Page 3 of Temple of Magic and Bone

"Don't pull that out now. I wouldn't want you to die on me, and it's been enchanted to hold your blood in."

Vanth pulled out one of the drawers of his kit, took out a syringe full of a fun paralytic he had distilled, and injected it into the man. He stopped going for the dagger, his body losing feeling.

"Put this one in a bag and make sure he's in the space at the front of the van," he instructed his ghouls. The small ghosts were murmuring all around him. "You don't have to stay here anymore. He's going to suffer for what he did to you. I promise."

He had a job to do, but just not the one he had been summoned for. He sent his magic through the ether, and the little ghosts blipped out one at a time as he sent them into their Afterlife.

Vanth pulled his phone from his pocket and rang his favorite police officer in Inferno. "You need to come to the following address," he said when the officer picked up.

"Vanth? What's happened?" Dimitri murmured.

"Just do it. Oh, and don't worry about finding the culprit. It's been taken care of," Vanth said and hung up on him. He cast a quick spell to erase any DNA he might have left behind and ensured the door to the house remained unlocked.

Vanth was heading home when his phone started ringing. He was going to hang up again when he saw it was Andres. "What do you want at this time of night, creeper?"

"I just had something weird land in my crematorium, and I think you should look at it before I burn it," Andres replied.

"Define 'weird' because I've had a bitch of a night already."

Andres's voice was barely above a whisper. "Magic. Fucked up, scary magic. I can smell it, but I can't see what happened. Someone is trying to hide the evidence."

Vanth turned his van around. "I'll be there in ten. Put the coffee on."

It was just going to be one of those fucking days.

2

There were multiple crematoriums, temples, and burial rites establishments in the city of Inferno. With so many creatures and cultures all living together, there was a need to have people who could accommodate all their last wishes.

Andres ran the kind of crematorium you could bring anything to and get it burned for a price. It was a service that Vanth had used more than once to get rid of evidence. Andres prided himself on his discretion, which was why he must have been really freaking the fuck out to call Vanth about a body drop-off at all.

Vanth made sure his breathing passenger was still alive before he left his ghouls to watch over him and headed in to see Andres. He checked the streets around the crematorium and made sure all his psychic wards were locked down. Where the dead were handled, ghosts loved to linger, and he really wasn't in the mood for any more that night.

Or morning. Dawn wasn't too far away, and there was no point trying to sleep.

Satisfied that no one was watching the crematorium, Vanth knocked on the back door. An eyehole slid open, and Andres opened the door for him. Andres was short, lithe, and looked more like a gamer than a cremator. It was deceptive as hell because he was a fae creature that was older than dirt.

It was frowned upon to call them 'lesser fae' anymore, though most of the older ones still used it because they were determined to keepwhatexactly they were a secret.Lesser faewas a blanket term that could cover everything from pixies to selkies to goblins and trolls.

The high-born fae were more like Vanth, looking mostly human with big builds, pointed ears, and bad attitudes. It didn't really matter when most fae could use glamors to look however the fuck they wanted. Andres currently looked about twenty and had purple hair to match his violet eyes.

"Thank the Dagda, you're here," Andres said. His Irish lilt only appeared when he was stressed out, which made Vanth's hackles rise.

"You been shopping at the kids' section of Hot Topic again?" Vanth teased, tugging on a purple lock.

Andres knocked his hand away and flipped him off. "This from the male whose whole look could be described as Jack Sparrow does necromancy."

Vanth laughed. "I draw the line at dreadlocks."

"Only because you high fae are so proud of your pretty hair." Andres crossed his arms. "I didn't call you here to trade barbs with you, Vanth."

"Then show me what has gotten your Hello Kitty panties in such a bunch," Vanth said, still trying to lighten the mood.

Not a lot worried Andres, but he was so spooked, Vanth could smell the tang of fear radiating off him.

"Laugh it up, necromancer. You know I wouldn't have called you over nothing," Andres huffed irritably.

"I know. I'm just messing with you. Show me, and I'll try and figure out what it is," Vanth replied, patting him on the shoulder.

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