“Frightened away where?” Dante asked. “From the photos you’ve sent back and the info I pulled up from Google, there’s no place for someone to run to without leaving traces in all that snow. And unless there are a lot of trees close to the house, anyone running away would be seen. If indeed Bobby’s theory is correct and whoever did the killing was interrupted by the husband’s arrival.”
“You aren’t saying anything we haven’t already said ourselves,” Sophia sighed.
“Another thing.” This from Logan. “There were no lingering traces of the odor of turpentine. The medical examiner said she’d only been dead about three hours when we got there. It may be bitter cold up here but there still should have been a trace of the scent.”
“I know you would have said something if you’d heard, but any news about Melinda?”
Dante just shook his head. “I don’t say this when Chloe can hear me but at this rate I think we’ll be lucky if we ever find her body.”
“We need to find this devil beast,” Logan said savagely. “Track it to its lair.”
“I can’t give you any sage advice you haven’t already given yourselves,” Dante told them. “Just keep in touch.”
“Will do.” Logan killed the webcam and looked at Sophia. “We’d better go meet Rebecca and get out on the snowmobiles again. I have a feeling we’re about out of time.”
Chapter Ten
As soon as they hit The Crown after a long, hard day Clint motioned to a helper he had behind the bar that night and came to sit in the booth with them, bringing drinks with him.
“None of you look like you’ve been having much fun today,” he said, sliding in next to Sophia.
Logan took a swallow of his beer. “That’s an understatement. Besides freezing our asses off I don’t think we accomplished a damn thing.”
“We did mark off a few more places as likely targets for the beast,” Sophia told him. “But there’s just so many of them.”
Clint nodded. “I can see that. When Logan and I did our recon last night we thought the same thing.” He frowned. “But I have to say, the Warren place isn’t one either of us marked last night as a possibility. Too open. Too far from the cover of trees. That’s what you look for, right?”
Sophia nodded. “With all the others, even if the houses are isolated, there were always lots of trees right around the dwelling so the beast had cover.”
“The problem,” Logan said, rolling the beer bottle between his palms, “is we’re convinced the beast can shift and assume other forms, so it may actually be in a form that doesn’t immediately cause alarm. It’s how it gets close to its victims.”
“But it still needs cover to approach the prey in Chupacabra form and to complete the kill without interruption. Every single other site has had that kind of cover.”
“Has there been much gossip in here today about Elaine Warren’s murder?” Rebecca wanted to know.
Clint nodded. “Certainment. And since the Maine State Police issued a formal statement it’s seems to be all anyone wants to talk about.”
“Maybe at least people will start to be a little more cautious. More careful.”
“God, I hope so.” Sophia took a big swallow of her drink, the hot liquor coursing through her chilled veins.
“Anyone know of any trouble in the Warren marriage?” Logan asked. “Anything that could throw suspicion on the husband? Or maybe someone Elaine Warren had an argument with? Some other kind of trouble?”
Clint shrugged. “Every marriage has its trouble spots, but nothing that anyone seemed to think was a major problem.”
“There has to be something,” Rebecca insisted.
“Why?” He looked at each of them. “What aren’t you saying?”
They were all speaking in low tones, pitching their voices just loud enough to be heard over the rising crescendo of sound that marked Friday night at The Crown.
Sophia took a sip from her glass, set it down carefully. “We don’t believe this is a Chupacabra kill. The cut opening the body is too clean, like it was made with a sharp instrument. The puncture wounds differ. And, most of all, not all the blood was drained.”
Clint’s body tensed. “So you really think this is a human kill?”
Rebecca nodded. “And we always look at the immediate family and friends first.”
“The problem,” Sophia said, “is that Bobby doesn’t think the two kill scenes are different enough to matter and he’s back on his homicidal maniac theory again. He’s a very good detective but I don’t think he’ll look at these kills as being separate.”
“I’m going to try talking to him again tomorrow,” Rebecca said. “No offense, guys, but he might listen to me a little more than outsiders.”
“But that still means we’re waiting for the second kill from the devil beast,” Logan added. “One good thing. With two killings in the area people are starting to get nervous. At least maybe they’ll be a lot more alert.”
Clint looked at him. “When we go out again tonight we’ll try to narrow the likely spots a little more, and be extra alert for any indication the beast is back on the prowl. Meanwhile let me put in a dinner order for you.” He winked at Sophia. “You want the barbecue beef sandwich with home fries tonight.”
* * * * *
Bradley Howard finished his shift as an X-ray technician at the hospital, clocked out and pulled on his heavy parka and boots. He hoped there hadn’t been any more snow. He was damn sick and tired of shoveling his driveway every five minutes. Next paycheck he was getting the snow blower fixed.
Presque Isle was dark and deserted as he drove through the streets to his little place just outside town. After dealing with people all day he enjoyed the isolation of the place. It also provided the best spot to conduct his extracurricular activities.
Outside influences were beginning to cut into his time and it pissed him off. What he really wanted was to quit his dead-end job, take his extracurricular activities and blow this place.
