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“Did you find some clue?”
Our feet squelch red tracks on the tile hallway, not that Phoenix notices until one of the adoring policemen she used her compulsion on earlier offers to exchange shoes with her. Irritated, Phoenix wipes her feet off on a student’s welcome mat outside their dorm room and orders the policeman to clean it and the hallway up.
“Besides the fact it was a non-human who did it? No.” She looks away. “The scent of blood was too overpowering.”
I nod. While not a vampire herself, she is still a being of blood magic. “All the blood itself was a clue, too,” she says as we keep walking. “Blood is not only symbolic of human life…” She lets out a long sigh. “For some spirits on the other side, it can be a tether. Like a source of energy that also ties them to this plane.”
I frown. “Is that what Sabra and her mage friends told you?”
She waves a frustrated hand. “Let’s just call it a bit of family lore.”
I want to ask more questions but don’t. Instead, I focus on the case at hand. “So you think the blood helped give the spirit passage through?”
Phoenix bites her lip, giving the briefest nod. “It’s a possibility. In the other planes, they don’t always understand what this realm is. But human blood and the energy of bloodletting—and the soul that ebbs from the body at death—provides a huge amplification of spirit energy. It’s why blood sacrifice was so popular in ancient religions.”
“Ah,” I say. “One of the reasons you think your professor might be onto something.”
“He’s not my professor,” she says irritably. “But yes. I think there was a reason that so many ancient religions had the common element of blood sacrifice. There was power in the blood, as they used to say, and it was more than metaphoric. It fed the spirits who’d come from other realms, strengthening their ties to this one. It fed their power. The more worshippers they had, the more temples, the more blood sacrifices.”
I nod. “That’s dark. Getting humans to do your dirty work.”
“Yeah, well.” She huffs out a breath as she starts down the stairs. “The spirits didn’t exactly have a conception of the worth of human life, did they? Just like humans don’t consider much about the lives of the cows they slaughter to eat.”
“Touche.”
“Most spirits previously spent their lives in intangible darkness on other planes. Matter often works differently in those places. They became wild and greedy once they got to here and were able to manifest physical bodies.”
“Sounds to me like you’re the one who could give the Professor a lecture.”
We’re at the bottom of the stairs when Phoenix spins on me. “What is with you? You keep bringing him up. I thought you’d be excited to hear his theories.”
Dammit, I don’t want to look like a jealous bastard. Or to feel like I’m putting any more pressure on Phoenix and this pretense of a marriage.
“Nothing,” I smile in an attempt at appeasement, holding up my hands. “I’m just wary of outsiders knowing our business.”
The hard line of her mouth doesn’t budge. “Well, I suggest you get over it because I think we should call him.”
“What?” Okay, this does surprise me. “You can’t.”
It’s apparent she doesn’t like that.
I gesture back up the stairs. “You just said no human could have done that.”
“He doesn’t have to know details,” she says. “But he’s more familiar with all the various factions of ancient religions that were active back in the day. And the spirits who once populated this plane and were kicked out may be the first ones back through if there is some sort of weakening or opening in the planes.”
“Maybe, I guess. But isn’t it equally possible it could be a completely new spirit? We should call Sabra and see if she sees anything we missed.”
Phoenix bites her lip. “Maybe.”
I frown. Is it just me, or does she really want to bring her—I mean the Professor—in on this.
“Look, I’ve seen it before,” she says. “My mother was possessed by an ancient goddess while she was pregnant with me, okay? One who was trying to break back into this world. She was pissed she’d been kicked out of this plane and killed a lot of people on her quest to get back in.”
“What?” I’m shocked. “You never told me that.” No wonder she knows so much about spirits in the dark and what they want.
“Yeah. Well. It’s another reason I wanted to study with Professor Rossi. I think I finally identified who it was, and I want to make sure we’re all on guard in case she tries again.”
“Fuck, Phoenix, why didn’t you tell me that sooner? Is that why you’re… different? From Vlad, I mean?”
