Excerpt (from the ARC)

I pulled up to the crime scene, a farm property in the middle of nowhere, and parked my SUV next to a State Trooper’s cruiser.

The one thing I loved about crime scenes is the amount of people who gather around them. We’ll feign terror and true desire to know what happened, but in reality we are curious as to what kind of creature or person would commit such a crime. Human curiosity was disgusting. This scene lacked that. How odd.

A tall man started towards the yellow crime scene. His hair was cropped close to his head giving no hint to the color. His black jacket had his detective shield attached to it.

“Bout’ time you got here Abigail.” He’s blue eyes met my gaze. “I was starting to think you were going to chicken out.”

“Yeah, not an option.” I shrugged and ducked under the crime scene tape. “Where are the gawkers?”

“No idea. Just the lady whose dog found the body. Corpse’s been out here for a couple days at least.”

Great. That meant it was going to smell. “And the markings you want me to take a look at?”

“Are all over the barn walls. That’s all I’m going to tell you.” He started walking towards a barn in the distance. My long legs were great for treading through the tall unkempt weeds that had taken over the area. The uneven ground made it a struggle to keep balanced, but there was no way I’d let myself fall. I already caught enough flack out on the field, being a witch and a woman.

I grumbled as we got to the barn and scrunched up my nose. “Oh God.” The smell churned my stomach and it was times like this I wish that I had a spell or something to mask it.

An officer at the door handed me a facemask and then motioned for me to go in. I walked in and looked around. A tarp covered a lump that I imagined was the body, dried blood coated the packed dirt floor and it looked like whatever it was had exploded. Well, that explained the arm.

I tried to focus as my gaze crawled up the wall. Symbols were scattered over the wall drawn in something black and I could see the faint glowing of whatever magic it held.

I frowned and pulled out my phone taking pictures of them. “They’re still active.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’m trained in magic. I can see the power behind the marks.” I took a few more pictures.

“You can’t take pictures, Abby.”

“I don’t know them on sight, I’m going to have to do some research.” Hopefully the camera could capture the symbols without going haywire. A chill went down my spine and I cursed at the feeling of malevolent magic being activated.

“Get out, get out!” I shoved at Detective Mason and ran out after him. I felt the magic trail after me and I cursed. Grabbing Mason and the uniform at the door, I held on to their wrists and muttered a protection spell under my breath. In my mind I envisioned a purple circle and threw my energy into that vision to make it manifest.

The barn exploded the moment my circle went up. Shrapnel flew around us and the blast was hot enough to feel through the purple haze of my magic. Had I not managed to get my circle up, we’d be crispy humans. Holy shit. When the smoke cleared all that was left was a smoking pile of wood and the smell of burnt flesh in the air. I let the circle down when I felt the magic in the air fade.

“What the hell was that?” Mason snapped spinning me around to face him.“Magic. Strong, terrifying magic.” I took a deep shuttering breath and pulled my own magic back into me.