He pulled up to the garage door and shoved the gearshift into park. He kept meaning to install an automatic opener but it was one of those things that just kept getting pushed lower on the to-do list. Bending down to reach the door handle, he never saw the figure move out from the trees at the side of the garage until it was on him. His scream was choked off as something heavy bashed against the side of his head and he crumpled into the packed snow.
* * * * *
Sophia was startled when she heard the knock on her door at barely after ten.
“You decide to throw everyone out and close early?” she asked Clint as he came in. “I’m flattered that I’m worth giving up all that business for.”
He cupped her head and kissed her, hot, wet and deep before stepping back to take off his clothes.
“Not that I wouldn’t do it in a heartbeat, chere,” he grinned. “But Frayne Beaufort’s been working The Crown weekends for Frenchy since he got laid off. We know him and trust him. He’ll close up.” His gaze was hot as it traveled the length of her body. “Take the nightshirt off, Sophia, and let me see your body. I’ve been fantasizin’ about it all day and I’m harder than an oak tree.”
She pulled the nightshirt off and tossed it onto one of the chairs then stood there bathed in the lamplight. Clint removed his boxers and then he was naked, too. Her eyes went immediately to the glorious hard-on he was sporting.
“Told you,” he grinned. “Been like that all day. Now come here.”
She stepped into his arms. He bit her ear before murmuring, “Logan and I are going to head out earlier tonight and I didn’t want to miss my time with my bebe.”
This kiss was much longer than the first one, and hotter yet. His tongue plunged and probed, gliding across her own small one. He drank from her, ate at her, heating her from the inside out. Her body automatically softened for him and she melted against him. The thick length of his cock pressed against her, imprinting its heat against her skin.
Clint’s hands moved up and dow
n her back, caressing her spine, sending shivers skittering over the surface of her skin. His mouth slid away from hers and trailed across her cheek to her ear where he licked the shell and nibbled on the lobe. Then a line of wet kisses down the column of her neck, down, down until he reached a breast and pulled a stiff nipple into his mouth.
Sophia clutched at his arms, trying to hold herself steady, but the riot of sensations rushing through her, ratcheting up her pulse, releasing more cream in her pussy made it nearly impossible for her to stand.
Clint slid his hands down to cup her ass and lifted her, pulling her body into his. She wound her legs around his waist, locking them at the ankles. Her head fell back and she arched herself, giving him greater access to her nipples and breasts. He took full advantage, working one nipple until it was hot and swollen before turning his attention to the other. His tongue was a live wire, licking and tasting her, his lips hot as they closed around her flesh.
Still clasping her to him with his hand beneath her buttocks, he moved the few steps to the bed and lowered her to the mattress, following her down. His body was hard and strong against hers, his touch demanding and gentle at the same time. Kneeling between her outspread thighs, he moved his mouth down the soft skin of her tummy through the nest of curls to unerringly home in on the hot bud of her clit.
His big hands held her thighs apart as he pulled and sucked on the bundle of nerves, the pulse in her womb pounding like a jungle drum, her nipples aching for the feel of his hot mouth again. She writhed beneath the onslaught of the multiple erotic feelings he loosed within her, firing her blood and ratcheting up the beat of her heart.
Clint lifted his mouth fractionally and blew on her heated flesh, the whisper of air stimulating every single nerve.
“Please,” she cried out. “I want you.”
“I want you, too, chere. Right now. Are you ready for me?” He slid two fingers into her throbbing cunt and his low chuckle vibrated against her body. “Oh, mon dieu. You are so very wet. I’m going to fill this sweet cunt with my cock and fuck you blind.”
He bit lightly on the tip of her clit before sliding off the bed to find a condom. Then he was back, sheathed and ready. He lifted her legs, bent them back at the knee, positioned himself at the entrance to her body and drove in with one swift thrust.
His thick shaft stretched her to the limit. Even after three nights of incredible sex, her body still needed to adjust to him each time. Lowering her legs, she pressed her heels into the mattress and lifted herself, tilting her body to take him even deeper. The head of his cock bumped against her womb, triggering a shower of electricity sizzling through her.
“Gotta do it now, bebe,” he growled.
He drew back once, thrust forward and pumped into her, hard and fast. Balancing himself with one hand, he insinuated the other between their bodies, found her clit and stroked it. Rubbed it. Massaged it. Lust surged in hot waves as her climax spiraled through her. Clint pumped harder, rubbed faster, and in an explosion of blazing heat they climaxed together, spinning out, all else ceasing to exist except the shattering spasms gripping their bodies. His cock pulsed inside her again and again, her pussy clamped around it, milking him. Everything in her focused on the intensity of the tremors ripping through their bodies.
Finally, spent, Clint let himself fall forward, catching himself on his arms so Sophia didn’t have to bear the full brunt of his weight. Her cunt continued to throb around him with the aftershocks rippling through her. It seemed forever to her that they lay like that, hearts crashing against each other, lungs savagely dragging in air. The sweat of incredible sex gluing their bodies together.
Clint rolled to the side, taking Sophia with him, his cock softened but still inside her.
“I think you’ve bewitched me,” he murmured, his breathing still uneven.
She gave a breathy little laugh. “I hope so, because I definitely think you’ve cast a spell on me. This—us—what’s happening between us is so much more intense than anything I’ve ever felt before in my life.”
