Free Lies Ripped Open by Steve McHugh

want to wonder if he’s going to put a knife in my back so he can make his escape.”
    “Well, he doesn’t need to know this, anyway. In fact, I’m not sure if Brutus would be happy with you knowing.”
    “Spit it out, Diana.”
    “That rune is dwarven. One of the original twenty-one that they created.”
    I absorbed the information as if swirling an aged Scotch slowly around my mouth, assimilating every aspect of it before digesting it. The original dwarven runes were thought long lost in the annals of time, something I was fully aware that Merlin wanted to ensure. They were powerful in a way that made normal runes, even those created by an exceptionally powerful enchanter or sorcerer, look like something used by children. I’d met very few people who knew any of the dwarven runes, and even fewer who thought that using them was remotely close to a good idea.
    “What does it do?” I asked, hoping for, but knowing I wasn’t going to get, good news.
    “It takes someone’s soul and captures it, placing it inside an item of the rune wielder’s choosing.”
    “That sounds complicated. Why not just use a necromancer? He could have torn the soul out and put it in something. I’ve seen Hades do it.”
    “Yes, but there are two problems with that. Firstly, they would need a very powerful necromancer, and secondly, the condition of the soul in question. This rune will ensure that the soul is always put inside the vessel in an undamaged condition. It’s painted near the body, but not on it. The rune draws the soul from the body and then it’s absorbed by the vessel. No matter how badly damaged the body is, the soul always remains intact. That doesn’t happen with necromancy.”
    She had a valid point. A necromancer could remove a soul and place it in a container, but any damage done to the victim would be reflected in damage to the soul in a serious way. The soul would be tainted. Being able to ensure the soul was in one piece meant they were taking the souls to use in some way.
    “So they’re killing these people in such a horrific manner, knowing their souls will still be usable. That means they’re hurting them for fun. It also means someone is using these souls for something.” Even I had to admit my theory was vague.
    Diana nodded. “You can see why Brutus wants it kept quiet that someone is running around the city butchering women and using an old dwarven rune to capture their souls. People are scared. There are more murders than this Jack the Ripper ; bodies found in the Thames with pieces missing, people bludgeoned to death for no apparent motive. We don’t need to create mo re fear.”
    “But we need to find out who’s killing these people, why, and what they’re doing with the souls they take.”
    “There’s more. Brutus’s investigation has shown that at least three people are carrying out these murders. One calls himself Jack, we’ve had several letters from him, taunting the police. None have been released. He mentioned that he and his lads will continue to do their work.”
    “Could just be bluster.” Even as I said it, I doubted very much that the man who’d written From Hell on my forehead did anything for bluster .
    “Possibly, but then there’s one of the bodies.” Diana got up and flicked through the pile of paper in the box on the floor, passing me a document.
    As I read it, my head began to hurt and I wished I’d never come to London in the first place. It stated that while several of the marks on the victim—a twenty-two-year-old woman, who hadn’t been linked to the Ripper killings—were clearly from a small-bladed knife, there was one mark that appeared to be similar to the bite of a lion. It had been delivered after the death of the victim. The coroner had served overseas in Africa and had seen several people inflicted with such bites.
    “Werelion,” I said after finishing the document and passing it back to Diana. “So we have a sorcerer and a werelion. And the third