Magic Misled (Lizzie Grace #7) - Keri Arthur Page 0,73

and then beat on. For how long was anyone’s guess, but relief nevertheless stirred. At least I hadn’t killed it.

“Don’t lose that,” Jaz commented, “or Aiden will have my hide.”

“Only after he has mine.”

A smile twitched her lips. “But in a very different manner, I’m thinking.”

I snorted softly and followed her back into the main room. Duke looked around at us. “Anything?”

“Yeah, she went out through the rear window and left a couple of material strips behind. Liz is going to attempt to trace her through them.”

“But not,” I added quickly, “before Belle makes her attempt to contact the souls in the room.”

Duke’s eyebrows rose. “How many souls are we talking about?”

“All six. We’re hoping one of them might be able to tell us something.”

He nodded. “Jaz, you want to record that?”

“Will do.”

We made another wide circle around the destruction and walked into the smaller of the two rooms at the front. Monty glanced around as we entered and motioned toward the spell-wrapped evidence bag. “What’s that?”

I tossed it to him. “Scraps of blood-soaked material our murderer left behind. Thought we might try tracking her through it.”

He frowned down at the bag. “I’m not feeling a pulse or anything emanating from it.”

“You might not—the magic was coming from her blood and it was really faint. I think it was more my psi skills than magic that allowed me to feel it.”

He grunted. “It does at least indicate that dark magic is a part of her DNA, in much the same manner as wild magic is with you.”

“But if something like that was possible, there would have been evidence of it before now,” I said. “Blood magic isn’t wild magic—it’s been used for eons by black witches.”

“Except there probably is evidence of such in the archives—”

“Can we skip this discussion until afterwards?” Belle cut in. “I really need to get this over with ASAP before it all overwhelms me.”

“Sorry,” Monty immediately said. “Liz, once you sit, I’ll raise the circle.”

I stepped over his spell stones and sat opposite Belle, my knees lightly touching hers.

As Monty’s spell rose around us, I said, You okay?

For the moment. She wrinkled her nose. But this is going to be a dark journey into hell.

Referring to the fact that she’d be battling the emotional outpouring that came with the moment of death. In normal circumstances, when there was only the one soul to deal with, it wasn’t such a problem. Her shields were well able to deal with such a small influx. But with six, they’d take a hammering.

I hesitated, and then said, Perhaps the key to uncovering anything is talking to the soul of the woman who died last.

Belle raised an eyebrow. I still have to talk to the others to move them on.

Yes, but if we can get all our information from the last victim, you won’t have to go through the questioning roller coaster with the others.

It would certainly help. I take it you know who was the last?

The destruction got more frenzied as she went on. I quickly described what was left of the woman and then added, Of course, given she witnessed everything that happened, it’s also possible she’ll be the hardest to deal with.

Maybe, but worth trying. She glanced across to Jaz. “You ready to record?”

Jaz nodded. Belle took a deep breath to clear her thoughts and gather her energy, and then closed her eyes and lightly gripped my fingers. While some spirit talkers used personal items to make contact, or objects such a Ouija board or even a spirit pendulum, Belle had never needed such props. Her ability was so strong that she was able to contact them direct.

With our hands and minds linked, everything she felt and saw echoed through me. The minute she reached out, a thick wave of ghostly terror hit like a club, forcing me to suck in air in an effort to both smother and control the incoming sensations.

Sorry, Belle said as the output muted. They got the better of me for a moment.

Unsurprising.

I closed my eyes and, through our connection, studied the ghostly forms in the other room. Two were little more than pale wisps of energy, which perhaps suggested this death was close enough to their ordained one that they would be easy enough to move on. The form of the other three were almost solid; only the faint blurring of their limbs as they moved around the room in obvious confusion gave away their true condition. At the very far end