Page 35 of Cold Sacrifice

Remy grunted. “I have things I need to do. Call me when you need help covering it back up.” He walked away, patting his favorite sheathed stake as he went.

“Go back to the house, Sam,” I said. “If I need help, I’ll call you back.”

“Okay,” he said. “I hope you get them out of there.”

“So do I,” I murmured.

I wanted to talk to them, to assure them that I’d free them, so I did. Maybe some of my words would trickle past the magic, but even if they didn’t, I hoped they’d understand that I was there to help them.

A few minutes later, I looked up to see the ghoul crouched a few feet away, watching me. Honestly, I was glad of his company. It felt like he belonged there. I realized the bag of candy was gone, so he’d somehow managed to grab it without me even noticing.

“Apparently,” I told him, “you’re full of magic, too.”

He just continued watching me.

“Are you always here?” I asked him. “Just really good at hiding yourself?”

“No,” he said. “This is not my world.”

“What’s your world like?” I relaxed a little. He seemed to have a soothing effect on me.

“In my world, the others are known. We do not hide from the humans.”

I drew in a sharp breath. “How is that working out for you?”

He shrugged. “Your world will be there sooner than you imagine.”

“I can’t—” My ringtone sounded. I glanced at the screen before I answered. Unknown name, unfamiliar number.

It was the witch.

And I was about to find out if freeing the necromancers—who may or may not have also been vampires—was possible.

It had to be, because there was no way in hell I could throw dirt back over them and leave them in that awful, awful grave.

Chapter Twelve

“Hello, Kait,” she said. Her voice was soft, quiet, and gentle. “My name is Trinity Rook. How can I help?”

There was the tiniest hesitation before she gave me her name, and I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t like handing out her name, or if she’d given me a fake one.

I didn’t care. Her name was her business. I took a deep breath, then told her everything. “I need to get them out of there,” I finished. “I just don’t know how to do it.”

“We can do this,” she said. “You and I can work together. I will have to come to you, because this requires a witch’s hands-on magic. With your help, I will free them, and you will help them cross over. But there are two other things we need, because it won’t be possible to complete the ritual without them.”

“Tell me,” I said. “I’ll get them if I can.”

“We must have the blood of one of the people who put them there,” she said. “Vampire or human. And a piece of their dark magic. I will combine those into a mixture of other items I will myself provide.”

I frowned. “I don’t…” I started to say I didn’t think it was possible to get either blood or magic from the killers, because Axton and Kaloni were dead.

But Bastien was still alive, if the necromancer currently killing his vampires wasn’t forcing him to end his life at that very moment. If she’d been telling the truth and Bastien had helped Axton kill and bury the necromancers, then I could get the blood from him.

But the magic?

How the hell was I supposed to get the black, killing magic Axton and Kaloni had created? I could only hope Bastien would have some ideas.

“I think I can get the blood,” I told the witch. “But not until tonight. The magic, though…I don’t know. How long will it take you to get here?”