Page 122 of An Oath at Midnight

“I’m being called somewhere. It’s strong, Bram. Something’s happened.”

I let the feeling inside guide me.

It led us to the edge of the city, then into an affluent part of Roxburgh. “Turn right,” I said, and we drove for a little bit more. “Take the next left.” As soon as Bram turned, I knew exactly where we were going. “Pull over here.”

“Fuck,” Bram said beside me when he looked through the window at Chase Golden’s mansion looming ahead of us.

A sick feeling filled me. “I have to go in.”

When we reached the security gate, the ward sent tiny shocks over my skin. It was a strong one, which was not surprising. I wasn’t on the council, so there was only one way I was getting through this ward—I had to prove good intent. If your motives were honest and you had no intention of causing harm, the spell would let me through. It could literally see into your heart and was the impartial judge that would grant you entrance or not. Which was why blood was required. You gave the spell life, and for a short time, its own beating heart.

I pulled my knife from my pocket, and Bram made a growly sound. I looked up at him, surprised.

“You’ve bled enough.”

“I don’t have any other choice,” I said as I sliced an X into my palm.

Bram actually flinched, something he’d never done before, but he said nothing more. I quickly held my palm against the gate. Time was ticking. I felt it. I recited the spell, repeating it over and over, faster and faster.

Pins and needles flowed across my chest and down my arm, then through my hand still pressed against the gate. A surge of power pulsed through me, and I had to plant my feet when it tried to shoved me back. The force of it was so incredibly strong that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold my ground. Usually, someone needed to stand behind you, to hold you in place, but Bram couldn’t help me, and I cried out as I gripped on to the iron bars of the gate with everything I had, fighting not to let it throw me back.

Bram stepped closer. “Magnolia?”

“I’ve got it,” I ground out.

Then finally, the ward dropped and the gate unlocked.

I stumbled back as the power receded and the gate swung open. Quickly righting myself, I ran through, and we rushed up the stairs. I pounded on the door. “Leah? Open up!”

Nothing. Not a sound came from inside.

I banged on the door again, still nothing.

Bram quickly picked the lock, and we burst inside. Biscuit ran around in circles barking, then tore off down a hall. We followed, down a flight of stairs and through the kitchen. The feeling inside me was unbearable now. “Whatever it is, it’s through there,” I said, pointing to the door in front of us.

But I already knew, didn’t I? There was a body behind that door. Ryan was dead, but my task wasn’t over. Someone else was working with him or helping him. Isaac, it had to be.

Leah’s familiar was losing his mind, shaking and barking. I scooped him up and shut him in the kitchen, then watched as Bram turned the handle and pushed the door open.

It was oppressively dark, and he felt around for the light.

It was a garage. I could tell by the smell.

He flicked on the lights.

Oh, goddess.

Leah.

She was naked, propped up against one of the pillars, blood soaking the concrete floor around her. Bram and I rushed over. She was dead. There was no need to check for a pulse. Goddess, both of her legs had been taken.

I touched her cheek. “She’s already cool.”

I tried to remain emotionless as I studied the scene.

It was different than the others, like someone had tried to make it the same but hadn’t quite pulled it off. Her wrists were bound with wire, the wire wrapped around the pillar to hold them up. The stitches through her lips were wider apart than the others, than the ones Ryan had given me, and they’d used different string. This was thicker.

The word “judgment” was carved into her forearm, but again, it looked different than the others.