Demons (Darkness #4)(4)

Jack disappeared beyond the corner of the building. A moment later, Ann did, too.

“Sasha—“ Jonas motioned me near. He stepped into the gaping black of the doorway.

“Oh man,” I whined, tiptoeing closer.

Tim stayed at my back, eyes scanning the street and then the darkened face of the building. Jonas spared him one irritated glance before honing in on me.

“I need you to sense for magic. Something doesn’t feel right, and it certainly doesn’t smell right. It’s too subtle for me to pick up, though.”

“Do I have to go inside?” I whispered. I rubbed my arms as the lifeless building pressed down around me. It felt hollowed, somehow. Gutted and left for dead.

Jonas stared at me for a long, stern-faced beat. “Yes.”

I pushed the air out of my lungs, a swear riding the wave. I could sprint into danger with a grin and a rape whistle, but this slow creeping into the unknown was not high on my list of loves.

Goosebumps spread across my arms as I crossed the threshold, a feeling of disquiet smearing over my skin like lotion. I barely heard Jonas’ voice speaking to Tim as the cold, dank air washed over me. “Your magic will throw things off, mongrel. Stay outside.”

Tim growled out some sort of threat, but I couldn’t focus on that now. Prickles dotted my exposed flesh, foul magic eating through my senses. Jonas had it right: something was definitely off.

I put out my hands in front of me like a blind person feeling their way in. The rush of power, slippery and hard to control, filled my body as I called the elements, combating the polluted power in the room with blissful joy. My foot went lopsided on a discarded board, popping it out from under my shoe, skittering across the floor in a dull collection of tinkles.

The shadows crouched in the corners of the enormous, empty space, watching me. Moonlight filtered in from jagged, broken windows along the outside of the structure, casting an unearthly glow. My breath rang through my ears, unnaturally loud, interrupting the stillness of a tomb.

This was a very bad idea. I could feel it. How did I land myself in this job, again?

Filling my lungs and then holding it, I inched closer to the back of the warehouse. Large beams crossed above me and touched down periodically, keeping the sagging ceiling in place far above my head. A ring of black along the side wall advertised an old firepit for someone down on their luck. I kept my eyes pointed down, wary of needles and other items lazily discarded after a night of partying.

As I got halfway through the open space, a vulgar feeling began to crawl up my skin like tiny insects. The sickly sweet smell of rotting flesh tickled my nose.

“I’ve never felt anything like this before,” I said quietly, passing my hands through the air. “Although, granted, I haven’t had a lot of experience.”

Shapes took form within the shadows toward the back wall the closer I got. On the right, near the corner of the building, lay a pile of grayish sticks, charred and blackened by fire. Scorched fabric was glued to the various elements of the pile.

Three more steps had me halting, sucking in a huge breath.

It was a body! They weren’t sticks, they were bones coated in masticated skin!

Did that moan come from me?

A face, twisted in an endless scream of agony, lay on the backside of his calves. One arm had been ripped out of the socket and lay flat under his back. One leg, cracked at the thigh, lay over the other. He was broken and twisted, as if he’d been made of matchsticks and sporadically snapped and tossed to the ground.

“No human could have done this,” I whispered. “His back was broken in half.”

“A bear could have,” Jonas’ voice echoed around the crouching walls.

“Not without opposable thumbs,” I retorted into the hush.

A few more steps and I could see another fire site, only this time, there was a large black pot overturned against the wall. A round camping stove, smudged with soot, half lay under it.

“This has got to be a few days old, at least…”

“You’re not here to investigate,” Jonas growled. “You’re here to feel for magic. We have an experienced clan that’ll go over this site and give us more conclusive findings.”

“Oh. Well, you could’ve made that more clear before I looked at the body.”

I let my magic drift, sensing for spells and pitfalls within the area. This was something I practiced every day per Toa’s instruction. A large part of my job was sensing other magic and possible dangers. I still had trouble doing this on the fly, but here, in the quiet settings, the building almost feeling as if it was holding its breath, I had nothing else to do but concentrate.

The black glow of my magic, hardly discernable in the gloom of the warehouse, drifted over the overturned pot. Like a match to kerosene, a circular fire lit up, climbing into the sky. Sparkles danced and played in a shimmering orange halo lazily drifting toward the right. Toward the body.

I could not help that squeak. Or holding my breath afterwards.

Still it drifted. Reaching for that death. What would it do when it got there?

I didn’t want to know!

A blast of rotten stench crawled up my nose, prompting a gag. That smell didn’t come from the body; it came from the disgusting magic corroding this area. Magic that was still active. Lingering, waiting. But for what? Whatever spells had been laid, they weren’t used to create rainbows. They were also extensive and intricate. Beyond my training.