I kept doing my job. After capturing two more traps, I found another mass of spells ensnared in a thicket of vines. I wasn’t entirely sure how, but the vines had effectively captured the spells. Somewhere an elf or fey was doing their best to protect everyone. I slapped a shield over it just to be safe and moved on.
As I cleared areas, Queen expanded the safe zones, and the officers started moving around, giving the traps encased in shields a wide berth. When I finished with the shooting line, I moved downrange. Closer to the targets there were yet more traps. The demon really had wanted to kill as many cops as it could.
Since I was getting far too close to being out of energy, I asked Queen to mark everything between the shooting line and targets as an unsafe area. With that done, she guided me over to an outside training course. It had just as many spells as the range. Once she’d marked the area as off-limits, we headed back to the main building. It still had lot of traps that weren’t flagged.
I really couldn’t say how long I spent hunting down every trap I could find and slapping a shield on it, but I noticed the quality of my spells was degrading. The first ones I’d used had been full contamination spells that could withstand small bombs. Now I was down to putting bright red spheres around them to make the traps visible. It was far from ideal, but I didn’t want to risk another person dying because I hadn’t managed my magic properly.
My eyes were having trouble focusing. I blinked sleepily, and when they were working again, Wells was standing in front of me.
“What’s wrong now?” I asked tiredly.
“Reinforcements have arrived.”
All of a sudden Wells was leaning sideways. I blinked and he was upright and holding on to me. “What’d you do?”
He tossed one of my arms over his shoulder. “Let’s find you a place to rest.”
“I still need to—”
“You’re off duty,” he said softly.
“Are you mad at me?”
Wells guided me out of the building and pointed us at the ambulances. “No. It isn’t your fault. You weren’t there… I think he was dead well before you arrived.”
“If I’d been faster—”
“You can’t do that. You can’t think that way or you’ll go crazy. You got here, you did your job, and that’s all anyone could ask of you.”
“No.” I shook my head. “It was a demon, you know. And I knew it was here. I told it the police knew about demons and how to kill them.”
“I know,” he said gently. “You told me. You did the right thing. Now or later that demon was going to target us.”
“So many dead,” I mumbled. There was more I wanted to say, but I couldn’t get my brain to work.
“Energy drain. See if there’s anything you can do for her. She saved a lot of us today.”
There was a blue blob in front of me, but I couldn’t figure out why Wells would be talking to it.
“Will do. One of those witches might be able to do more for her.”
“I’ll ask.”
Everything spun around, and I was looking at a blinding, shiny white light. That was odd. The sky wasn’t white. It was blue. Unless it was really cloudy.
Something cool touched my forehead, and my eyelids got heavy.
Chapter Twelve
When I opened my eyes, three people loomed overhead, peering down at me. It was a good thing I was too groggy to be startled or I would’ve leaped off the bed. Wells was the only one of the three I recognized. I glanced around, and the white ceiling, cabinets, and medical equipment resolved themselves into the interior of an ambulance, though I didn’t have a clear memory of how I’d ended up in here.
“So, anything I need to know?” Hopefully that was vague enough that they’d fill in the gaps in my memory.
A big-boned woman with red hair and freckles squinted at me. Her vest had GBI, short for Georgia Bureau of Investigations, in big yellow letters. “You used a little too much energy. I fed you enough to bring you back into a safe range, but you’ll want to take it easy for a while.” She glanced at Wells. “If you could scoot to the side, I’ll get out of your way.”
He joined the paramedic on my other side.
“Special Agent Emma Cartwright of the Docga. I don’t make it to clan meetings much, so we haven’t met. Minister Greg, rather your father, has been trying to arrange a meeting, but our work schedules haven’t been accommodating.”
The woman held out her hand. It felt strange to be shaking hands while lying on a gurney, but I went along with it.
“It was nice to meet you, Ms. Oaks. You do good work.”
Emma stepped out of the ambulance. I almost called her back, surprised Dad hadn’t even mentioned that a member of his clan worked in field similar to mine. I started to sit up, but the paramedic pushed me down. “Take things slowly. Give it a few minutes before you try sitting.”
My eyes darted to Wells. “I need to deal with those spells and start purifying areas.”
Wells shook his head. “There are other witches taking care of that.”
The paramedic kept a hand on my shoulder. “Like I said, take it slow.” When I relaxed against the gurney, he released me and moved back.
Wells focused on the paramedic and tipped his head in the direction of the door. “Could you give us a minute?”
The paramedic glanced at me before scooting around Wells. “Holler if you need me.”
“Thanks.” Wells closed the door behind the paramedic. When he looked back at me, I noticed the dark shadows under his eyes, the fatigue etched in his face, and the shadows in his eyes. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Putting shields on traps. Why? What happened?”
He motioned for me to keep my voice down. I took a deep breath.
“So you don’t remember our conversation about Patrick?”
Fuzzy memories started to clarify into something that made more sense. “It’s coming back.”
