Starlight Web

by Yasmine Galenorn

  And that was it—that was exactly what I had been feeling. “You’ve hit on something. I think…give me a moment.” I closed my eyes, leaning against the wall, trying to focus on what was going on around me without allowing the energies to have any access to taking over my body. Possession could happen quickly and easily, and while I was a powerful witch, it had been quite awhile since I had used my magic.

  I listened to the undercurrents gliding through the hall.

  First, the top layer was ours—our nervousness and curiosity, our intrusion into a world that wasn’t ours to intrude into. We were floating on the top like cream rising to the surface. Below that came the energy that had rolled in with the storm. Storms—be they rain, snow, lightning, or wind—had a life of their own and their essence had a very strong lifeforce to it, though it was alien to most of the energy signatures coming from corporeal beings.

  Beneath our energy and the snow came the energy of the building. And there the murkiness began. That energy was clouded in shadow, spreading out like long disjointed fingers, reaching out greedily, looking to snatch up whatever it could find and suck the marrow from the bones. These energy tendrils were tenacious, they were strong, and they were not easily driven back.

  I followed the vines of energy, trying to find their core—their center. There were spirits here, I could feel them, but they were almost like finger puppets. They had once belonged to themselves, but now they were mere illusions—masks this entity wore. Even the corpse candle—it too was just one mask of whatever was at the center of this building.

  I caught my breath as one of the vines froze, then turned toward me. “Oh no, you don’t,” I whispered. “Mind your own business, creature.” I quickly dropped out of trance and shook my head, jumping away from the creature before it latched hold of me.

  “Cripes, this is bad.” I was breathing hard, trying to maintain my composure. “The spirits here? They’ve been absorbed by whatever this creature is. The entire building is part of its persona now. In fact, the building gives form to it.”

  Caitlin shook her head. “I don’t think I want to stay inside. What if it swallowed them? People just vanish into thin air every year. What if…” Her voice dropped. “We need to wait outside,” she said in a strangled voice, staring over my shoulder. “There’s something coming toward us down the hall and it’s not the guys.”

  I slowly began to turn, easing around as gently as I could. I didn’t want to spur it into running at us full tilt. Sure enough, there was some sort of creature coming toward us—it was tall and gangly, with rubbery legs and arms, and it had a triangular-shaped head. The creature was gray—eraser gray—and had large black eyes that looked dead.

  Get out of here. Now. The voice echoed in my head, a warning so strong that I grabbed Caitlin’s hand and began dragging her down the hall.

  “Outside, now!”

  The creature began to run toward us, loping faster than I would have imagined possible.

  We managed to stumble out the door and I slammed it behind us. We backed away from the building, watching closely to see if the creature was going to follow us. But the door stayed closed. I was shaking so bad that I could barely breathe.

  “What the fuck are we going to do now?” I asked. “I’m not going back in there without help.”

  “I have no clue what—wait…what’s that noise?” Caitlin said, whirling to look behind us. “There’s someone coming!”

  I glanced at my phone. Almost three. “Maybe it’s Killian,” I said, hoping to hell that I was right. We waited, huddling near the van, and then in the strengthening snowstorm, I saw Killian’s SUV emerge from the driveway, into the open. I was never so glad to see anybody in my life.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Thank the gods,” I said, running toward the SUV as he eased in beside the van. He jumped out, racing over to my side.

  “Are you all right?”

  “No,” I said. “Tad and Hank are missing. We think they may be trapped inside the building, but it’s too dangerous to go back in there.” I ran through my repertoire of spells, trying to think of what I might be able to do in order to find them, but could think of nothing that I could cast on the spur of the moment.

  “Where did you last see them?” he asked, nodding to Caitlin. “Hello, I’m Killian O’Connell.”

  “Caitlin Tireal,” she said, returning the nod.

  “We saw them in the building—Caitlin and I came out so I could make a phone call. We were out here ten to fifteen minutes at the most. When we returned, Hank and Tad were nowhere in sight. We didn’t see them exit the building, and even though there are other exits, they would have returned to the van first. And while we were in there, trying to find them, some butt-ugly creature came after us.”

  Killian frowned. “What kind of creature?”

  “We have no clue,” Caitlin said. “It looked almost demonic, or alien.”

  “Whatever the case, it wasn’t working on its own.” I explained to Killian that the building was giving form to the creature. “I think there were spirits here in the beginning, but the elemental absorbed all of them. Now it’s generating manifestations from its central core.”

  “You said this land is cursed?”

  I nodded. “In talking to a historian at the Garrison Library, I found out that the cursed area of land extends a mile out in all directions from the center of the building. In fact, he thinks that’s why George Leeland built the complex where it is—it’s right over the center of the cursed land.”

  “Lovely. All right, stay here. I’ll take a look around the rest of the building. I won’t go inside—but I’ll travel in my wolf form. That will be faster and safer. It’s harder for things to attack me when I’m in my alt-form. If you’d close the back door of my SUV when I leave?” He returned to his SUV and slipped inside the back, where he started to strip off his jacket and shirt. Not wanting to feel like a peeping tom, I turned.

