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“Probably not, but she’s going to find it hard to sneak up on us unseen given she now has no skin.” He rose and offered me a hand.
I accepted it gratefully. The world briefly spun and then settled—a sure sign I really was pushing my limits now.
“The skin on the bed wasn’t the skin she was wearing when she went after tonight’s victim,” I said.
“Yes, but if she was able to maintain those other forms beyond a night, she wouldn’t be reclaiming her ‘original’ skin every morning,” he said. “Most spirits need to escape the daylight. The soucouyant does that by using her human skin—without it, she won’t be able to hide in plain sight.”
“Which gels with something Belle discovered tonight.” I gave him the information, then added, “Is it possible we’re dealing with two soucouyants rather than two different types of fire spirits?”
“Could be, although it’s odd for them to be hunting in the same area. They’re usually loners.”
I hesitated. “I have no idea if fire spirits can reproduce, but is it possible there’s some kind of kinship between them?”
He frowned. “There’s certainly documents that state some demons are capable of reproduction, but I’ve never read anything that suggests spirits are.”
“But they have to come from somewhere, don’t they? Granted, there are some witches whose destiny it is to move into the spirit realm, but entities such as fire spirits have always existed alongside humanity.”
“And I guess we witches have tended to hunt them down rather than study them, so we really haven’t got much more than old wives’ tales to go on.”
Which made Belle’s books even more valuable. “Surely the archive in Canberra has more than that? They’ve been collecting information, both here and overseas, for eons.”
“You’d think so, but I’m coming up with squat so far.” He thrust a hand through his hair, shaking loose random bits of inert wild magic and leaf matter. “Either way, we’d both better sleep with half an eye open.”
I couldn’t help smiling. “You can sleep with half an eye open; I’ll be layering in additional protections in the spell network that protects the café.”
“Which will only protect you from the spirit, not her arcane fire.”
“And that’s exactly why I want you to show me the shielding spell you used—it did protect us, and it’s possible I might be able to weave it into the current layers.”
“Hasn’t anyone told you it’s dangerous to adjust spells in such an ad hoc manner?”
“Yes.” I glanced around at the sound of footsteps and saw Aiden approaching.
“You okay, Liz?” he said, stopping beside me.
“Yes, but it’s mainly thanks to Monty spelling a last-minute fire ward.” I leaned into Aiden’s warm body; his arm immediately went around me, preventing retreat. Not that I actually wanted to go anywhere. His tender but protective touch made me feel safe. Loved, even.
Which I wasn’t, of course, and never would be, but it was nevertheless nice to believe otherwise, even if for a moment.
“I’m also okay, thanks for asking,” Monty said, clearly amused.
“Good, because the last thing this reservation needs is to lose another witch,” Aiden said. “Is this it from the soucouyant? Or will there be more attacks?”
“This is probably it for tonight, but she may well resume hostilities tomorrow night.”
“Which gives us tomorrow to find her. Any ideas?”
Monty grimaced. “It’s possible I can use a piece of her skin to track her in much the same manner as Lizzie used the ember, but I’ll need Eli’s guidance. I’ve studied the spell’s basics, but never actually performed it.”
“More than happy to help out with that,” Eli said, as he and Ashworth strode up.
“And her skin?” I asked. “Even if it’s salted, what’s the chance of her trying to get it back? Or even washing the salt from it and reusing?”
“That, I don’t know,” Monty said. “The records I’ve read only go as far as saying salting prevents them from reclaiming their skin. It doesn’t mention anything about the possibility of them cleaning it.”
“What about keeping it in brine?” Ashworth said. “The fact salting her skin makes it physically impossible for her to move back into her flesh suggests it’s her Achilles’ heel, so keeping her skin in a brine mixture should make it impossible for her to reach into the jar and grab it.”
“What’s to stop her grabbing the jar and smashing it open?” Aiden asked.
