It had been a long night. Despite how his body yearned for more rest, Lucien woke at dawn and made his way down into his father’s study. He locked the door behind him, admiring the hundreds of thick spines that circled their mini library. If Castor was reading up on spells and black magic in his family’s grimoire, then he ought to do the same.
Lucien maneuvered around the alphabetically positioned novels before finding what he desired. Of course, his father had to place the damned thing on the top corner of the shelf. With the flick of his wand, he used his magic to levee the crimson, thick-spined novel down into his hands.
He made himself comfortable at his father’s mahogany wooden desk, flipping through the pages as he skimmed over the text. There was no time to read the whole book. However, it provided intriguing knowledge about vampires, werewolves, and a myriad of other supernatural creatures. Skinwalkers. Ghouls. Spirits.
According to the book, their family had some notorious vampire hunters. There were many spells on how to weaken the vampires undead bodies, manipulate them with their own blood, and even how to torture them to death. Just reading the paragraphs on how to let a vampire feed off you, then manipulate it to your will to do whatever you desired made him uncomfortable. It broke one of the many laws of magic. Forcing someone to do something against their will with magic.
The book claimed that law had a loophole, as it specifically stated they couldn’t harm anyone living. They considered vampires as undead monsters, so it was deemed legal. Was that still the case? Could wizards still do that to them?
If he’d let Sebastian drink his blood last night, would he have been able to control him like a mere puppet? That sort of power could be abused in the wrong hands. Just imagining it made Lucien ill. Nothing indicated any of the vampires had been brainwashed into following anyone’s orders, so he doubted their killer even obtained such knowledge, but he’d keep it in consideration.
Reading more into supernatural creatures, Lucien found himself digging deeper into the abilities a skinwalker possessed. It could steal the host’s body, controlling both mind and soul before it grew tired of the human shell and shed its skin off like a snake. Gruesome diagrams showed him how horrific they left their host when they were done. It peeled the skin from a person, leaving them as nothing but dead, bloody flesh. Lucien shivered.
Normally, they possessed wizards who had lost their way in the dark arts or were easily manipulated. Most wizards knew how to prevent letting evil creep into their minds, but rebellious teenagers were their greatest targets. Especially those from prominent wizard families.
Could their killer be one of them? Someone jumping from skin to skin? They could possess magical abilities if they hijacked the body and soul of another wizard.
What if it was a possessed wizard behind his sister’s killing? Maybe someone completely innocent who’d allowed a skinwalker or some kind of demon inside? Lucien continued reading until the afternoon hours, finally taking a break when the words jumbled together on the pages. He removed his glasses and rubbed his temples before sliding them back on with a frustrated groan. Anything could’ve killed Charlotte.
Lucien stepped out of his father’s office after locking their grimoire up, finding himself right in front of Charlotte’s bedroom door. Curiosity urged him to peek inside. Sunlight pooled across her purple walls and unmade bed. His parents were still working with the Supernatural Council, so he took it as an invitation to snoop around.
Crouching down, Lucien checked underneath her bed. He had to wriggle his body closer to the bedframe to reach the spine of a notebook, frowning at the doodles of kittens and hearts on it. The first page contained old school notes. Why’d she keep something so trivial?
As Lucien flipped through the pages of random scribbles and old notes, he realized what he was staring at. No wonder the police detectives overlooked the notebook. Charlotte used magic to conceal its true contents. It was a common spell they’d used in school to pass notes amongst each other. Lucien and Castor used to do it all the time.
With the wave of his wand, he whispered, “Reveal your darkest secrets.”
Ink transpired onto the blank pages of her notebook along with some uncanny diagrams of vampires. She really was investigating the vampire murders. Sketches of their burned bodies appeared in her notes, charting every little detail pertaining to how they died.
Black magic residue was found in an alleyway at one of the crime scenes. Sebastian hadn’t mentioned that, but maybe he didn’t know. Charlotte detected three types of death curses performed on the poor bastard and someone covered it up by burning the body beyond recognition. Charlotte deduced it was the killer’s first victim, as it was the sloppiest of them all so far. The others hadn’t left any traces of black magic that she could find. She noted how it was possible the killer figured out how to clean up the residue left behind, but as far as Lucien knew that was impossible.
“What the hell did you get yourself into?” Lucien muttered to himself.
Lucien continued reading through her notebook, hoping somewhere amid her notes she’d written down suspects. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. What if someone silenced Charlotte because she knew too much? How did she even get involved in a case like that?
Too many questions and not enough answers spiraled through his head. Charlotte kept her investigation a secret for some reason. An uncanny thought occurred to him, but he couldn’t see either of their parents letting her look into such a dangerous case without any help. The Supernatural Council wouldn’t have tasked her with such a mission, would they?
Maybe he could show Mom the notebook. She’d understand how Charlotte was only trying to help those in need, even if it might’ve cost her life.
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