"You know about Isolis?" Drackus asks, his eyes narrowing at my dark user.
Shit.
"Yeah, he's a bad guy in my old town. I learned a lot there. "
Gage lets out a trapped breath. My dad would flip the hell out if he knew I played bait in Gage's trap that went terribly wrong.
"Isolis didn't use a ritual like this," Gage says quickly, moving on with the facts. "This is something to evoke a spirit. The blood is a gift offering. The thing is none of our kind is stupid enough to call forth a spirit. You have to offer them your body as a host to seek their help. Rarely ever do they turn loose of your body after they're in control. To be eternally lost inside your own mind is a grave risk."
"You lose your mind?" I ask, sounding distracted as I quietly mourn my friend.
"Not at first. It starts slow. You lose control little by little on a daily basis until the possession drives your mind into hiding. Eventually, you're in the backseat of your own body, watching as someone owns you."
I shiver at the creepy thought, and decide then and there I need some tattoos like Gage has.
"If we're going against spirits, then-"
"I'll get you one as soon as we leave," he murmurs softly, apparently thinking the same thing.
"Get her one what?" Drackus asks, his eyes narrowing again.
"Protection from possession. She'll need it."
Before Drackus can interrogate further, Kane pipes in. "I suppose we all will need such a thing because I'm finding out who's so desperate to frame me."
My eyes are drawn to the bed as they all stand around discussing various other anomalies around the room, or which spirit they might be getting summoned. I've found something that makes me so confused I can't possibly begin to fathom what's going on.
I bend down, finding out I'm right about what I thought I saw.
"Alyssa?" Gage says while kneeling beside me. "You shouldn't be so close to-"
His voice trails off as he looks away, not wanting to finish that sentence. Tears keep slipping out at random, but I manage to hold it together.
"Look."
His eyes fall on the symbol that had barely been peeking out, hidden under the bed, and he slides the bed to the side, using his magic, so we can all gauge it better.
"A pentagram? So it is a witch?" Zee asks, showing how new he really is.
"Don't be foolish. Neither witches nor warlocks use such things. That's just old rumors and myths," Drackus says distastefully.
"Actually, Zee's right," Dray says while walking over to examine the symbol that had been drawn by hand and then stained in blood - Thad's blood.
"We don't use pentagrams," I grumble in frustration, agreeing with Drackus. "It can't be one of us."
"You're right," Dray says, completely contradicting himself.
"Huh?" I finally ask, since no one else will.
He studies it closely, and then he looks up to meet my eyes. "Immortal witches and warlocks don't use such things, but mortal ones do. They view this symbol as one of power. Magic is a tricky thing. We've known of mortals collecting power before. This one views this symbol as powerful; therefore it is because he or she has harnessed our magic."
"Preposterous," Drackus rebuffs. "Thad was the strongest changer I've ever known. He couldn't have been brought down by a human playing with power beyond their control. Any human that has ever touched magic never had enough to do anything like this."
While they argue, I stand up and walk over to Thad. He looks too terrible, and I can't stand to see it anymore. With a wave of my hand, the blood disappears from his body, leaving his blond hair soft and clean. The clothes lose their stains of death, leaving his wounds the only visible proof of his morbid death.
Gage joins me on the bed that I've also cleaned with my touch, and he stares at the man who never deserved a death like this.
"We'll find whoever did this, Alyssa."