“Could a demon shape adamas?” said James. “We believe a demon is connected to these murders somehow. Not perhaps that he is committing the murders, but that his—will—is somehow involved.”
“No idea which demon?” Magnus asked casually, selecting a biscuit from the platter.
James exchanged a quick look with the rest of the group. Matthew shrugged and nodded, speaking for them all: it was James’s secret to tell.
“Belial,” James said. “Somehow, he seems to have regained enough strength, even after his wound, to return to me in dreams. I have been having… visions, it seems, of the murders. I see them happen. I almost feel as if I’m the one—the one doing the killing.”
“You feel as if you’re the one…？” Magnus narrowed his cat’s eyes. “Would you care to elaborate?”
“James is definitely not committing the murders,” Cordelia said hotly. “Do you think we’d be foolish enough not to think of that? We tested him—he’s innocent.”
“They tied me to a bed,” James said, examining a piece of Turkish delight.
“Charming.” Magnus waved a hand in mock alarm. “There’s no need to tell me anything else about that part.”
“It has to be my connection to Belial that’s causing these visions,” James said. “There’s just no other reason I’d have them. They’re like the ones I’ve had in the past, when I was in his realm. My grandfather must be involved somehow.”
“Have you seen his world again?” Magnus asked quietly. “His realm?”
“Not quite.” James hesitated. “I fell into shadow once—the night before my wedding—but the realm didn’t resemble the one Cordelia and I destroyed.” He glanced at her. “It was no place I’d seen before. There was a huge, empty heath, and beyond that—ruins—the remains of towers and canals. There was a dark fortress with a gate—”
Magnus sat forward, his eyes alight. “Edom. The realm you saw is Edom.”
“Edom?” Matthew rubbed the back of his neck. “The name is familiar. Probably a class I largely slept through.”
“？‘The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the demons shall cry to each other; Lilith also shall come there, and find for herself a place of rest,’？” said Cordelia, recalling the party at the Hell Ruelle the night before her wedding. “It’s a demon world, ruled by Lilith.”
“That’s right,” said Magnus. “I have heard rumors that she was cast out of it, that it had been taken over—but not by whom. It seems it may have been Belial.”
“So Belial has a new realm,” said Christopher. “Could that be making him stronger? Could he be able to walk in our world?”
“Unlike his brethren, Belial cannot walk upon Earth, no matter what realm he controls. It is the curse he is always trying to circumvent.”
“What if he’s possessing mundanes, or Downworlders?” said Matthew. “Using them as tools?”
“A demon as powerful as Belial cannot possess a human body—not even the body of a vampire, or one of the fey. It would be like putting a bonfire in a shoebox. Such power as he possesses would literally tear the body apart.”
“But couldn’t he just possess someone long enough to commit a murder before the body falls apart?” Lucie asked.
“Then we’d be finding two bodies,” Cordelia pointed out. “The murder victim and the body Belial had possessed.”
“Though remember what Lilian Highsmith said when she was dying,” Christopher said. “Thomas told us. He asked her who attacked her and she said someone who was dead in his prime, and that his wife was crying—”
“Corpse possession? Those would fall apart even faster than live bodies,” Magnus said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Christopher looked glum. “Thomas did say she might have been delirious.”
“Perhaps,” said James thoughtfully. “Elias, too, seemed to recognize his killer, and I don’t think he was raving. He seemed sane enough, which supports the idea that it’s a Shadowhunter.”
“A Shadowhunter who has summoned up a demon to help him? Belial, perhaps?” suggested Lucie.
“No one summons a Prince of Hell and controls him.” Magnus shrugged. “The point is—there are a million possible theories. And every night and dawn bring with them the possibility of another death.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Perhaps it is time for you to use your power, James,” he said. “Not just to fear and avoid it.”