In his uneven gait, Blake headed up the hill. “It was the ugliest battle I’ve ever seen. The pure destructive power of demon magic—it was worse than I could’ve imagined.”
We passed the first row of houses.
“We killed two, and the other three were giving ground. We could see they’d gone all demon—nothing human left. The demons were fighting for their survival, and they’re more brutal than any human.”
We passed the second row of houses.
“My teammates were already dead, and I was down. I never made it past this point. The remaining teams went for the fifth one. That demon was the most powerful—his magic seemed endless.”
We passed the last row of houses.
“It took five contractors sacrificing their demons to kill him.” Blake approached the temple ruins, steps slowing. “There was only one demon mage left, and the teams suspected he was hiding among the cultists in the temple.”
The terramage stopped a few yards from the temple.
“The teams approached with caution, and the cultists just stood there. Men, women, some children. Maybe they thought they were safe in the temple. They didn’t even try to run, and then …”
Blake gazed at the destruction before turning toward us, his face like stone. “And then the temple lit up with red light, and a blast of demon magic more powerful than anything we’d witnessed yet obliterated the entire cult.”
Lightheadedness swept through me. “What … what do you mean?”
“The last demon mage killed everyone in the temple, including himself. I don’t know if it was the man or the demon who did it.” He looked from me to Aaron. “We assume the last demon mage was also the cult leader. It’s happened before—the leader killing everyone when a cult is threatened—but we’ll never know for sure why he did it.”
I swallowed against the sickness in the back of my throat. “You found the bodies of all eleven demon mages?”
“Only the ten we killed. The bodies in the temple were …” He shook his head. “The MPD cleanup crew did a body count, though. All cultists were accounted for. Every single one dead.”
“What about the original cultist?” Aaron asked. “The one interrogated in Portland?”
Blake grimaced. “That one is my guild’s fault. They were holding him at headquarters, and supervision wasn’t sufficient. He hanged himself.”
Holy shit. Ezra really was the only survivor of Enright.
“So,” Blake concluded, “there’s nothing to investigate. The cult leader is dead, along with everyone else who was involved.”
“Then why are you here?” Aaron asked bluntly.
Blake folded his arms over his broad chest. “I live on a bordering property, and I have cameras set up everywhere. I saw you drive in.”
“Okay, that explains why you’re here right now.” I cocked an eyebrow. “Doesn’t explain why you’d want to live next door to a former cult where so many people died.”
“I’m here because rogues are lazy idiots.” He waved at the temple ruins, the three summoning circles cleared of snow. “Why build your own summoning circle when you can borrow an even better one? Rogue summoners think this place is abandoned, and my guild makes sure those rumors keep circulating, even this many years later.”
Aaron blinked, then laughed with a note of grudging appreciation. “That’s why no one destroyed it. It’s a honeytrap for rogues.”
“I tag a dozen or more a year. When I get sick of the deal, I’ll destroy the circles before I go. Until then …” He shrugged. “It works for me. I like living out here, and I don’t have to chase down my tags.”
Just when I thought he wasn’t twisted enough to be a Keys member, he admitted to liking it out here? Yeah, he was crazy.
Blake started back down the slope, and Aaron fell into step beside him, the fit pyromage looking a tad scrawny next to the heavyweight terramage. Their quiet conversation trickled back to me as I followed a dozen paces behind, but I wasn’t paying attention. My gaze slid across the destroyed houses as I absorbed Blake’s story.
While the terramage limped into the community hall ruins to get his quarterstaff, Aaron, Justin, and I reconvened at the car. Pointedly ignoring my brother, I leaned close to Aaron.
“The Keys killed ten demon mages,” I whispered, “and claim the eleventh slaughtered the cultist families. But”—I dropped my voice even lower—“we know the eleventh demon mage wasn’t there.”
“Then who killed the cultists? Was it demon magic, or is that a cover story?”
I tapped my chin thoughtfully. “Honestly, I’m inclined to believe Blake—at least in that a demon mage killed everyone. Maybe it was an unaccounted-for one. Could the summoner have created a new demon mage in four weeks?”
My mistrust of the Keys aside, the terramage’s story seemed sound. It didn’t make sense for the Keys to murder unresisting families. I mean, yeah, a Keys of Solomon team had tried to kill me, Aaron, and Kai, but we’d deliberately and obnoxiously put ourselves between them and Ezra. Different situation entirely. Even a shithead like Burke would’ve thought twice about butchering families, right?
But if a cultist had committed the crime, the big question was … why?
Uneven footfalls, accompanied by the thud of a staff hitting the ground with each step, announced Blake’s return. He gave us an assessing once-over.
“You don’t seem to be packing up.”
“Because we aren’t,” I said brusquely. “We didn’t drive all the way out here to turn right around and go home. We’re going to poke around for a bit. You can head on back, though. Tell your team or whatever to head back too.”
“I was bluffing. I never called my team.”
“Oh, well, you can just go, then, can’t you?”
His eyes narrowed stubbornly, and I sighed in annoyance.
Our unwelcome supervisor waited as we opened the hatch. Surprise flicked over his features when Aaron pulled out a pair of shovels and a pickaxe, purchased in one of the towns along the way. With Eterran’s tip about an underground lair, we’d come prepared to excavate the ruins.
I was so excited to dig holes in the half-frozen ground.
“You aren’t planning to exhume bodies, are you?” Blake asked as Aaron handed me the equipment. “Because there aren’t any here.”
“Good.” Turning, I dumped the shovels into Justin’s unprepared arms. “I don’t want to dig up any graves, on purpose or by accident. Since you’re butting in,” I added to my brother, “you can make yourself useful.”
Scowling, he opened his mouth, then glanced at the terramage and said nothing.
With Aaron, Justin, and I carrying the gear between us, we headed back up the slope. Blake trailed after us, slowed by his gimpy leg. At the temple ruins, I rammed my shovel into the hard ground and surveyed the area, trying not to think about all the people who’d died in this very spot—including Ezra’s parents.
“Okay.” I rubbed my cold hands together, wishing I’d thought to grab my gloves from the vehicle. “Aaron, let’s see if we can find the access point. If it survived the damage, that’ll be the easiest way in.”