I shrugged. “I just did a poison check spell. I have magic, remember? You might not believe this, but I can be pretty useful.”
He rolled his eyes. “When did I imply you weren’t?”
“It might have been the fifteen years of not talking to me to protect me that led me to believe that.”
He reached over and squeezed my hand. “I know you’re useful, but being on guard like this is not how I wanted you to spend your life with me.”
I looked up at him, and I could see by his face and tone his sincerity. Realistically, I knew this, but I also knew how controlling he could be and decided it was my job to remind him that he didn’t have to make all the decisions about our life together.
Harris placed his empty cup down, and I soon followed, gulping down the remaining liquid like a shot. I suppressed a belch, and a light wooziness made me sway, leaning into Harris. I felt like I had a mild buzz going on. I looked up to Harris, and he looked a tad more relaxed than his usual wound-up state.
Carl scooted closer to us and reached out his hands for us to take. He then closed his eyes, and that was it. No talking, chanting, or swaying. It was kind of boring. Minutes later, his eyes opened, and he looked right at me with concerned dark eyes. My hackles rose. I was already scared, and I knew better than to think he was just going to say everything was going to work out fine. However, I didn’t need him to look as scared as I felt.
Harris shifted beside me. “Do you know who’s behind the death curse?”
Carl tore his eyes from me, letting go of our hands. “A warlock placed on retainer by an enemy. He can remove it if you get to him. I don’t know where he is, though. But the name Barston rings in my head. I don’t have the name of the one who hired him.”
Harris swore again, digging into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “I know exactly who that is. Thank you. Come on, Camilla.” He offered his hand to help me up, but Carl reached out his own hand to stop us.
“Wait, there’s more,” he began. He pointed to the couch. “Sit back down. There is more than a curse on you.”
Harris sat back down, not arguing.
“There is something dark attached to you. It’s not a ghost or poltergeist. It’s a living being.”
“Another supernatural being,” Harris cut in.
Carl nodded. “But I don’t believe he’s from here. Not from Earth.” He looked at me. “You are a portal mage. Many find that useful, but he has some power to get through a crack in your magic. A door opens, and he waits to slip through. Some beings can do that. Tell when a portal opens and slip through undetected. That may be how he’s getting in. But this being can’t stay here, and his intent is not to just be in this realm.”
Harris moved to the edge of the couch, a darkness to his eyes that was not unfamiliar. “He wants her. Did this warlock, or whoever hired him, send him to get to me so they could grab her?”
Carl shrugged. “I don’t know anything about how or why he found her. This could be related to the curse or not. You’d have to ask him. Nevertheless, this being is attached to her.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, a chill unrelated to the temperature overtaking me. “Who is he? What is he? I still havecontrol because I can send him away. Although the last time it was harder.”
Carl stroked his beard as he considered my words. “That makes sense. He’s a shadow being. It’s a supernatural being from a shadow realm. They sometimes cross over, if strong enough, via the night and the shadows.”
I frowned, my mind sending out alarm bells. “Why does that sound familiar?”
Harris stilled beside me. “That was where we found your father. Could it have gotten through all that long ago and only recently come to you?”
“They are rare, banished by supernatural hunters hundreds of years ago,” Carl began. “If there is any being that could slip through an open portal between realms, it would be them. They can be destructive, stealing human life force. Like vampires. The fact that you can send it back through the portal is a testament to your ability.”
Harris shook his head. “We’ve seen these beings in the light. Shadow beings shouldn’t be able to come out in the light, right?”
“Especially strong ones can, although they would be harmless in the light. Their strength lies in the shadows and darkness. I’m assuming that when they appeared in daylight, they couldn’t do anything.”
Outside of last night, they had been harmless, more unsettling. “No, they haven’t.”
“At that state, they are more of a hologram.”
“They were still hard to get rid of,” Harris grumbled. “I wasn’t there when my people went into their realm before, but if this is what they are, I recall fire being what they said worked against them.”
Carl nodded. “Yes, they don’t like it. It’s not only light, but it's destructive and damaging.”
Harris snarled, startling me. I knew we were dealing with something that he hadn’t encountered before, and that was frustrating to him. However, I also knew that by the time we got back to the house, we’d have a game plan. At least I felt some comfort knowing his people had encountered these things before. If only my father’s memory weren’t so fractured, I was sure we could learn more. Assuming this thing came here with him. It was too much of a coincidence to ignore.
Harris ran a hand through his hair. “None of this makes sense. If he just wants her, why has he not tried to take her or steal her energy all this time? Why don’t wards work for him?”
