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“Looks like whatever, or whoever, did this, came and went,” he said.
I knelt to examine the broken bookshelf strewn across the floor. It made my nose itch. “I think it was a what, not a who.”
“Oh?”
“These are claw marks.” I pointed to a set of gouges in the wood. There were five of them, deep and charred at the edges. “Looks like a demon.”
“Are you sure whatever did this isn’t still here? Hiding in plain sight?” He reached for his gun again out of reflex.
“If it was, I’d feel it or you’d smell it. Something powerful enough to leave marks like this would have one hell of an aura, and stink to high heaven. No pun intended.”
“Then let’s search for something useful. If there’s anything left.”
I nodded and started picking through the books. Some had burned, and others were torn to shreds, but buried at the bottom I found a thin metal box. I pulled on it and a chunk of shelf rose with it. A spell had locked the container to the shelf. I traced a generic series of runes along the box’s lid to unlock it.
Nothing happened, but then a half second later a shock of energy snapped against my skin. To my surprise, the spell still had enough juice to fight my attempts to break it. I pressed my will harder against it, and the lid popped open, its hinges crumbling to ash in my hands.
“What’ve you got?” Jackson asked.
“I found her grimoire,” I said.
A grimoire was a witch’s spell book. A tome where they kept all their spells, potions, and insights. Anything and everything they or their ancestors found useful over the years. Some families had books that dated back generations. Nadia’s, from the looks of it, was only full of her own spells.
Jackson brandished a thick silver MacBook in the air. “I found her laptop.”
“Well, that gives us two leads.” I smiled, my eyes scanning the titles of the books I’d tossed. One caught my eye. The words on the spine were written in Cyrillic. I couldn’t read it, but I remembered enough from Viktor’s lessons to recognize the symbols for blood. I also recognized the serious wear and tear along the spine. Nadia had clearly read the tome cover to cover more than once. “Correction, make that three.”
“Three?” Jackson frowned.
I held up the book. “Looks like she was researching blood magic all on her own.”
“You read Russian?”
“It’s Cyrillic, and I can read a little.” I shrugged, flipping a few pages. “We need a bag. Check the bedroom?”
He disappeared from my prereferral vision, and I heard a low rumbling growl issuing from the opposite direction. I set the books aside and stood up just in time for a thick black shadow to come hurtling out of the bathroom, slamming into me like an eighteen-wheeler. Its momentum carried us across the floor and right through one of the large windows.
7
Sucker Punch
My shoulders shattered the glass on impact. Seconds later, my back slammed into the roof of the building next door, knocking the air from my lungs. My head smacked into the tarred roof and pain burst through the back of my skull. The creature rolled off me, skittering across the ground. Blinking the spots from my eyes, I couldn’t believe what I saw: Nadia. Pale and naked in the bright light.
My jaw dropped and the woman stood to her full height. Her lips spread into a wicked smile, and she released a violent hiss. Dark spittle sprayed over her chin. The Nadia I’d known in life was gone. Her skin had paled to the point of translucence. The only color she had left came from the black veins spiderwebbed across her chest, and along her arms. Demonic talons had ripped through the tips of her fingers and burned red-hot like coals in a fire.She had no irises or whites to her eyes, just black emptiness. Something had crawled inside her corpse. A demon, jerking her around like a puppet.
She lunged at me, but I was too shocked to do anything more than scramble back across the roof. My hands scraped across the glass, and then my hands caught the raised edge of the roof. I tipped backwards, about to fall, and she grabbed me by the ankles with her clawed fingers.
Her nails dug into my skin and she pulled me across the ground, pinning me beneath her. I lifted my hands to shield myself, but her claws were too quick. She raked them back and forth across my face and demonic venom pulsed through my system. It burned like a lightning bolt, charring everything in its path.
Writhing, I lifted my knees leveraging her weight away from me. I put my foot against her hip and shoved her back. Nadia shrieked, and tumbled head over heels into the gap between the buildings. I leapt to my feet, racing away from the edge.
“Rebekah!” Jackson called from the window.
I turned, spitting out a glob of blood and found the demon racing in my direction. My stomach clenched and she knocked me back into the corner of the ventilation system. A blinding pain burst through my chest as my ribs cracked.
Gunshots ricocheted off the metal nearby, and the demon turned away from me, hissing loudly in Jackson’s direction. Her nails scraped across my arms and fresh venom pulsed through my bloodstream, sucking the strength from my limbs. My ears rang and every sound grew louder; the sun burned my skin and the world turned a shade too bright. Another scratch and I’d be in total system overload.
“Rebekah, move!” Jackson called as shots rang out. The demon raced in his direction, and I staggered away from the vent.
