"They could be desperate."
"They didn't seem desperate." Lachlan's voice hardened. "The guy who killed himself said Apollo was a prize. Like they were big game hunters or some shit."
"Troubling. Let me have a look at what I can find on the body. Have you searched it yet?"
Lachlan shook his head. "No. Apollo was a mess, vomiting up whatever they had dosed him with. I didn't want to leave him. I was going to call you or Cosimo in because the magic was fuckedup, Val. I've never seen anything like it. He used his own blood to kill himself rather than be taken."
Valentine was silent as they walked through the house and outside toward the van parked behind the estate.
"Blood magic is dark magic, but it has its uses," he finally said. "He was a true believer if he was willing to kill himself rather than be questioned."
"A true believer in what?"
Valentine shrugged. "It's what we need to find out. What I remember about them is too old to be really useful. Back then, alchemy was an art being practiced all over Europe. Catherine was fascinated by it, and that makes sense, considering she was a Medici. The Sanguis Vitae was focused on what all the alchemists were chasing at that time."
"Turning lead into gold?" Lachlan asked, reaching for his limited knowledge of alchemy.
"Among other things. Primarily, they wanted the secrets of the Philosopher's Stone. No one really knows what it is. The lead-into-gold thing was generally told to their rich patrons because the rich always want more gold," Valentine explained.
They opened the back doors of the van, and Lachlan straightened the body out. It hadn't begun to smell yet, but they would have to cremate it soon enough. Valentine wasted no time going through the guy's pockets.
They found a burner phone, the empty syringe used on Apollo, and a wallet containing a handful of Euros and a fake ID. A high-quality fake ID only reinforced that they had money backing them, whoever they were.
Valentine lifted the dead man's shirt. On his chest were various tattoos. "Interesting," was all Valentine said, and took photos of the swirls, sigils, and snakes. "He was definitely a practitioner. I can feel the magic in these sigils."
The blood that he used to kill himself was still over his mouth and nose. Valentine pulled a fine-bladed stiletto from inside his leather jacket and used the tip to poke at the seal. "The spell thickened it almost like a silicone, and it still hasn't softened, even though the caster is dead. Usually, spells die with their creator, which tells us?"
"It wasn't originally his spell?" Lachlan guessed.
Valentine grinned. "Very good. This is advanced work. He might have been taught the trigger words to set it off, but he didn't create it. He's not qualified enough."
"How do you know that?"
"He's too young."
"He looks as young as you," Lachlan pointed out.
Valentine looked up at him. "Yes, but if he were as good as me, I would know of him. Our paths would have crossed."
Lachlan remembered Reeve mentioning that Valentine was the most gifted magician of their generation in Europe, maybe the world. He did a lot to hide how good he really was, but he studied all kinds of magic, not just one discipline. Even the fucked-up kinds of magic no one else would touch. It was why he was the most dangerous of all the Greatdrakes, except maybe Cosimo.
Lachlan suspected Cosimo was just better at hiding it than Valentine.
Valentine took more photos of the blood seal and answered his phone when it rang.
"Hello, Dad. You get the photos?" Valentine asked and put the phone on speaker.
"I did. Sanguis Vitae was obsessed with bloodlines back in the day. They thought magical talent could be traced through different families, and they would recruit from them. There isn't much in our records, but I have reached out to another Medici expert I know. He might have some idea of what happened toCatherine's society after she died," Cosimo said. "We need to find Apollo as fast as we can."
"We are trying to," Lachlan pointed out.
"Why?" Valentine asked at the same time. "What do you think they want with him?"
"I can't help but think of their obsession with recreating the Philosopher's Stone," Cosimo said, and his voice cracked. It betrayed just how worried he was.
"Why does the stone matter?" Lachlan pressed, not understanding.
"Dragon blood is mentioned a lot in alchemy as an ingredient. In some of the experiments, it's referring to the red tree resin. There were schools of thought that meant itliterally," Cosimo continued. "The Sanguis Vitae were also obsessed with blood magic. They could still believe that they need real dragon blood as a transformative substance to make the stone."
