“I found sulfralite in one of his victims,” Grateful said.
“Sulfralite?”Julius tipped his head skeptically.“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”Grateful sniffed the water in her glass before taking a long drink.
“One of your kind staked himself right in front of me,” Silas said.“That’s not usual behavior for a vamp, is it?”
Julius stilled.“Did, by chance, the vampire in question have a tattoo of an ankh symbol on this area of his neck?”He ran a finger along his throat.
“Yeah.How did you know?”Silas asked.
“It’s worse than I thought,” Julius murmured.He tossed back his scotch and poured another.“I think Alex is up to something.Something dark.”
A chill traveled Silas’s spine.“We came to the same conclusion.We think he’s trying to raise Panaal.”
The vampire stiffened, his body going still as marble, eyes cold, dark.“Perhaps we should take a seat and discuss this further.”He pointed his long, tapered fingers toward the chairs near the fire.
The entire situation made Silas jumpy.He turned too quickly, bumping into Grateful and accidentally dropping his glass.It shattered near his toes.He bent down to pick up the pieces, but Grateful grabbed his arm.
“Don’t bother.I’ll get it.”She took a deep breath and blew.The pieces of glass whisked off the floor, binding together and re-forming in his hand.The remaining brandy poured itself back inside.When it was whole again, she took another deep breath and licked her lips.“I wouldn’t drink that.”She glanced knowingly toward the floor and shook her head.With a sigh, Silas followed her to the chairs, handing the repaired glass to Julius on the way.
“What do you know about the spell Alex might be using?”Silas sat down, crossing his arms against the less-than-magical feeling going on within his chest.It wasn’t comfortable knowing you were sitting between a vampire who could drain you dry and a witch who could blow you to bits with a whistle.
“I’ve seen this before,” Julius began, lowering into one of the antique chairs.“A thousand years ago, there was a witch…”
“A thousand years ago?”Silas chuckled, but Julius and Grateful stared at him without a hint of levity in their expressions.“Sorry.I forgot you, uh, live that long.”
“As I was saying”—Julius sipped his scotch—“around a thousand years ago, there was a witch, a dark sorceress who wanted to raise Panaal?—”
“Seems like that’s a popular goal of you darky-dark types,” Silas said.
“You might believe such a thing, wolf, but in fact, only a creation of the goddess can complete the spell.”
“Huh?”Silas glanced at Grateful for an explanation, but it was Julius who gave it.
“Witches, shifters, and the light fae, in all their forms, are the goddess’s creation.Dark fae, vampires, and demons were created by the horned god, Panaal.”
“What about ogres?Leprechauns?Trolls?”Silas asked.
“Leprechauns are a type of dark fae.The others evolved over time from mixing species.”
“Primordial boom-chicka-wow-wow.Got it.”
Julius turned to Grateful, a look of annoyance on his face as if Silas were an oversized and inconvenient dolt.Grateful refused eye contact and sipped her water.
What a pretentious asshole.Silas stretched his legs out and crossed them at the ankle.
“As I was saying, Alex is only capable of completing this specific ritual because he is a werewolf.Legend has it that every supernatural being has strengths and weaknesses that were won or lost based on a game of chance between Hecate and Panaal.”
“I’m guessing it wasn’t Parcheesi.”Silas laughed and shifted in his chair as Julius stared down his perfectly straight nose at him.“Just trying to lighten the mood.”He quieted, wishing he had another brandy.
“No one knows the games of the gods.It is assumed it had something to do with a labyrinth as both Hecate and Panaal live in one.But I digress.Hecate won the game and chose to rule over the day, and Panaal received the night by default, and that is how we have existed to this day.Humans were another matter entirely.They have their own creator, their own gods.We’ve lived in balance with them based on ancient magic and natural law.”
“Sooo I take it Panaal isn’t a fan of the status quo?”Grateful asked.
“Existing as a creature of the night is not the paradise you might think it is.”Julius stared into the fire, swirling his scotch.“My kind would have performed the ritual centuries ago if it was possible, but the old magic doesn’t allow it.Only a creation of the goddess can undo what has been done.”
“No offense, but since you admit you’re in the ‘raise Panaal’ camp, how can we trust anything you say?”Silas asked.
