When his uncle relaxed, he breathed again. Shit. He hated it when his jailer got all killer instinct on him.
“How are you so sure they—”
“Five reanimated corpses that turned to black ooze at a single sword strike.” He left out the fact that one of them turned to ooze because of Selena. Rainer would never let him hear the end of it. Losing his sword to a girl. Not good for an Illumenari.
“I’m sure you already know who Kyle Hilliard is?”
He pushed back on his uncle’s stare. “What are you hiding here, Rainer?”
“Nothing that concerns you.”
“Damn it doesn’t. I’m investigating dog disappearances and saving a girl I don’t even think is human from puppets. I’m a part of this, whether you like it or not. If you want me to do my job, I need to know everything.”
“This isn’t official, remember?” Rainer leaned back. His chair tilted until it creaked. He rubbed his face with one hand then he sighed. “You’re not cleared for what we have going on here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Besides the dogs, I need you to expand your search to include the Maestro. He needs to be found and eliminated.”
“Eliminated?”
After some throat clearing, Rainer clarified. “He threatened a resident of the town, which in turn may expose who we are. That’s grounds for execution.”
Dillan couldn’t argue with that. He was thankful his uncle didn’t grill him on how much Selena knew. “And here I thought you’d want to take this one yourself.”
“I can’t.” He shook his head before rubbing circles on his temple. “I may not be able to brief you on everything, but this I can say. There’s a delicate balance that needs to be maintained here. The reason why I gave you this case—”
“Only after I begged you for it,” he interrupted.
“Be that as it may, I needed someone impartial. Since you’re not from this town, you’d handle things without any bias.”
“So you’re saying there’s politics involved.” Rainer’s lips slashed into a rigid line. Dillan took that as an affirmative. “Newcastle isn’t just a small, sleepy town is it?”
“Not by a long shot.”
…
Dillan paced the entire length of his room, unable to sleep. He should have been fine with not knowing what Rainer and Hilliard kept from him. The Illumenari lived on a need to know basis. Yet something didn’t sit right. The energy swirling around Newcastle unsettled him. Missing dogs. A girl who seemed human but who wasn’t. A Maestro and puppets. These three things didn’t seem connected no matter how much he tried to mash them together.
Dillan.
Sebastian’s voice broke through his brooding, causing him to bump into his desk chair. Its corner caught him right in the shin, sending piercing pain up his leg. Concentrating his life force, he dulled the pain, unable to completely heal it if he wanted to conserve his strength. Cursing, he went to the window and opened it. Bracing his hands on each side, he propelled himself to the ground. Once he landed, he lifted his fingers to his lips and whistled.
A rustling ahead of him forced focus into his brain. “How’s the search going?”
Finally stumbled on a body. Sebastian shifted, his massive bulk still covered by shadow. Like Dillan, the hellhound used the night to his advantage. Carcass is a better term. I have never seen mangling that bad.
“Do you suppose it’s another animal?”
Humans do not have a set of teeth that could do what was done to that dog.
Finding the body gave him hope. Unfortunate for the dog, sure, but it meant it didn’t die in vain. The carcass—right word choice—would yield more clues. And maybe finally give him some answers.
He let out a slow exhale. “Where’s is it?”
Approximately ten miles northwest of here.
“Northwest? That’s outside our search grid.” He scowled at his partner. “What were you doing outside the grid?”
Easy there. Sebastian pawed at the ground. I did not mean to stray.
“God dammit! We have a system, you mutt!”
If you keep it in your pants long enough to let me explain, you will understand.
Biting back a string of nasty curses in several languages, he gestured for the hellhound to continue.
I felt an energy anomaly.
“Anomaly?” This meant many things, but the most important of them was it involved a Supernatural. Half his mouth pulled up.
See? Knew you would understand. Sebastian dipped his massive head in his version of a nod. I followed the anomaly, and it led me to the body.
“Good.”
What?
“I don’t have to kill you for breaking the system.”
Anyone ever tell you how anal retentive you get when on a case?
“We’re heading out,” he said, ignoring Sebastian’s quip.
And why is that exactly?
“Because I want to see the body.” He took off full tilt, not waiting for his partner to follow. Having something to do distracted him for running around in circles in his head. Too much thinking led to things he didn’t want to confront. Not right now. Not anything involving Rainer, Kyle, and especially not Selena Fallon.
Chapter Twenty
Selena
Shoot Me Now
Monday morning, I found myself staring at the jumble of books, papers, and stuff inside my locker. I had to pull something out, I knew that much, but my brain shorted the second I opened the door. I woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. My vision again. If it really was my future, then I had to do something about it. All the my-fate-is-in-my-hands new age crap had to count for something, right?
The rest of the night, I tortured myself trying to think of a solution, of some way to prevent the vision from coming true. Unfortunately, my vision track record left me hopeless. Now I was reduced to staring inside my locker without knowing what I needed. I sighed and shut the door. When the lock clicked into place, a finger tapped my shoulder.
I jerked and twisted around.
“Hey, easy there, jumpy. It’s just me.”
I looked up at Kyle and relaxed immediately. “Hey, you. What’s up?”
He dropped his gaze, massaging the back of his neck. Okay, not a good sign.
“I know you wanted to talk before you dropped me off at the diner yesterday, but I really wasn’t feeling it,” I said apologetically.
“Yeah, about that.” He sighed. “I asked Penny to come with us today, but she said she needed to get home early. So it’s just you and me.”
My brain didn’t connect the dots right away. “Where are we going?”
The hurt in his eyes when his gaze finally met mine broke my heart. “You forgot.”
I rummaged through the trashcan that was my brain and came up empty. Worrying my lip, I squeezed his arm. “It’s been a crazy weekend, I haven’t recovered yet. So where are we going?”
“Greenwood.”
The name of the town cemetery automatically flooded the information my muddled head needed. “Oh, god! Is that today?” I gathered him into my arms. “I’m so sorry I completely spaced out. I’m like the worse best friend ever.”
Despite what a rotten friend I’d been, he willingly stepped into the hug and returned it. “So, pick you up after your shift at Ormand’s?”
I held him at arms-length and stared into his eyes so he could be sure I meant what I said. “I’ll be there. I promise.”