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Back Rituals
Chapters (65)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  9. CHAPTER FOUR
  10. CHAPTER FIVE
  11. CHAPTER SIX
  12. CAPRICIOUS
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. IN THE CARDS
  20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. LOVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  38. PHONE ISSUES
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY
  40. BONDING
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  47. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  48. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  49. SACRILEGE
  50. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  56. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  57. DEATH BY HELL-BIRD
  58. THE DARKNESS
  59. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  60. FINALLY
  61. THE PACT
  62. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  63. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  64. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  65. About the Author

“Yes, we need to know that,” Gabriel said. “We also need to know what the sluagh meant when they said Olivia was theirs. The implication is that there is a mark. I looked for it on Olivia and—” He stopped short. “That is to say, I looked as best I could, on her arms and such, and I did not see it.”

“Do you know what it looks like?” Ricky asked Veronica.

“I do.”

“Can you check Liv?”

“Of course.”

—

“You aren’t marked,” Veronica said as she finished her examination in my bedroom and I began redressing. “If I sound less relieved about that than you’d expect, it’s only because the sluagh wouldn’t dare take a Matilda.”

“So they’re bluffing?”

“No,” Gabriel said from outside the closed door. “They simply don’t mean it in that way.”

“You can stop hovering and come in, Gabriel,” Veronica called. “She’s dressed. Though even if she wasn’t, I don’t think it’s anything you haven’t already seen.”

I looked over at her sharply. She chuckled. “It’s rather hard to miss the signs.”

“Great,” I muttered.

“The other elders aren’t as astute at reading those signs. You can buy yourself some time yet. I won’t spoil it.” She turned to Gabriel as he walked in. “Yes, you’re correct. If they said they have some hold over Liv, it means something other than the obvious.”

“I’d say that’s a relief,” I said. “But I suspect whatever they do mean, I’m not going to like it a whole lot more.”

“We will resolve this,” Veronica said. “We owe you that.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The elders were letting us leave town, on the understanding we’d return at night. The next step was to speak to Ioan about the sluagh. I now suspected the local Cŵn Annwn had more dealings with them than Ioan was letting on. And I suspected one of those “dealings” might be a bargain made twenty-three years ago, to see human killers punished and a broken Matilda healed.

Ricky was about to make that call when Gabriel got one from the state police contact I’d set on Greg Kirkman’s trail. While Gabriel talked and jotted down dates and names, I typed them into a search engine.

“Greg Kirkman was being investigated for murder,” I said when he hung up. “Multiple murders.”

Ricky skimmed the articles on my screen. “He was a serial killer.”

Gabriel cleared his throat.