Page 36 of Resurrection

“He didn’t create it,” Seiran said. “Used it, but didn’t make it. I need to know where he got it from.”

“The house is empty right now. All staff and family are being transported to the Dominion office. I can take you back to look through his area, but we have a lot of ground to cover. We already have investigators ready to question everyone as soon as they arrive.”

Seiran sighed, sounding tired. “Fine.” He glanced at the vampires.

“I’ve got them,” Sam said. “Going to have them walk the grounds. See if we can find any of the missing vampires.”

Gabe followed as Seiran walked with the witch group toward the house. If there had been wards, they were gone now. Not even a residual lingering of energy. Were there witches who didn’t ward their homes?

“Who’s your escort?” Emmaline asked.

“Oh,” Seiran turned Gabe’s way. “This is Gabe Santini. Gabe this is Emmaline Jacques, head of my investigation team here in the USA. I’m glad you were in town.”

“Heard about the golem sighting and made our way back. Figured if it didn’t go to the vampires, it would be something big. You’re sure this thing is made from vampire souls?” She stared at Forest.

“Yes,” Seiran said.

“Seems overkill?”

“Unnecessary for sure,” Seiran agreed. “No idea why they put souls in it at all? A mistake in the spell maybe?”

“Is there a spell for a transfer of souls?” She asked.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Very likely an unskilled witch then? A mistake.” She seemed to pause at that, her tone hitching a little.

“Still a death sentence,” Seiran said softly, as though knowing her question without her saying it.

That seemed extreme if someone had accidentally created the golem, although Gabe supposed it depended on intent. Had they meant to make it? Or awakened to a power they didn’t know how to control? Or had something completely mundane turned dark? Didn’t any of that matter to the Dominion?

They traveled a handful of hallways and out a back door to a courtyard and a pool beyond. The house sitting on a concrete slab felt very cold, and dark. But there were police and what appeared to be agents of the Dominion moving around the space, cataloging things with photos and little numbered tabs.

“Did you find anything?” Seiran asked.

“Evidence of his presence. We’re taking his electronics, searching phone records, getting DNA from the property to see if we can match it up. Treating the whole property like a crime scene so we don’t miss anything.”

The door to the pool house was open. It was furnished grandly, but little more than a wide-open studio space. It stank of sex, which made Gabe wrinkle his nose. Especially knowing how the day had progressed. Did that mean there was another golem this kid was abusing?

“Stinks in here,” Seiran remarked. “Sex, and death?”

Did Gabe smell the death? He breathed deeply, trying to pull out the nuances of the scents, and found it there beneath the overpowering stink of dried spend. “I smell it,” he said.

“Death?” Emmaline asked. “We didn’t find any bodies in here. No blood spatters. We’ve already brought black lights in to search.”

Gabe turned, following the smell, not deeper into the house, but out and around. He was shocked by the level at which he could track it. Not blood, as that was usually easy to find, but death. It was a dark, musty scent of rot. Not even new death.

Golems didn’t have a smell, not normally. Another memory clunking into place. They didn’t usually rot. Which meant they had no reason to smell like anything other than the earth of which they were created.

He got the vague impression that zombies smelled. How he knew that or if he had encountered some actual zombies in his life, eluded him. But he followed the scent in a weaving path through a giant, well-manicured yard around tool sheds, and finally into a wooded area.

Seiran’s senses were wide open to him now, as if he was trying to sense what Gabe was following. Though the connection was still weak. Gabe worked to keep the lines open as everyone followed him.

Gabe paused at one of the locked tool sheds, and even though he needed to keep going, there was something inside. The strong smell of blood.

Seiran reached out with magic and the lock snapped without being touched. The door swung open. Not full of tools at all, but tables, and stains. More like the space that would be used to gut an animal after a kill.

Emmaline was on the phone calling more investigators, and Sam appeared a few seconds later. “I smell blood.”