Part 38 (1/2)
”It bugs me that whoever attacked you tried to smother you,” Raye said.
”Me too,” I muttered.
”Mistress June's weapon of choice is the athame of Roland McHugh,” Bobby said. ”I've never known her to use anything else.”
”What's an athame?” I asked.
”Double-edged ritual knife,” Raye answered. ”Used by a fire witch to cut herbs, draw the sacred circle. Roland's is squiggly.” She made the sign of an S in the air. ”He carved his snarling-wolf symbol into the hilt.”
”If an athame is a witch's instrument, why did McHugh have one?”
”Because he could?” Bobby asked. ”The way it was explained to me is that Christians often appropriated pagan holidays and symbols. In that way they blurred the lines between pagan and Christian. People weren't even aware they'd been converted until they were.”
”There's a reason the sabbats fall next to the Christian holidays,” Raye continued. ”Christians put the holidays next to the sabbats.”
”Apparently Jesus wasn't even born on December twenty-fifth.” Bobby seemed a little upset about that.
”You think McHugh s.n.a.t.c.hed the ritual knife of a fire witch then carved his symbol into it?”
”I think McHugh s.n.a.t.c.hed a fire witch,” Bobby said, ”but close enough.”
”And now his chief minion has it?”
”Yes.” Raye lifted a hand to her upper arm and rubbed. ”She stabbed me with the thing.”
Fury washed over me at the thought. ”Does it still hurt?”
She dropped her hand, colored a bit. ”It's only been a week. It'll heal.”
I pressed my fingers where she had. A spark jumped. Her skin s.h.i.+fted and warmed. She sucked in a sharp breath, and I drew back.
Raye went to the mirror, pulled her s.h.i.+rt down, baring her shoulder to just above her breast, then leaned in. I wasn't sure what she was looking at until she drew a finger over a thin, red line. She spun, threw her arms around my neck, and pulled me in close. ”Thanks.”
”If I'd known you were hurt, I'd have done it right away.”
Although, until yesterday, I hadn't realized I could.
”She has the powers of a fire witch?” Ca.s.sandra asked.
Raye considered me. ”Healing? Check. Destruction of disease and illness? Check and check. What else?”
”The ancients considered a fire witch a djinn,” Ca.s.sandra continued. ”With fire in the veins instead of blood.”
”I bleed.” Though I'd rather not have to prove it.
”Probably not a literal interpretation,” Ca.s.sandra said. ”But you never can tell. A fire spirit also has the power to shape-s.h.i.+ft into animals.”
”I do not!” I protested.
”Maybe not yet,” Raye put in. ”I couldn't levitate until I met you. Heaven knows what we'll be able to do once we find our other sister.”
I didn't mind healing people and animals. But turning from one to the other? Not a fan.
From the way Edward was stroking his rifle and staring at me, he wasn't either. The man was spooky squared.
”Shape-s.h.i.+fting might explain Pru's present form.” Raye's gaze flicked to Henry's corner, and she tilted her head. ”Or not. He says that Pru could call wolves, control them, but she wasn't one of them.”
”At least not then,” I said.
”She's not really one of them now. She can think like a human. She can communicate with you and with Henry. She's different and they know it. Wolves avoid her.”
”Lonely,” I observed. Pru couldn't hang out with the humans. They'd run, screaming, ”Rabies!” And the wolves didn't want her around either.
”Henry says loneliness was a small price to pay to keep their children safe.”
I saw again the pyre flaring to the sky and the empty stake left behind. ”Loneliness wasn't the only cost.”
Silence descended. The FBI agent stood. ”I need to get the ring to Elise.”
”I will take it.” Edward held out his hand, and Franklin placed a plastic evidence bag into it.
”I'm not an expert,” I said, ”but isn't the FBI going to throw a hissy fit if you give evidence to just anyone?”
When the old man's eyes narrowed on me again, I wished I'd kept my mouth shut.
”Edward isn't just anyone,” Franklin answered. ”The Jger-Suchers have been secretly funded by the U.S. government for decades.”
If it was such a secret I had to wonder why he was telling me. I decided not to ask in case the realization that he had might require Edward to kill me, or at the least cut out my tongue. He seemed capable of it.
”Besides,” Franklin continued. ”The Jger-Sucher lab has equipment the FBI isn't even aware of yet.”
”How'd that happen?”
”Ask him.” Franklin pointed at Edward, who was already striding for the door.
”I'll take your word for it.”
”My wife, Elise, is in charge of the lab. She's a virologist by trade, but she's the most brilliant woman I've ever met.”
”She hasn't cured herself yet,” Edward said, and slammed the door behind him.
”What's he so mad about?” I asked.
”Elise is his granddaughter,” Franklin said.
”What's wrong with her?”