Page 40 of To Crave Truly

The image of the neat little house in front of me started to blur, as if there was a haze in front of it. Then it started to fade until I could see the destruction beneath the veneer. There was an audible pop and a wave of air brushed past me as the magic dissipated.

“That’s how I remember it,” Rae said softly.

The house, and the ones next to it, were a mess. Rubble littered the garden, and there were deep scratch marks across the front door and into the hallway.

“Jeez, Rae, how much magic did you use?” I asked.

“A lot,” was the grim response.

She wasn’t kidding. There was still a faint smell of it in the air. Whoever cast the spell to hide all this must have been powerful to be able to construct something that deceived not just sight, but the other senses too.

“Cassian, Fenris. You go around the back. Rae, you’re with me.” I waited for Rae to step in behind me, then I advanced forward across the threshold.

I moved slowly and silently, my training instinctively seeping into my actions. It was a strange sensation now that I’d got my heart back. Before everything was about precision. Being focussed and carrying out the mission. Now I could feel everything. I was anxious. My heart pumping blood furiously around my body. I was sweating and nervous as I worried about my team. I even felt guilty over leaving Lori behind, but I knew she’d be a distraction. Didn’t stop the guilt though.

I paused for a moment and listened to the building. “There’s no one here. Just us.”

“Alec,” Cassian said over the comms. “You need to come see this.”

I walked through the house the the rear garden and came to a sudden stop. Bodies littered the ground. No, that wasn’t really accurate. Body parts littered the space.

“Rae?” I asked, as I knelt to look closer at the forearm closest to my feet.

“It wasn’t like this when I left.” Rae wandered further down the garden path. The flowers were all crumpled, scorch marks were burnt into the grass.

“They’re all mages,” Fenris muttered.

“What?”

“They’re covered in runes and symbols. It’s an ancient tribe. Powerful, old magic.” Fenris pointed to the black marks on the exposed skin. “Why are they dead?”

“Perhaps someone is tying up loose ends,” Cassian said darkly. The set of his mouth was grim, his jaw tight and eyes dark. “Means whoever this is running this thing, is getting close to their end goal.”

Fuck. He was right. He had to be. The mages were being used to manipulate and control witches so if they were now getting rid of mages, it could only mean one thing. They were no longer useful.

“But what kind of weapon could do this kind of damage?” Rae asked, peering closely at a severed leg.

“Something Celestial,” I said. The cuts were clean and straight through the bone. But no blood on the grass. It was as if the hand of the Divine himself had sliced them.

“I’ll call in the clean up crew,” Fenris said before wandering back into the house.

“This is bad, Alec,” Cassian said as he stood next to me.

“I know.”

“We need to get back. If magic is disappearing, and mages are dying, what’s next?” Cassian folded his arms across his chest as he fixed me with a hard stare. “Seems like we’re heading towards an event that could end the world. Maybe the witch was right. Maybe the end is coming.”

“I know,” I ground out.

“So what do we do next?” Rae asked.

I hadn’t got a fucking clue. How to deal with an apocalypse wasn’t exactly in the training manual.

“And you know I love Lori, but after what happened in Strigavallis, and now coming back a vampire, how do we know she’s not tainted by Mordecai now?” Cassian said softly. “How do we know she’s the Lori we all love?”

“We don’t,” I replied. And it was true. We were floundering in the dark, trying to save the fucking world, and I wasn’t sure if I could trust the woman I loved.

“Hey!” Rae snapped and Cassian and I both turned to look at her. Oh, boy. She looked pissed. “That woman has been to Hell and back and you’ve no idea what Mordecai has put her through. I refuse to believe that Lori is anything other than the woman she’s always been. We owe it to her to give her the benefit of the doubt and shame on you for thinking otherwise. Whatever she’s doing back here will be because she loves you and thinks it’s the right thing to do.”

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