“Good.” He sighed gustily. “I know you. Most of the department does, and they know you wouldn’t have anything to do with Tiffany’s death. I, and every other person in that room, know you weren’t responsible for Patrick’s death.”
I felt my pulse speed up. “What are you trying to say?”
“The medical examiner has been making comments about you, and some people are listening.” He frowned. “Do you have a history with Dr. Wilson? Something I should know about and can use to defend you?”
“I don’t think so.” I sighed. “It’d be easier to answer that if I’d really met him. I’ve only seen him that once, when I was identifying Tiffany’s remains.”
Wells shook his head. “How did he even know about the text messages? Those shouldn’t have gone to him. He’d only had her body a couple of hours. Unless…”
“Unless he was involved,” I finished for him. “I had that thought already. Maybe if I got close to him again, I could tell if he’s had contact with the demon. I want to think he’s the demon, but if that’s the case, he’s sure hiding it well.”
“Right. Gremory’s eyes had flames in them.”
“Exactly.” I wiggled into more of a sitting position. “Though that doesn’t help me much if Dr. Wilson takes a look at Patrick and decides I’m responsible.”
“There’s a chance the bodies could go to the state for examination,” Wells offered. “Pickens County would send most of the evidence to the state anyway, and I know they don’t have enough personnel to handle this many autopsies.”
“That would be nice. Though it doesn’t solve any of the big problems. There’s definitely a demon, and if it has the power to set up this many spells, there’s nothing stopping it from deciding to simply blow up a police station next time.”
“Gremory was scary, and it didn’t have anywhere near this level of power.” Wells rubbed his eyes.
What he said was true, but there was something we hadn’t considered. “Maybe this demon isn’t that powerful.”
Wells jerked his head up. “Explain.
”
“We keep assuming the demon is really scary powerful. Now, I’ll admit the demon is crafty, but its power could be far less than we keep thinking. Elron told me he first saw signs of a demon on Gudger’s body.”
Wells picked up my line of reasoning. “Then this demon could have some of the magic powder we found. You said that powder was filled with magic just waiting to be used, and anyone—witch, human, or even demon—could wield it.”
“Exactly. And if that’s the case, all this”—I waved my hand to include the area—“makes more sense.”
“You do realize that brings us to another tricky point.”
I took a deep breath, steeling myself for more bad news. “What?”
“The demon could be involved in the black market goods operation.” Wells sounded a little too proud of himself for working out that one.
I muttered some very rude words. “This morning I found some items in my boxes of illegal goods tainted with negative energy. A few of them were from your area.”
“Huh. Now that is something to think about.”
The back door opened and the paramedic came in. “Ms. Oaks, how are you feeling? If you’re better, we sure could use this bed for someone else.”
I wobbled a little getting up but was able to sufficiently reassure the paramedic that I could safely be released from his care. He sent me off with a frown and a warning to go to a doctor if I had any problems. I assured him I’d take care of myself.
Wells was looking across the training facility with sad eyes. “It was supposed to be a good day of cross-department training. Don’t know if anyone will see this place the same way again.”
“I’m sorry.” I winced internally. The words were completely inadequate, but they were the best I could offer.
“Me too. Me too.”
I stood with him until Queen called me over. I patted Wells on the shoulder and wished I’d been faster and smarter. I wished I’d been able to save everyone.
She gave me an assessing look. “How are you feeling?”
“Better, but I’m not sure how useful I’ll be. I’m out of magic for the moment.” If I really had to, I could manage a simple spell or two, but then I wouldn’t be able to drive myself home.
“The witches are getting ready to work on the spells that killed Patrick. Emma mentioned it would be easier if they had some information from you.” She looked me up and down. “I know you’re tired, but I’d really appreciate it if you could link with one of them and get a good feel for the spells. I need a detailed report on this case.”
“I’ll do what I can.” Bone-deep fatigue made it hard to sound sincere, but all it took was the memory of Patrick’s final moment for me to straighten up, determined to do whatever I could to catch his killer.
“Thanks.” Someone bellowed for her, and with an apologetic smile, she trotted off.
Taking a deep breath, I headed back into the building. I was careful to stay inside the safe-passage markers as I walked through the building. There was a different feel than last time. I stopped, trying to figure out what it was. There were still spells around, but the building’s noises had changed. Last time I was in here, it had been quiet, the kind of quiet that comes from fear and desperation. This time the room was filled with soft conversations and the quiet rustle of people moving around.
I found three witches standing in the living room, inspecting the containment spell I’d cast and its evil contents.
Emma noticed me first. “Ms. Oaks, I’m so glad you could join us.” The other two witches followed her over. “This is Kelsey Moore and Ann Smith, also from Docga.”
Kelsey was an angular woman with sharp eyes and gray creeping into her blond hair. Ann was short, with slightly puffy eyes and hair escaping her braid. I couldn’t blame her for the tears. Like me, she’d probably known some of the officers who’d died. I reached out to shake their hands. “I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”
Ann nodded sadly. “Part of the job.”
“That it is.” I nodded. “Queen said you needed me, though I’m not sure how much help I can be in my current state. She requested I link with one of you so you can learn more about the spells.”
