The Beast Within Read Free Page B

his gut. Images triggered by the scent swirled in his mind. A tugging sensation encircled his gut and pulled him toward the ashen pile. The floor wobbled. He disguised the buckling of his knees with kneeling next to Tony. His partner glanced at him, clearly concerned. Aaron waved it off. Tony nodded and pointed at the ashen substance smeared across the floor.
    “Brimstone,” Tony said. “Fresh.”
    Aaron pulled in his focus. Just the details. Look at the particles, not the bigger picture. The tug in his stomach eased a little. He pulled a flashlight from the kit bag and trained the light on the stain.
    “Not all fresh.” Aaron pointed at a section of the mark. “Here, and here, you can see faint brush marks etched into the surface.”
    “Someone tried to sweep up brimstone?” Tony leaned in closer to inspect. His hair brushed Aaron’s cheek. “Is anyone that stupid?” He turned to look at Aaron as he spoke. His face was only inches away.
    “Not tried. Did.” Aaron pulled his gaze from Tony’s with difficulty. Fortunately the lighting was dim, so Tony likely could not see the burning heat that traveled from Aaron’s groin to rest in his face. “Like I said, those marks are etched into the surface, carved into an older stain. There is some residual powder here that’s fresh, as you pointed out, but not nearly enough to be even the by-product of a hamster opening a portal.”
    “You think something large passed through?” Tony asked. He pulled the bag from Aaron’s shoulder and unzipped it. As he fished around inside he said, “There are lots of nasty visitors that are rodent-sized and smaller.”
    “Yes, but this older residue surface area is much larger.”
    “And most invasions start small—preparation spells and whatnot—and end up big, with the arrival of whatever entity has been summoned.”
    “Exactly.”
    “So why is the fresher mark smaller?”
    “I don’t know. Strengthening the original summoning spell? Reversing it?” Aaron shrugged. “Whatever the intent, I doubt it worked. “
    “Let’s take a sample to the lab and see what we’re looking for today.”
    Aaron scraped a small amount of the powder with a thick steel implement. The sulfurous odor strengthened. The rotten egg stench held softer notes of cinnamon, dragon’s blood and earth. He made a note of the scent. Each mystical being’s power had a distinct smell. The more palatable notes in the powder comprised the signature of the one who cast the spell. It was all but buried in the noxious powder, but his sensitive nose had little trouble filtering out the aromatic fingerprint. If, after using magic, the caster were ever to cross paths with him, he would catch the same scent. He dropped the powdery contents into a mystically charged pouch. Even though he trusted his sense of smell over the lab geeks any day, it wouldn’t hurt to have forensics run a profile on the powder in case they could match the residue to an already documented entity. The end of the scraper began to glow. He sealed the pouch and dropped it into the lead lined kit bag and discarded the scraper a good distance away from the evidence. Red embers consumed the metal and turned it to ash in seconds.
    “Hopefully we’ll get a lead from this.” Tony shifted on his heels, clearly anxious to be up and doing something.
    “We already have one.” Aaron pointed again at the brush marks. “Remember? Someone swept this residue away.”
    “Right…” His partner stopped, clearly at a loss how to tie the information together.
    “So what does that tell you?” Aaron moved his extended finger to indicate the ashen remains of the scraper.
    “Good broom?” Tony ventured.
    “Very good broom. Metal bristles. Durable. Probably out-of-dimension materials, considering the depth of the etch marks.”
    “Few individuals in town that can produce a broom heavy duty enough to sweep up brimstone.”
    “Maybe we should head in, check the files,” Aaron suggested. He looked