“Too weak for what?” Chloe asked without looking up. No one answered her.
“I don’t care how awful these men’s plans may seem to some,” Caro said firmly. “It’s wrong to murder. And Jenny Besom didn’t have a damn thing to do with Pritchett’s plans. So she had to have been killed because she knew something.”
“I agree with you,” Damien answered. “This bokor is too dangerous. If he means to go after everyone in any way involved with Pritchett’s business, as well as anyone who figures out what he’s doing, he’ll have a lot of blood on his hands. But mostly,
“He must think I do. I was there when Pritchett was murdered.” She turned things around in her head, considering. “He’s changed his method, this bokor. His first murders, of Pritchett and his immediate family, were gruesome beyond belief. It was intended to scare everyone associated with the project. But apparently people haven’t become scared off, so he’s murdering in a more stealthy fashion, trying to make it look natural. And that means he doesn’t intend to stop.”
She remembered only too clearly what had happened on the street yesterday and was fairly certain the newest death had been caused in just the same way. She could barely repress a shudder when she remembered that feeling of cold crawling into her very bones and her inability to draw a breath no matter how hard she tried.
She looked at Jude. “Tell Terri to look for evidence that his breathing was interrupted somehow. Besom’s, too. That’s what was happening to me.”
Jude nodded and pulled out his phone.
She looked at Damien. “Not that this is going to help us solve this or stop it. We need to get to work.”
“I know,
“We’ve been hunting all along and where has it gotten us? We’re no closer to the bokor.”
“I agree traditional methods haven’t worked. That’s why we’re going to use older methods. No power can be used without leaving traces. None. It rends the fabric between the normal and the paranormal. It leaves a trail. It may not be easy to follow, but I should be in a better position to follow it later. I used to be very good at that.”
“Really?” She lifted an eyebrow, trying to imagine it. “One of your duties?”
“There are always those who seek to pervert power. They have to be dealt with, just like this bokor.”
“What happens when we find him?”
“We’ll have to fight him power for power. Unless you just want to shoot him, which I doubt. It wouldn’t get rid of the elemental he’s loosed, though. It would just leave it directionless.”
“That doesn’t sound good either.”
“Trust me, it’s not. These forces have no conscience. Without direction they can inflict a lot of harm simply because they don’t care. They simply act.”
“Sounds worse than a demon to me,” Jude remarked.
“You can at least argue with a demon,” Damien replied. “Maybe not successfully, but there’s consciousness there. These forces are truly elemental. They exist without any kind of being, despite the writings of Paracelsus. They are the building blocks of this reality, without will of their own unless called on. And once they are called on, unless they are returned to their original state, they function beyond their normal duties often to the detriment of anything they encounter. It’s like starting a volcanic eruption. The volcano doesn’t care what it destroys—it’s a power of nature, doing its work. But what if you were to divert it to wipe out a village? It would keep on in the same direction, heedless of how much it destroys.” He paused. “Did that help clarify?”
It certainly did for Caro, and the dimensions of the problem now seemed larger to her than ever. A force of nature without conscience or intelligence, directed to a task, running around without direction, perhaps murdering anyone it encountered.... That was plenty bad.
Damien apparently read her response on her face, or smelled it on her. “Releasing elementals is something a good mage seldom does. There are kinder, gentler powers to call on. But for something like this...” He shrugged.
“For something like this,” Caro replied harshly, “you need something without conscience or intelligence. We’ve got to get going.”
It was as if these most recent murders were some kind of last straw for her. She didn’t care if Damien wanted to tie her naked to a flagpole in public if it would do something to end this. Too many people had died, including innocent children. Yes, she was scared and nervous, but not just about herself anymore. If this bokor wasn’t stopped soon, he might go for more extreme measures, killing other people’s families and leaving absolutely no way for the police to find him.
For the first time it occurred to her to be glad that elemental had attached itself to her. Frightened as she had been, much as it had shaken her world, it remained that if it hadn’t attached to her in some way, there’d be no one and nothing to stop this bokor because no one would have even suspected something paranormal was at work here.
“Ready?” Damien asked her.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Jude drove them in his battered car to her place, where he set about restoring the wards. Caro stood watching him, noting that he seemed to be taking extra care this time. He placed a mark over every door and window, then marked every single wall, murmuring something quietly as he did so.
Given her unorthodox upbringing, she didn’t have a clue as to what he might be saying. Latin? She wasn’t sure.
“Okay,” Jude said finally. “You’re sealed up as tight as I can make you.” He passed a small bottle to Damien. “Seal the door again after I leave, top, bottom and sides. Then do your own protections.”
“Thanks,” Damien said, accepting the bottle. “I don’t feel the elemental in here now. Do you, Caro?”
She reached out with her burgeoning senses and after a moment shook her head. “No, it’s not here.”
“Seal up quickly after me,” Jude suggested. “Don’t give it an opening.” Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small brass crucifix. “I know this isn’t your tradition, Damien, but every bit helps. Put it in the room with you.”
Then he left. As Damien quickly marked the door according to Jude’s instructions, Caro felt her cheeks heat and her stomach flutter. “How much does he know about what we’re doing?”
Damien finished the door, sealed the bottle and looked at her with a wry smile. “Only what he suspects. We haven’t discussed it. Second thoughts, Caro?”
“I’m just, well, uncomfortable with all of this. It seems so...so...”
“Alien to you?” he suggested.
“I guess.”
“Well, it will be my pleasure to ensure you don’t feel that way for long. All we are going to do is make love, and our point is to reach the highest levels of delight, where the life force flows freely and without inhibition. Does that sound so bad?”
She hesitated, the butterflies resuming their agitation in her stomach. “I’m just not used to putting things like this on a calendar.”
“Only because you’ve never had the opportunity before. Imagine you are going on a date with someone who attracts you. Don’t you spend the entire evening wondering how it will end? Don’t you hope and perhaps expect that your date will make a pass?”
He had a point. Sort of. She drew a couple of deep breaths. “Promise you won’t tell anyone about this.”
“Why would I? This is between us and no one else.”
He set the bottle down and crossed the room, moving slowly enough that he didn’t startle her. “Think of it as a date,” he purred. “And all I am going to do right now is kiss you. Then I’ll prepare the room.”
The kiss, as always, left her light-headed and hungry for more, much more. Damn, he was good at that. The need filled her, a sweet ache that refused to dissipate even as she followed him around, watching his preparations.
He chose her bedroom, and she knew instantly he intended to tie her to her bedposts. The thought of
