Witch's Bell Book One

waited until the creature, whatever it was, was almost on top of her. The creature leaped into the air, aiming directly at her throat. But with a quick duck, Ebony rolled to the side, coming up right beside the creature. Rather than shoot it on the spot, she flicked her gun around in a circle right above its head. Immediately a blue light followed her move, emblazoning a circle of powerful magical symbols both at the foot and above the head of the creature, trapping it in place.
    Ebony, her breath still stuck in her throat, let it out in a gasp. 'What have we got here?' she said through clenched teeth, gun held tightly in her grip. 'Come for a magical feast?'
    The little thing, whatever it was, was obviously not fond of talking, and replied with a violent, primal hiss. Its fat, wide, jaw snapped open. Its lips stretching back to reveal row after row of dented yellow fangs.
    'Well, if you're going to be like that, you can just stay there,' she turned back to the group, barely registering the shock on their faces, before she motioned them on.
    Her heart was now rattling around, shaking in her chest like a prisoner at the bars. That was the thing about operations like this – you never got used to them. Yes, Ebony had worked for the police department now for a couple of years, and yes, her mother was a witch and her father had always been sure to teach her what she needed to know. But no, that was never enough to make it easy. There were so many risks, so many unknowns, and the only thing it seemed possible for her to do, was to keep on her toes, and keep moving.
    Up ahead the path twisted to the side, more gnarled oaks standing sentinel at its edges. This would lead to the flattened top of the hill, Ebony reminded herself, where all the crypts stood. It was perhaps another strange accident of Valian architecture, but it had never escaped Ebony's attention that the cemetery was built as a circle within a circle. The wall that surrounded it was almost perfectly rounded, and within – separating the ordinary headstones from the crypts of the once-wealthy – was another small, circular wall. While the wall was hardly an impediment, and not actually intended to keep people out, it was still a low circle. Which made the whole blasted place a circle within a circle. Ebony ran her teeth over her lip hard enough that it brought prickles of pain to her skin.
    Ebony simply hoped with all her might that whatever loon had chosen to break in to the cemetery, on this terrible stormy evening, hadn't been dumb enough to draw another circle around the crypt. Because that would make a circle within a circle, within a circle – which just so happened to combine two little things magic thrives on – circles and threes.
    Could this day get worse?
    She could now make out the sound of cracking stone filtering in from somewhere between the crypts. The ghost, no doubt, of whatever poor victim the maniac was using to summon Death. Deranged, frustrated, and pulled from its final dreams of life – the ghost would likely be seeking to destroy everything it could. Not because it was evil, Ebony assured herself, but because it was confused. It had died, and now was being called back to protect everything it had ever lived for.
    Playing jokes on the sleeping was one thing, but what was happening here was playing jokes on life itself. Ebony was suddenly reminded of those frustrating movies or books that would end with the character either waking up and realizing everything had been a dream, or dying a pointless, and soulless death. Literally endings that rewrote a once meaningful story into standing for nothing. You thought it all meant something, but in the end, you were wrong.
    An oak that stood just off the path gave a peculiar shudder. as if it was a cold security guard who'd just stood too close to a gutter and received an icy shower down the back of his collar. 'Duck!’ Ebony screamed at once, not waiting to find out what lurked amongst the branches.
    But as she floored herself, flattening her stomach onto the uneven stone path, a hoard of birds erupted from the tree. These were no ordinary birds, Ebony realized with a wince as she caught a glimpse of their glowing hollow eyes.
    With a shudder that threatened to turn her limbs to jelly, Ebony gasped, rolling to the side as the birds dipped low over the group. 'Oh no,' she said to no one in particular.
    There was something off about this whole situation, something rank, something rotten.