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I frowned at the thought. The witch was dead, so why the hell were my instincts twitching?
I didn’t know.
And to be honest, I really, really didn’t want to know.
“So how strong was our dead witch?” Aiden asked.
“He was fairly high up on the power scale,” Chester said heavily. “Which means it’s probably just as well he was betrayed by those who’d employed him. The stronger the witch, the deeper his connection to the dark energies and spirits of this world, and the harder it is to track and kill them.”
“Is that why Frankel Kang is still on the loose?” I asked mildly. “Because he escaped your noose?”
Chester glanced at me sharply. “You don’t miss much, do you?”
I half smiled. “I’m a psychic who’s very good at reading people.”
“Oh, I think you’re a hell of a lot more than that.” He released my hand and walked across to the scorched circle. “Whatever the actual intent of the magic here, it’s been fragmented and destroyed. The area is quite safe if you wish to bring people in.”
Aiden nodded. “Do you think it possible he’s left other such traps around the reservation?”
“Right now, anything is possible, given we have no real idea what his intention was.”
The sharp sound of an approaching siren bit across the night—the ambulance and paramedics were arriving. We escorted the two men back through the trees.
Belle was waiting inside our old wagon. Tala leaned against her truck, her arms crossed and weariness evident in both her expression and the way she stood. There was a fresh Band-Aid across her forehead and yellow smears I suspected were antiseptic across several other scratches on her cheek and her arms.
The ambulance pulled to a halt beside the trucks and two paramedics hopped out. Ashworth was cleared, but Chester—despite his protests—was placed in the back of the ambulance and whisked away so that the shard in his arm could be scanned before it was removed.
“I’ll check the hospital for Chester’s condition in the morning,” Ashworth said. “But it’s likely he won’t be released until at least midmorning, and that means we won’t be able to check and ID the body until the afternoon.”
Aiden nodded. “We’re running an outside facial recognition check on the off chance we can find a match.”
Ashworth snorted and moved toward his truck. Despite his claims to the contrary, he was now limping and his aura swirled with a mustardy color, signaling pain. “I wish you luck, Ranger, but I personally doubt you’ll get anything given he’s missing half his face and he’s a dark witch. Concealment is part of the whole game of survival for those bastards, and they’re very damn good at it.”
“It still doesn’t hurt to check,” Aiden said mildly.
“I take it from that the witch’s fingerprints had indeed been removed?” I asked, as Ashworth climbed into his truck then reversed and left.
“Yeah, and some time ago given the skin had healed over.” He glanced past me. “Tala, go home.”
“But what about taping off—”
“I’ll do it. You go home and get some rest.”
She nodded and climbed into her vehicle. Aiden’s gaze returned to mine. “You’re welcome to go back to my place—”
“No,” I said, before he could finish. “I’ll go home. I think we both could use the sleep.”
He smiled then stepped forward and kissed me—gently but passionately. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, then.”
I nodded and walked across to the wagon. By the time I’d climbed in and buckled up, he’d disappeared into the forest.
“So,” Belle said, once we were back on the main road and heading toward Castle Rock. “Do you think this is all over?”
A tired smile touched my lips. “What do you think?”
“I think your trouble antenna is twitching.”
“And you’d be right.” I wrinkled my nose. “This whole thing is stinking higher than sour milk.”
