Demon's Dance

by Keri Arthur

  He nodded, propped his phone on the wheel arch of the nearest tractor to keep recording, and then grabbed my phone out of the pack and started making the call.

  My attention returned to Belle. Her weariness was beginning to slither down the connection between us. Angry or confrontational ghosts always took far more out of her than the peaceful ones.

  The being you saw walking out of here wasn’t you. It was a spirit wearing your image.

  Why would it want to do that? he asked.

  Because it’s evil. Because it likes to kill and steal.

  He was silent for a moment. And that red thing at my feet? That was me, wasn’t it? My body?

  I’m afraid so.

  He didn’t immediately say anything. He didn’t even get angry. He just hovered near the door, emitting an odd sort of sadness.

  So I really am dead? And stuck here?

  You are dead, Belle said gently. But you’re not stuck here. I can help you move on, if that’s what you wish.

  What’s the other option? Remaining stuck in this place, unable to see or communicate with Elsie?

  I’m afraid so.

  He sighed. It was an unhappy sound. Then I guess I have no choice.

  So you do wish to move on? She needed formal acknowledgment before she could help him.

  Yes, I do.

  Then I bid you health, happiness, and good fortune in your next life, John. And with that, she began the spell that would guide his soul onwards.

  As his energy shimmered and began to fade, she finished the spell, then took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her tiredness washed through me, and I quickly pushed a little bit of my strength through to her. She squeezed my hands and released them.

  “Well, that went better than I’d initially expected.”

  “Yes.” I swiftly pulled the protection circle down and then pushed upright and gathered my spell stones. “I’m surprised it took his skin, though, given up until now, her victims have been women.”

  She scrubbed a hand across her eyes, then pushed upright. I grabbed her arm, steadying her as she wobbled a little. “Maybe she had no other choice once he’d found her. Maybe she needed his skin to get out.”

  “Possibly,” I said. “Monty did say yesterday that soucouyants use their ‘human’ skins as a barrier against the sun.”

  She nodded. “That makes sense—they’re spirits rather than human, so their skins would need to be genetically different to ours.”

  “It also means the ones she’s stealing simply aren’t up to the task of containing her heat for more than a few hours,” I said. “And that would explain the puddled piles of skin we’re finding.”

  Aiden frowned. “If that were true, wouldn’t the skins simply burn up?”

  “Maybe she ditches them before it gets to that point.” I shrugged. “After all, it’d be hard to get close enough to her next victim if the skin she’s wearing is falling off around her. People tend to react adversely to that sort of thing.”

  He grunted. “If the soucouyant has claimed Baker’s skin, how far is she likely to be able to travel, given she’s had to move in daylight?”

  I hesitated. “It’s only a guess, but if she’s stealing skins at night to get her through the day when she’s in hiding, then it’s likely she wouldn’t be able to move far without being affected by both the external and internal heat.” I studied him for a minute. “Do you think she might still be on the farm somewhere?”

  “I doubt she’d risk staying in the immediate area, but the Pykes Creek Reservoir lies behind Baker’s property. If the photos I saw in his house are anything to go by, he had a hut set up on the boundary so he and his mates could do some fishing.”

  “How would the soucouyant know about it, though?” Belle asked.

  “Maybe when she steals their skin, she also steals some information about them,” I said. “There’s no other way she could have known where Mrs. Dale lived.”

  Unless, of course, she had access to her wallet. She certainly had access to her keys.

  “True. But if she is there, we’re going to need help, as neither of us know a spell strong enough to contain a fire spirit.”

  “I’ll get Tala to pick up Monty and bring him out here.” Aiden glanced at his watch. “It’ll be close to six thirty before they get here though—will that be pushing it, time wise?”

  “It doesn’t get dark until nearly eight, and I doubt she’d move before then,” I said. “Not after her efforts here today.”

  “It might be worth going back down to the farmhouse and making up a brine mixture,” Belle said. “Holy water might amplify the effect, but ordinary water should still work. It’s just a shame I didn’t think to bring the Super Soakers.”

  “Brine?” Aiden opened the barn door and ushered us both out.

  “We figured if brine could stop the soucouyant from taking back her skin, then it’s possible that it could also be used as a weapon against her.”

  “I think there were a couple of backpack pressure sprayers in one of the sheds near the house,” he said. “They’d be more effective than a couple of Super Soakers.”

  “Possibly.” I climbed into the truck and slid across the seat to allow Belle room. “We can make up the solution while we’re waiting for Monty.”

  He turned the truck around and then made the call to Tala. Once back at the main farmhouse, he unlocked the back door and then went searching for the pressure sprays while we went inside.

  Like most of these old places, the laundry led straight into the kitchen. This one was a large kitchen diner, with a pot rack hanging from the ceiling and cabinetry that looked handmade. There was also a large walk-in pantry. I headed in and discovered Mrs. Baker liked buying things in bulk, even when it came to simple things like salt. I gathered a couple of bags then retreated.

  “I just googled brine,” Belle said. “Apparently solutions can be anything from 3 percent to twenty-six.”

  “I’m thinking the stronger end of that scale would be better.” I dumped the bags on the counter then spun around to get a couple more.

