Page 3 of Coven Relics
I could guess. Plenty of my spells required blood. Sometimes, it was mine, and sometimes, I had to ask for a donation from another race. Necromancy required witch blood. Not a lot, but a sacrifice was necessary. There were older, forbidden spells that required amuchbigger sacrifice, and I guessed this was one of them.
“He needs to kill a witchanda shifter during the eclipse,” Sleipnir said. “He’s clearly reckless if he tried to plunder this place. He may have set his mind on Ravyn, but he’d be stupid to try that now.”
I liked Sleipnir, but we had already established that Valentine wasreallyfucking stupid. I had already kicked his arse, Loki knocked him clean out, and Ravyn could handle herself in a fight. She also did the magical security on her cottage herself, and there was no way he’d be breaking in without us knowing. She was strong enough to expand the perimeter of the spell, and we’d know if he was close.
“I don’t think Valentine wants to hurt Ravyn,” Loki said. “Thorunn hasalwayswanted a powerful witch by her side. If he told her he knew Gemini twins, she’d want both of them. So, he’s not going to kill Ravyn to bring Thorunn back.”
Ravyn and Reyson both let out little growls. Reyson would raze the entire world for Ripley, and I already knew why Ravyn was angry.
“Ripley and I shared a womb, but we don’t share a brain. So, first of all, I’m not joining this stupid cult if we can’t stop Valentine. Secondly, even if I did, my twin isn’t going to up and join one just because I did. Finally, Ripley will be plotting a takedown to get me out and deprogram my ass.”
I knew that. Some of the people in this room didn’t know the twins as long as Felix and I had, but they knew that, too. Gertrude hated Ravyn and everything she stood for and probably hated Ripley, too, just because they were related, but even she knew that.
“I’ve never met Valentine, but he doesn’t strike me as the type that tries to understand women beyond what can happen in the bedroom. He probably thinks you have the same opinions on everything since the two of you look alike,” Bjorn said.
Felix snorted. The twins agreed on a lot of things. They had the same taste in clothes and men for the most part, but they had wildly different opinions on many topics. One thing I knew both of them would agree on was that they would both want to kick his ass for even suggesting they had some sort of hive mind going on.
“I don’t know how many more times I can tell all of you that we’ve established Valentine is an idiot. Stop harping on it. I need to know every detail about that spell so I can stop him, though I imagine all of you will insert yourselves in Bureau business again. I will say the exact same thing I told you last time. You fuck up my investigation, and you’ll sit in a cell until I’m finished.”
Loki crossed his arms and just smirked at the very pissed off dragon. I had a feeling he was going to poke him, and we were all going to get arrested.
“The Paranormal Investigation Bureau has arrested me before. But they’ve never been able to get the charges to stick.”
“That’s because you’ve never been arrested by me before. Now, shut the fuck up, stop flexing your god dick, and tell me about this spell.”
Loki looked like he enjoyed every minute of this and intended to keep going. Sleipnir must be used to this because it looked like Loki and Kaine were taking this as a personal challenge, and something would get broken.
“He’s going to need a forest somewhere away from people. Valentine has to wait until the eclipse starts and shift. To harness the magic of the eclipse, he has to give in to his wolf and hunt his prey. He has to find and hunt a witch and a shifter before the eclipse is over, rip their hearts out and drip the blood from both over the bones to complete the necromancy. He only has until the eclipse is over to do this, so he’s not going to go after a powerful witch like Ravyn. Instead, he will pick people who just had their magic awakened,” Bjorn said.
We all looked at little Beyla, who just had her magic awakened and was only sixteen. She looked utterly fascinated by all of this and realized we were staring at her.
“He isn’t like me. He’s always known he’s supernatural. So, a high school will be the last place he goes looking for prey.”
I justreallyliked this kid. After everything that had happened to her, she should have been a hot mess after finding out she was really a witch and dealing with her magic awakening early. I’d known some eighteen-year-olds who had been trained to handle getting their magic for their entire lives just go bat-shit crazy and end up in a paranormal sanitarium back in my day.
Beyla had every reason to lose it. Maybe trying to end things had been a wake-up call for her, but she had an excellent head on her shoulders. She seemed to take all this in with ease. If I was sixteen, had no idea what I was doing, and a deranged werewolf needed my body parts for necromancy, I would not even remotely be dealing with life well right now.
“I was going to take you on this gloriously witchy shopping spree and let you pick out a grimoire and things that called to you, but that will have to wait. If you’re not at high school, you’re going to be with Kaine. We’re going to train you to be the best witch you can be, but until Valentine is taken care of, we can’t risk Valentine seeing you around us. Plus, I’m guessing Thorunn will want her grimoire and her things back if Valentine succeeds. So, she’ll come to get them herself this time.”
We definitely needed to avoid that. I knew how to handle a bear shifter. I could even fight another witch. But I didn’t know the first thing about fighting off Loki’s creations, and I was guessing their magic was volatile, given it was Loki who made them.
“I’m going to have to bring this to the board, Gertrude,” Troy snapped. “Your husband was completely inappropriate with Ravyn, and he didn’t even have the authority to offer her a job, even with no strings. Ravyn wasn’t the first witch to curse him, and she won’t be the last. You’ve channeled all your rage at him into Ravyn because you have a slight bit of power over her because of your position on the board. Look what this pettiness brought! The museum has been stolen from for the first time ever, and the supernatural boogeyman might come back to haunt us all.”
The museum getting robbed and Valentine stealing a spell that made him capable of necromancy aside, watching Troy say what we were all thinking with the power to make our dreams come true was beautiful.
“This wasn’t my fault!” Gertrude huffed. “Ravyn had a duty to report to me that Valentine was dangerous. I would have taken care of it. Instead, she’s going to be the one getting fired, not me.”
We all watched Gertrude flounce out of the warehouse. Troy gave Ravyn a kind smile and patted her arm.
“Don’t worry about the board. Everyone is quite satisfied with their decision to hire you, and there’s been a good bit of rumbling about how Gertrude has handled being president. Plenty of us have long said she’s going to take this thing she has with you too far, and this is definitely that. You’re a powerful witch, and you’ve got two gods here. You appear to be able to summon Kaine Dragovich with one phone call. If anyone can handle this, it’s you.”
Kaine grumped as Troy left. He was in an even worse mood now that Beyla could be in trouble. I thought he was mad at us for calling him until he grunted and turned to Ravyn.
“I love everything about being a dragon, and I generally adore my people, but our downfall has always been when we misplace our anger on the wrong person. We’ve got two gods here, so I imagine you can find him for me.”
Loki raised his hand sheepishly, like he was in primary school.
“Um, about that….”
