Chapter Fourteen
The coppery smell of blood and viscera saturated the small confines of the root cellar. Cadmus breathed it in, satisfied with how the ritual had unfolded the way it was supposed to. Maybe he was at last getting over thismagickalaffliction. The remains of the hiker were all over the stainless steel table and floor.
From long experience, he’d lined the floor with plastic drop cloths, and from there it would be a simple matter to gather together the folds and dispose of the bloody aftermath.
“Time to take out the trash,” he said out loud.
“Yes, Boss,” Billy Bob shuffled over. He would be disposing of the remains in some abandoned mineshaft, where he swore they wouldn’t be found, at least not in this century. It was perfect. And one of the few, but compelling, reasons to keep putting up with Billy Bob’s stupidity.
As soon as Billy Bob left to perform his task, Cadmus hid the vial containing the hiker’s life-force energy, drained out of him with much screaming and cries of pain. Cadmus loved the perks of his job.
Earlier, Jordy had displayed a very useful skill in locating potential hiding places in the rented house. Cadmus made note of them, without letting her know that he would be putting that information to actual use. He knew better than to trust her not to snoop around if she thought there was something to be found.
It was now time to work on the device that would lead him to the man-wolf, that stunning specimen of life force energy that would surely be a superb coup in the eyes of His Terrible Majesty. He was almost gleeful in the thought of Micah’s jaw dropping in envy, or even better, in humiliation after His Terrible Majesty dismissed him and restored Cadmus to the coveted position by his side.
But he was getting ahead of himself.
First, he needed to create thatmagickaltracker. He would do it in the space still brimming with power, energies raised from the successful ritual that had just taken place.
He pulled out the pendulum he had purchased from that awful shop with the dreamcatchers and tarot cards with dressed up cats. It was the same one that had spoken to him, that had pointed out the arrival of Jordy. It would be the perfect receptacle for this spell, and lead him to where he could find the man-wolf.
It tingled in his hand, ready to be programmed with his intent.
But it was only part of what was needed. Cadmus hoped and prayed to The Infernal Gods with every fiber of his being, that the microscopic traces of the creature’s blood he had managed to scrape up would be enough.
Even for one attempt, that’s all he needed. Please, please, please, please….
Cadmus poured the oil he had prepared into a small chalice, mixing in the herbs and resins he had acquired from the horrible store. Some of the life-force energy that he had set aside from the hiker was then added to the mix, almost animating it. He tapped in the microscopic traces of blood, and when he was done, he took a knife that he had set aside, and cut the underside of one of his forearms near his wrist. The dark crimson blood dripped into the chalice, forming a pretty pattern in the oil, before he dipped the point of the knife into it, stirring it into a kaleidoscope ofmagickalingredients.
He began intoning the ancient syllables of the chant, from a language that had been lost to the larger world. As his voice swelled, it was time to lower the pendulum into the mixture. As the point entered, it seemed to suck up the liquid into it. Soon, there was only the sound of its tip delicately hitting the bottom of the chalice, the incantation finished, the spell cast.
The pendulum was charged with intent. It only needed to be fed moonlight overnight to power it for a single attempt. And then, Cadmus would find that magnificent creature, as an offering worthy of His Terrible Majesty.