  Caitlin turned with me. “That your boyfriend? He’s cute.”

  For some reason, I didn’t want to tell her no, so I just said, “I don’t know. We’re dating.” That was true, as far as it went. We were going to go out on a date—two of them, if things went right. “Are you married?”

  She laughed. “Married? Not currently. I am engaged, though, but I’d rather not be.”

  I frowned. “Why…” I stopped, not wanting to sound rude, but she answered anyway.

  “Why am I engaged if I don’t want to be? It’s an arranged marriage. My Pride is more conservative than most, and I’ve already rocked the boat several times. My parents made the arrangements when I was young, and they expect me to carry through. I’m in the process of deciding whether my personal happiness is more important than my family’s honor. It’s not like I dislike my fiancé—we’ve known each other most of our lives. It’s just…he’s a good guy, but…”

  “No spark?”

  She shook her head. “No spark. But will I find that spark with anybody else? And does it even matter? A lot of arranged marriages actually work out. We get along, he’s a hard worker, I trust that he’ll do right by me and any children we have. And maybe the chemistry will build over the years. It’s a lot to think about.”

  I wanted to beg her to break it off. Marriage to someone you loved was hard enough. Marrying someone you liked but had no chemistry with signaled a recipe for disaster. But I stopped myself. Caitlin had been brought up in a different lifestyle. Shifter cultures were insular and had their own rules.

  “Just make certain you’ve made a decision either way, rather than just letting it happen. When’s the wedding set for?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “A year from next summer. I still have time. And I promise you—if I go through with it, it will be because I decided to.”

  I turned as Killian let out a shout for us to turn around. A shimmer filled the back of his SUV and the next moment, the large gray wolf that had been in my backyard leaped out of the car. He turned to me, trotted over, and rubb
ed against my side. I patted his head, suddenly feeling protective, and then he began to lope toward the building.

  “Do you think he can find them?” Caitlin asked, her voice trembling.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I hope so, because what the hell are we going to do if he doesn’t?”

  Twenty minutes later, Killian came racing back. I opened the back of his SUV when I saw him running full tilt, but he didn’t bother jumping in, just paused by the door, and the cloud of sparkling fog engulfed him again. We could see the outline of his body shifting—legs and arms transforming, muzzle vanishing as his head took form again. I heard him moan—shifting could be painful, from what I understood. The bones and flesh moving and changing shape wasn’t exactly just a twitch of the nose and boom…new form.

  Killian was stark naked, but the look on his face caught my attention. “Call the police and an ambulance. Get them here as soon as possible while I get dressed. I found one of the men, I think, and he’s barely breathing. I couldn’t do anything for him in wolf form so I came right back.” He jumped in the back of the SUV as Caitlin pulled out her phone and called the police.

  My stomach knotted, as I wondered who he had found—Tad or Hank? And if he only found one, where was the other?

  The moment he was dressed again, standing in the snow, he turned to me. “Do not, under any circumstances, return to that building. I saw…things…coming out of it. Shadows and forms so twisted that I couldn’t tell what they were.”

  “I think they’re all part of the same creature,” I said. “The entire building is alive. Whatever curse was placed on this land has seeped into the structure and taken it over.”

  Caitlin was fretting. “I want to do something. I have to do something.”

  I caught her arm. “You aren’t going anywhere. Not alone. You’d end up on the menu, too.” I paused. “When they get here, we can all go with them.”

  “But—what if they get here too late?”

  “There’s nothing we can do right now. We don’t even know what’s wrong.” I hated being the voice of reason.

  “When’s Ari supposed to get here?” Killian asked.

  “Five-thirty.” I glanced at my phone. It was four o’clock already. “I should call her and tell her to stay away—”

  “Here they come!” Killian pointed to the driveway where an ambulance, a medic unit, and a cop car were rumbling down the road toward us. We hurried over to the emergency vehicles as they pulled to a stop.

  I spied Millie Tuptin and waved her over. “Listen, you know Arabella and the homeless guy who died here? A member of my team is out there, and another is missing. Killian will lead us, but we need to move now or they may not survive.”

  I was grateful she didn’t spend a lot of time questioning me. Instead, she motioned for the medics to join us.

  Killian pointed toward the west side of the building. “I found him in the woods over to that side. He’s barely breathing.”

  “Can we drive there?” the medic asked. “Is there room?”

  Killian nodded. “Yes, there is.” He turned to us. “Get in my SUV. We’ll lead them.”

  As Caitlin clambered into the back seat and I claimed shotgun, Killian started up the SUV and set off, driving over the snow-covered rough terrain. There was an access road to either side of the building, but it was clear that neither had been used for a long time. Bushes and roots had grown up around and through the roads, but they were still passable.

  The medic unit, cop car, and ambulance followed us. Less than five minutes later, Killian pulled to a stop. A sense of dread swept over me. I turned to stare at the building. We were less than a hundred yards from the west side, and shadows were creeping out. In front of us, the tree line of the Mystic Wood was a mere hundred yards away.

  As I looked around, trying to spot the body, Killian motioned to the medics and they followed him toward the thicket. Caitlin and I joined them. I had no desire to stay this close to the building while everybody else vanished into the woods.

