Page 73 of Left Hand of the Divine
Then again, I wasn’t sure of much at the moment.
“I still can’t believe your new pets left a Ferral carcass on the front lawn,” Atticus said with a wide grin on his face that he was failing to hide.
“Don’t act like you find that annoying.” I found Atticus playing with the Lycaon on the front lawn just before we all left to come topside. He’d been like the biggest kid rolling around with them, and my heart melted while watching them.
“Didn’t they almost bite your arm off in the Vault?” Magnus quipped as he strode between the twins.
“Yeah, but now they’re friendly,” Atticus replied as he led us towards the scene of where the first witch went missing.
Raevyn was going to meet us there and talk us through their investigation into the missing witches. She’d been looking into them, but she hadn’t been able to figure out who had taken them or why. They just seemed to vanish without a trace. Luckily, no one had gone missing since last month, but did that just mean that whoever was stealing them had enough for what they needed?
It was only then that I realised we were missing someone. “Has anyone seen Daire?”
That incubus had been elusive since being ordered to remain with us. He’d dumped his stuff in a room at the mansion, but I hadn't seen him since.
“Apparently, he’s gone to see Hades,” Atticus said. “But I’ve got the impression that he’s utilising his longer leash from the Guild to deal with something personal.”
Huh. I wonder what that was all about. I’d have to ask him the next time I saw him. There was something a little untrustworthy about the guy, and I still wanted to pick his brains about his ability to see the love lines between me and the guys.
“Does anyone else think it’s quiet around here?” I asked as we walked down the main street through the village.
“Witches are probably too scared to leave their homes,” Thane said from behind me.
“Yeah, but I thought there would still be some people wandering around. The place just feels… empty.” I peered through the shop windows and couldn’t see a living soul. The café was empty, and not even the outdoor seating was set up. It was piled high inside the café and covered in a dust sheet.
“It’s like a ghost town,” Rafe mused, his gaze darting in all directions as if he were expecting something to jump out at him. Rayne mirrored his twin, and the pair of them looked lethal dressed in their customary leather jackets with all sorts of weapons attached to their hips and thighs.
Magnus was kitted out with a large blade strapped to his back, and he looked just as deadly. He glanced over his shoulder at me and caught me checking him out. He threw me a cocky wink, and I rolled my eyes at him.
“How much further is it?” Atticus asked.
I pointed to the next street. “Should be just around the corner.”
A shiver of foreboding rippled across my skin as we approached the street. That couldn’t be a good sign. It sank in my stomach, churning and folding over itself until I thought I might throw up.
“What is it?” Erebus placed a hand on my forearm, halting my steps. The others carried on towards the street, their stride steady and cautious.
“I don’t know.” I blew out a breath of frigid air. “Can you feel that?”
“Feel what?” His red eyes were bright with concern beneath his pinched brows.
There was a coldness in the air, something that felt like a bite of frost that chilled me to my core.
“Guys,” Magnus called to us over his shoulder. “You need to come and see this.”
I broke away from Erebus and jogged to where the others were standing at the mouth of the street that led to the square where the witch was taken, but what I saw there made my feet falter.There was a summoning circle in the middle of the square, but it was nothing like one I’d ever seen before. Two circles were carved into the road, glowing with a faint white hue. The surrounding runes were like the ones I’d seen in the mark of Nyx in the sky, there but rudimentary. Carved by a novice.
Obsidian shards and skulls marked the cardinal points, and black candles lined the edges, signalling this to be a summoning based around necromancy. It was all pretty standard stuff—apart from being carved into the actual road. But it was what was in the centre of the circle that had my steps faltering.
Three jars sat in the middle of the circle.
A jar of blood.
A jar of essence.
A jar of magic.
There was also a small, flat wood box. It was closed, so I couldn't see inside, and I wasn't desperate enough to enter the summoning circle without fully understanding its purpose.
