Max could tell Sarah wasn’t pleased over the sheriff’s admission. “What about it?” Max prodded.
Sheriff Jenson scrubbed his jaw again. “A woman died in that accident. Since then, her husband’s behavior has become a bit of a concern to folks around here.” He eyed Sarah. “The fact that you bring up the same incident is a bit disconcerting.”
Sarah stiffened and Max remembered her words. She had claimed that the husband was involved in all of this. “What’s wrong with the husband besides the obvious grief of losing his wife?” Sarah asked.
The sheriff held up his hands stop-sign fashion. “Before I go on, let me say this. Small towns breed superstitions and rumors.” He motioned to the back room. “This is a long story. Why don’t we go sit?”
Sarah and Max exchanged a look as they followed him back to the break room; they sat down on either side of him. There was no doubt Sarah was concerned. Max saw it in her eyes, in the tension in her body.
“Here’s the thing,” the sheriff said. “I’ve had reports that Allen has been acting a bit suspiciously for quite some time now. Long before the strange stuff started happening ’round town. So when it did, he was already on the town radar.” Sarah and Max nodded their understanding, and he continued, “Since Kate died—that was his wife—Allen’s been a real recluse. Before that, he was a real friendly guy. In church on Sundays. At all the town events. That kind of thing. But after Kate’s death, he didn’t show his face in town for months.”
“That’s understandable,” Sarah commented. “That had to be a hard time for him.”
“I agree,” Sheriff Jenson offered quickly. “Allen and his wife grew up here together. For him to have a hard time with this was expected. The chatter didn’t start until he ventured out again. He’d changed. Wouldn’t make eye contact, wouldn’t speak. Then, he bought some rather odd supplies, and the rumor mill split wide-open.”
Sarah frowned. “What kind of supplies?”
“Candles, incense, knives. Some say he’s messing with black magic. One of the neighbors’ kids snuck onto the property and saw a big circle and triangle drawn on his living-room floor.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Max inserted, eyeing Sarah.
“It would be used for evoking spirits,” Sarah confirmed, her eyes full of concern.
“The kid could be lying,” Max offered.
Sheriff Jenson agreed. “That’s what I thought but the parent pressed and I checked it out. I stopped by and visited Allen, and I didn’t see anything. But then, he has a rug on the floor. I couldn’t rightly lift it up.”
Sarah sat back in her chair and drew a breath. “He wants to bring his wife back,” she said softly.
The sheriff looked stunned. “Is that possible?”
Max’s brow inched upward, surprised at Sarah’s statement. But he wasn’t a fool. He’d seen things. Lived some miracles himself. After being turned into a demon and saved by Salvador, he knew anything was possible.
“In theory,” Sarah admitted, her lips thinning. “But we are talking black magic, which Cathy will know more about.” She seemed to get lost in her thoughts a moment before she refocused on the sheriff. “Tell me everything you know about Allen and Kate.”
The conversation continued and Sarah drilled the sheriff about every detail of that car accident on the bridge—and the events and people involved.
Max thumbed through the town history book as he listened, scanning for anything of importance. He had almost skipped a half torn-out page, when he paused to study the text. “Excuse me, Sheriff,” Max interrupted, reading enough to know the page was important. “What can you tell me about this legend?” He slid the book toward the man. “Part of the story is missing.”
Sheriff Jenson glanced at the page and sighed. “I’d have said it’s an urban legend, but now, I don’t know.”
“What is it?” Sarah asked, grabbing the book to take a look.
“It’s the legend of a powerful demon doing battle with an archangel,” Sheriff Jenson explained. The minute he said archangel, Max went on alert. This might just be the piece that tied him to this town, the explanation of why Nowhere held his destiny. The sheriff continued, “The demon was defeated and sentenced to prison deep beneath the earth. That location is said to be directly below Nowhere, Texas.”
