Page 46 of The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee

I grimaced and turned to the earth witch. ‘First things first. Have you checked that the gem is still there?’

‘Of course I have,’ Vitus scoffed, glaring at me as if I were an imbecile. I was making friends again. ‘I check twice a day – which is the rule.’ Clearly he was a letter-of-the-law kind of a guy: he did what was required of him and strictly no more.

‘Why don’t you take it out and show us?’ I said.

He looked at me, horrified. ‘I can’t take it out! It will cause an earthquake.’

‘So how do you check it?’

‘I lift the lid briefly.’

I didn’t trust his lackadaisical attitude so I opened the door of the closet to check. As with the other three barrier gems, there was a stone plinth with a metal box resting on it. I let out the breath I’d been holding, reached in and lifted the box lid.

The green jewel glittered at me and I wanted to pick it up and run away with it. It mesmerised me, holding me locked in place; I knew immediately that it would definitely help me accomplish my life goals.

Luckily, almost as soon as I opened the box Gunnar reached over and snapped it shut, breaking the spell. ‘Fuck,’ I said shakily. ‘What is it with these damned gems?’

‘Cursed,’ Liv said drily. ‘Remember?’

‘It’s like they’re alive…’

‘Something like that,’ she agreed. ‘Well, thanks to Bunny, we know the gem is there. Now it’s a matter of keeping it that way.’

‘I’m going to place some surveillance cameras, then you and Liv will place several very scary wards around the gem. Got it?’ Gunnar’s voice was steely.

A bead of sweat rolled down Vitus’s forehead. ‘Sure.’ He threw a quick glance at Liv; she must run her group with an iron fist. He was scared of her – but I would be too if my security was as bad as his. If his gem had been stolen he’d be to blame, and I was sure Liv’s wrath would be terrible. He’d got lucky.

‘I’ve checked the exterior of the house and I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary,’ Calliope said calmly.

Gunnar gave her a barely perceptible nod and started installing the cameras. His phone pinged, and he unlocked it to see what the message said. ‘We’ve got the warrant to install the cameras at Nora Sullivan’s,’ he murmured to me. ‘I’ll drop you back and go straight to do that after here, since I have the surveillance equipment already with me.’

I nodded in acknowledgement, better him than me. I’d be so nervous that Nora would walk in while I was installing them.

While Gunnar worked, I talked to Calliope. She wasn’t my biggest fan, but I was worried about Sidnee so I braved the storm. ‘Any sightings of Chris Jubatus?’ I asked.

She looked at me sharply. ‘We will report directly to the Nomo’s office if he is seen.’

Her siren group was the one best placed to keep an eye out for the selkie. They were also watching the sea cave where there was a huge stash of fisheye waiting for someone to disarm the explosives around it so we could retrieve it for destruction. The siren group had carried out a huge search mission to try and find Chris and the other members of the stray military branch that had breached Portlock and flooded it with the drug. They’d had no success, and Calliope was still salty about it.

‘Any activity around the sea cave?’ I pressed.

Her response was more of a snarl this time. ‘As I said, if we see anything we will report it.’

‘Thanks. And I know I’ve said it before, but I am sorry about the whole suspecting Soapy thing.’

She nodded tersely and moved away; either she wasn’t in a chatty mood or she didn’t want to chat to me. I suspected the latter but told myself it was the former.

When Gunnar was done with the cameras, Vitus and Liv laid down what I hoped were very thick and very deadly wards. While they were busy, I asked Gunnar, ‘What kind of magic do necromancers do? I’ve seen Liv attempt to raise the dead, but how can she add to or make wards? What does death have to do with that?’

‘Death powers her magic. Trust me, something died so she could do this today. It was probably a goat or a few chickens, but something died and she is using its life force.’

Liv must have heard my question because she smirked. ‘Do I scare you, little dead thing?’

I shuddered, involuntarily. She absolutely did.

She held up a gruesome doll made of fur, feather and bone, stained with a brownish-red substance that I could smell was old blood. ‘This contains the life force of several sacrifices. It is enough for this work.’

Her magic smelled awful to me: old blood, decay and the stench of rot. I stared at the totem and I could almost see the miasma of death around it like a dark aura. As I stared, a feeling of something slithering around and tugging at my guts began and I swayed on my feet. I forced myself to look at Liv. The smirk was still there and I had the sensation of desert sand scouring my skin.

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