I took a deep breath and gave him a nod, turning my attention to the apartment itself. It was small but homey. Tataka had obviously loved to read, because her living room was lined with bookshelves on two walls, and a stack of books sat on her coffee table next to two glasses of wine. A third glass was lying near the bodies.
They’d been three friends who’d been relaxing together. Maybe they’d caught up after a few busy weeks. Maybe they did this once a week. Maybe one of them had news she simply had to share. Or it was just an impromptu gossip session. I pushed the thought away. What would I know about what women did with their friends?
“Witch?”
I jolted, glancing over my shoulder at Agaliarept. “I have a name.” My voice sounded like it was very far away.
“Danica,” his voice was surprisingly gentle. “What do you see?”
“Three friends catching up. They weren’t expecting their lives to end last night. It was last night, wasn’t it?”
He nodded and I blew out a breath. There was something that hit especially hard about these murders. They’d been relaxing, enjoying their friendship. And something had stolen their lives from them.
I didn’t have friends. Before mom died, it was too dangerous. We’d been on the run, and while we’d been perfectly pleasant to those we came into contact with, mom had made it clear that to invite anyone else into our lives was to invite death. Since I’d been back in Durham, I’d spent all my time working. I had no social life, no real friends, and I doubted I’d have either anytime soon. And now I was spiraling into depression when I should really be hunting down whoever had killed these poor women.
I dropped my shields, ignoring Agaliarept’s indrawn breath. Something about my magic obviously gave him the heebie-jeebies.
Witch life, yo.
There. One entire half of the apartment was just… gone. The shimmering glimmer of magic had disappeared and was replaced by thick black muck.
“What about the apartment underneath this one?”
Agaliarept was silent and I glanced back at him. “The black stain permeates that entire side of the bodies. It’s as if someone sucked the magic out. Oh my god, that’s what they did. They sucked out their magic and used the loss of it to kill them.”
Agaliarept stepped closer, rage written over every inch of his face.
“What. Do. You. Mean.”
“Every creature has some level of magic. The werewolves can’tusemagic like mages and witches, but it almost uses them— making them shift and allowing them to see through our magic. The fae have all kinds of magic, depending on whether they’re part of the seelie or unseelie courts. Demons… I don’t know much about you guys, but something allows you to hide your wings and feed on other creature’s… sins? Is that what it is?”
Agaliarept stared at me, mouth pressed into a thin line, and I shrugged. “Never mind. Anyway, humans also have a spark of power. It’s what keeps them alive.” I swallowed and forced my gaze back down at the bodies. “Even corpses have a seed of magic for a few days after death. And yet these women have nothing. If you look a few feet around them— the floor, the walls— they’re magically dead.”
“Magically dead?”
“Yeah. Some witches don’t have enough power to use themselves, but they can channel it through spells. I think… I think if they were standing in that spot, where those poor women are… I think those witches would be completely unable to access any power at all. Because there’s no power left here to be used. But demons… you guys radiate power. Having that cut off would be like becoming brain dead. That’s how these women were killed. The loss of their magic would’ve meant the loss of their lives.”
My dagger’s hum had become more insistent, and I attempted to ignore it.
Agaliarept’s spoke very quietly. “You need to explain this to Samael.”
“Isn’t that your job?”
“Don’t fuck with me, witch.”
I stiffened, but he was already stalking closer to the bodies. He stopped inches from where the black smudge began. Maybe he could instinctively sense it somehow.
“Why would someone drain their magic?”
I shrugged. “It could be a side-effect of whatever killed them. Maybe the murderer required the magic in their victims’ bodies for their attack to work.” The thought made me shiver.
The demon cursed. “Do you need anything else from here?”
The Mistilteinn Dagger hummed even louder and I jolted. It was a warning hum that seemed to burrow deep into my brain.
Agaliarept narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“I’m just tired. Give me a minute.” It creeped me out— the idea that the dagger was trying to tell me something. I shivered at the memory of its voice in my head when I’d stolen it. I’d assumed it was only temporarily sentient— because it’d been kept so close to the dragon for so long.
