Spells A Bayou Magic Novel - Kristen Proby Page 0,57
you.”
“Love you.”
I hang up and blow out a gusty breath. With the Halloween street party happening tomorrow, that means All Hallows’ Eve is the day after, and we’ll be preparing for our Samhain ritual in the bayou, in a field not far from Miss Sophia’s cottage. Something tells me that that ritual won’t go as planned. I’m not a fortune teller, and I can’t see the future, but as the days progress, I’ve felt an urgency slowly building, as if I can sense that something is about to happen. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it’s something to do with Horace.
He’s escalating. We know now that he’s been ramping up for decades, killing dozens of people over the course of his adult life—and even now that he’s dead. His spirit is strong. To my knowledge, he’s never been able to continue killing past death, though.
But in this lifetime, he was somehow able to learn and hone the dark magic that runs through his lineage. It shouldn’t surprise me that he’d figure out how to carry on past the death of his physical body.
It’s not long before the door of my office opens, and Miss Sophia walks in. She grins when she sees me and offers me her hand.
“It’s lovely to see you, child,” she says. “How can I help?”
“I want to show you the bloodstones from the murders and run some theories by you.”
She nods once and then follows me into the lab, where the stones sit untouched on my bench.
“What have you learned?” she asks.
“That each one was covered in the blood of the same person,” I reply. “And just today, before I called you, I learned that when I hold one with my bare hands, I get physically ill.”
Her sharp eyes whip over to mine. “Fascinating. Have you not touched them with your bare hands before?”
“Only once, and I felt a little nauseated then, but I always wear gloves. I took the gloves off and was pacing around the lab, trying to think. Then, I picked one up without realizing what I was doing and got violently ill from it. Once I settled down, I reached for another to test the theory, and had to set it down immediately because I felt like I was going to be sick again.”
She blinks as she studies the stones. “I’m going to pick one up.”
“I don’t want it to hurt you.”
She smiles softly. “I’m safe.”
She picks up a stone and holds it in the palm of her hand, covering it with the other hand. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. A moment later, she sets it down again.
“It didn’t shock you,” I say. “And you don’t look like you’re about to be sick.”
“No, I feel fine, but I did learn quite a bit.”
“Tell me.”
“The stones are a gift for Millicent.”
“A gift she can’t touch.”
Miss Sophia nods. “Absolutely. As you know, a bloodstone is mainly for cleansing and protection. He’s cast a strong spell on the stones, covering them in magic for Millicent. He doesn’t want her to touch it because he doesn’t want her to diminish the strength of the spell.”
“He cast a spell on me to throw up?”
“Not exactly. He’s determined to keep Millie safe from you. He wants you gone, Lucien. The spell is to keep Millie safe and to cast you aside.”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that.” I drag my hand down my face in agitation. “He should know after a millennia that I’m not going anywhere.”
“I don’t know how much he remembers,” she says, thinking it over. “I know you remember, and that Millie is beginning to. But, Lucien, for all we know, Horace is a tortured soul, reborn over and over again with the desire to kill. To taunt. To hurt. He feels a driving need to do it. But maybe he’s not even aware of the why of it all.”
“If you expect me to feel sorry for him—”
“Not at all. I’m simply pointing out that you may be expecting too much from him. He knows that, in the here and now, you’re standing in the way of something he wants with Millie. And he wants you gone. He’s also using you as a tool to hurt her.”
“Which only pisses me off more. What else did you see when you held the stone?”
“Only the spell,” she says. “I can’t see where he cast it. Whether he remembers previous encounters or not, he’s incredibly strong and gifted at his sick