Page 35 of Coven Relics
That Seelie caretaker knew this forest better than anyone here, but getting it out of him would be challenging, especially since he hadjustdied. People tended to be bitter about getting murdered, and I didn’t blame them one bit. However, there was an art to dealing with the Seelie and Unseelie when theyweren’tghosts.
“Caretaker! Show yourself!” I commanded.
A spirit floated out of the cabin, and it was angry. Then, the wind picked up, and all the windows started shaking.
“You aren’t supposed to be here!” she shrieked.
“Neither is the wolf who killed you and the ghosts he brought with him. He doesn’t give a shit about this garden, but we do. What he has planned next—”
“I know what he has planned next. I’ve been stuck here with him and that terrible ghost he brought with him.”
“Then help us stop him. Tell us what you know, and I can do the Seelie rites for you. I also know the rites for the ghosts he has with him. You could save a lot of lives.”
“Where was everyone when my life needed saving?” she sulked.
Ah. So, we needed a little ass kissing here. It was total shit she died, and it shouldn’t have happened. But I wouldn’t let her torch the world over it and end up just another angry spirit on these grounds when I could do something about it. I wasn’t above a bit of flattery to get what I wanted, but we just didn’t havetime.I could already see the eclipse starting. Pretty soon, none of the witches and warlocks would be able to see without a witch light, and I wasnotlosing any of these people.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“Brigid.”
“Brigid, we didn’t know where he was until now. We didn’t even knowyouwere here. Valentine would never have set foot in your forest to hurt you if I had. I’ve been around averylong time. I’ve met the god that created the Seelie and Unseelie. She’s quite lovely, but you alsodo notwant to cross her. She specifically created the Seelie to be wise and powerful. Are you seriously going to sit there and let two innocent students get murdered tonight and all the shit that will happen if the Cult of the Aether Sisters comes back because you’re mad we didn’t know he was here until it was too late for you? How could we have known? Your ancestors and their friends created horror stories about this forest to protect your garden. I don’t know how Valentine found out, butweonly found out because Minerva Krauss knew.”
I was pretty much fed up with this entire situation, and if I had to get a bitch’s creator down here to spank her creation, I would totally stoop to that level because I needed to take care of mine. Ghosts were unreasonable on a good day, but most got really cooperative when a god addressed them.
Brigid had a pair of brass balls to refuse my request. I didn’t want to do a damned thing except for the rites so she could be at peace. She died because of Valentine and Thorunn, and that was all on me. But I wasn’t letting her take innocent people down with her out of spite. If Ihadto threaten to drop her bones in an ocean trench and give her an eternity of darkness and super fucked up fish, I would.
“The spirit wanted the wolf to bring the girls here. She wanted to torment them. There’s some kind of weird power play there where both of them think they know what’s best, and they have to argue endlessly about it. She kept berating him for losing her grimoire, and he kept reminding her she didn’t know shit about this country and how things work.
“He finally convinced her it would be next to impossible getting them in these woods, and as soon as they saw a ghost, they’d bolt before the eclipse. The stories about the banshee and murderous ghosts are false, but not every spirit on these grounds was a good person, and some of them are in Shrieking Woods. While they wouldn’t kill anyone, they wouldn’t get involved and would enjoy watching if someone else was doing it.
“There is a lovely waterfall that feeds into a stream at the very back of the woods that butts up to the academy garden for their potions. There is a large cave there, too. It’s pretty fascinating. There are cave drawings from people who lived in this country long before settlers arrived. The wolf stashed the bones behind the waterfall and planned to bring the girls there in a ruse to explain the drawings and then have sex during the eclipse.”
I didn’t know how Valentine managed to find out all of this when Ravyn and Ripley didn’t know. My girlfriend graduated from the academy, and now she was running the museum. I guessed it had something to do with a very shitty ghost or maybe several shitty ghosts.
Balthazar and Church started sniffing the air, and when a vampire started doing that, it never meant anything good.
“I smell blood,” Church snapped, zipping off in the dark.
The moon was nearly blacked out, and the only light in the clearing was coming from the cabin.
“Go,” Brigid said. “Save them, but come back for me and do the rites.”
“I swear it will be done,” I promised.
I told Kaine I wouldn’t kill the wolf, but that was before he murdered Brigid and the vampires smelled blood.
I was going toendhim.
Chapter27
Ravyn
The moon was completely gone. Between that and the cover of trees, it was almost pitch black in the forest. Bjorn gripped my waist as we flew through the woods on Sleipnir’s back. I called the brightest witch light I could muster. At this point, it didn’t matter if Valentine knew we were here. Someone was bleeding, and I didn’t care who saw my light.
If it was one of those girls, Bjorn and I could stay behind to fight Valentine while Sleipnir got them out of the forest. If it were Valentine, he wouldn’t like it when he saw me again. He wasn’t going to like it if any of us found him. Kainesaidhe wanted to do this by the books, but I knew he bent the rules all the time, and I saw him let his dragon freak flag fly in Hell when he wasn’t chained by Bureau rules. I had a feeling Kaine would smack him around a little if he needed to.
Sleipnir screeched to a halt, and I realized we were at the cave. My witch light was bright enough to see that it would have been utterly gorgeous out here if it weren’t for a murderous werewolf and some shitty ghosts. The stories about this place being haunted left this place completely undisturbed and unpolluted.