“This makes sense,” Sarah said quickly. “It’s not uncommon to evoke the aid of a demon when using black magic. If an unskilled practitioner performs an evocation, the demon could easily take control of the human.”
Max hardly heard her; he was focused on one thing. On a critical point that impacted his mission, his test. “Any idea which archangel?” Max asked.
The sheriff frowned. “Hmm. Michael. No. That’s not it.”
“Raphael?” Max prodded.
The sound of the front door opening filled the air. “Sheriff?” It was a female voice.
“That’s Mrs. Carmillo,” Sheriff Jenson said. “She lives alone. I imagine she’s scared.” He started to get up.
Max grabbed his arm, halting his departure. “Was it Raphael?”
The sheriff looked surprised at Max’s urgency. “Yes. Yes, that sounds right.”
Max let the man go, his mind racing with the implications of what he’d just learned. Now Max knew the connection between himself and Nowhere, Texas. Raphael. The archangel who had created The Knights of White had imprisoned the demon that Max was now destined to face in battle.
This was a demon so powerful, it had taken an archangel to defeat it. Max inhaled. Salvador would not have sent him here alone if this were more than he could handle. He could defeat this demon. Though, clearly, not with a sword. Salvador had said he’d need every life experience he had lived to do this.
Sarah’s fingers brushed his hand, a soft touch that shook him to the core. “What is it, Max?”
Her question, her presence, somehow brought back Salvador’s words. You must face this on your own, but not alone. Max’s gaze lifted to Sarah’s beautiful green eyes. Eyes that seemed to reach inside and touch his soul. He felt that connection, that moment, in every inch of his body. He knew now that Sarah was, indeed, his mate. Whatever evil was here, they were to face it together. And that evil was nothing like the Darkland Beasts. Nothing like the demons he knew how to slay with a sword. This evil used humans to do its deeds. Humans whom Max existed to protect.
Max was headed to war, and he had everything on the line. His future as a Knight of White. And his mate, Sarah. A mate he may well have found too late. A mate he could not claim. Because if he didn’t pass this test, if he didn’t save this town, he was doomed to eternity in the Underworld. And he wouldn’t take Sarah with him.
Chapter 5
“Max,” Sarah said, willing him to look at her and tell her what was going on. Something about that town legend had him rattled. In turn, it had her rattled. No, if she were honest with herself, the way Max made her feel had her rattled. There was a weird connection between them. Even now, she could feel his distress almost as if it were her own. That had only happened with spirits until now. “Max, please. Talk to me.”
His gaze lifted, locking with hers, the look in those soulful hazel eyes grim, matching the feelings he’d somehow been feeding her. He opened his mouth to speak, but paused as the sound of raised voices filled the air, rising in volume with each passing second. “That doesn’t sound good,” he said, pushing to his feet, hand going to his weapon.
“I hope like heck you don’t need that,” Sarah said, standing up, fearful they had another obstacle to conquer before they’d even begun to tackle the root problem they faced. “Please, Lord,” she whispered. “Don’t let it be another bout of craziness overtaking the town. We have enough to deal with without saving them from themselves.”
Max started for the door. “Maybe the demon wants to keep us busy,” he commented, more to himself than to her.
Reacting to his words, Sarah took a fast sidestep, intercepting him, her hand going to his arm. She ignored the
jolt to her stomach the touch created and focused on more important matters than her overactive libido. “What about this archangel? What do you know that I don’t?”
He stared down at her, his eyes dark, probing; his big body close; his scent, spicy and all too alluring. “We have a great deal to discuss, Sarah,” he said softly.
Something in the way he said her name, the way he looked at her, said he referred to far more than demons and the troubles of this town. Her heart kicked into double time, heat rushing through her limbs. Good Lord, what was it about this man that got to her this way? She had a town to save, people to help.
“So talk,” she said, her tone demanding by design. She would not let him see how much he affected her. Better yet, she would tune him out completely, at least on a personal level.
The sound of voices lifted in the air again, demanding attention. “Not now,” he said. “We both know we need to deal with whatever is going on out there.”
