“Don’t do that! You’ll get sucked in, too. It’s not like there’s anyone else around to free us both. I doubt Able can do it!”
“Unlike the mage who set this spell, I know what I’m doing.” Ant focused his magic, pouring it into the earth below his hand. The issue with dirt, or sand, was that it was made up of thousands of small particles, and each one of them had to be encased in his magic for his reversal to work. The soil wasn’t keen on letting Viktor go. Ant couldn’t think why, but when gentle encouragement didn’t work, Ant slapped his hand on the ground. “Release my mate, he’s not yours.”
Within seconds, Viktor tugged his leg one more time and then lurched forward as the dirt released him. He went flying across the grass, hitting his head on another tree.
Oops!Ant quickly ran over. Able was already busy licking Viktor’s face. “I have never” - Viktor pointed at where his leg had been disappearing - “I have never in all my years ever come across something like that before.”
“A magical sinkhole-type effect is very rare,” Ant agreed. “They’re not very efficient or effective. A mage who set something like this would have to be sure that their target was actually going to step onto the affected area, and even then, the chances of the sand or dirt actually smothering someone are very low, especially in an area like this.
“If you think about it, you’re well over six feet tall. Sinking soil, which was used in this case, is only going to be as effective as the soil layer is deep. If there’s a layer of rock underneath, you wouldn’t sink any farther. So, the soil in this area would have to be at least seven feet deep to smother you completely, and as a vampire, it still wouldn’t kill you. Soil at that depth is not normally the case.”
“I don’t find that as reassuring as you likely think it is.” Viktor stood up, brushing off his clothes. “Seriously, we’ve learned all I wanted to know. Carmine is a shit who set a trap for us. I just want us out of here.”
“I need one minute more. I have to see what Carmine was trying to hide.” Hugging Viktor quickly, Ant released him and moved into the area that had been blocked from him before. As he expected, a vision hit him, and Ant dropped to his knees, reaching for Able, who was suddenly by his side. He was determined to see every single detail of what happened to Carol Doukas.
Chapter Twelve
You absolute little shit, Viktor thought fondly as he watched Ant sink to his knees. It was only the second time he had seen Ant in a vision – well, three if he counted the time he was trying to save Bridget, but he didn’t realize Ant was going through a vision then. It was a fascinating and yet disconcerting experience. Viktor had no way of knowing what Ant was seeing or if it was harming him in any way. His mate was simply on his knees, on a patch of ground, doing a damn good impression of a statue.
Glancing down at the grubby dirt on his trouser leg, Viktor grimaced. That was another disconcerting experience he’d rather not endure again. But his gaze immediately returned to Ant.
What is he seeing?Yes, Viktor was being attacked by another case of vampire curiosity.
The first time he’d seen Ant go into a vision was back at the park by the Mage Academy. That felt like years ago, even when it was probably a little more than a month before. He and Ant hadn’t claimed each other at that point. They were simply aware of who they were to each other. But now they were firmly claimed, and more importantly, Viktor and Ant shared a mind link.Is it possible, he wondered,to see what Ant could see?
Viktor didn’t want to upset Ant in any way, or worse, break his mate’s concentration. Clearly, his very determined mage wanted to find out the details of Carol’s murder. Although if the site was simply a body dump, then Viktor really didn’t know what it was that Ant would see.
Thinking about it, he could feel an extra humming through their bond. The more Viktor tuned into it, the more he realized thatAnt was actively reliving what had occurred ten years before. In itself, that was fascinating and scary all at the same time.
Does Ant have to ever worry about where he puts his feet in case he comes across a murder scene that nobody knows about?Just trying to imagine what it would be like walking around, aware that a vision could hit at any time, Viktor could see why Able was so important to his mate.
Moving quietly, because he genuinely didn’t want to startle Ant in any way, Viktor opened up their mind link as widely as he could, trying to get impressions of what Ant was feeling. He hoped that if he stayed tuned in to Ant, rather than projecting any feelings of his own, there would be less chance of him interfering with what Ant was seeing.
Slowly, Viktor crouched down behind Ant’s back and rested his hands lightly on his mate’s shoulder. Able looked at him and lifted the side of his lip, but he didn’t bark or growl, which was an improvement on the first time Viktor had tried to get near Ant while he was in a vision state.
Maybe Able understands the bond we have now. Viktor focused on their bond. His eyes closed. For a moment, all he could see in his own mind was a fuzzy darkness, as if something was going on behind a huge smoke screen. But then, just as suddenly, the picture cleared, and Viktor could see what Ant was seeing.
A dim, dark night. There were three people in the clearing where he and Ant were now. Carol had been a very beautiful woman. She was wearing a skimpy dress, and she had apparently been wearing high-heeled shoes. One of them had come off and had been discarded on the dirt near the car, making her balance all the more unstable. Her pretty dress that shone in car headlights was ripped on one shoulder, and as he watched, a fist smashed into the side of her face.
She was fighting. She was fighting for her life, but she was going to lose. Viktor got a sudden ball of lead in his gut. Just a few minutes into a scene, and he’d finally gotten some inkling of what it was like for Ant to see those scenes time after time, knowing there was absolutely nothing he could do about it because the events had already passed.
It had been two men, not the one Bridget mentioned. That was about all Viktor could make out. He was too busy watching Carol. She was determined. She was using fists and nails and everything she could to keep the men from getting too close. But when she was finally pushed to the ground, gasping her last breath as the two men piled on top of her, Viktor would swear he saw her saying something – “My brother’s got a lot to answer for” - before her head went limp and she was gone.
Viktor was about to move. He was certain that now Ant had seen Carol die, his mate would reach for Able, which was his signal for coming back to the real world. But Ant didn’t. He sat and watched some more. Viktor wasn’t getting a lot. He got the impression that the two men who were still panting from having messed Carol up were now concerned with cleaning her up.
What the fuck?
They used some sort of salve on her wounds, and one of the men had a washcloth cleaning the dirt from her skin, straightening her hair, trying to fix the rip in her dress. The other man retrieved the shoe that had come off and slid it on her foot, before buckling it around her ankles. Then they straightened her limbs, making sure she looked as respectable as possible, before gathering armloads of dead leaves and grasses and gently placing them over her body.
What the hell?If Viktor hadn’t seen what he had just moments before, he would’ve sworn the two men genuinely cared abouther. None of that made sense to Viktor, but he stayed, his hands still resting on Ant’s shoulders, as the pair of them watched two figures from ten years ago pay their respects to the person they’d just killed. Finally, the men made sure that nothing of theirs was left at the scene before they left in the vehicle. Their lights disappeared down the trail, leaving Carol’s body in darkness.
Ant reached for Able, who was there waiting, getting a pat for the fact that he was being so attentive.
“Would you help me up?” Ant asked. His voice sounded croaky, and Viktor could feel through their bond that he was genuinely upset about what he’d seen. Understandable, but still unusual, because surely Ant had seen so many people killed before. It was kind of his job.
“I don’t understand that one at all,” Ant said quietly as Viktor helped him to his feet and pulled him into his arms, edging them away from where Ant had been on his knees. “These people must have known her. Did you see that? Did you see the way they treated her after she was dead?”
“I’ve got to admit, that’s another thing I haven’t seen before,” Viktor admitted. “It’s been a day for that, but I missed the first part. How did they end up there in the first place? Had she agreed to go with them, do you think? Was she there willingly?”
