’s hidden, and I can’t find.”
I shrugged. “Surely you know by now that it’s in the study. The one with the books and the tapestry carpets.”
“You know about the room? You’ve been inside the room?” he asked, surging close to my face so fast that I almost let out a shriek.
“Yes,” I sobbed. “Yes. I know the room. The book…it took me to the room.” I knew what I was doing. Even though I’d told Drake and Natasha that I didn’t want to kill him, I was now spurred by fury and the need for vengeance. Now I wanted to kill him with my bare hands.
But I forced myself to remain calm. We had a plan. I had to stick to the plan.
Stick to the plan, Mel. There is no plan B, remember.
He grabbed me by the hair and lifted me off the ground. “Show me the room.” He growled the instruction in my ear.
I shivered just enough that he’d notice and I watched him smile, enjoying his power. I had no qualms about showing him where it was. What he didn’t realize was that I could just as easily leave and not come back. But I did as he asked, praying that he’d follow the trail I’d set for him.
But before I could say another word, he grabbed hold of my arm, and a millisecond later we materialized in the long passage outside the witch’s study. He let go of my arm, only to grab hold of my hair again. He thrust the door open and shoved me so hard I hit the table just inside the door and toppled everything onto the floor.
Books, bottles, and dried items were flung across the room, and I hurtled to my feet more to avoid the gross liquid that seeped from one of the specimen bottles that had shattered when it hit the carpet.
I hurried to the mantlepiece and retrieved the box, setting aside the stack of books. The ishilogu—for that was what he was considering he had no master—stared at me from the doorway, probably understanding how powerless he was at that moment. I was his captive and yet I was the one who was holding his most prized possession, the thing that controlled him.
Just by holding it in my hand, I could invoke possession of him, but I had a higher purpose, by the image of Lorin, dead and hanging from a wall. Besides, I wasn’t in the market for a familiar.
I hurried over to the door and held out the box to him. Lightning sparked as I set the box in his palm and a smile spread on his face. He tugged the box away and cackled as he held it close to his chest.
But his smile disappeared as he tried to open the box, as he found he was unable to.
This was a roadblock I hadn’t expected.
“The key!” he screeched. “Where is the key?”
“How would I know? It’s not my key!” I yelled as he continued to moan and w
ail.
But the moment I said the words, I understood. If blood was the key to reveal the truth within the grimoire then surely it was also the key to open the box containing the ishilogu’s heart.
And perhaps the lightning bird was smarter than I’d given him credit for. He smiled and stared at me, summoning a short blade out of thin air without a blink of an eyelash.
As he reached for the knife, I snatched it out of the air and said, “I’ll do it.”
His eyes widened, but he didn’t say a word, just watched as I slit the skin on my palm and pressed the flesh, allowing a few drops of blood to fall into the keyhole on the top of the box.
Blood hit the keys and the cogs within began to turn, scraping and scratching as long-rusted mechanical components came to life again.
The box snapped open, the hinge clanging loudly but neither I nor the lightning bird paid any attention. Both our eyes were focused on the beating heart that lay within the wooden box.
Blood glistened as if the heart was still beating within a living body and I had to admit that I was mesmerized as it pulsed and clenched in a steady rhythm.
The ishilogu grabbed the heart within his fist, dropping the box onto the floor, uncaring that it hit the ground and shattered into dozens of pieces. Keeping an eye on the crazy creature, I began to take small steps away from him.
He’d had enough magic to pull me into this dimension where I’d taken an almost corporeal form. I was concerned as to how I’d go back to my body, but I put it out of my mind now. I’d cross that Veil when I got to it.
He was no longer paying any attention to me.
I watched, eyes wide, stomach turning as he gripped the beating heart in his palm and took a bite out of it.
Feathers flew, and lightning struck, blasting the floor with a clap so loud my ears were ringing. But the creature paid no mind to what was happening around him. He continued, taking bite after bite out of his heart until nothing was left.
As he swallowed, wings erupted from his shoulders and feathers rolled over his skin. Bolts of lightning flew from his core, and his eyes glowed white as a storm of wind and light engulfed him, spinning out of control even as he screamed in rapture.
Stuck there, halfway between man and bird, the ishilogu exploded, his body obliterated by the force of the lightning and the power coursing through him.
The pulse of energy hit me, throwing me hard into the wall behind me. I let out a cry, coughing as blood rose within my throat.
I coughed, choking and cluttering as bloody vomit surged out of my mouth. I could hear Drake soothing me, and Natasha telling me this was meant to happen and that I needed to get rid of it all from my system.
I didn't care that I was hurling demon guts, or whatever it was.
All I cared about was that things were finally going to go back to semi-normal
And as much as things were falling apart around me, at least I knew one thing for certain.
I was going to have my sanity and peace of mind back.
Chapter 42
Going home felt like the best thing that I’d had done in a long time. I’d gone straight to my room, shut Steph out even as she walked around grinning, throwing fist pumps into the air and yelling “Take that you bastard” to the now very absent poltergeist.
