Page 348 of Castings & Curses

They passed through a living room filled with well-worn furniture. A brown leather couch that had seen better days, a weary looking easy chair and scuffed wooden end tables covered in books filled the space. It was comfortable and homey, with landscape paintings of local art. Devi stopped when she passed a hall table laden with family photos.

There.

She picked up one of a young man she’d seen just an hour ago, his body strewn about like trash next to the dumpster. He was found next to a young woman dressed like she was going to an all-out Goth witch function.

There hadn’t been a familiar present. They were too young. But in some ways that was even worse.

Gambian was racking up the points tonight.

Tears prickled in her eyes. If the son was involved, what did that mean for the rest of the family? She continued down the hall. Cappelli had stopped to discuss something with Avery and another officer. That was fine. She preferred doing what she did alone. And she didn’t need the other woman’s hostility mixing with the energy of the scene.

The second door down was the boy’s bedroom. White walls covered in posters of D&D and Game of Thrones. But there, on his desk, was the clue she’d been expecting to find. A thick, leather-bound tome like one she herself had at home.

Demon Craft: The Summoning.

She ran her fingers over the open pages but the impressions from the pages were faint and didn’t tell her much. Leaning forward, she noted the portion he’d been reading.

Blood sacrifice.

How apt.

Darkness called to darkness. And before you knew it, you were lunch.

Bye, bye Felicia.

A clawing in her gut had her moving again. This was one part of the puzzle. The others were here in the house. She gave the room another cursory glance and shut the door behind her. She needed to see the body. Passing through the living room again, she stopped at the crime scene tape. The smell was thick and viscous, and made her already temperamental gut-churn.

Do your job.

Find the answer.

This is what you’re here for, no matter the cost to you.

Blood spatter darkened patches of the beige carpet and walls of the dining room, a circular pattern that ended at the closed door in front of her. She made her way around the blood noting the ordinary looking wooden table and bare walls. It was obvious no one ate here.

Devi opened the door and stepped into a dark library. Walls of blood-spattered bookshelves and antiquities that didn’t fit into the bland suburban scene staggered her senses.

“My God.” It was worse in person. The reek of old blood, dark magic, and vomit assaulted her senses, blending with the stench of death.

The body lay twisted on the floor covered by tan pants and white shirt violated by the blood of unexplainable wounds and puffy welts on the skin.

Bee stings?

Devi bent over the body, trying to keep her boots from stepping in the congealing blood. A dark, elongated wooden object lay askew next to the corpse. She shifted her weight to see it better.

Avery appeared at the door, his gaze settling on something across the room. “I don’t like it. Wife said he just got back from some weird ass vacation in the middle of the swamp. Then, he locked himself in here.”

A buzzing noise wafted through the room. Her fingertips tingled. There. She opened her eyes and her gaze fell on the dark wooden object. She flipped it over with the toe of her boot.

A wooden mask.

She’d seen others like it in the Voodoo shops she’d visited in the past. They made her skin crawl every time. The hollow eye sockets pulsed with shadows and sinister secrets. Her gaze darted around the library, landing on an open box on a nearby table.

She started to touch it, but her animal hissed, forcing her to back up.

“Our boy here must have been dabbling with the occult.” Avery picked up a feathered object with tiny shells dangling from it. He shook the piece, and she could see the gears working in his head, but even he didn’t know what he was messing with.

That was why they’d brought her in.

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