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“Juli naked in a stone circle.” I hesitated. “He was lying in a forest clearing, but a different one to the two the wraith has already used.”
“Was your brother’s head still attached to his body?”
I nodded. “I didn’t actually get a long enough look to see if he was breathing or not, though.”
“What about his body? Were there any symbols drawn on it?”
“He was covered in blood, which made it hard to see, but I don’t think so.”
“Then he was likely alive. Dark magicians generally mark up their sacrifices before they kill. It ensures their demons only dine on the supplied soul.”
“Would the same apply to a wraith, though?” Belle asked. “They’ve already lost their souls to their demons, so why would marking their victims be necessary?”
“He may have lost his soul, but he still has his flesh, even if it isn’t anything we’d recognize as human.”
Footsteps had me glancing around. Eli and Saska appeared, the latter just putting her phone away.
“According to the tail we have on Julius,” she said. “He’s in a meeting with three business partners at Cucurbita.”
I wondered what sort of business he was involved in but curbed the instinct to ask. It wasn’t important right now. “I’m guessing Cucurbita is a restaurant rather than an herbaceous fruit of some kind?”
Saska’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It’s a very fancy and expensive one, and quite popular amongst the elite thanks to the fact that they have a number of function rooms and guarantee privacy.”
Which probably meant they swept for bugs and audio acquisition spells regularly. “How long will it take us to get there?”
“You really should stay—”
I raised a hand to stop her and said, “If my brother gets snatched and your people lose him, my psychometry may be his last hope.”
A statement that would no doubt cause Julius to snort derisively, Belle commented. Is it wrong that part of me wants him to be snatched just so he has to face the humiliation of being saved by his “underpowered” sister?
It won’t change his opinion of me.
No, but it would nevertheless be delicious.
“Our people won’t lose him,” Saska was saying, “but the boss did say it’d be useless trying to stop you, because you’d just toss me aside and take off anyway.”
I grinned and looked her up and down. “I’m fairly strong, but I’m thinking there’d be no tossing you if you decided to plant yourself.”
“You have that right.” She turned and motioned toward the hall that led down to the parking area. “Shall we go?”
I hesitated as instinct stirred, then held up one finger and said, “Give me a second,” and then bolted for my room to grab my blessed silver knife. Holy water might well work against the wraith, but silver was a damned good backup when it came to most supernatural nasties.
I tossed it into my purse, grabbed a wooly hat from my suitcase, and tugged it on as I ran back out.
“Keep sharp, both of you,” Ashworth said. “While I don’t doubt the veracity of the vision, if they’re watching Julius in order to snatch him, they might well take the opportunity to grab you instead.”
“I’m more worried about them spotting me out and about and deciding it’s the perfect time to grab Belle or you two,” I said. “So kindly ensure you take your own advice.”
“Oh, you can be sure of that, lassie. There’s a prospective grandchild in the works, and not even a mad wraith intent on revenge will be robbing me of the opportunity to spoil her rotten.”
I laughed, spun on my heel, and followed Saska out.
Cucurbita was located in an uninspiring but wide street lined with modern office buildings. Saska stopped in the parking area opposite but didn’t immediately climb out. Instead, she rolled down the window and lightly drummed her fingers against the roof of the car.
After a few seconds, a magpie swooped down, took a good look at us, then rose.
“Reggie, I take it?” I said.
