AllFreeNovel
Share Us
long to get back to the station. Aiden hauled her into the interview room, sat her down in a chair, and warned her not to move. He then walked across to the media unit and activated it.
Once he’d done his obligatory spiel about her rights and informed her everything was being recorded, he added, “State your name and address for the record, please.”
“You can just go fuck yourself, Ranger. I want a lawyer here before I say anything.”
“You’re on a werewolf reservation,” he replied. “The rules regarding interrogation can be somewhat murky at the best of times, let alone when there’s magic and murder involved.”
“You can’t interrogate me without an IIT officer here, at the very least,” she said. “I know the rules and regulations, Ranger.”
“But not quite as well as you think,” he said. “It rather depends on whether you are deemed witch or not, and for that, we need an RWA representative present. Which we have.”
“That doesn’t preclude the necessity of having the IIT here, because witch or not, I’m still human, not a wolf.”
“Sorry, love, but even the scantest suspicion of magical ability means you’re my responsibility, not theirs.” Ashworth’s voice was positively jovial. “And I have to say, I’m quite looking forward to dragging answers out of your murderous soul.”
She didn’t say anything, but for the first time since I’d netted her, fear flickered through her expression.
“Do you want me to unravel my net before you get down to business?” I asked.
Ashworth nodded. “I won’t be able to get a feel for the spell that’s within her with your magic present.”
I nodded and immediately deactivated the spell. As the last threads of my magic faded away, Ashworth’s stirred. The spell he placed on her wasn’t one I was familiar with, and it fell around her shoulders like a gossamer blanket. She didn’t appear to know what he’d done, which again confirmed Roger’s comment there was no magic in her. Once the blanket was in place, Ashworth leaned toward Molly and studied her through slightly narrowed eyes.
Aiden glanced at me. “For the benefit of the recording, what’s Ashworth doing?”
“Magically probing the spell that’s been placed on Molly to understand what we’re dealing with and how best to deconstruct it.”
Ashworth swore and pushed away from the table. “It appears that whoever placed this spell on this girl has something in common with you, young Elizabeth.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Meaning they’re underpowered?”
“No, because there is a greater sense of power in the threads that twist through her flesh, but there’s also every indication that we’re dealing with a witch who hasn’t been trained. And that makes their magic even more difficult to deal with.”
“Ha,” Molly commented. “I told you—you’re getting jack out of me.”
“I said difficult, not impossible, young woman.” Ashworth glanced at Aiden. “I’ll have to get my kit and take all the usual precautions. There’s also a risk that removing the spell could break her mind. It just depends on how deep the roots of it go.”
“I had no idea this sort of magic was even possible,” Aiden muttered.
“Most people don’t.” His gaze returned to Molly. “I don’t think it wise to attempt anything until daylight. Spells like this are often fueled by the night and the moon.”
“I don’t like the prospect of wasting yet more time,” Aiden said. “We need to track the witch behind all this down before the soul eater finds its next victim.”
“Tracking him down won’t actually stop the soul eater. It won’t stop unless we stop it; even when all those who have been targeted by the witch are dead, it will simply start killing random members of the public.”
“Which means it’s even more important we find this witch ASAP,” Aiden growled.
Ashworth blew out a breath, the sound one of frustration. “While I don’t believe it’s the right choice, I’ll go home and collect my gear. It’ll only take half an hour, at most.”
“You know, there is another option besides magic.” As the two men glanced at me, I added, “Belle’s telepathic. Why risk breaking Molly’s mind if we can simply raid it? I can’t sense any form of magic that would prevent her thoughts from being read, and she’s certainly not wearing an electronic means of doing so.”
“They’ve invented a device to stop telepaths?” Aiden said.
I nodded. “Those two IIT officers were wearing them when they were here investigating the vampire rampage.”
“Huh. I’ll have to make inquiries. It’d be nice to know Belle just can’t wander through my thoughts anytime she damn pleases.”
“That’s presuming she thinks you have thoughts worth investigating.”
