“Everything was dark. Layered in smoke or whatever,” I said.
Angel squeezed my hand. “The point is made.”
Okay then. “I’m not seeing any shades, ghosts, or anything lingering on them at all. They are a void.”
“Like the bodies from the lot? The ones you couldn’t raise?” Bobby clarified.
“Yeah.”
Around the bodies, someone had drawn an elaborate rune in what looked like charcoal, except the edges shimmered when I squinted, reacting to the rune-light still pulsing between mine and Angel’s hands. The magic remained active. Strange.
“Does it look like it’s glowing to anyone else, or just me?”
“It’s still active,” Remi agreed.
A chill crawled down my spine. “Feeding something power? There’s nothing left of them. Do you know how to break it?”
“Personally, I’d crack it, but it might bring the whole building down on our heads.”
“Let’s not do that,” Angel said.
“We’ll have to document what we can,” Wade added as he took another piece of equipment from Bobby. “Maybe form a shield out in the hall when we break it or something?” His gaze met Remi’s. “Is there a way to limit blowback?”
Remi shook his head, frowning at the display as he crouched a few feet from the bodies. “We’ll have to interrupt the line. Butanyone who crosses it without it being broken risks becoming the next battery to this nastiness.”
“Let’s move then. Audio, video, scans. Document everything you can without touching the rune,” Angel directed. “Get body bags ready and hope we have something left to identify them.” He ushered half the team out into the hall on guard, a handful to head down, escorted by the wolves, and gather evidence bags. “Remi, Jude, see anything else glowing we should avoid?”
I slowly searched the apartment, trying to think of myself in a video game, highlights glowing for quest puzzle pieces, but found nothing. The family seemed ordinary enough. Young, lots of pictures.
“Clear in here,” I said, scanning the last of the family photos—vacations, birthdays, perfectly ordinary moments now made grotesque by the horror in their living room. “No other runes.” Or signs that this family had any other involvement in this strange cult magic behavior. The mundanity of it made my stomach twist. These people lived everyday normal lives, likely thinking they were safer than most because their next-door neighbor was a cop. “Fucking Cassidy,” I grumbled.
“We’ve got pictures and video documentation of everything,” Bobby said.
“I’ve got their IDs and as much information as I can find to share with family,” Wade offered.
I returned to the living area, Angel at my back, his gaze as thorough as mine. We’d have extensive details about the scene, as unremarkable as the apartment was outside the ritual space.
“You ready?” I asked Remi.
“Yeah.” He glanced at the rest of the team. “Maybe set up a barrier in case it blows?”
Kerry and Victor ushered everyone into the hall, setting up the clear portable shields as a barrier. “This going to be enough?” Victor asked. “Or do we need to clear the building?”
“Maybe we wait until we finish the rest of the building?” Bobby asked.
“I think it’s more contained than that,” Remi said. “I’ll add a shield over it, just in case.” His gaze found me. “Behind the physical barrier and keep your shield up.”
I made my way out, crouching behind the shield, Angel’s grip on me firm, and it took a lot to focus on keeping the shield rune glowing on his skin as my magic wanted to caress the remains of the ritual spell for any residual magic.
Remi crafted a few of his own runes, the lines glowing in the air for a few seconds as he carefully reached out with the tip of his foot and smudged the edge of the chalk line.
The world shrieked. I dropped to my knees with a gasp, Angel catching me as a vibration struck a chord of energy deep within. Holy fuck. I could hardly breathe as the magic snapped, light flaring bright as a flash bomb for half a second. Then the bodies disintegrated.
Not burned, decayed, or even collapsed. One second they were there, and the next they were dust.
The rune’s power vanished, leaving a scorched stain on the hardwood and a silence that made my ears pop.
“Holy fuck,” I said out loud, voice feeling muffled.
