Hell's Bell (Lizzie Grace 2)

“But you don’t think it is?”

“Who knows? It’s not like we’ve found a whole lot information on soul eaters.”

“I’m sure it’ll be in Gran’s books somewhere—we just need to find the right one.”

That we did. “Anyway, forget me and my pessimism, and go get some sleep. One of us needs to be reasonably intelligent tomorrow during service.”

“I’m not sure why that task always falls to me.” Her amusement faded. “If those vibes do turn into something, you’ll call me, won’t you?”

I gave her the look—the one that said “don’t be daft.” She scowled in response and added, “You can’t handle that thing alone.”

“I know that, and I have no intention of doing so. But I also know it’s going take both of us at full strength to deal with this thing—and right now, you’re not.”

“That doesn’t answer the point of you rushing off alone if the eater appears tonight.”

“I won’t be—”

“Aiden hardly counts given bullets don’t harm spirits.”

I hesitated. “What about a compromise, then? I’ll head downstairs now and pin a containment spell to your silver knife, so that it’s ready if the vibes do become reality. If I can trap this spirit in whatever body it’s using, then I’ll call you in so we can jointly figure out a way to banish it.”

“Deal,” she said immediately. “But in all honesty, let’s hope it doesn’t get to that. Let’s hope the goddamn council get their act together and calls in a proper witch to deal with the thing.”

“Amen to that,” I muttered, then gave her a quick hug. “Go. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Replete with satisfaction, hopefully.”

“Amen to that, too.”

She laughed and disappeared into her bedroom. I grabbed my coffee and headed downstairs to make good on my promise. It took nearly an hour to create and place the spell on Belle’s knife, and I had no idea if it would actually work. In theory, it should. In theory, the spell would activate the moment the knife was lodged in flesh, and thereby trap the dark spirit. Trouble was, I’d never actually done anything like this before.

Hell, the only reason I even knew about the spell’s existence was thanks to the abuse—to put it mildly—that my parents had flung my way over not trying a very similar spell in the tumultuous nights that had followed my failed attempt to save my sister’s life. Never mind the fact that, as a sixteen-year-old, I’d only just started learning about the higher-level spells such as sorcerer immobilizations and dark spirit containment, and certainly hadn’t gotten as far as practicing them yet.

I’d made damn sure I’d learned about them afterwards, of course; it might have been altogether too late to save Catherine’s life, but I wasn’t about to risk the life of the only other person who’d meant anything to me—Belle. Especially since we had no idea—either then or now—if the dark sorcerer who’d killed Cat was actually dead. Given the amount of blood and the lack of a body, it had been presumed that the dark spirits he’d used had literally come to claim their pound of flesh, but no one could say with absolute certainty that he’d died.

In the darkest of my dreams, I saw him coming for me. But whether that was simply the lingering fear of the teenager I’d been, or a premonition of a future event, I couldn’t really say.

I frowned and placed the knife securely into a backpack, then gathered a few other potions and magical items, including two of the strongest charms we had on hand. They were both made of tawny agate, which was the strongest of the protective agates. We’d magically enhanced its natural ability to drive away spirits, protect from psychic attack, and stop most minor magics, and had then encased them in a cage made of two old iron nails, which also had protective qualities. We’d created them a few days after the vampire’s death, even as we’d vaguely hoped they wouldn’t be necessary. But with a large wellspring still unprotected, that was always going to be unlikely.

With everything done, I walked back upstairs to replace my half-drunk and very cold coffee, and then headed over to the sofa to pick up the book I’d been reading earlier. Ten pages in, I found the first true mention of soul eaters—and a handwritten note on the side of the page indicating what book to grab to uncover more. According to the text, there were several German legends about the Nachzehrer, a soul-consuming monster who rose from the grave to devour his or her own kin. It was also believed that anyone hearing the ringing a church bell at midnight would be subsequently doomed to die under the Nachzehrer’s hand.

Not something I really wanted to know.

But it wasn’t like the rest of it exactly applied to our situation, given none of our victims were in any way related—unless, of course, “related” also meant lovers and friends. Still, it was a start, and maybe once I read the book the note mentioned, we’d find out more.

I kept reading, but there was nothing else about soul eaters. It was just a whole lot of random information about other evil spirit types I could only hope never found their way here. I bookmarked the page so I c

ould find the reference once Belle was awake, and then rose to grab another coffee.

And that’s when I heard it—the church bell, ringing three times before falling into a silence filled with evil and death.

Which, if the last time was anything to go by, meant the soul eater was not only out there in the darkness, but about to take another life.

If I wanted to stop it, I needed to be fast. As I rattled down the old wooden steps and headed for the reading room, I dug my phone out of my pocket and called Aiden.

He answered on the second ring. “Impatience. I like it.”

“I really wish that was the reason I’m ringing.” I opened the storage locker and grabbed the pack. “Our soul eater is out hunting.”