The West Greer Street parking lot had been the murder right before I took the case, and that was followed by the three demon women in the apartment. They’d been near Trinity Heights.
The body from a few days ago was the male demon dumped next to the pump in the Brightleaf gas station. The cameras had been wiped, and so had all the humans in the vicinity. Why choose a gas station in one of the busiest neighborhoods in the city? Why risk being discovered? Sure, they could wipe the humans with their spell, but what if a fae or werewolf had been in the area?
The witches had to take the high demon by surprise and kill him quickly and quietly, while making sure no humans could remember what they saw. At the same time, they’d needed to keep a lookout for any approaching paranormals. They must have operated like a well-oiled machine.
I chewed on my pen as I glowered down at my phone. The last attack was in Old North Durham. Again, not far from a park where they would’ve at least had a little more privacy.
What did the locations have in common? Why those demons and why those places? The murders hadn’t felt like someone was holding a grudge— oh I’m sure Veronica had enjoyed the blood and death. The memory of her bone-chilling voice as she attempted to take back her knife still made me shiver. But it didn’t add up.
I called Bael back. “A few days ago, Samael said some lesser demons were also being murdered.” I said when he answered.
“That’s correct. The high demons obviously draw more notice, but enough lesser demons were murdered in the past weeks that Samael had warned the Mage Council that he expected due process for all demons. The Mage Council denied responsibility.”
I was onto something. I knew I was. “Can you send me any locations where their bodies were found?”
“Yes.” He hung up. One of these days someone needed to teach Bael how to politely end a call.
As soon as the message came through, I plotted the other bodies. Then I stared at the map. I connected each body with a straight line, and stared at it some more.
Holy shit.
It was an inverted pentagram. And there was one point missing before it would be complete. They were taking Samael to Geer Cemetery.
But how exactly did they think they’d kill a demon as powerful as Samael?
A headache began to throb behind my left eye. I rubbed at my temple and forced myself to focus. Inverted pentagrams were used to harvest power. But they were also used when it was necessary to expend a great deal of power. Something about the pentagram being inverted allowed the power to replicate itself.
That’s how they were going to do it. That’s why the black smudge was present at every murder, and why the bodies had been drained of magic. I’d thought they’d used the shock of magic loss to kill them, but their deaths were really just a side effect of the draining itself.
The descendants of the McCormick coven had harvested the power from each demon, slowly working their way up the food chain with more powerful demons each time.
That’s how they’d been able to control the demon who’d tried to take back the knife, and the demon who’d attacked me. Only demon power could control a demon, and the witches had been storing it with each death.
The original human sacrifice gave them the power needed to kill the first demon, and the forbidden spell from the grimoire gave them the means of harvesting it. From there, it was like falling dominos— each murder and harvesting of power making the next one easier than the last.
Bile crept up my throat. How much power had they harvested so far? If they’d managed to take Samael unaware, he was either completely incapacitated or close to death. They wouldn’t have taken him if they didn’t think they’d gathered enough demon power to kill him and harvest his power too. We’d be faced with a coven who was bloated with demon power.
I’d never thought such a thing was possible. I shook it off. Geer Cemetery. My hand automatically moved to my key, ready to turn it, and then I stilled.
I could rid this world of a dangerous demon. I didn’t even have to do anything. I could go home right now, drink a bottle of elven wine, and put my head under my pillow. The mark on my wrist would be gone– burned away when he died.
I’d never have to see him again. Some other demon would fill the power vacuum and humans— the ones who weren’t fascinated with high demons— would likely dance in the street when they learned he was dead.
I ignored the instant denial that roared through me at the thought and stared down at the gold mark on my arm. My life would go back to the way it was. I had the Mistilteinn Dagger, and I could go back to focusing all of my time and energy on finding my mom’s murderer. My reputation would recover. The mages would assume I’d gotten close to Samael so I could take him down. I’d probably be promoted. I’d sure as hell be respected.
My hands began to shake.
I should make the logical choice. Should be able to push aside the way it felt when he touched me— the way the whole world disappeared when we kissed.
Samael was dangerous. Not in a loose cannon kind of way, but in a strategic, out-for-himself, Machiavellian kind of way. He’d almost certainly had something to do with my mom’s murder, and if he hadn’t, he’d been sitting on information about it this whole time. The world would probably be better off without Samael in it. I ignored the way that thought twisted my stomach and forced myself to be logical.
But if Samael was gone, we would be left with a coven of insane witches who were bloated with the power of a millennia-old demon.
When it was a choice between the devil you knew and the one you didn’t, you chose the one you knew. Samael was the demon I knew. And the damage those power-bloated witches could do to this city— and the world— was unthinkable.
I let out a strangled laugh. That logic made perfect sense. I could justify it to anyone. But at the heart of my decision was one cold, unrelenting fact: I didn’t want to live in a world without Samael in it. He’d made his way under my skin like a parasite, and while I wanted my freedom more than almost anything else, I didn’t want him dead. I wanted to see the look on his face when I managed to break his bond and walked away.
“Fuck!”
