The shade had told me that these things could shift into humans. I’d believed him, but it wasn’t until I saw it happening that it really sank in. They could be anywhere or anyone. How was I supposed to protect myself? Never trust strangers again?
Then I turned on all the lights in the house, calling out for Sia. I found her on the couch in the living room. She stretched, kneading the worn leather, as I plopped down beside her, inviting her onto my lap.
“Thank goodness I’ve got you,” I said, lifting her and pressing my face into her soft, warm side. “I would hate to be alone during all this.”
The next day, Cole gave me a call really early, and I was still groggy when I answered.
“Couldn’t wait to talk to me again?” I said, stifling a yawn.
“I need you to come to the station,” he said. “We’ve discovered something important. You’re going to want to see it and let us know if you agree.”
“I’ll be there soon,” I said. “Heading out now.”
Most times of the day, it took me about ten minutes to get to the American Fork police station. With rush hour in full bloom now, it would probably be closer to fifteen.
I changed my clothes and tucked my hair into a messy bun. After a quick glance outside to make sure no random dogs were visible, I rushed to my car and hopped in, pulling out of the driveway.
Cole was waiting at the door when I arrived at the police station. He escorted me to a large conference room where several officers were seated at a table. A large map was tacked on the wall at the head of the room. It was dotted with several red pushpins, indicating what I assumed were the crime scenes.
I ignored the officers in the room and walked straight to the map. My eyes widened. I immediately saw what Cole was talking about. The crime scenes formed a half circle around where I lived, spiraling in closer. They were pretty far apart, sure, but it still worried me that the thing with the fire vamps might involve me. As if that should be a surprise. Cole stepped next to me. “Do you see it?” he asked.
I nodded. “Does it really have something to do with me?”
“I hope not. But in case it does, we need a plan to keep you safe.”
“Like what?” I asked. “We don’t know enough about the situation. We don’t know what they want. I don’t want to drop everything for a maybe.” I lowered my voice. “And I might be the only one here who can fight them.”
Cole didn’t look happy about that response, but he didn’t argue with me. If he had, I would’ve counter-argued. It wasn’t as if I could go into hiding or something. I had to do my job, and until I got that amulet, I couldn’t just leave.
“I’ll do some more digging around,” I said, “and I’ll let you know if I learn anything. Please do the same.”
He agreed. “I’ll give you a call later.” Then he continued the meeting, and I walked back to my car. I didn’t turn on the radio on the way home—I wanted to think. Why would a fire vampire be hunting me? I hated that I didn’t understand. As far as I knew, which wasn’t much, hounds and vampires had nothing in common. It didn’t make sense.
I pulled into my driveway, noticing a car I’d never seen before out front. I approached my front door cautiously, looking around, not seeing anyone. Maybe the person was visiting the Russells. It looked like they had more than one visitor—a couple of extra cars were at their house. I hoped they were okay. Mrs. Russell had had a very traumatic experience, and I needed to stop by later to make sure she was fine.
After unlocking the door, I opened it and entered, then shrieked when I saw Abel sitting on my couch. He gave me a half wave before returning to watching TV and eating a box of pretzels he must’ve dug out from who knew where. I hadn’t bought pretzels in over a year.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, putting my hand on my heavily beating heart.
“It’s time to start hunting,” he said, his eyes still on the TV. He was watching Jurassic World, one of my favorites. Not as good as the first, but I’m still a sucker for big-monster movies.
I greeted Sia as she meandered down the hallway toward me before dumping my purse on the table in the kitchen and grabbing a diet soda from the fridge. I joined Abel on the couch. “Hunting? You know I can’t hunt without the Shade Amulet.”
“Doesn’t matter—we can’t wait for it to come. Have to get a head start.”
“What good will it do when I can’t kill anything we come across?”
He glanced at me, considering what I’d said. “We won’t attack, then. We’ll learn what we can and return later, when you have the amulet. There’s way too much going on for us to ignore it anymore.”
I took a swig of my drink, then said, “Like what?”
