Page 76 of The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine

‘Bits and pieces. Who did I curse?’

‘A couple of people,’ I admitted evasively.

‘Did anyone die?’ She looked concerned; maybe she did have a conscience somewhere.

I shook my head. ‘No, we stopped you in time.’

‘What did you do? How did you stop me?’

I pointed to the two boxes sitting next to the heap of rust. ‘We put the gems in new boxes that blocked their control. I don’t know how long they’ll hold, but we’re good for now.’

She nodded. ‘I thought about doing something similar but I think I was already under the influence before I could act on it.’ She stared at me suddenly. ‘I cursed you. A note, on your door.’ She frowned, ‘They wanted to kill you but I managed to make it a weakening curse instead.’ She shook her head as if trying to clear it. Her hands shot to her mouth. ‘Fuck! I cursed the black market mug,’ she blurted, eyes wide in panic.

‘Stan and Sigrid are okay,’ I relented enough to say.

Liv’s eyes slid closed. ‘No thanks to me, I visited them in hospital and removed the stasis spell from Stan. I – they – deliberately let him loose to cause havoc. The gems were going to do the same to Sigrid but she’d already been uncursed and there were too many doctors and nurses around.’

‘How did you manage to curse just those two? Anyone could have touched the mug.’

She shook her head. ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I broke into Gunnar’s house when it was empty. The dog went nuts, so I cursed him to sleep for an hour or two whilst I placed the curse on the mug. The nightmare curse was targeted at Stan and Sigrid specifically. I used their blood to make it.’

‘And how did you get their blood?’ I asked, trying to keep my voice level, remembering poor Loki’s exhausted behaviour before dinner.

She opened her mouth and then slammed it shut abruptly. ‘I think I’ve incriminated myself enough, haven’t I?’ She looked suddenly weary, and I felt a pang of sympathy for her. She’d been through hell. Yes, she’d done bad things, but were they really her fault if she’d been acting under possession?

‘Let me check you over, my child,’ Father Brennan said to her.

She huffed at him. ‘We both know I’m no child, Brennan.’

He smiled at her and chanted softly in Latin. ‘She’s clear,’ he said finally. ‘I sense nothing foreign in her.’

‘Lucky me,’ she groused.‘Come on. We’ll drop Father Brennan back at the church, then we need to collect the other three elemental witches and get this shit over and done with for good. I need you to call your banshee friend.’

I stared at her. Did I really trust her? What if she was trying to trap Aoife, the way Elsa Wintersteen had wanted to? Was Liv really back to herself – and if she was, did that make her trustworthy?

Connor’s hand warmed my back. ‘We’ll watch and see,’ he murmured; as always, we were on the same wavelength.

I nodded. We picked up the two boxes and packed into Liv’s car like sardines. Either we were going to fix the town or we were going to orchestrate everyone’s doom.

Chapter 48

Liv drove us to her funeral home. She held up a finger after she parked. ‘Wait here, please.’

We looked at each other uneasily, but waited while she went inside. A few minutes later she emerged with a small box that she handed to me. Inside it was a large gem. My blood ran cold. ‘What is this, Liv?’ I asked, my voice was full of suspicion.

‘A large, very expensive gemstone,’ she said bluntly.

I got that. The gem was blue, so I assumed it was another sapphire like the Water Gem. ‘What’s it for?’ I demanded. If she was planning on trapping Aoife, I would stop her no matter what.

‘I know you have no reason to trust me right now, but after falling under the control of the gems I think the only recourse we have is to pull the banshee spirits out of them. They are too strong and too unpredictable in their current states.’

She took a deep breath. ‘As you said, we don’t know how long the new containment boxes will work, and I’m sure that they won’t control the barrier like the iron boxes did. We have limited time and we need the gems to power the barrier, preferably without powerful evil spirits. We have to break the curses and free the inhabitants. I need this gemstone, the four elemental witches and your banshee friend to do it.’

I couldn’t make that decision alone and we had no time to ask the council. I had Connor to represent them, my mum to represent magic users and my own judgement. Did we trust Liv?

I looked at Connor. ‘Yes,’ he said simply. Mum nodded as well. So it was up to me.

I weighed the choices. Liv knew the gems and their issues intimately, and we needed her whether or not she was trustworthy. She’d protected the town for years at her own personal cost, and I had to trust her to continue to do so. The cursed gems in their current state were under control but they would eventually make their presence felt again. We needed the barrier to protect the town, so we had no choice.

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