“You can link with me.” Emma pointed at the shield. “Could we get a little help with the containment spell? It isn’t letting us work through it, and I don’t want to put the time into unmaking it.”
“Sorry, let me fix that.” I summoned my wand and quickly sketched runes for allowing one-way passage keyed to these three witches. As I fed power to the spells, the emptiness inside me grew. This would be the last thing I cast for a while. “Should be fixed.”
“Thanks.” Emma extended her hand. “Ready to link?”
I grasped her hand, let her start the link. A moment later, I could see the magic through her eyes and feel how the spells interacted with her. When the link was firmly established, she released my hand and moved closer to the containment spell.
While I watched, the three of them probed the spells. From their discussion, they believed they could dismantle the acid-gas spell without triggering whatever was under it. Before they started working, they placed a shield around themselves and another one around my containment spell. That way, if anything went wrong, it would be contained.
It was fascinating to watch the three of them work together. It was clearly something they’d done before because their magic flowed together easily, and where one fumbled, there was always another to assist. Instead of actually deconstructing the acid spell, they created the illusion of people for it to attack. It took a while, but eventually the spell ran out of energy and fizzled into nothing. When the chemical-burn spell used itself up, the spell attached to it, one that enhanced the effects of the chemical-burn spell and caused internal organ liquefaction, vanished too. The remaining energy dispersed harmlessly. That was an interesting approach, one I’d have to remember in the future.
While getting rid of the chemical-burn spell didn’t eliminate the trap that had been hidden beneath those spells, it made it much easier to isolate. Emma probed the spell, and through her I could tell that it was one of the snake spells I’d encountered outside. The ladies used the same decoy humans to eliminate the spell. When that had run its course, they unmade the containment spell I’d put in place and removed their own shield.
“Well, that was interesting,” Emma remarked between sips of water.
“Do you think every one of the traps is a nested series of spells?” It hurt to ask because I knew just how big of a cleanup job that was.
Kelsey grimaced. “I hope not, but from our initial evaluation, most of the spells are very dense and have enough magic to fuel several spells.”
“Even the ones outside?”
“Yes,” Emma capped her water. “But since we know the spell order isn’t always the same, there’s a good chance the hidden spells vary too.”
This time I grimaced.
“Then there’s the matter of the negative energy. It’s coating the entire facility.” Kelsey sighed. “Purification on that scale isn’t the easiest.”
“No, it isn’t.” Looking at the work awaiting them, I wished I could help, but it was going to be a bit before I was casting again. “Do you need anything else from me?”
Emma glanced at the other two. “Count the number of intact and partly triggered spells.” She tipped her head in the direction of the door. “I’ll walk you out.”
I cast one last look back at the place where Patrick had died. I forced back the tears that threatened and promised him I’d kill the demon. I’d bring the entity responsible for his death to justice, even if that would be cold comfort to his family. Then I followed Emma out the door.
We walked in silence for a few moments before she spoke. “I’d heard of you, but I’m doubly impressed now that I’ve seen your abilities.”
“I don’t feel impressive today.”
“No one does on a day like this.” She turned to face me. “I need to know everyt
hing you learned before I arrived.”
With a sigh, I told her about the spells, how I’d managed them, and the child variations caused by my lack of power. Reluctantly I added, “Considering the amount of negative energy, I suspect a demon was behind all this.”
I thought she’d argue with me, try to tell me demons were creatures of myth. My second guess had been quick and harsh rejection of my ideas.
Instead, she nodded. “Makes sense.”
My jaw dropped. “What? You know about demons?”
“Word gets around to the right places, and Greg made sure I knew.” She shrugged. “More importantly, I know you’re one of the few people who can kill a demon. So one way or another, us law-enforcement types will be working with you.”
“Really?” I asked skeptically.
“Absolutely. We’ll be working side by side.”
“And you’ve lost me. Either I’m one of the few who knows how to kill demons and you’ll help me because of that, or you need me and I’m working for you. Which is it?”
“Such a harsh way of viewing things. I would consider this offer to be some of both. The entire world will be better off without that demon, and we need official reports for the next time one of them shows up.” Emma held out a business card. “I’ve heard there’s been some friction between you and some of the locals. If you need someone else on your side, give me call.”
I took the card and slid it in my pocket. “Thanks. I’ll keep you in mind.”
Emma nodded. “Oh, also give me a call if you tangle with the demon again. It would reassure the government, and your father, if I were there and could provide assistance and corroborate the events.”
“I’ll do my best.” Backup was always appreciated, and with how my life had been going lately, a witness would be good too.
We shook hands and I headed back to my car but paused before getting in. With things under control, a small army of people had started to swarm the scene. Pictures and video were being taken of absolutely everything. Any remaining wounded were getting loaded into ambulances, and a slew of fresh officers from every agency with a potential stake in this had arrived. And, somewhere far from here, an officer was telling Patrick’s family that he wouldn’t be coming home that night.
A Witch’s Demons (Witch's Path Series: Book 6) Page 12
