“Fuck,” I mutter and bring my shirt up, hoping it’ll do a better job than my hand over my nose. Breathing through my mouth, I go over to a shelf that once held gardening tools. Ruth knew enough to take her personal items so I couldn’t use them to locate her, but she left in enough of a rush to leave most—if not all—of her magical supplies.
“It’s me,” Lucas says, stepping into the shed so I don’t get startled.
“Did you find anything in the woods?” I ask, gagging as I inhale the air.
“Nothing, but it looks like you hit the jackpot…if you can call it that.”
“My eyes are burning.”
Lucas picks up a jar. “This is human blood.” He unscrews the lid and smells it. “It’s Maria’s.” There’s a second jar of blood behind that one full of Carly’s blood.
“Fuck.” I shake my head and increase the size of the magic above us, lighting up the room better. I need to speed up the search and get out of here. My stomach clenches, and I know I have to get some air before I throw up.
“I need air,” I tell Lucas and hurry out, holding my breath until I’m a good twenty feet away from the shed. I double over, trying hard to keep my food in my stomach.
“Are you okay?” Lucas asks, appearing by my side.
“Yeah. It’s just that smell.” I shake my head, gagging again. “I’m not usually that bothered by it.”
“The shed is full of body parts. If I were human, I’d gag, too.” He puts his hand on my back. “I saw a tarp in there. I can cover the bodies. It’ll help a little.”
“No, I should look at see what parts she’s used.” I wrinkle my nose. “It might clue us in on what she’s up to now.”
Lucas looks at the house. “Hang on. I’ll be right back.” He kisses me and speeds into the house, returning a minute later with a torn piece of cloth.
“What is that?” I ask.
“A bit of a take on the old plague masks.”
“The creepy bird things?” I cock an eyebrow.
“They didn’t actually look like they do in pop culture, you know. And the beaks were stuffed with herbs the doctors thought would keep them from catching the disease as well as cover up the smell of their sick patients.” He smooths out the piece of cloth. “I put rosemary in it. I don’t know what you find to be a good scent, but this sounded like a better option than onion powder or garlic.”
I take the folded-over cloth from him and smile. “You’re so thoughtful. And yes, rosemary is a good idea.” I tied it around my face and go back into the shed.
The animals are hacked to pieces, with various bones and organs missing.
“There are no hearts,” Lucas says. “Does that mean anything?”
“Nothing good. Demons often eat hearts, and I don’t know much about necromancy, but I assume you would use vital organs.”
I carefully pick up a jar of herbs and look behind it. There’s not much to go on, and most of this is looking like basic supplies, not cluing us in on much.
“Callie.”
I turn, directing the energy ball to light up whatever Lucas is looking at.
“Oh shit.” I still have Lucas’s phone, and I pull it from my pocket and take a picture of a sigil carved in the wood above the door. “That’s voodoo. I don’t remember what it means, but Evander will probably know.”
“What do you want to do with everything in here?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know,” I say, voice muffled from the makeshift mask on my face. “None of this stuff is that hard to come by or particularly dangerous. The blood is the only thing here from a human?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s take that so Ruth can’t come back and use it against Carly and Maria and leave everything else. If Evander can get council members out here before Ruth comes back and destroys all the evidence, it will help build a second case against her.”
Lucas picks up the jars of blood, and we leave the shed. I lock and seal it back up with magic. I don’t take the mask off my face until we’re by the road.
“Thanks again for this,” I tell Lucas. “It was pretty smart.”
“I am smart,” he says seriously, smiling as he takes my hand. “And so are you for agreeing to marry me.”
“Smartest thing I ever did,” I say with a roll of my eyes. I let out a sigh, looking forward to getting home and showering. The smell of death clings to our clothes. I think we’ll be riding home with the windows cracked.
I call Evander again, just in case, and get his voicemail. Setting my phone down, I pick up the jar of blood from the cupholder.