“What is it?”Silas strode to her side to get a better look.
“A full eclipse of the moon.”
“Goddess, why didn’t I think of that?I knew it was coming.We’ve been preparing at Rivergate for weeks.”
“Fill in your newest werewolf,” Kyle said.As a hybrid, he’d only been shifting since he’d met Laina, and even then not as regularly as a full-blood.Some months he simply helped with the tent.“What happens to werewolves during a lunar eclipse?”
“The shift is irregular.Some wolves will shift back to human when the light of the moon is blocked.”
“Wolves like Alex?”
“With the added power of the amulet, I’d count on it.”
Jason leaned against the desk, crossing his legs at the ankle.“So theoretically, Alex hasn’t attacked us yet because he’s storing up power and collecting ingredients to perform a massive ritual to open a gate between dimensions.And we have evidence of this.”
“He took bones from that crime scene,” Meredith said.
“Bones from an unconsecrated grave,” Silas added.“I don’t know what it means, but it sure sounds like an ingredient for a spell.”
A collective groan rose between them.
“Selene, do you think you can find the ritual?”Jason asked.“Maybe we can stop him from obtaining all the components to perform the spell effectively before the lunar eclipse.”
She shook her head.“This is dark magic, Jason.Artemis isn’t going to have anything like this in the sanctuary texts, not even from a theoretical perspective.”
Laina sighed.“Of course not.This is black magic.”
“Thereisone place we can find books on rituals like this,” Selene said, glancing over her shoulder at Jason.“But I doubt you’re going to like it, Silas.”
“Ryker,” Jason said.
“Ryker,” Selene confirmed.
“Ryker!Who’s to say he wasn’t the one to provide Alex with the ritual in the first place?”Silas asked.He didn’t trust Ryker.How could they be sure Ryker wasn’t responsible for the sulfralite they’d found in Laina’s wound?“Can demons disguise themselves as other people?How do we know it wasn’t Ryker who stabbed Laina?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jason said.“Ryker’s not a Sunday school teacher, but he lives based on one very basic principle: he acts in his own best interest.He has no motivation to change the status quo.Why would he compromise his business?More money?The guy is rich.Power?He doesn’t need it.He’s very persuasive.He gets what he wants.”
“Besides, demons can’t look like someone else,” Meredith said softly.
Silas turned around to face her.She’d removed her feet from the desk and was studying the crime map as if she couldn’t quite put her thoughts together.“A demon can possess someone, make them do something they don’t want to do, but a demon can’t change their appearance to look like another person.Well, no more than you or I could disguise ourselves.There are charms of course.Costumes.Illusion.Camouflage.”
“The enchantment around the property would null an illusion or camouflage charm, and it wasn’t a costume.”Laina’s voice was firm.
“A demon could have possessed Nickelova and forced her to stab Laina, but that demon could not transform into a Nickelova look-alike without strong illusionary magic,” Meredith said.
“How do you know?”Silas asked.
“Because the only creatures who can change their appearance without charms, spells, or enchantments are skinwalkers.It’s the pride of my mother’s people.”
“So do you think a skinwalker did this?”Jason asked.
“No.That’s the thing.Skinwalkers hate Alex and everything he stands for.He killed my father.No way would any of my mother’s people help him.There are other communities, but they are notoriously neutral.What motivation could they possibly have?”
“What if magicwasinvolved?”Kyle chimed in.“Gerty’s and Grateful’s wards are strong but probably not impervious.Maybe a witch or fae deconstructed the enchantment and simply used magic to convince Laina they looked like Nickelova after they stabbed her.That stuff she was infected with could have changed her memories.”
Laina shrugged.“It seemed real, but I’ll admit it’s possible.”
“I could check with Gerty.See if she’s heard any rumblings from the dark fae,” Kyle said.
