Circle of Death (Damask Circle 2)

Camille raised an eyebrow. “So you can remember that now?”

She nodded. “Part of it. I have no idea who Marline is. She certainly wasn’t one of the five. There was a Mariel, though.”

“Marline and Mariel are awfully similar names,” Russell commented. “Maybe when you did the reading you just got the spelling wrong.”

“Possible,” Camille muttered. “Quite possible. Anything else?”

Kirby took another sip of tea, considering all the bits and pieces that had floated through the fog in the last day or so. “Mariel was a witch. She could make dead things come to life.”

“What?”

She nodded. “Both Helen and I saw her do it on several occasions. She used to kill bugs, then bring them back to life.” And make the dead things chase them. She shuddered, remembering again the horror of it all. But in many respects, if it weren’t for those bugs, neither she nor Helen would have discovered the full potential of their abilities. “It wasn’t a trick, either.”

Camille and Russell shared a glance. “At least that explains the zombies,” Russell said.

“Yeah, but it’s an ability that usually runs in families and has to be taught. These kids were all orphans.”

“Helen and I figured out how to use our abilities,” she said. “Why couldn’t Mariel?”

“She could have taught herself to raise small things like bugs easily enough. There’s not much skill needed for that. But raising anything larger requires finesse. It can sometimes take half a lifetime to refine the skills needed to raise something as large as a human.”

“I hear a but in all that,” she said, when Camille hesitated.

“That’s because there is a second option. It involves invoking the spirit of the dead and drawing them into your body—making them a part of your world, and you a part of theirs.”

A chill ran through her, and her hands began to shake. She set the tea down and clasped her fingers under the table. It didn’t stop the growing feeling of dread, however. “Felicity Barnes, the girl who died in the quake that hit the night we raised the circle? She was Mariel’s best friend. Mariel swore she’d get her back, no matter what it took or how long it took.”

Camille cursed. “Did you ever see her do it?”

“No. We were all separated for a few months after the quake, shifted to various other homes or into foster care. Helen and I only remained together because we ran away.”

“Damn.” Camille looked at Russell. “Try doing a search for Mariel Thomas and see what you come up with. I’ve got a feeling she and Felicity Barnes might now be one and the same.”

Russell nodded and moved back into the other room. Kirby stared at Camille incredulously. “Meaning Felicity’s spirit might be living in Mariel?”

Camille nodded. “If she’s only recently performed the summoning, it would certainly explain the sudden need for revenge.”

“But …” Her voice faded. She swallowed some tea to ease the dryness in her throat and tried again. “How is something like that possible? Felicity died eighteen years ago! Don’t try to tell me her spirit has been hanging about all that time waiting to be resurrected.”

“It depends. Some spirits move on and get reborn. Some remain on this Earth, compelled to right some wrong. And a very few are swept into a void some might call hell, destined to remain there for eternity unless recalled by the forces of darkness.” Camille hesitated, her blue eyes sympathetic. “Where do you think the legends of demons come from? They are merely twisted souls who have been in that void for a very long time.”

Kirby rubbed her head. She was having a very hard time taking all this in. Witches she could cope with. After all, Helen had been one. Vampires and shapeshifters she could learn to handle. But a void containing dead spirits who became demons was going a little too far beyond comprehension. “I don’t think I can handle all this right now.”

“You might have no choice,” Camille said, her voice still sympathetic and yet holding a hint of steel.

“You have to know what you’re facing in case the rest of us fail.”

She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think about them failing. Didn’t want to think about Doyle dying while trying to protect her. She’d sworn eighteen years ago to never be the cause of another death. If it came down to a choice between his life and hers, there would be no contest.

She sipped her tea, but all it was doing now was agitating her stomach. She put it back on the table half-finished. “Why would anyone in their right mind raise the spirit of a person who’d been dead for eighteen years?”

“She may not have been in her right mind, and if Felicity’s spirit is in her, she sure as hell won’t be now.”

She stared at Camille for a second, a chill chasing down her spine. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s pretty obvious that this woman is not just after the power of the circle. She wants you all to suffer, as Felicity must have suffered when she was crushed all those years ago. All you have to do is look at the way she killed Helen and the way she attempted to kill Trina. And remember, Felicity’s spirit has had eighteen years in hell to plot its revenge.”

“Oh great, so I have two nuts after me rather than one. They’re just neatly packaged together.”