Page 30

“Why put a spirit in something like a painting or play if all this is real? I hate to say this because I loathe the damned things, but why not a doll? Lock that shit in an iron box and bury it.”

“I have a theory,” Ariel said. “I’ve read about those kinds of spells and cursed plays and paintings are kind of a hobby of mine. I’ve also heard all about your exploits in Kansas after antique shows go wrong after Rainer gets a few in him.”

I gasped.

“Traitor! We don’t talk about Kansas.”

“Anyway, haunted dolls are trouble because the spirits know they are dead and they are bored. If you stick a spirit in a play or book, they can live out the plot without realizing it for ages. It’s when they become self aware they are not a character in a painting or plot that they become a problem.”

“Venatio Daemonum has looked into a few cursed paintings. Most of it was attributed to hysteria and urban legends,” Solomon said.

“Oh, it’s very real. Sometimes, a witch put them there, sometimes the spirit figured out how to haunt it, and sometimes, the artist was painting or writing something so traumatic, it manifests in the work like a totem.”

“But none of us are there yet,” I said. “We can’t go down a rabbit hole of cursed plays and paintings yet. We basically haven’t finished our peas yet. We need to get that diary translated and find out if what happened to Agnes was the reason Venatio Daemonum got started.”

“Do you realize what you did, Logan?” Solomon asked.

“You’ll have to be specific because I fuck up a lot.”

“Caleb is strong, but he’s also cunning. There’s a reason the bishop and William don’t like him. It’s why Henry was denied when he petitioned the Pope to retire him after he was hexed. He’s been holding back because of the hex and thanks to all of you and Pan, he’s officially off the bench.

“We all have our strengths. Saul is massive, but everyone loves him and tells him anything. I probably couldn’t tell you how many languages I speak and I’ve started new translations of our Esoteric Texts because I know personal prejudices and rewrites could have ended up in the ones we have now. Caleb? He’s physically strong, hyperintelligent, and he also speaks several languages.”

He was also willing to listen when presented with the facts. These three priests were completely different from my original assessment. Our different organizations had been feuding over how to handle supernaturals long before I was ever born.

As far as I knew, any time someone from the Flame attempted to talk to them, there was a lot of talk about Satan. I’d even read a lore book from ages ago that theorized the reason their witch hunts usually didn’t kill actual witches was because they’d riled up the peasants to turn on their neighbors as a cover to wipe out the Flame.

I hadn’t read anything where there was a meeting of the minds like we were having and everyone agreed to hear each other out and work together. I wasn’t under any grand assumption they could change anyone else’s mind, but I thought it was a good sign a few of them were at least willing to hear me out.

I didn’t know what would happen if we all lived through this, but I knew I’d miss them when this job was over.

Inever had a babysitting job, and I’d never had a job that involved asking people if they wanted fries with that. Rainer told me the truth about the world and what he did for a living as soon as he took me in. What else was he going to do? Lie about why I came out of the floorboards to dead people and wolves and a black dog who could shapeshift? I was seven, not stupid.

My high school job was helping Rainer find work and managing the ghost hunting jobs that paid the bills. He paid me and everything. I took care of Rainer when he hurt his back on a job. He told me I was annoying as fuck and to stop as soon as he could manage on his own, but it was less that I was annoying and more that he hated not being able to go on jobs with me anymore.

Rainer’s safe house had four bedrooms. Caleb was in my room, Solomon and Saul were sharing the room with twin beds, Rainer was sleeping in his room, and I was in a guest room. Except I wasn’t. I’d only been responsible for a human being once in my life, but I parked my butt on the chair in the room I usually used to watch over Caleb.

Don’t ask me what I was doing. Ariel and Sasha took turns watching me when I was too young to go on jobs. I’d seen them do magic and knew that they knew their shit. Delilah told me herself Pan could cure any hex just in case a job went wrong. Pan could handle it if the curse wasn’t totally gone, but Sasha and Ariel said it was. I literally watched his curse mark burn off his body.

I guess I was just worried. Pan lifted his head, but was still snuggled into Caleb’s side.

“He’s fine, but his body temperature is really low. I can only heat him up so much without hurting him. You should get in bed with him and help keep him warm.”

“Pan, he can’t consent to that.”

“He’s shivering, Logan. You can’t see it in the dark over there. I don’t think he’ll mind because it’s not sexual. He might not even wake up before you do. Caleb needs your help.”

“Are you mad at me, Pan?” I whispered.

Because it felt like he was pulling away. I knew he might eventually want to leave me and go back to Hell, but I wasn’t exactly prepared for it now that I felt like it was happening.

“Logan, no. I’m trying to keep you safe. I’m not leaving you.”

“Promise?”

Before Pan could answer, Caleb let out a little whimper and I could actually see him shivering in the moonlight. Ah, fuck it. He was going to have to deal with it. I didn’t know what was happening to him. Ariel and Sasha even said they hadn’t treated a hex that was as far gone as Caleb’s was. He might actually need me.

I crawled into bed with him. How did I do this? He needed body contact, but I wasn’t just going to drape myself across his chest. I tried rolling on my side and pressing my back against him. Shit, this was awkward. Maybe if I just scooched….