  Along the way, I explained to Millie what had happened and why we were here. “Conjure Ink was hired to scope out whether it’s safe for a real estate company to buy this plot of land, raze the building, and put up houses.”

  “I think we—the team—has talked to you before,” Caitlin said.

  Millie nodded. “Last year, you and your boss came to the station to ask about someone who went missing. I remember you and I remember Conjure Ink. You guys do good work.”

  We paused as Killian pointed ahead. “There he is.”

  I craned my neck, trying to see who it was.

  There, sprawled on the ground, was Tad. In my heart, I was relieved. Hank was stronger. He had a better chance of surviving an attack. Tad wouldn’t make it long, if he were being held prisoner. Hank was bigger and stronger, and though human, he had a magical background.

  The medics immediately went to work on Tad as Caitlin sought my hand. I squeezed it tight, and in one of those sudden flashes that came with being a witch, I realized that she was in love with him. Caitlin was in love with Tad. I also realized that she had no clue that she felt the way she did. She had buried her feelings, probably due to the fact that she was engaged.

  I turned to her, wanting to ease her mind. “He’s still alive.”

  She nodded, worrying her lip. “I know, it’s just…”

  “He seems so fragile, doesn’t he?” I said, understanding exactly what she was saying. As scared as this shit was making me, I had magic in my bones, and that gave me strength. Just like Caitlin and Killian being shifters provided them with extra strength. But Tad was human, and he was just doing his best at a job he loved. He didn’t have the reserves the rest of us had.

  One of the medics began performing CPR. The other medic prepared one of those plastic resuscitators, and then the first medic leaned back as they slipped the seal over Tad’s mouth and began squeezing the bag. A tense few minutes went by and then Tad shuddered and coughed. The medics went through a flurry of checks, listening to his lungs again, and his heart, and then—miracle of miracles—Tad opened his eyes and tried to sit up.

  “You stay down,” one of the medics said. They strapped an oxygen mask to his face, placed him on a gurney, and raised it. Another medic began gathering up their equipment off the ground. Tad struggled to tear the mask away. We were all close enough to hear what he had to say.

  “Hank,” Tad wheezed. “He’s still in the building.”

  “Where?” Millie asked. “Can you tell us where?”

  “Basement.” Tad struggled to speak.

  It was then I noticed the marks on his face. They were like sucker imprints—as though an octopus had attached itself to his face.

  “What the hell are those?” I asked, pointing.

  Tad tried to speak, but he couldn’t manage anything else, and he fell back on the gurney, closing his eyes.

  “Tad!” Caitlin’s eyes went wide, but the nearest medic rested a hand on her shoulder.

  “He’s all right. He’s just very weak. We need to get him to a hospital.”

  As they trundled him toward the ambulance—thank gods for wheeled gurneys—we followed in a cluster, with Millie walking next to me.

  “If Hank is still in there, he’s in danger,” I said. “Caitlin and I can’t possibly rescue him on our own. We’d end up like Tad, or worse.”

  “What do you think attacked him?” Millie asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know, but—”

  “Listen, follow me down to the station. I’ll send out a search and rescue party. But I need to know what my men will be facing before I can decide just who to send.” She shook her head as I tried to protest that waiting might endanger Hank’s life. “I know very well it will put him at risk. But going in unprepared creates an even greater risk factor for everyone involved. I won’t send my people in without at least something to go on. The station’s only ten minutes from here. I’ll meet you there.”

  Caitlin and I
hurried back to the van. I glanced at her. “Can you drive this thing?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I can. But what if Hank escapes while we’re gone?”

  “You want to leave the van for him, just in case?” I turned to Killian. “Can you drive us down to the station and then back?”

  He nodded. “Call Ari, though. Tell her to stay the hell away from here. You don’t want her coming out here when we’re all gone, and going in to look for you.”

  “Good point,” I said, buckling my seat belt. Caitlin climbed in back again, and as we headed toward the main road, I called Ari.

  “Hey, I was about ready to come out and meet you,” she said. “I just finished with my last appointment for the day.”

  “Belay that thought,” I said. “Under no circumstances go anywhere near the asylum. I’ll tell you about it later. I’m headed to the police station now. I’m okay, don’t worry about that.”

  I hung up, leaving her sputtering in my ear. I thought about Tad. Hopefully, he would recover. I remembered the sucker-like marks on his face. How did they play into it? What form had the creature taken? The gray-green thing that had been after Caitlin and me hadn’t had anything resembling suckers.

  My mind was flying in a dozen different directions as we drove the distance to City Central. Killian found a parking spot near the door and Caitlin and I tumbled out in haste to talk to Millie. Millie had arrived before we had. She must know a faster route.

  She was just getting to her desk when we entered the station.

  The town of Moonshadow Bay wasn’t large, and neither was the police force. Millie motioned for us to follow her down the hall to her desk. The dispatcher waved us through the gate separating the reception area from the main floor. In a grim sign of the times, bulletproof glass separated the two areas, and the gate was actually a door, also made of bulletproof glass.