“Anything?” I asked.
She shrugged. “No one seems to know shit. There’s infighting and power struggles, but no more than your average human sorority. How that many women can live together and not want to kill each other is beyond me.”
“Amen.”
“It was sad though. One of the witches…” she glanced at the notes on her phone. “Willow. She just sat there and cried.”
“No one could’ve imagined their coven would end up like this.” I frowned. “I need to get a better understanding of the power structure of the coven itself. From Gemma down.”
“You think someone did this as a way to get more power?”
“I don’t think anything, but I can’t figure this shit out. If Brooke was the target, why can’t we find any reason? Maybe she wasn’t the target at all, and she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe the sleep spell didn’t work on her, or she woke up and discovered the assholes in her house and then one of them panicked.”
Kyla’s stomach chose that moment to let out a howl from across the room. I eyed her. “I should probably feed the hungry werewolf, before I end up losing a hand or something.”
She laughed, but her eyes had lightened the slightest amount. I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been watching for it.
The day was getting away from me again. I pulled out my phone and sent Selina a text.
The witch had a touch of the sight. I met her when I first began working for Samael, and she used that power to tell me a little about the murderers. Since then, we’d struck up a… friendship. Once a week or so, she helped me learn how to use my power. The hope was, one day, I wouldn’t need to worry about my power using me.
It was thanks to Selina that I was no longer battling the urge to use that power to tear someone to pieces when they pissed me off.
Well, not unless they threatened my life. I was still working on keeping my shit together when my adrenaline was high.
“Okay, let’s head back to the house really quick. I want to see if a witch I know can sense what kind of magic was used. Then we’ll get some lunch.”
Kyla nodded, and I drove to Trinity Park, both of us lost in thought. Since Selina lived in North Trinity Park, she was waiting on the street when we arrived, her eyes sad.
Selina never failed to make me feel like I was a slob. And it wasn’t like she wanted to make anyone feel that way, it was just that she was one of those women who always looked perfectly put together, but never like they were trying too hard.
Today, she was wearing jeans that fit like they’d been tailored, pointy black flats, and a gorgeous floaty shirt that was some kind of color between blue and green. Not aquamarine, but close. A trio of sparkly bangles were stacked on her wrist, her braids had been pulled up into a bun, and she wore intricate silver earrings that danced above her shoulders.
She turned her head and smiled at me. “It’s good to see you,” she said, “although the circumstances are terrible.”
“They sure are. This is my newest employee, Kyla. Kyla, this is Selina.”
They shook hands and Kyla leaned against the car. “I’ll wait here. I want to write down some of my notes.”
Selina and I walked closer to the blackened remains. She sighed. “This was a beautiful house. And the witches who lived here… you could tell they were close. Whenever they were in public, they always seemed to be laughing.” She glanced at me. “Since there was no murder weapon left on the scene, I don’t know if I will be much help. But I believe you should be able to get a sense of the type of power that was used.”
I frowned. “That’s not exactly in my skill set.”
“Humor me.”
I took a deep breath and focused on the remains of the house. My shields held strong as I slipped a spark of power through them, looking for anything that felt familiar.
“That’s weird. It seems like a mishmash of several types of power. Witch, werewolf, fae?”
“I don’t know exactly how that could be,” she frowned. “I wouldn’t think that these factions would work together to take down the coven, as the power vacuum will likely impact everyone in this city.” She glanced at me. “You’ve been practicing.”
“Yeah. Night and day. It’s become almost instinctive to hold my shields while using my power now.”
Because if I ever went up against Lucifer, I couldn’t face him with power that flared with emotion but was otherwise tucked away, deep beneath thick shields. The more I worked with my power, the less it rose up with a vengeance when I was dealing with strong emotions.
“I’m proud of you.”
I shifted uncomfortably and she laughed. “That embarrasses you.”
