Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell) - By Jenn Bennett Page 0,6
signaled his men to follow and we hiked around the house to the beach. Lon pointed to the rock where Merrimoth’s broken body lay, now just a dark shape being battered by the surf. Dare requested a flashlight from one of his men and shined it over the outcropping. He made a despondent noise when the beam found its mark. We stepped closer, until the tide broke around our shoes. Dare held the flashlight on the body. “He wasn’t transmutated?” Dare asked. “You’re certain?”
“He wasn’t,” Lon said.
“No horns or fiery halo,” I agreed. “We didn’t see him every time he set the fires, but I watched him create ice right in front of me. No transmutation.”
Dare stared out at the sea for a moment. “Ever seen anything like that before?”
“Never.”
“I worry this isn’t an isolated case.”
Lon perked up. “Why?”
“Have you been paying attention to the news back in Morella? The robberies?” Dare swept a palm over his bald head. “A glut of them over the last couple of weeks. Home invasions. Burglaries. Stick-ups.”
“Not that unusual around the holidays,” I argued. “People get desperate.”
“This is different. Reporters haven’t noticed, but they will. The robberies are all being committed by Earthbounds.”
“Are you sure?” Lon asked.
Dare nodded. “Earthbounds using strange knacks.”
“Like Merrimoth.”
Dare nodded. “You couldn’t pick out anything from his thoughts that indicated what caused this?” Dare asked Lon as he pointed the flashlight beam across the burnt-out second-story window frame where Merrimoth had blown fire at us. “Anything at all? A spell? A person? A name?”
Lon squinted into the surf. “I almost caught an image of another person when he was bragging. Think it was a male, not sure. He blocked me out of his thoughts before I could fully catch it.”
Dare flicked off the flashlight and handed it to one of his henchmen. “Retrieve the body before it floats away and I’m forced to pay a boat and a crew to drag the water for it later. Have Caine comb the house and dump anything remotely incriminating into garbage bags. He can load them up in one of the SUVs and take them to Swan Drive until I can sort through it tomorrow. Then call the police.”
His man nodded and began following orders as Lon and I trekked to the front of the house with Dare. “Are you just going to wait and see how all this plays out?” I asked.
“Right now most of the crimes are happening in Morella, but if it spreads here to La Sirena, then everyone’s going to be looking to me for answers. So what do you think, Ms. Bell?”
“I think you’re going to ask me to start poking around Morella.”
He gave me a tight smile. “Why would I want you to do that when you couldn’t even handle the simple task I gave you tonight? All you had to do was bind Merrimoth.” He looked at Lon. “And all you had to do was read the man’s mind. Instead, you not only fail to get the information I wanted, but you also managed to kill the target. My grandson could’ve done a better job. You’re both worthless.”
“Excuse me?” Lon was pissed—really pissed. So was I.
Dare ignored Lon’s stare and looked at me. “I’ll find someone else to do the job you couldn’t. Consider yourself temporarily relieved from your Hellfire duties. When I need you for something less important, I’ll call.” Dare pointed a gloved finger at Lon and me. “Regardless, appearances are important, so you’re both coming to David’s funeral. He wouldn’t have wanted you there, of course. But he should’ve thought of that before he decided to jump into the ocean. Goodnight.”
And with a half-hearted wave, he began marching back to one of the waiting cars.
Lon was seconds away from doing something he’d regret later; I could practically feel the anger radiating from him. But this was my fight—not his.
My fight, and what was I going to do about it?
I don’t know if I felt empowered by the magick I’d done, or stressed over the vision of my mother, or upset over the fact that I’d just accidently killed a man. But I did know that at that moment, I wasn’t going to just stand there and take any more shit from the jackass walking away from us.
I was finally ready to do what I should’ve done the first time Dare threatened me.
“No.”
Dare stopped and turned around. “What?”
I shook my head in annoyance. “Forget it. I’m done.”