Because we both know Monty has every intention of harassing me with his questions later this evening came Belle’s comment. I’m not sure I see the point of keeping your silence now.
I don’t want to worry Aiden.
Bull. Besides, regardless of what might happen with you two in the future, you’re still currently in a very caring relationship with that man. He deserves to know.
Yes, and I will tell him. Eventually.
She harrumphed. The sound echoed loudly through my brain, making me wince.
“I take it,” Monty said, “that Belle is currently conversing with you and isn’t entirely happy.”
“Yes indeed, and no, you have no need to know.” I glanced at Aiden. “Where’s Jim?”
“The husband? Jaz is escorting him to the station and will take a statement when he’s conscious.”
“You might want to get the medics to check him out. I think he was high on something.”
“Already made the call. They’ll meet Jaz at the station.” He dug into his pocket and held out his truck keys. “You two might as well head home. There’s nothing more you can do here or over at Ms. Taylor’s.”
Monty frowned. “You sure you don’t want me to stay, just in case she returns?”
“How likely is it that she will?”
“Not very, but that doesn’t mean she won’t.”
A smile tugged Aiden’s lips. “Then your time might be better spent trying to track this thing down.”
“Yeah, because that’s been a success so far.” He pushed away from the counter and offered me the crook of his elbow. “Shall we go hunting, dear cousin?”
“Only if Belle doesn’t need me at the café—”
And she doesn’t.
“It appears that I am indeed free.”
I linked my arm through his, and we headed out the back door. I pulled free at the bottom step and bent to press a finger against the blood smear. It had well and truly dried, and the pulse of energy and life had long left it. I nevertheless called to a sliver of the inner wild magic and sent it into the smear, searching for a connection, a reason, or simply some sense of the monster that had cared enough to save the child.
All I got was an odd sense of dread. Her next kill would be far worse than anything we’d seen so far. And this time, it wouldn’t be a stranger who died. It would be someone we knew.
Unless we stopped her.
I glanced up sharply at Monty. “She’s already on the hunt.”
He frowned. “That makes no sense, given she’s only just killed.”
“Killed, not fed.”
“You think the next victim will be a feeding?”
“No, I think it’ll be a frenzy. We need to find her, and fast.”
“All we’ve got is my tracker, and that’ll only work if we’re in her vicinity.”
“I know, but we have to try. If intuition is right, her next victim is someone we know.”
Alarm crossed his features. “Someone close?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know, and in the end, that’s neither here nor there in the scheme of things.”
“True.” He motioned me forward. “Let’s go.”
We made our way back over the fence and then through Ms. Taylor’s yard. There were a couple more ranger vehicles sitting out the front of the house now, suggesting that Tala and Ciara had arrived. Monty headed over to Maggie’s SUV to grab his backpack and the tracker, while I climbed into Aiden’s truck, then leaned over to grab my bag and fish out some painkillers. I didn’t have any water, so I simply chewed and swallowed them. Not my favorite thing to do, but better than putting up with a headache.
“Where to?” I asked, once Monty was in the truck and had his seat belt on.
“You tell me. You’re the one who communed with the blood spot.”
“I only got a warning of danger, not a damn location.”
“And you really should work on that. I mean, what good is a psychic talent that doesn’t provide much in the way of usable information?”
I lightly slapped his arm, then put the truck into gear and headed back toward Castle Rock, though for no particular reason other than the fact it seemed to be the general direction our hone-onna had been heading.
We were on the outskirts of town when the tracker came to life.
“Well, fuck me,” Monty said. “The damn thing found something.”
I snorted. “I love how your certainty that a spell will work becomes surprise when the thing actually does.”
“Well, it was created from a vague memory of a long-ago lesson, so in reality, there was only ever a fifty-fifty chance of it working. Keep going on this road for a bit.”
We swept around several corners, turned right at a set of traffic lights, and continued on, quickly moving through Castle Rock and onto the highway.
“Next right,” he said.
I slowed and turned. “Isn’t this one of the roads that eventually leads up to the O’Connor compound?”
“I think so, but I couldn’t imagine she’d go after a werewolf. They’re a whole lot tougher to fool than a human. Besides, werewolves mate for life.” He paused. “When they actually do commit to a partner, that is.”
I smiled, even as my stupid heart ached. “I knew what you meant.”
“Good.” He motioned to the crossroad up ahead. “Keep on this road.”
There was no traffic coming in either direction, so I accelerated through the intersection. The tracker’s pulse continued to grow stronger, suggesting we were getting closer. “Aside from the O’Connor compound, is much else up this way?”
“Grazing lands and orchards, mostly.” He glanced at me. “Why?”
“If I’m wrong and she’s not hunting, then it’s an odd place for her to be. I can’t imagine a pine forest would provide much in the way of comfortable cover.”
“She’s a dark spirit. They don’t need comfortable. Left ahead.”
I turned. “We’re talking about a spirit that normally hunts in major cities. I can’t imagine she’d want to be hiding out in the open.”
“You’re applying human sensibilities to an inhuman creature,” he said, clearly amused. “But that aside, her movements aren’t restricted by daylight, and her magic affords her the resemblance of normality. In reality, she could take up residence in the busiest hotel, and most people would be none the wiser.”
“Would she risk that though? If she’s aware of my presence, then she’d have to be aware there are four other witches in the reservation.”
“Yes, but the reservation is large. The chances of one of us coming across her by accident are rather low, and she’d be aware of that, too. We’re not dealing with a dumb spirit here.”
No, we were dealing with one who saved children.
Which doesn’t mean she can be allowed to rampage through the reservation unchecked, Belle said. It only takes a sideways step to go from killing cheaters to wiping out the innocent.
I know. I suppose I just didn’t expect a dark spirit to react in such a caring manner to a human child, and now I can’t help viewing her in a slightly different light.