I spent an eternity under the cascading water, wanting to be clean, needing the privacy of a shower alone, and feeling the deep desire to throw up all over again.
But I didn't.
I was fine.
For the first time in weeks, I was fine.
There were a number of things to do. Tell Chloe what had happened, and Tara too. She deserved an explanation as to why she’d ended up having to loan me her energy.
I had Derek Asher on my list. He deserved at least a briefing on who the killer really was so that he and his team could put the search for the killer to bed. I wasn’t sure how he’d take me walking all over his crime scene, but I’d handle that when I came to it. If he gave me trouble, I’d set Carter on him
I had to speak to Darius to tell him how wrong he’d been about making me suspect the people I cared most for.
As I dried my hair, I glanced at the letter on the dresser. The DNA tests of all the people I cared about had all come up negative. I’d not needed them in the end, but the fact that I’d ever doubted those whom I loved, didn’t sit well with me.
Drake still owed me a freaking explanation and I planned to find him when I went downstairs, put him in a chair and demand he tell me everything. I was pretty confident he would too. And whatever it was, I’d help him fix it. We all would.
And then there was Saleem, waiting patiently for me to come save him. I had to tell Queen Aisha what was going on, gather a team and bust Saleem out of prison, and maybe also help save Mithras in the process. I’d call that a win any day.
I missed Saleem.
Longed to wrap my arms around him, to feel him hold me close again. I blinked away tears, praying that I’d get that chance, that he’d still be okay when I got to him.
The huge gaping hole in my heart left by Samuel’s death was something I was going to have to learn to cope with. But for now, I’d drive his car and think of him. I’d look for memories of him beyond the Veil.
I’d track his movements to find Ari, to bring my sister home once and for all.
It was what he had wanted. The reason he’d sacrifice more than a year living in a projected state, allowing his physical form to fade away and die.
Too many people had died because of me. The image of Lorin’s smiling face hovered in my vision. I’d gotten her killed. She’d helped me, had led me to the warlock, and she’d died for it. I hadn’t returned to the shop, unable to bring myself to be reminded that I’d likely put her on the warlock’s radar the moment I’d walked into the store.
I blinked away another round of tears that threatened and refocused my thoughts. At least one thing good had come from the last few days—if you could consider his punishment good enough. Storm’s banishment to Hades was a lukewarm justice but it was something nonetheless. It confirmed the point I often harped on. That sometimes justice isn’t as satisfying as you hoped. Still, I took some measure of satisfaction from the image of Storm and his future as a professional poop scooper.
My phone pinged the reminder that Ash had emailed the results from Samuel’s blood tests and I opened up the mail program to check it. I knew what I was going to find. The ishilogu had thwarted me in every direction. I was certain he’d been the one to kill Samuel.
I tapped my phone and skimmed Ash’s email first before opening the attachment. My heart thudded faster and faster as I read the words, my ears ringing.
Samuel had been killed all right.
But not by poison.
Not technically. The substance injected into Samuel was a combination of a radioactive isotope, a flower compound that grows only on a dangerous demon plant, and a cognation of two blood typed.
One belonged to a Nephilim, which was in and of itself enough to blow my mind.
The second blood profile, was impossible, and it made me feel like passing out.
Samuel had been killed with a cocktail of poisons that had contained a very damning blood profile.
My blood had killed Samuel.
~ To Be Continued ~
Thank you for reading. The SoulTracker Series continues with Blood Moon.
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DEMON SOUL
A SOULTRACKER NOVEL BOOK 4
Copyright © 2017 by T.G. Ayer
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Eduardo Priego
Cover art © T.G. Ayer. All rights reserved.
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Blood Moon - SoulTracker 5
Chapter 1
The minivan rocked beneath our feet as Kailin and I landed in the shadowed interior of the back of the vehicle, the heels of my boots sliding on the ridged metal floor.
Kai’s shudder was only a manifestation of my own feelings toward the claustrophobic tomb-like space that reeked of rubber and oil.
After my recent jaunt in New Orleans, and my newfound freedom from the evil spirit that had been an all too heavy burden to bear, both on my mind and my body, I’d taken a few days to recover. But what with the death of my friend and mentor, Samuel Fontaine—or murder, if my suspicions were correct—weighing so deeply on my mind, I was happy to lend a hand where needed and occupy my thoughts with something more practical. Especially if said helping hand would be returning the favor very soon.
When I’d turned into such a mercenary bitch, I had no idea.
I was helping SkinWalker Kai on an unusual mission, one that was a surprising change of pace in that this time, the alpha panther’s own life was at stake. Previously, when she’d called on me for help, she’d been running off to save other people, so being roped in to assist in saving the woman herself was a refreshing change.
Threatening letters and attempted abductions had culminated in Kai being framed for the murder of one of the higher ranking officials in the Walker Council. After emergency surgery for internal bleeding caused by the beating she took—not a huge issue for a powerful alpha like Kai—she’d been sequestered at the Chicago PD’s headquarters where the decision was made that she be extracted if she wanted to keep breathing.