  Aiden came in with two pressure sprays. Once we’d filled them with water, we poured in the salt and stirred it up.

  “Well, that’ll either stop her or piss her off,” Belle said.

  “Let’s hope for the former rather than the latter,” Aiden said evenly. “We’ve already crossed swords with one pissed off soucouyant. I’d really prefer to avoid a second encounter.”

  “I’m thinking the chances of that happening are on the wrong side of zero,” I said.

  “And on that cheery thought, lets head outside and wait for Tala and Monty.”

  We filled in time raiding Aiden’s stash of chocolate and chatting about everything other than the case. None of us, it seemed, wanted to dwell on what might happen if we found the soucouyant in the fishing hut.

  Tala and Monty arrived fifteen minutes earlier than Aiden’s estimate, suggesting Tala had pushed the SUV’s limits to get here quickly.

  Aiden wound down his window and explained what was going on, then turned his truck around and led the way. We drove through a number of paddocks, our appearance spooking various herds of cattle and sheep. As Belle climbed out to open and then close yet another gate, I said, “How close are we to the reservoir now?”

  “I smelled water when Belle opened the door, so we can’t be far.” He motioned toward the top of the paddock’s long hill. “I’d say that building might be the one we’re looking for.”

  I leaned forward and studied the building for several seconds. “It’s certainly too small to be any sort of shelter for the cattle, but I’m not getting anything in the way of psychic twinges.”

  “Maybe we’re too far away.”

  I glanced at him. “Not when it comes to evil. I’ve sensed its presence from miles away, remember.”

  “I’d rather not.” He hesitated. “If the soucouyant is there, how close do we dare get?”

  “Well, she didn’t actually react to Ba
ker’s presence until he sprayed her with water, so there’s a fair chance she won’t notice ours until it’s too late.”

  “And if she does?”

  “Then we’re in deep shit.”

  “Always nice to know.”

  Once Belle had climbed back into the truck, he continued on, taking the direct route up the hill. There was little point in doing anything else—if the soucouyant was going to sense us, she’d do so whether or not we came in straight or from a more roundabout direction.

  We pulled up just shy of the building. It was indeed a hut, constructed out of a mix of tin and old timber. There was a window on the side closest to us but nothing that immediately indicated the presence of the soucouyant.

  “Sensing anything?” Aiden asked.

  “Nope.”

  “It’s possible her fire is so diminished by her efforts that we won’t,” Belle said.

  “But if that was the case, wouldn’t she have fed last night?” I glanced at Aiden. “Did you get any reports of missing persons or murders overnight?”

  “No additional ones, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there,” he said. “Is it safe to get out?”

  “Belle and I will. You’d better stay in the truck.”

  He snorted. “As if the truck will in any way provide a point of safety if that thing attacks. Besides, someone needs to be ready to use the pressure sprays while you three are doing your witch stuff.”

  A point I’d forgotten. The three of us climbed out of and moved to the front of the truck. Tala and Monty soon joined us. “The place looks empty,” Tala said. “Are you sure that thing is inside?”

  “It looks empty, but I assure you, it’s not,” Monty said.

  I glanced at him sharply. “You can sense the soucouyant?”

  “It’s little more than a tremble of evil on the air, but yes, she’s definitely in there.”

  “Wonder why I can’t sense it?”

  He raised an eyebrow, his amusement creasing the corners of his bright eyes. “You’re an underpowered witch. I’m not.”

  I grinned. “How do you want to play this?”

  He hesitated. “That depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On whether you have your spell stones here, on just how strong this thing is, and whether or not our containment shields will actually be able to contain her.”

  “Shields?” I said, even as Belle said, “We do. I’ll go grab them.”

  Monty glanced at her and nodded, but the amusement had fled his expression by the time his gaze returned to me. “Yes. I’ll run the main shield around the hut, and you and Belle run a secondary line of defense around that.”

  “But if she breaks past your shield, ours certainly won’t—”

  “Except yours will have the wild magic woven through it, and that is more powerful than anything I could conjure up.”

  “I wouldn’t rely on its help, Monty.” My voice was sharp. “It’s not something I can control, and it’s hit and miss as to whether it’ll assist or not.”

  “You may not control it, but it’s evident in every spell I’ve seen you perform—”

  “Which hasn’t been many—”

  “That is beside the point. We both know it’ll show up here, even if you don’t want to admit it.”

  “People,” Aiden said. “Argue about that sort of stuff later. Time is a wasting, and we need to contain this thing before it wakes up and either runs or attacks.”

  Monty returned his gaze to the building. “It’d probably be best if you and Tala station yourselves on the shorter sides of the building—that way, you’ll be able to see more of it, and the pressure sprays can cover a greater area. I’ll run the first spell line about five feet away from the building, and you two can run the second a couple of feet away from that.”

  Belle returned from the truck and handed me my spell stones. “It might be worth trying another weave spell. If it can counter the magic of a heretic witch for a few vital minutes, it can surely do the same with a fire spirit.”

  “Now there’s a story I wouldn’t mind hearing over a beer once this mess is sorted.” Monty’s gaze swept the two of us. “Ready, ladies?”

