I raised one eyebrow. “It’s the dress, isn’t it?”
A smile danced around his mouth. “I don’t have long. Ask your questions.”
“Name?”
His mouth firmed and he gave me a dark frown. Okay then.
“Cara filled you in about my arrows?”
“Yes.”
“Is there anything you can tell me about whoever has bought rowan from you recently? Maybe someone who would be happy to target a demon?”
He shrugged. “The thing you gotta know about rowan, is it’s about the most illegal thing you can sell in this realm. Once the high demons arrived through those portals, one of the first things they did in this realm was eradicate the tree in almost every country around the world. They burned them to the ground with demon fire, so they would never grow again.”
Knowing Samael as well as I now did, none of this surprised me. He’d never tolerate a potential threat to his people. “So how did you happen to get your hands on it?”
“It grows in the dark fae realm. It’s a guaranteed prison term if you bring it through the portal, but lesser unseelie have to make a living somehow.”
“Uh-huh. So, someone brings it through to you and you sell it off?”
He shook his head. “No. My contact brings it across, and my supplier sells it on. Deals are done via email and payments are encrypted.”
“How do the buyers get the rowan?”
“It’s left in a different pickup spot every time.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Then I turned and opened my car door, pulling out the arrow. “So there’s nothing you can tell me about who might’ve made this?”
He frowned. “They’d have to be wealthy. That doesn’t look like a lot of rowan, but it’s probably worth half a million dollars.”
I gaped at him. He nodded. “Anyone caught selling or buying rowan will have to deal with either the high unseelie or the high demons. The price has to be worth it.”
“Okay. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
“No. I’ll let you know if I think of anything.” He shifted on his feet, and I reached into the pocket of my sundress for the cash I owed him and handed it over. Three hundred dollars, gone just like that. And I was no closer to whoever had been killing my marks. It pissed me right off.
Selina called when I was halfway home.
“Hi Danica, listen, I examined the body.”
“What did you find?”
“Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker.”
Nathaniel’s deep voice came over the line. “Danica.”
“Nathaniel.”
He chuckled. Glad I could amuse him.
“I examined the body,” Selina said. “Whoever killed this wolf was a black witch. The magic is so dark, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Cause of death?”
“Some kind of spell. You told me the McCormick coven had one of the black books. If I had to guess, I’d say something like this could’ve been found in one of those grimoires.”
Son of a bitch.
