Ink & Dagger (Sins of Eden #1)

28. Chapter XXVIII

Chapter XXVIII

Emily

T hankfully everything on the inside looked almost as good as new. I would definitely need to thank Jax and his brother for fixing the walls and cleaning up the mess, but now that I was here I felt uneasy and longed for my Demon’s presence.

It was as if a gaping chasm had opened up inside my chest the moment he left and I was missing my other half. I hated it. Looking around my tattoo room, I found a letter addressed to me resting on my keyboard.

Sweet Witch,

I know what happened.

I saw everything.

That bastard is fucking dead when I get my claws on him.

Call me when you get home.

I need to see you.

Yours,

Jax Xx

Be still my black beating heart. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. My big, scary Demon meant it. Folding the page up, I stuck it into my tarot reading journal for safekeeping before walking to the back of my shop where I kept my altar. I’d never brought anyone other than Ghost back there, but he was the exception to the rule.

Being a grey Witch was about balance and neutrality. We lived without illusions or masks and could see the world for what it was; neither good nor evil. Grey Witches were known to work within the polarities of both dark and light and while I wouldn’t say that my magic was inherently bad, I felt myself drawn to the darkness in a way that excited me.

I lit a candle at the altar to honor the Triple Moon Goddess and wandered around the room as I pulled out things that I’d need to locate Killian. I had no way of knowing whether it would actually work, but after restlessly tossing and turning in my bed for what felt like hours last night, I went up to my attic and hunted down my mother’s grimoire.

While the magic wouldn’t be as strong without Jaxon’s blood to connect me to his brother, I still wanted to try to give my mother’s spell a go. I’d tweaked it slightly though, instead of the water showing me the location in its reflection, I’d planned to use it as my tether while I searched the in-between.

Placing four enchanted white-wick candles for protection on the floor in the shape of a pentagram, I lit them each with a match and placed a goblet of water down in front of me. Finding a missing object would be much easier, but a missing person?

Fuck, I really should have brought Ghost with me for this, I thought, slicing a shallow cut into my hand and squeezing tightly.

He would feel the moment when my soul left my body. I’m sure he would tell me that it was dumb of me to not have him with me for this trip into the in-between. Fuck, there’d probably be Hell to pay once I got back, but something was telling me that Charlie needed him more tonight.

My mother’s spell was never meant to be used in the in-between, but since I was looking for a lost soul, it made the most sense. Astral Projection of this magnitude wasn’t something any Witch should do alone. Shit, most didn’t even do it unless they had a coven to guide them and pull them back, but I’d been doing it in my sleep since I’d come into my powers. Not on purpose of course, but sometimes it was like my soul was searching for something and would be drawn to the in-between on its own.

I could still vividly recall my first trip there the day after I’d bonded to Ghost. I had no idea where I was or even how I’d ended up in a different realm. Everything was the same, but different. I only realized that I wasn’t in my own body the next day when I’d attempted to eat breakfast and my hand went through everything I’d touched. I thought I’d fucking died for real. It felt like days before I came back to my own body by sheer determination and Ghost’s guidance. Now, I could enter and leave at will.

Hopefully tonight, I’d be in and out in under an hour and no one would be the wiser, besides Ghost. Hazy memories from a dream I’d had of my mother while I was in the hospital lingered at the edges of my mind, but I shook them away.

Dripping a few drops of blood into the goblet, I swirled the water with my finger and began chanting. Closing my eyes, I opened up the connection, softly repeating the spell that I’d adjusted to fit my request, and slowing down my heart rate until I felt my soul lifting from my body.

“North, South, East, and West,

I ask you now, this request,

Let the water lead me to what’s sought,

And show me the location

Of the one who’s lost.”

Just like always, a chorus of cries and mumbling voices met my ears as I carefully avoided the lost souls haunting this plane. I felt bad for them. Condemned to wander aimlessly while they searched for closure. It seemed like a horrendous way to spend one’s days. The in-between was a pit stop for mortals and Supes who died without finishing their life’s purpose.

The Spirits here typically ended up doomed to roam this plane until they passed on completely. For some, that could take eons, but if I lingered, I could easily become one myself. The living weren’t meant to roam the in-between and without Ghost to act as my anchor this time, I was taking a huge risk. Going in alone was dangerous as fuck, but all of the answers I needed were here.

I could feel it.

My chest rose and fell the closer I got to Asheville. I didn’t need to breathe in this realm, but my heart raced all the same as I floated closer to the warehouses.

Something or someone was calling to me.