Gideon gave a little shake of his head as he stepped closer to me. “No, they started violently attacking only when we used magic. They were commanded to attack any witch or warlock who appeared in the area.”
I gave him a little smirk, though I wasn’t quite feeling so amused. “He’s sending the Towers a warning? That takes some balls.”
“Or he’s just insane.”
“I thought that went without saying,” I grumbled.
“Or . . .” Gideon said, pausing as he looked over his shoulder at the wall again as if he were rereading the writing there, even though I was sure that it was just gibberish to him as well. “He knows something that we don’t know.”
“And what’s that?”
“I have no idea,” Gideon said with a frustrated sigh.
Groaning, I walked over to the pile of furniture and pulled out an old metal folding chair the owners had probably saved for family holidays. Setting it on its legs, I sat down and crossed my arms over my chest. “Fine. Tell me what you do know.”
“It‘s not much.” Gideon walked a short distance away with his hand resting loosely on the top of his head.
“You’ve got to give me something. I’m working blind here and it’s not a feeling I care for if this asshole managed to take out an entire nest of vampires.”
Gideon stopped in front of one of the walls of writing, dropping his hands back down to his side. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely over a whisper. “I think this is Death Magic.”
“Death Magic? What the hell is that?”
Turning back to face me, Gideon looked at a loss for words as he tried to formulate his answer. He started to pull out his wand again, but shoved it back into his sleeve in frustration as if he’d caught the nervous tick. “The magic we do, what nearly all creatures use, it’s based on the energy generated from living creatures. It’s why there’s so much energy available around us, but there’s a limit to how much and how quickly a creature can draw in that energy to use for a spell.”
I nodded, agreeing with his explanation. Leaning forward, I balanced my elbows on my knees. “And Death Magic?”
“The user pulls the energy straight from the life of a person who has been killed quickly and violently. I think it’s also necessary for the user to have caused the death, but I’m not completely sure about that aspect.”
“I don’t understand. How can the power drawn from one life be tempting in comparison to what is around you? And why does he keep going after kids for the spell?”
“Two reasons. The power comes from the number of years that a person has left in their life, hence his choice of victims being kids. More years equals more power.”
“Okay.” It was perverse and disgusting, but I could understand it.
“And because all that power comes to you all at once. I’m getting the impression that there are no limitations to how much you can take in. It can be more powerful than what we use.”
“Who the fuck came up with this style of magic?” I shouted.
“No idea.”
“Then who was using it before it fell out of fashion?”
Gideon gave me a look saying that he wasn’t amused by my question. “Again, no idea.”
“Then what’s the purpose of this magic? Other than being unbelievably brutal, immoral, and reprehensible, why stop using it? As you said, it’s more powerful.”
“Most likely because it is difficult and limited in its application.” Gideon turned around to face me, his hands dropping back down to his sides. “Death magic, as far as I can tell, is only used for raising the dead.”
“Okay, so this shit fell out of favor ages ago. If no one has used it for a long time, that really kind of limits who might know about it.” This time it was my turn to pause because I really didn’t want to voice this fear aloud. “Could this be someone from the Towers? Someone gone rogue?”
“You mean, like you? Or those runaways we took so much care getting properly settled and protected this fall?” Gideon asked snidely.
“Not quite,” I said, clenching my teeth. “I was thinking someone more along the lines of Darius Courtland.”
It was the first time I had brought up the warlock’s name since my appearance before the council that resulted in Reave’s death and my being named a guardian. The guy was a fucking prick who left me with a sick feeling in the