New Blood

Chapter 8

“Any luck?” Kevin asked as he walked into the security office carrying two cups of coffee.

“None,” Julian sighed as his father placed a cup on the desk beside him. He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest as he said, “It would help if we had any idea what we were looking for or when this started. This is something that could have started months ago, and no one noticed until people with fairy magic stumbled into it.”

“That is why we are going over the surveillance we have set up in the forest, and Westly and Joshua are out doing the fieldwork. If it is magic, especially fairy magic, Josh should be able to feel it and can tell us,” Kevin said as he pulled up a chair to sit beside Julian. “We will try to speed this up. You take the cameras, and I’ll take the thermal sensors.”

“That works for me,” Julian said as he sipped his coffee. “Do you want to have anyone else help with this?”

“Not yet,” Kevin said as he logged into the archive of the thermal imaging. “Let’s see what we can find first. If we don’t find anything or we find something big, we will decide who to bring in on this besides us.”

“Has Everly or Ashton said anything else about this?”

“Not that I know of, and honestly, I don’t want them to go back out there until we figure this out. Don’t take this the wrong way because I love Westly and Joshua, and I don’t want anything to happen to them. But, if someone wanted to harm this clan, they would likely go after Everly and Ashton over them.”

“I agree with you on that. We might want to advise Logan, Gabby, Lia, and Will all to stay close to the home. They would all be targets as well. I doubt Olivia would even consider going out without Tyson, especially if she had Miranda with her,” Julian said, shaking his head as he watched another motion-activated video clip from the area. “Something about all this feels wrong, and I can’t even say why. It just does.”

“I feel the same way. Let’s get to work and see if we can figure this out before West and Josh murder each other,” Kevin snickered.

“Yeah, I wondered about you putting those two on it. They are like oil and water.”

Kevin grinned, “I call it a character-building exercise. If they both come back alive and relatively uninjured, I will consider it a success.”

Julian chuckled, “It is times like these when I question your parenting skills and wonder how all of us kids survived childhood.”

“What do you mean by childhood? They’re adults. They can work it out on their own. If not, I’ll have to apologize to Bethany and help her find a new mate,” Kevin laughed.

“That is horrible! When you start, let me know so I can help you do the background checks on her new suitors,” Julian grinned as he clicked on the next video.

-

“Did your father tell you what we are supposed to be looking for?” Joshua rumbled as he and his brother-in-law, Westly, walked into the dark forest.

“Nothing that you didn’t hear as well,” Westly scowled. “Dad marked a spot on the map and said that we are to follow the trail until we reach that area and document anything weird.”

“Yeah, weird,” Joshua scoffed. “This is Obsidian. Everything that happens here is weird on some level. It was that way long before I arrived. I’m sure it will continue to be that way long after we are gone.”

“I can’t argue with that, but this came from Everly and Ashton. Those two know this forest as well and possibly better than anyone in Obsidian. If they say it was something weird, it was. Everly said she felt like something was watching her, but she couldn’t see, smell, or hear anything out of the ordinary. Ashton felt the same way, and he couldn’t see anything unusual either.”

“So, was it someone, something, or magic that made them feel that way?” Joshua mused as they walked. “What if it was a mix of all three?”

“Good question. That is why Dad sent us out here to try to help figure this out,” Westly said as he pointed toward a large rock ahead of them. “That is where they stopped and had their snack. Let’s start there and work from there.”

The pair continued to the boulder and paused. Westly and Joshua stood silently, waiting. Westley raised his eyebrow at Joshua as he watched him place his hands on the stone and lean heavily on it. Joshua began to shift uncomfortably as he braced himself on the stone. He pulled his hands off and stood up straight, turning to Westly.

“We need to work outward away from this boulder. Look for anything and everything that doesn’t belong. A footprint, a broken twig, anything that indicates that someone was here that did not belong,” Joshua sternly said.

“Since when are you my boss?” Westly smirked.

Joshua frowned as he replied, “I’m not. Something is very wrong with this place, and if I am feeling what I think I am, we have a serious problem.”

“You’re not going to tell me what you think it is?”

“Not until I can confirm it somehow,” Joshua said as he began to scour the ground around them. “I don’t believe it is an immediate threat, but it is something and someone who should not be here.”

“I’ll accept that answer as long as you explain more, even if we don’t find anything,” Westly huffed as he went to work looking for any evidence someone had been there who did not belong.

Westly and Joshua worked their way outward from the stone. As they did, they began to understand what was meant by Everly and Ashton’s explanation. The forest was quieter than it should have been in the area where they worked. The men were feeling physically uncomfortable. They were on high alert as if something was hiding in the shadows, ready to attack them at any moment. Yet, as they searched, they found no evidence of anything being there.

Things finally took a turn when Jonah came to a sudden stop. He recoiled as if he had encountered something revolting. He shined his flashlight around, studying every square inch of the area he was trying to avoid. After several seconds, his light hit something that he knew should not have been there.

“Hey, West! Come look at this!” Joshua called out.

“What is it?” Westly asked as he jogged to him. He skidded to a stop and wrinkled his nose. “What is that?”

“Magic and it is focused around that tree,” Joshua said flatly. “Take a look at the boot prints at the base of the trunk. We need to block off this area and conduct a thorough forensic analysis of the site. We need to find out who was here so we can find out why they were here and what they were doing.”

“Magic? What kind of magic? This isn’t like anything I have felt before.”

“That is because you have always encountered magic that was good and was used for good. This is different. This magic is evil, carried by someone who is also evil.”

“Like…? Black magic?” Westly asked.

“Yes, black magic. It’s from a dark witch. Aggie could probably tell us more than I can about it, but whoever was here should not have been.”

Westly sighed as he pulled out his phone and dialed, “Time to call Dad and give him the bad news. I can’t remember ever hearing of a case where someone with black magic snuck into Obsidian.”

“I doubt it has ever happened, and for the life of me, I can’t think of why someone would do it now,” Joshua said, shaking his head.

-

Kevin picked up his ringing cell phone and answered it. “Tell me you have good news, and nothing is wrong out there.”

“Joshua says it is black magic from a dark witch. There are several bootprints beside a particular tree where it seems to be focused. We need to do a full forensic sweep out here to find out who was here and why,” Westly replied to his father.

Julian could feel his father going on alert, causing his aura to flare. He had been focused on the screen before him and had not bothered to listen to what was being said on the other end of the line. Julian turned to see Kevin stiffen in his chair before he spoke.

Kevin said, “Stay there if it is safe. Jules and I will send the team to you. I have never told you this, but if any stranger approaches you out there, you have permission to do what you need to do to protect yourselves. That includes protecting Jonah if he needs it. Do you understand?”

“I understand. We will be waiting for the team,” Westly said before ending the call.

“What happened?” Julian asked.

“Jonah found black magic from a dark witch. Where it is centered, they found footprints around a tree. We need to get a forensic team out there and find whoever that was,” Kevin said as he chewed on one of his lip rings.

“I send out the team. You call Tyson and the others to let him know,” Julian said as he picked up his phone. He grinned at his father and said, “Now might be a good time to let the wolf pack know. You are going to be lucky if no one takes a bite out of your backside for not telling them from the start.”

“Yeah,” Kevin sighed. “That’s just one of many things I’m worried about at the moment.”