Page 83 of Shadows of the Soul

“Swallow,” he demanded. I gulped down the burning goo and was almost sick. Stephen watched me, then nodded at the man holding my jaw. He released me. The other man grabbed the noose hanging from the tree and brought it toward me. Terror suffused my veins, making my body shake and teeth chatter. I wanted out of this memory so badly, but I clung on because it was the least he deserved—to be seen, for someone to know his story.

He grabbed my bound ankles and looped the noose around them. He signaled to another man with a thumbs up, and my stomach lurched as I was dragged along the floor, then the world tilted, and I was dangling upside down.

Stephen approached me. Moonlight glinted off the machete held in his right hand as he twisted it. A jumble of words spewed from his mouth. Power pressed in on me, squeezing my already frantic lungs.

Stephen smirked. “Feel his pain, Cora.” Then he sliced through the air and my throat stung before blood gurgled and spilled, covering my face before seeping into the ground below. It sought the roots which straddled my property and encroached on my land. My struggles lessened, then stopped. Death had come, but hadn’t released me. It held me in the grip of terror with no end in sight.

I hurtled out of the death memory and was spat out back into my garden. Sebastian caught me as my knees gave out.

Harry hovered over me. “Miss Roberts, I was incorrect—the child’s bones aren’t only located here. I’ve found another three sites.”

My head tipped back, and I groaned. A terrible roar split the air. Oh good, the Terror of Tennessee is here. We were all saved. Then I promptly passed out.

Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight

Game on.

Magic has been around since the dawn of time. Early religion taught us to fear it. However, as we long to have faith in miracles, we also want to believe we have power over that which we can’t control. Time, the future, death, love - people have sought practitioners of magic to bend the natural order to their liking. No one has control over these things, and those who claim otherwise are taking advantage of the desperate and giving the rest of us with power a bad name.

This need for control was how we’d arrived at our current standoff. Me seated on one side of my desk, Hudson, Dave, and Sebastian on the other. Everyone else was busy dealing with my booming guest house.

“There’s got to be another way,” Hudson growled with a frown.

“There’s not,” I answered. We’d been going around in circles for about forty minutes. Having decided my property was overrun with blood magic, and that it was too strong to destroy by simply removing the boy’s bones, I’d concluded that the property needed to be blessed. Stephen Proctor was a nasty piece of work. I wouldn’t be surprised if multiple spells were in play. A blessing would out any and all nefarious magic.

“Can someone else do it?” Hudson asked.

“The property is in my name. It will have the most impact coming from me.”

“So, someone else could do it?” Dave said.

“Technically, yes. Realistically, no.”

There was also the other minor problem, the one where the boy’s bones had been scattered around my property. Harry hovered in the back and wrung his hands together with a frown marring his face. If he was alive, I’d warn him he’d be at risk of wrinkles. I didn’t think it was a concern for the dead.

“What are the risks?” Hudson asked.

I studied him. Tightly coiled muscles, narrowed eyes, ticking jaw—Hudson Abbot was a hairbreadth away from going furry. “The risks are my own. I don’t owe you any explanation. You aren’t here to weigh in on my choices. In fact, I don’t know why you are here at all.”

He opened his mouth to argue. I stood and sliced my hand through the air. “No, you gave up the right to have a say in my decisions and in my life when you chose the pack over me. Save your concern for someone you deem worthy.”

Sebastian shoved his hands in his pockets. “What about your best friend?” he asked. “Do I get a say? Or is it Cora’s way or the highway?”

“This isn’t a democracy. My home needs protecting; it’s also my livelihood.”

Sebastian sighed as he nodded. “So tell us what we can do to help, and how we can minimize the risks.”

I pressed my lips together and gave the trio a hard stare. “We have four people. We can do it via the elements if each of you represents them.”

“We aren’t elementals,” Dave pointed out.

“It doesn’t matter, you still hold a source of magic. I can tap into the power for the blessing. You act as a conduit.”

“Fine,” Hudson muttered.

“I’ve literally gone my whole life without being drawn into one magical spell,” Dave said as he looked at the floor. “Then I become entangled with the Roberts’ women and I’m involved in exorcisms and blessings. I lost someone I love.” Thick silence coated the room before he snapped his head up and pinned me with his gaze. “I’m so angry at you.”

---