She hesitated and then forced herself to drop her hand from his arm. “Fine.” Her lips pursed. “But I want answers, Max. I won’t involve you in the investigation if you don’t shoot straight with me.”
He narrowed his gaze on her. “I know what you want, Sarah.”
Though he spoke in a low, almost monotone voice, she could feel an undertone of heat rush through the words and then directly to her cheeks. Quickly, she turned away from him, hiding her reaction, taking the lead down the hallway—or trying to. Max quickly aligned himself next to her, and together they headed toward the source of the noise.
Still, as much as she needed space away from Max to consider why he impacted her as he did, she was also glad to have him by her side. As much of a loner as she considered herself, the idea of being the only person in this town unaffected by whatever was happening here was a bit daunting.
As they followed the sounds of chaos to the outer office, Sarah noted Max’s hand on his gun, ready to draw it at the first sign of trouble. She couldn’t blame him for being cautious after the way people had gone a bit whacko at the inn earlier. Fortunately, there was no rage and fighting this time and no need for a gun. Just a group of six or seven citizens assembled around the sheriff, all desperate for answers.
Sarah and Max looked at each other, pausing in the doorway as he eased his hand off the gun, the danger they’d feared clearly not present. In silent agreement, they stayed in the background, listening in on the conversation without interference.
A redheaded woman in her mid-to-late thirties shivered and hugged herself. “I know it sounds crazy, but my doors flew open and shut by themselves.”
“That could have been the wind,” Sheriff Jenson argued, clearly trying to downplay the paranormal fears feeding the town’s panic.
“Three times?” the woman challenged, her chin lifting defiantly. “I don’t think so.”
“My dog tried to attack me,” an elderly man chimed in. “That dog has never so much as growled at me before today.”
“It’s that Allen Walker,” another man said, running his hand over his bald head. Sarah and Max exchanged a quick look at that statement. The man continued, “He’s working some kind of voodoo. If that black rain and absence of sunlight aren’t proof, I don’t know what is.”
“He’s right,” the redhead said. “We’ve all been worried about Allen.”
The bald man spoke again. “He came into the post office the other day to pick up a package, and I swear, his eyes were so black, there weren’t any whites around them. It was pure evil I saw in those eyes.”
“All right now,” the sheriff said, irritated. “That’s enough of this talk. We all want answers, and it’s easy to look for someone to blame. But none of us need to go persecuting a man who isn’t here to defend himself. Anyone who lost his wife, as Allen did, would act funny.”
Another woman, with short dark hair and black-rimmed glasses, spoke up then. “You’ve been telling us that about Allen for a month now, Sheriff, but frankly it’s not good enough anymore. We need to know we’re safe. That our kids are safe.”
A murmur of support for the woman’s words filled the room. “I’ll talk to Allen,” the sheriff conceded, “but I need all of you to go home and stay inside. We don’t know if this rain is over.”
The woman with the glasses spoke again. “We don’t know anything about what’s happening, do we, Sheriff?”
A few more minutes of conversational dodgeball continued, with the sheriff as the target, until finally the lobby was empty.
As the last person exited, Sheriff Jenson leaned against the door, rubbing his temples. “If I don’t get some answers soon, I’m going to have a lynch mob on my hands,” he said. “I told you. They’re convinced Allen is behind this.”
“They aren’t the only ones. Sarah thinks he’s involved, too. I think it’s past time we pay Allen a visit.”
“Agreed,” Sarah said. “I need to go by the hotel and get Cathy and Edward on the way.”
“Might be best if I drive out there and bring him into the station,” the sheriff inserted, his voice holding authority.
Max beat Sarah to voicing an objection. “You don’t even have your deputy and frankly, Sheriff,” Max said, “dealing with the paranormal isn’t exactly textbook law enforcement. You know that or you wouldn’t have called Sarah in the first place.”