“Me too, chere. Me too.” He kissed her mouth, her cheeks, her eyelids. “When this is all over we got some serious talkin’ to do.”
“You realize we hardly know anything about each other,” she pointed out.
“We know most of the important things. We have something very special going here. A connection. It’s either there or it’s not, and with us, it is. You know I’m a shifter. I know you work with a super-secret organization hunting a killer devil beast most people think is only a legend. You like hot sex. I like hot sex. And we fit together like two halves of a puzzle. All the rest is just details.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It can be, if we don’t muck it up. And I don’t intend to.”
Her smile was shaky but real. “Me, either.”
“Okay then. Now. I’ve got to get with Logan so we can head out and see what’s what. I’ve got the same feeling you do about time running out.”
He slid very carefully from her body and padded to the bathroom to dispose of the condom. When he came back into the room he began putting his clothes back on. Sophia knew the two men would find a place once they got to the trees to stash everything so they weren’t walking around outside the motel naked.
“I don’t know what time we’ll get back, but I’d sure like it if you’d let me wake you up and come on back in.”
Sophia lay back on the rumpled pillows, feeling well satisfied, and smiled at him. “Just knock on the door. I’ll be waiting for you. But what about Frenchy? Don’t you have to get home for him?”
He shook his head. “He’s doing a lot better. Coming into the bar really helped hm. I told him I might not be back until morning and he was good with that.”
“Did he ask you where you were going?”
Clint laughed. “No, just gave me a shit-eating grin and told me to enjoy myself.” That hot look came into his eyes again. “And I damn sure am.”
He came over to the bed, knelt on the edge and gave her a hot, open-mouthed kiss. “You keep these sheets warm for me, okay, chere?”
“You come back in one piece.”
As soon as he was gone she jumped out of bed, turned the deadbolt and threw the chain then crawled back under the covers. Pulling one of the pillows to her face, she inhaled Clint’s musky scent. He was right. They did have something very special, something that had come at them like a thunderbolt. She just hoped they could hang on to it.
And she hoped he and Logan found the devil beast before another body turned up.
* * * * *
The three of them were having coffee in Sophia’s room at eight thirty, reading the stories in the local paper Logan had picked up in the motel lobby, when her cell phone rang.
“It’s Bobby,” she said, looking at the caller ID. “What’s up?” she asked.
“We’ve got another one.” His voice sounded tired. “You want to come take a look? Rebecca’s already on her way.”
“Give me the address and we’re on our way.”
“What is it?” Logan asked.
“Another body. I didn’t ask Bobby for details, since his opinion of the bodies and ours are slightly different. But we need to get out there.”
“Shit. The staties will have to issue another statement and the media frenzy will explode.”
Sophia grimaced. “Don’t remind me.”
Clint drained his coffee cup and threw the empty in the wastebasket. “I’ll let you guys get going.” He wrote something on the top sheet of the pad of paper on the nightstand, tore it off and handed it to Sophia. “My cell number. You call me when you know what’s going on. Please.”
“I will.”
Then, deliberately ignoring Logan’s presence, he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her until the soles of her feet were hot. “You take good care of yourself out there, chere. Talk to you in a while.”
His truck was just pulling out of the lot when Logan and Sophia walked out of her room.
“Thanks for not commenting on…well…you know.”
“Your business is your own,” he told her, cranking the engine. “And you never let personal stuff interfere in business. Besides, I like the guy. And he’s in a position to help us out.”
“Yes. He is.”
“And it doesn’t bother you that he’s…well…”
“A shifter?” she finished. “Not a bit. Not after living with all of you for so long.” She managed a tiny smile. “It practically seems normal to me by now.”
Logan chuckled. “Good to know.”
“I’m not sure if I want this latest kill to be an attack by the devil beast or not,” Sophia mused. “If it isn’t, that means Bobby really does have a killer running around. If it is, that mean it’s still eluding us and there’s still an unsuspecting victim out there. From what he said and the way he sounded, I have a sick feeling this is a Chupacabra victim. And we’re running way behind the curve.”
“There’s just so damn much area to cover.” His voice was laced with frustration. “It’s like trying to bail the ocean with a teaspoon.”
Just like at the Warrens, the driveway at Bradley Howard’s was lined with Maine State Police cars. Crime scene tape had been strung in a wide area surrounding the garage. Inside the tape they saw Bobby standing with Scott Mooney and Rebecca. Orange markers ringed the body and the crime scene techs were photographing and measuring. The medical examiner was kneeling beside the body and two other detectives were standing outside the tape.
Rebecca looked up as their car doors slammed and motioned them forward. One of the troopers on post outside the tape lifted a section for them to duck beneath.
The moment Sophia saw the corpse she knew it was another copycat. Someone was being very clever in their kills but it was impossible for a human to absolutely duplicate the Chupacabra kill. At least, not without a lot of time and the proper equipment. The cut down the length of the body was once again too clean, the puncture marks too precise. And most of all, not all of the blood had been drained. There were still small pools of it in the cavity. As well, there were traces of it in the snow around the corpse.
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