Denai Touch: Excalibar Investigations Series (3 page)

Cate shook her head. “Phelps would see that coming a mile off,” she replied. “No. Ian, I want you to go over the bodies of the most recent victims, see if you can find out what killed them and what the drug is made of. Steve, dig up everything you can find on Pandora. Jade, work with Steve. Jason and I are going to interview the prisoners. Catch you later.”

Cate and Jason started interviewing the prisoners; the first two didn’t know anything useful, so they moved on to the third. This one was a blonde haired, blue-eyed witch named Cerys Griffin.

Cate didn’t need her tele-empathic abilities to feel the waves of fear rolling off this woman. She scanned Cerys with her senses; mid-level witch with some clairvoyant ability, nothing special, just average.

As Cate moved to sit on the opposite side of the table, the waves of fear became stronger. Cerys’s eyes widened when she saw Cate’s amulet and she let out a small squeak of alarm.
Oh goddess, she’s going to kill me,
thought Cerys.
I’m going to die! Goddess, forgive me. I should have known this would happen – I’m bad! Bad, bad, bad!

Cate’s head started pounding as she tried to strengthen her mental shields to block out the overwhelming thoughts and feelings bombarding her.
Argh!
she thought and put a hand to her forehead. It wasn’t usually this hard to block people out, thanks to years of training. What was going on with her powers all of a sudden?

Jason put a hand on her shoulder and everything suddenly became blissfully silent. She looked up and gave him a grateful smile. Funny how he always seemed to know when there was something wrong, when she needed him. She often wondered how she’d ever managed without him.

“It’s alright, Cerys. We’re not here to hurt you, we just came to ask you a few questions.” She pulled out the rickety metal chair and sat down.

“You’re – you’re the…”

“The Second, yes. I’m Cate and this is my partner Jason Talbot. We need to ask you about your coven.”

“I didn’t – we didn’t hurt anyone – I mean…”

“You were trying to summon dead souls to harness their magic to add to your power,” Jason gave Cerys a hard look. “You know that kind of sorcery is outlawed and carries either a term of imprisonment or a magical binding. Then there’s the charge of assaulting three Denai witches, two of which are kin to the Grand Mistress. That carries the sentence of being stripped of your powers and possibly your memories, being sent to live in the human world, or possibly death.”

Wow, someone was definitely playing bad cop today, something Cate usually enjoyed doing herself, but she didn’t think intimidation was the best approach this time.

Cerys started trembling. “Look, calm down,” Cate’s eyes flashed silver as she used a slight compulsion. “You seem like a good person who fell in with a bad crowd or maybe you just didn’t realise what you were getting yourself into, but we need to know everything you can tell us about Bethany Turner.”

Jason reluctantly let go of her shoulder while she kept her gaze on the other witch. They waited and she could feel the witch’s brain buzzing with thoughts.

“How did you meet Bethany Turner?” Jason prompted. “Your High Priestess?”

Hell, she was usually the impatient one, but he seemed restless since his trip away. She made a mental note to ask him about it later.

“She said her name was Beth Matthews. We’d been looking for an experienced High Priestess for months – they’re not easy to come by. Most want more powerful and experienced witches,” Cerys said. “We were getting desperate, so I put an advert in the window of my shop, ‘True Magic’. I know that sounds stupid, but my boyfriend Dec was in the Guard and he got rid of all the tricksters. Oh goddess, Declan! He’ll be so worried about me!”

“Keep going. What kind of shop do you have?” asked Cate.

Cerys sniffed, fighting back tears. “I – I make and sell my own spells and potions for a fee. I’m good at making potions and I cast the spells myself or sell the ingredients. I’m not powerful, but I’m good at that.” Cerys briefly met Cate’s gaze, something most people rarely did given that it made the person easier for a Denai to read. “You’re powerful – the legend of the Goddess Marked is well-known in all witch circles.”

“Power doesn’t just come from magic, knowledge is power too or so my coven tells me,” she replied. “When did you meet Bethany?”

“About a month ago. She told us she was a Denai. I was surprised she would even give us the time of day, but she said she wasn’t part of your coven.” Cerys continued, “Beth said she was looking for a coven, saw my advert and was interested. I explained to her there was no real money involved, that we were just a small coven who needed someone to guide us. Beth said she would be thrilled to teach other witches. We were all so excited, I mean she’s a Denai – your kind are immortal and you have so much wisdom when you live for so many centuries.”

Not all of us do,
she thought.

“The first circle was – odd,” Cerys went on.

“Explain,” Jason said.

Cerys paused. “The energy was intense and unlike anything any of us had ever felt before. Beth was powerful and we were in awe of her. But after the circle we all felt drained. She insisted it was normal and that it would take time for us to get used to her energy.”

“You know that Denais can’t survive without feeding off living energy, don’t you?” Cate asked.

Cerys shook her head. “No, the Denai are known to be very secretive.”

“It’s why we work so closely with Elementals, like my partner here.” She gave Jason a quick smile. “Bethany used your coven’s energy to fuel her own abilities.”

“I doubt a few low-level witches’ energies would have done much for her,” Jason commented. “What else did she make you do?”

“She started calling us for more circles, said that it was good practice for…before Beth we met only once a month,” Cerys answered. “It was exhausting. I fell asleep for almost twelve hours.”

“Good practice for what?” Jason prompted.

“That’s the thing, I don’t remember.”

“Weren’t you the least bit suspicious that something was wrong?”

“Beth said it was normal, but the energy within the circle was intoxicating. I’d never felt anything like it.”

“What kind of spells or rituals did you perform at the circles?” Cate prompted.

Cerys shook her head. “That’s the thing, I've forgotten. I mean, I remember being there, but not what we did exactly.”