“He’s right, Sheriff,” Sarah quickly agreed. “You called me here for a reason. My team is trained to handle this kind of situation. We’ve studied the paranormal for years and that includes black magic.”
“Black magic,” the sheriff said flatly. “That’s twice now you’ve mentioned that. Is that what we think is causing all of this? Can black magic create this magnitude of events?”
“I can’t say anything with certainty right now,” she replied cautiously. “My point is simply that we must be prepared for anything.”
The sheriff’s lips thinned but he nodded his agreement. “I need to round up my deputy. I’ll drop you by the inn and then swing by his house. It won’t take more than a few minutes.”
Sarah exhaled as she cast Max a frustrated look. They needed time alone to talk before going to see Allen. She would not go into a dangerous situation with him by her side without some answers. And if he didn’t like it, she’d tell the sheriff to leave him behind. But as Sheriff Jenson started out the front door, she glanced in Max’s direction, noting the way he watched her, the way he seemed to touch her without even moving, without making contact. And she knew…she was in big trouble.
She had no business lusting after a man who could be an enemy, a man she didn’t know for certain was friend or foe. She just knew she wanted him in a bad way. A way that defied reason and kept her from thinking straight. She was smarter than this. She had to clear her head, to stop operating in a lust-filled haze—before it got her, or someone else, killed.
Chapter 6
On the short drive from the sheriff’s office to the inn, Max rode in the backseat of the patrol car while Sarah sat in front. A good thing because Max needed to think through some things before she had time to question him. Time to think about things like what he was going to tell her about that legend, about how Raphael’s connection indicated that his own involvement was far more profound than mere chance.
The answers weren’t simple, considering he was partnering with Sarah and her team to some extent, and by doing so, possibly exposing the Knights and their secrets. Which simply wasn’t done. If the Beasts thought a human was important to the Knights, or might hold information about the Knights, that human became a target.
By the time the car stopped in front of the inn and Max got out, he’d settled on the details of a basic cover story about the Knights being a special-ops group. He hated lying to Sarah, especially since there could be a time when he had to face that lie. But this would earn him enough of Sarah’s trust to stay close to her and her team and keep them safe. The rest he’d deal with later. Or never. He didn’t know. His life might be headed to hell, and Sarah de
served better than he could offer. Maybe a lie and goodbye were all there could ever be.
And one kiss. He had to kiss her at least once. Damn, how he wanted to kiss her. Like he’d never wanted to kiss a woman before. Hell, the thought of kissing her got him hotter than having sex would with most other women. Of course, he knew why. Deep down inside, he needed no confirmation beyond what he felt. Sarah belonged to him. She was his mate.
The minute Sarah exited the car, she rushed toward the front of the inn where the van was sitting, its rear doors standing open. Max followed her, noticing that Cathy already stood at the rear, peering inside. Since Max had Edward’s keys, he assumed they had a spare set.
“Everything okay?” Sarah asked, as she and Max stopped on either side of Cathy.
Cathy motioned to where Edward sat inside the van at an equipment panel. “We still can’t get anything to work,” Edward muttered, scrubbing his jaw.
“Elaborate setup you have there,” Max observed.
“We landed a nice little grant last year,” Sarah said.
“Must have been.” Max noted the impressive equipment. What he wanted to look at was the circuit board in the computer, though. He’d snuck a peek at the computers in the sheriff’s office right before they left; the boards had been fried. “I know my way around electronics. Mind if I take a look?”
Edward glanced up, his expression skeptical as he looked to Sarah for approval. “Yes. That’s fine,” she said. Though his expression carried disbelief at his boss’s agreement, Edward climbed out of the van, apparently more than willingly, and motioned Max forward.
“Feel free,” Edward said. “I damn sure can’t get anything to work.”
The sheriff pulled up just then and called out to Sarah.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, and disappeared.
“I’m choking to death here. I’m going to hunt down a bottle of water,” Edward said, excusing himself and leaving Max alone with Cathy.
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