The man before me looked worn, in the dry air his dead eyes starting to sink back. The moulage here was clean, too, or Ivy would have said something. I couldnt see emotion imprinted on the world, but vampires could. Most moulages faded with the sun, but murder left a stronger impression that could last weeks or even centuries if the crime was heinous enough and the spirit desperate to continue life. It was the source of ghostsmost times.
Where were the others found? Ivy asked, and Nina aggressively took the packet of papers from her, handing them back with a page of photos flipped open.
The first victims were at an abandoned school, Nina said as she looked down at the page, her jaw tense at Ivys subtle refusal to accept her authority. It had been built on property that had once been a cemetery. Like this, she said, her gaze lifting to the surrounding bare trees as if seeing it in another time. Its one of the ties between the crimes. The second victim, who we found first, was in the driveway of a museum.
Let me guess, Jenks said snidely. It was built on an old grave site.
Nina inclined her head, smiling with her teeth hidden. Cincinnati is riddled with abandoned churchyards. Bodies were moved a lot, and not always back into the ground.
Brow furrowed, I thought of our own graveyard, attached to the church. I didnt want a body showing up there, especially not one with hooves and horns.
I didnt even know this mans name, and I carefully stepped over a blood-soaked cord holding his, ah, hoof so I could see his back, forcing myself to look closer to try and make sense of this. A hint of a tail made my stomach clench. Id caught a glimpse of the school photo before Ivy turned away, and it made me even more uneasy. The pentagram surrounding the body here was the same theyd used at the school. It was fairly common in the higher charms, but drawing it in blood wasnt. Someone was playing at being a demon.
The victims at the school were decomposing badly when we found them, Nina said, distracting me, but they had clearly been restrained. The second victim had been kept sedated. We dont know about this man. The tests havent been run yet, but hes clearly been held against his will.
Jenks took off from my shoulder, his wings clattering in anger. Decomposed! he exclaimed, clearly disgusted. In this weather? Just how long had they been dead?
Nina ignored his anger. The three at the school had been dead somewhere between eight and ten days. We know they went missing on the fourth, but we arent sure how long they were dead before we found them Tuesday.
Tuesday? Like three days ago Tuesday?
Tink loves a duck! Jenks exclaimed. What have you been doing? Sitting on your thumb and spinning?
Jenks! I exclaimed, and the undead vampire let some of his anger show, Ninas eyes squinting. The anger wasnt directed at us, telling me he wasnt happy with how the investigation had been handled, either.
The best we can tell, they probably died between the eighth and the tenth, Nina said.
I really wanted off this bandstand, but I didnt want to look squeamish.
Magic killed them, not blood loss, she added, holding her breath when the wind blew and the mans blood-caked hair moved in the breeze. That came afterward. Apart from the girl at the school, they died from a transforming spell that wasnt done properly. We cant be sure until the necropsy, but if this man follows the pattern, his insides will be as deformed as his outsides. They died because their bodies couldnt function.
Jenks was a tight hum at my ear, and he was slipping a green dust. Hey, Rache, you mind if I check the sitch with the local pixies? They arent hibernating yet.
Nina stiffened. It was a slight movement that probably would have escaped my detection if I hadnt been looking for it. The dead vampire thought it was a waste of time, but not breaking our eye contact I nodded. Good idea, Jenks.
Back in a sec, he said, and in a flash, he was gone. I wished I could fly away, too.
Whose blood made the spells that did this? I asked, starting to get a bad feeling. Three teenagers killed, then a few days later, a second victim, then a few more days, and then Thomas.
What an interesting question. Nina backed up to lean against the railing. We didnt catch on that fastMs. Morgan.
Her stance said I knew too much. Maybe she was right. Maybe it just took a demon to catch a demon. Whose blood twisted the spells that killed them? I asked again, jaw clenching.
At the school, they died from their own. The second victim died from a spell kindled with blood from one of the teenagers. We dont know yet whose blood this man died from.
My shoulders slumped as I exhaled, and Ivy, who was looking from the bloody floor to one of the photos to compare the glyphs, met my eyes, reading my worry. Crap, they were leapfrogging. Taking the blood from the last victim to capture and experiment on the next. I put a hand to my middle and looked at the pentagram around me, wishing I had enough guts to take my charmed silver off and see where the nearest ley line was. Close, I bet. Graveyards were often built on them. If Jenks were here, I could ask him.