  I took a deep breath and released it slowly. “As we’ll ever be.”

  I tipped my stones into my hand and then walked in the opposite direction to Belle, stomping down the grass before I placed each stone down. While they were white quartz, between the long, dry grass and the sandy ground, it might be hard to find them again. I passed Belle out the front of the building, and began interweaving my stones around hers, placing one on the outside of her stone, the next on the inside, and so on.

  Once that was done, we joined Monty at the front of the old building. “I suspect the next bit will be the most dangerous,” he said. “If she wakes while we’re raising the containment circles, there will be merry hell to pay.”

  “Not to mention crispy witches,” Belle said.

  “Something I’d rather avoid if we can,” he said. “I think it’s best we perform the spells at the same time. We run the risk of our magic waking her anyway, so we might as well do it in one hit. Just remember to weave an exception into your spell so that I can get past it once my spell is active.”

  We nodded and, as he moved through the ring of our stones, we sat down on the ground. I daresay we could have remained standing—as Monty no doubt would—but aside from the basics taught in high school, neither Belle nor I had much in the way of proper spellcraft training. We’d learned to do things our own way and for larger spells, such as this containment one, sitting was better. Especially given the pull such spells tended to have on our strength—the simple fact was, there wasn’t as far to fall if you were sitting.

  Once our knees were touching and we’d both taken a deep breath, I said softly, “Right, let’s do this.”

  We psychically opened ourselves up to one another. Our energy and our auras pulsed and merged at the point where we touched and I both heard and felt her sharp intake of breath.

  The wild magic really has become a part of your being now. That’s rather worrying given how fast it appears to have happened.

  It’s also something we can worry about later—

  Later may be too late.

  If the soucouyant crisps us, then how much wild magic runs through my soul won’t really matter. Let’s take care of this bitch first.

  I raised the containment spell, weaving the spell threads across each of the stones, making them as strong as I possibly could and ensuring there were no exit exceptions except for Monty. Belle’s magic rose around me, a familiar touch of energy almost as strong as my own. Both her magic and the ever-present wild magic wove through mine, until a netlike structure had been formed over the hut. It was a tapestry of power that outshone Monty’s, and was possibly even stronger than the spell we’d created to contain the heretic’s magic.

  Hopefully it would be enough.

  Monty glanced across at us and raised an eyebrow. We nodded and, as one, the three of us tied off our spells and then activated them.

  The soucouyant reacted. Violently.

  Fire exploded to life in the cabin, and a rush of heat and flame smashed through windows and burst through the door.

  Monty swore and bolted for safety—the flames chased him but were brought up short by the shimmer of his containment spell. They rose, following the line of his magic, searching for weakness and an exit point. Our net shimmered as he stepped through.

  “Well, that was fucking close.” He hastily patted out a few smoldering sections of shirt. “Now we’ve just got to tighten our magic until we have her in a manageable sphere.”

  I glanced at him sharply. “Um, wasn’t the whole point of this exercise to contain and then destroy the bitch?”

  “I don’t believe I said destroy—not recently, anyway,” he said.

  “Monty, a soucouyant is too damn dangerous to be playing games with.”

  “Yes, I know, but I’ve had some new information
that changes things.”

  The storm inside the two containment lines grew fiercer and the old hut disappeared in a roar of smoke and ash. I raised a hand to protect my face against a wave of the heat the containment spells couldn’t quite hold. “What sort of information?”

  “Apparently, soucouyant can reproduce. It only happens when the spirit becomes old, and it’s more a splintering of its being than actual reproduction.”

  I blinked. “Meaning we’re not dealing with separate entities but two parts of a whole?”

  “Well, they are separate, but they remain connected. It’s probably why we’ve two in the reservation—after the younger version lost her skin, it rejoined forces with the older part of itself as a means of protection.”

  “And yet the older part isn’t exactly doing much to protect the younger,” Belle said. “It’s not like they’re even sharing daytime quarters.”

  “I know, and I have no idea why that might be so,” he said. “But the professor and I believe that, given the connection, we could use this soucouyant to track the other.”

  I frowned. “That’s still going to be damn dangerous. If there is a connection, the other one will know exactly what you’re doing the minute you try it.”

  In fact, I was damn surprised she hadn’t already sent a fireball our way, fading daylight or not.

  Maybe she used too much of her strength to attack you last night, Belle said. She might have to feed before she can counterattack.

  I wanted to hope that was the case, but it would mean someone else dying, and I really didn’t want that.

  “Whatever you’re going to do, you’d better do it fast,” Aiden said. “That thing is getting more and more pissed off, and the grass is beginning to smolder. If it erupts into flame, this entire area could go up.”

  I glanced around sharply; multiple patches of long brown grass were beginning to curl and darken under the continuing waves of heat. It really wouldn’t take much more for it to catch.

  But the grass wasn’t the only thing in danger of catching fire. Monty’s containment spell was now being attacked by the full force the soucouyant, and the threads of his magic were beginning to stretch and melt. It was nowhere near the breaking point, but if he didn’t hurry up and do something, then it might yet get there.