Chapter 24 24
We found the werewolves in the family room looking at the bodies. I had the suspicion they had heard our conversation. There were traces of humor in both of their faces. I chose to believe that was a good thing. It indicated Tristan’s hearing was improving. I focused on Thomas. “Do you recognize the vampire that was here?”
“Vampire? There was a vampire here?” The pup’s hearing might be improving, but, his olfactory abilities were still set at human. Thomas shook his head at my question.
“This is clearly a vamp kill. Werewolves would have done more damage to the body, not just rip out the throat.” Connor had seen enough of each kind to know the difference in kill styles. Then he proved you don’t have to have an enhanced nose to be a detective. “It was the same vamp that tried to break into your place wasn’t it?”
I nodded at Connor’s question before asking Thomas for his take on the scene. His take was about the same as mine. Forest Dancer had kept the assailant busy while his wife, River, secured the kids in the circle before joining the fight. There were multiple scorch and singed places around the room. They had tried to fight but, either didn’t have enough skill or will to kill. For now I was going to assume it was skill. I’ve seen what people can do when their young are in danger. Judging from the amount of blood, the vampire hadn’t fed on them. Just bled them out. Which made this most likely a professional hit. Not many vampires would have wasted magical blood like this.
“So what we need to figure out now is why did the vampire who tried to break in to my place kill Wiccan vegan witches?” I shook my head. The things I have to say in this job.
We spilt up and tried to figure out why this not quite normal, but, harmless family had been targeted. Tristan joined me out in the yard. I could feel small amounts of magic coming from various places out here. They seemed to be forming a pentagram. My Wiccan knowledge was on the thin side, but, I was pretty sure it was a commonly used symbol. It could be used for good or evil depending on how it was drawn. When Tristan and I reached the nearest point, we looked at each other in confusion. There was nothing there that could generate the magic I was sensing. I dropped to my knees and started digging around. Buried just under the surface was a chunk of quartz. The hum of magic coming off it confirmed it was the source of what I was sensing.
We took the quartz inside. Thomas was photographing the scene and Connor rooting around in a cabinet full of magic supplies. I held our discovery out to Thomas. He tried to take it from me and I slapped his hand away. “Not for werewolves. You smell anything coming off this?”
“It smells like the outdoors, sulfur and something floral.” Thomas had a good nose. Not everyone can tell the difference between sulfur and rotten eggs.
A picture was starting to form and I didn’t like it. Cyrus Howl had been found less than a mile from here. His body had been magically cleaned and transported. The marble of doom in the body had the same smell as the quartz. The quartz was found on the property of witches. I made the leap and assumed that all the points of the pentagram were the same kind of quartz. If my memory served me, quartz was used for healing and amplifying energy. If someone funneled a death spell through the quartz pentagram, it would amplify the spell’s power. They wouldn’t even need to be magical to preform it. Using it to power death magic could have created the marble. The magic residue in and around the house was white. The only black or death magic was attached to the quartz which was typically used in white magic. The marble could have been formed by the healing quartz being used to kill.
“Judging by smell, I’d say they were killed last night. “ Thomas was crouched by the bodies. He looked up at me. “Do you think they killed Cyrus for the vampire and then he killed them?”
“I think that’s what it’s supposed to look like.” I walked to the back of the house looking for the master bedroom. Instead, I found a huge room with three beds, one queen size and two toddler. Multiple dressers lined the walls and more kid toys were strewn around the room. Sitting beside one of the dressers was what I needed. I picked it up and head back to the family room where the boys and Thomas were waiting. The three of them frowned when they saw what I was carrying. “I’m pretty sure they just came home yesterday. There are four of these in the bedroom” I waved the suitcase at them. “Still packed. All the Dancers smell of saltwater and sand. You don’t find a lot of that in Tennessee. I’m leaning towards our unknown vamp used their pentagram while they were gone and then killed them hoping we would blame them for Cyrus’s murder and close the case.” I turned to Thomas and asked “What brought you out here today?”
“I was thinking about what you said yesterday. Thought it might be a good idea to have a word with them and see if they were involved in the murder. Found the bodies instead.”
“The vamp hadn’t counted on the kids being protected by the circle. They can identify him.” Looking at the scene, an idea came to me. The vamp was most likely waiting for them to return. When they did, he was planning on killing them all. He could make it look like a werewolf kill. Vampires and wolves both have fangs and claws. I could imitate a wolf kill if I wanted to. A little magic and the vampire’s scent disappears. It would be assumed the Dancers vacation was a cover to throw off the investigation and a werewolf had figured out they had killed Cyrus. But why? I was missing the why. Oh bloody fucking hell.
I laid out my theory for the guys and took a deep breath before voicing what I feared was the reason. “War. Between the werewolves and the magics.”