"Mind control. It's an ability most vamps have, in varying degrees of strength. I merely calmed her fears and put her into a trance. She'll remain that way now, until I suggest otherwise."
She eyed him warily. "You did promise to keep out of my mind, you know." He grinned. It was oddly boyish and very charming. "And I always keep my word. Especially when that someone is a friend of someone I care about."
"Good," she muttered and rubbed her eyes, wondering again at the sanity of trusting a vampire. "Where is Doyle, by the way?"
"Gone shopping," Camille said, voice sharp enough to nail wood to a wall.
'That headache still bad?"
She nodded, though in truth, it had ebbed a little. Camille muttered something under her breath, then walked across the room to the urn and filled a mug with water. Into this, she tipped what looked like dried up leaves.
"Drink this tea. It'll ease the immediate effects of the headache. I'll make up some more that you can take with you."
She accepted the offered cup and sniffed it warily. It smelled faintly of lemongrass and lime, but there were other scents mingled amongst those two that she knew but couldn't name. Helen had used them sometimes in the past. Camille sat opposite her. "Did Trina say anything? Remember anything that might help us?"
She sipped the tea, finding the taste wasn't as bad as she expected. "Not really. But she did shake loose some of my memories. It can't be the real Felicity Barnes who's working for the government. Felicity died that night we formed the circle."
Camilla raised an eyebrow. "So you can remember that now?" She nodded. "Part of it. I have no idea who Marline is. She certainly wasn't one of the five. There was a Mariel, though."
"Marline and Mariel are awfully similar names," Russell commented. "Maybe when you did the reading you just got the spelling wrong."
"Possible," Camille muttered. "Quite possible. Anything else?" Kirby took another sip of tea, considering all the bits and pieces that had floated through the fog in the last day or so. "Mariel was a witch. She could make dead things come to life."
"What?"
She nodded. "Both Helen and I saw her do it on several occasions. She used to kill bugs then bring them back to life." And make the dead things chase them. She shuddered, remembering again the horror of it all. But in many respects, if it wasn't for those bugs, neither she nor Helen would have discovered the full potential of their abilities. "It wasn't a trick, either." Camille and Russell shared a glance. "At least that explains the zombies," Russell said.
"Yeah, but it's an ability that usually runs in families and has to be taught. These kids were all orphans."
"Helen and I figured out how to use our abilities," she said. "Why couldn't Mariel?"
"She could have taught herself to raise small things like bugs easily enough. There's not much skill needed for that. But raising anything larger requires finesse. It can sometimes take half a lifetime to refine the skills needed to raise something as large as a human."
"I hear a but in all that," she said, when Camille hesitated.
'That's because there is a second option. It involves invoking the spirit of the dead and drawing them into your body—making them a part of your world, and you a part of theirs."
A chill ran through her, and her hands began to shake. She set the tea down and clasped her fingers under the table. It didn't stop the growing feeling of dread, however. "Felicity Barnes, the girl who died in the quake that hit the night we raised the circle? She was Mariel's best friend. Mariel swore she'd get her back, no matter what it took or how long it took."
Camille cursed. "Did you ever see her do it?"
"No. We were all separated a few months after the quake, shifted to various other homes or into foster care. Helen and I were the only ones that remained together."
"Damn." Camille looked at Russell. "Try doing a search for Mariel Thomas and see what you come up with. And do the same with Felicity Barnes. See if you can get a picture of both girls—or at least a description. I've got a feeling they might just be one and the same."
Russell nodded and moved back into the other room. Kirby stared at Camille incredulously. "Meaning Felicity's spirit might be living in Mariel?" Camille nodded. "If she's only recently performed the summoning, it would certainly explain the sudden need for revenge."
"But..." Her voice faded. She swallowed some tea to ease the dryness in her throat and tried again. "How is something like that possible? Felicity died eighteen years ago! Don't try to tell me her spirit has been hanging about all that time waiting to be resurrected."
"It depends. Some spirits move on and get reborn. Some remain on this Earth, compelled to right some wrong. And a very few are swept into a void some might call hell, destined to remain there for eternity unless recalled by the forces of darkness." Camille hesitated, blue eyes sympathetic. "Where do you think the legends of demons come from? They are merely twisted souls who have been in that void for a very long time."
Kirby rubbed her head. She was having a very hard time taking all this in. Witches she could cope with. After all, Helen had been one. Vampires and shapeshifters she could learn to handle. But a void containing dead spirits who became demons was going a little too far beyond comprehension. "I don't think I can handle all this right now."
"You might have no choice," Camille said, voice still sympathetic and yet holding a hint of steel. "You have to know what you're facing in case the rest of us fail."
She closed her eyes. She didn't want to think about them failing. Didn't want to think about Doyle dying to protect her. She'd sworn eighteen years ago to never be the cause of another death. If it came down to a choice between his life and hers, there would be no contest.
She sipped her tea, but all it was doing now was agitating her stomach. She put it back on the table half-finished. "Why would anyone in their right mind raise the spirit of a person who'd been dead for eighteen years?"