33. Damian

Chapter thirty-three

Damian

M y nerves were already on edge when I got to Molly's job, and they said they hadn't seen her in a couple of days.

"Did she call in sick?" I asked, and the woman shook her head but didn't respond verbally. It wasn't like her.

I left and walked toward her apartment just as I got a call from Mr. Harrison telling me I needed to come to Owen's office.

"Is Owen okay?" I asked, and they assured me he was but that I needed to come soon.

Molly first, I thought. If Owen was with the witches, I knew he was safe, and Molly, it was totally out of character for her not to return my phone calls, much less not call into work to let them know she wasn't coming in.

When I got to her apartment, I felt the darkness immediately. It felt inky, like someone had used a brush to wipe it on. I magically surrounded myself with safety wards, almost on autopilot, and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, but I knew there wouldn't be. Molly wasn't there. I knew she wasn't. I pulled my key out, the one I had to her home, and opened the door. I could smell it: swamp water, deep, dirty, and stagnant.

I slipped inside and felt the web of spells surrounding the room. It didn't take much to disarm them. Whoever put them there wasn't trying to do anything, probably because they knew I'd come searching for her.

It would take a lot more work to cleanse the place, but that was a concern for later. I searched for any clues as to where she was. I closed my eyes, pulling power to myself. When my staff automatically appeared in my hand, I knew there was a threat.

"Where is she?" I demanded, and I heard a chuckle. Nasty, antagonistic.

"Give him to us, and we'll trade."

"Give who to you? No, never mind. I will give you one warning and only one— You will return the innocent, or I will destroy you and everything around you."

The laughter grew. "Innocent indeed. I have taken only what has called to me. Bring me the man, bring him to me, and I will let your little darklings live."

I felt the presence disappear, and my heart fell. Darklings? I might not know all the ins and outs of being a wizard, but I did know if someone had played with the dark, I couldn't use light to rescue them. The fact he called Molly a darkling was bad. Really bad.

God, I hoped she hadn't done anything that would keep me from helping her. Who else was with her? I had no idea. The entity had said darklings, so I had to assume more than one soul was at stake.

There wasn't much more I could do, so I closed her door and locked it against the nonmagical world. I couldn't stop the magical ones from coming in and harming her, or hadn't before it was too late, but I could at least keep the thieves at bay.

I quickly cast a spell over the door to do just that and rushed out of the building, requesting a taxi as I went. When my buddy from my days driving pulled up, he laughed at me. "Did you lose your car?" he asked as I climbed in.

"Hey, Ed, I was just over on this side of town. I need to get to my boyfriend's office quickly. Can you go down Third Street?"

Ed gave me a side-eye but nodded. "Sure, no problem," he said and started off. I quickly group texted all our friends, asking everyone to check in and tell me if they'd seen Molly and informing them she hadn't shown up at work for the past two days.

Everyone except Shadow texted back. Well, at least now I knew who was with her, and Shadow was very likely a darkling. The woman was obsessed with the dark arts, as she called them.

She had no power. Even though I wasn't with her, I knew from memory at most she was a torch. She was no witch, no matter how much she wanted to be one. It was very likely that she was a dark source, though, similar to how Owen was a light source.

When I got to the office, I thanked Ed and gave him a hefty tip before rushing inside. "Damian," Cary said, concern all over his face. "I'm glad you're here. We need to begin the ritual now."