Cate broke contact with Jason as she leaned across the table staring into Cerys’s blue eyes. “Tell me what you remember.”

Cerys shook her head again. “I can’t – every time I try the more blurry it all seems.”

Think Bethany compelled them to forget?
Jason asked silently.

More than likely.

Cate said, “Cerys, would it be okay if I went into your mind to find out what happened?”

Cerys’s eyes widened. “My mind? Why?”

“Because we think Bethany may have compelled you into doing things against your will,” Jason said, “then made you forget so you wouldn’t question her.”

“But why would Beth do that? She – we trusted her. We
all
trusted her!” Tears filled her eyes.

“That would have made you all easier to compel,” Jason muttered.

“Cerys,” Cate put a hand on the other witch’s shoulder, sending out calming waves of reassurance. “I know you never meant for any of this to happen. You put your faith in the wrong person, someone you thought was your friend. But if you let me enter your mind and see what happened to you, it may help us bring Bethany to justice.”

Cerys stiffened. “Why must you enter my mind? I’m not sure I want to remember the things we did.”

“Because, by seeing through your eyes, I’ll be able to feel as well as see everything that happened. Any detail of your experience could give us a clue as to what Bethany is planning.”

“Will it hurt?”

Cate shook her head. “Not if you let me in willingly and try not to resist.”

“I doubt my resistance would do much good. My magic is nothing compared to yours. Denais can easily go into someone’s mind – like Beth did.”

“Compulsion and tele-empathy are different. Yes, some telepathic Denais can and will go into someone’s mind without permission, but I’d like your consent all the same.”

Cerys reluctantly nodded. “What do I have to do?”

“Just look into my eyes.”

Cerys met her gaze, blue on sapphire blue then Cate’s eyes shone silver, instantly locking the other witch within her power. She felt no resistance, not that it would matter. A weak mental barrier wouldn’t have made much difference.

Cate closed her eyes, seeing swirls of coloured light as her senses passed into Cerys’s mind.
Cerys?
she asked her silently.
Can you hear me?

Yes, my lady. Er - Cate. How odd, I’ve never experienced telepathic communication before,
Cerys’s voice sounded slower due to the compulsion.

Okay, I want you to think back to the last night you attended a circle led by Bethany. When was it?

She paused and Cate could feel her mulling it over.
It was three days before our circle last night. She’d been preparing for it.

Good, go back to Sunday night. What do you remember? Picture it in your mind.

Cate felt a sharp jolt; blinking she found herself standing outside in the cool night as air brushed across her face.

Candlelight flickered in a large spell circle as the coven members all stood around, waiting patiently. She glanced around, seeing Cerys standing there, looking just as dazed as the other witches. Instead of seeing through Cerys’s eyes, she’d ended up in the memory itself.

Odd. This had never happened before. Usually she was on the outside looking in, or sometimes she witnessed events through the eyes of the person she telepathically connected to. She didn’t end up being part of the vision in any way.

Cate looked down at her hand, seeing the birthmark on her right palm. The Goddess Mark, in the shape of a blue, seven pointed star; it often glowed or sparkled when she used her powers.

She raised her head and saw a woman with dark, red hair and brown eyes. She wore a long, dark red, almost black silk, sheer and low-cut robe, unlike the other witches who wore loose-fitting, practical cotton robes in earthy colours.

Clearly, it was Bethany and she’d done nothing to disguise her appearance. She was doing something within the centre of the spell circle, placing what looked to be some kind of black crystal there. “Now ladies, I want each of you to take this athame and cut your hand with it. Be sure your blood touches the crystal.”

One by one, each witch blindly and automatically did as they were told without question or hesitation.

Compulsion; a true High Priestess would never do such a thing. This went against all Denai training but then Bethany wasn’t a true Denai.

Why would she make them smear blood on a crystal?
Cate wondered.

The crystal crackled with red sparks as Bethany added a few drops of her own blood to the mix. It pulsed with energy, like a bright beacon in the night.

Bethany muttered a few words Cate couldn’t quite make out, probably a spell or a command of some kind. The crystal blinked before a projected image of a woman with short, red, cropped hair appeared in glowing red light.

Tasha Phelps.

Well, bugger me,
Cate thought.
Fancy seeing you here.

“What do you think you’re doing, Bethany?” Tasha demanded. “How dare you try to speak to her!”

Bethany’s eyes narrowed, but she smiled. “Tasha, how nice to see you again.” Obviously Phelps wasn’t the one Bethany had planned to contact. “I need to speak to Raven.”

“I’m not in the mood for your grovelling, Turner.”

“But Tasha, I could be of service to you.”

Tasha glanced around. “The Thorn looks even more pathetic than it did the last time we spoke.”

“These aren’t part of the Thorn,” Bethany sneered. “I’m just using these fools for energy. Tasha, we did as you asked when you last came to the city. My coven has started distributing the drug just as you told us to.”

“Only two dead – you call that progress?”

“People are different here in the city. Seline has spies everywhere.”

“Which is exactly why I want more victims to test the drug on. We need the Denai coven to be distracted. You know how important this plan is.”

Bethany nodded. “I know, but we can do more than passing the drug around. I’m trying to recruit new, powerful members to Thorn. We could add to the Covenant’s collective power.”

“Just do as you’re told, or I won’t bother using you as a lackey again!”

Bethany bowed her head. “Yes, Tasha.”

“Good. Do not disturb me or Raven again. Or suffer the consequences.”

The image blinked out and Cate gasped as her eyes snapped open. She felt something wet roll down her face and reached up to wipe it away, only to find that her nose was bleeding.
Argh, not again!

“What happened?” Jason quickly handed her a hanky.

Cate swiftly covered her nose and fled from the room. Goddess! She couldn’t believe this was happening again. It was the second time this week her body was having an adverse reaction to her powers.