He gave me a patronizing look, as if he felt I already knew what he was talking about. “You know what’s out there, Lizzie,” he said.
A sudden urge to hit those perfect teeth made me fist my hand, and I struggled to push the desire aside.
He wasn’t done talking. “The individual who has hired me to hunt hounds with you said something about creatures here who are wreaking havoc for you and the other city officials.”
I wouldn’t consider myself a city official. But whatever. “What do you know?” I asked.
“Well, for starters, there are two fire vampires here.”
I sat up eagerly, my attention totally on him. Dinosaurs were fighting in the background, but they were easy to ignore under the circumstances. “Two vamps? What else? Tell me everything.”
He set the box of pretzels aside and leaned forward, clasping his hands. “They’re hunting something. We don’t know what—and we don’t know why they’re here in the first place.” He looked up at me. “My boss doesn’t think they’re coming for you. But we can’t be positive about that until we catch one and interrogate it. But the fire vampires aren’t the only thing you’ll be dealing with. There are quite a few demons here now.”
I nodded. “That’s what my friend told me.”
Eleanora hadn’t known much, but she had more connections than I did. I might need to visit her again. And I wondered if Mount Koven would have anything that could help me. I wasn’t sure if the knowledge stored there was complete or if it was only for the big stuff. Like prophecies.
His expression was serious as he studied my face. “Something huge is coming, Lizzie. I hope I’m ready for whatever happens.”
He was referring to his Restart—he had to be. “How are you feeling?”
Abel shrugged. “Probably would have been better if I hadn’t eaten those pretzels.”
I grimaced. “Sorry about that. I’m guessing they’re stale.”
He shrugged. “After what I’ve eaten the past few years? They’re divine. My stomach doesn’t like them as much as my mouth does, though.”
I stared at him for a moment, not sure how to ask my question without insulting him. “How are you doing now? Financially.”
He shrugged. “Much better. I’ve never been into money too much. As long as I have enough for my needs—which are simple—I’m pretty happy.”
I nodded. “Same.” I’d seen enough of what happens when people allow money to take over their lives. Nicole’s parents were prime examples of that. And Nicole was a prime example of what happens when a good person gets a lot of money. In my opinion, money doesn’t destroy people. People destroy people. Some jerks become wealthy and make a bad name for the others who were just as wealthy, but were nice and nowhere near as loud. Since moving here, I’d met several people who had obviously worked hard and become very wealthy over their lifetimes, but they still lived in tiny little houses in the middle of nowhere and drove cars from the eighties and nineties. It impressed me.
“When do you want to go hunting?” I asked.
“As soon as possible.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Abel looked at his watch. “How about now?”
“Sure.” I didn’t even know what hunting demons called for. “Should I change my clothes?”
&nb
sp; He looked at my jeans and tee and shrugged. “Those should be fine.”
I hadn’t put on a lot of makeup before going to the police department, but I figured hunting demons wouldn’t be glamorous work. It wasn’t like we were going clubbing or something. “Where do we start?”
“I was hoping to ask you that myself.”
I scoffed. “What could I possibly have to say that would help us figure it out?”
“Well, you’ve seen hounds near your house, right?”
I nodded, thinking. “We could always go check out the place where I saw the first hound. That might be a good start. Are you good at tracking?”
Abel gave me a devilish grin. “The best.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking, but I hoped he would take over that aspect of our work. I’d never hunted anything of any sort. Except fish, with bait and a pole. But that obviously wouldn’t help us hunt demons. Unless, of course, the demons were fish.
I smiled to myself, then pushed my thoughts away as Abel got to his feet and pulled me up next to him. His hand lingered on mine, then trailed up my arm, stopping to rest on my shoulder. I looked at him, trying not to feel intimidated by how big he was. I’m fairly short—around five feet, four inches. I know it’s average in some places, but all growing up, people towered over me. Abel was at least six inches taller, which I suppose isn’t a ton, but he also had a lot of bulk. He gave my shoulder a squeeze, then turned and motioned to the front door. “We’re going on foot.”
I took a deep breath, wondering at the butterflies in my chest. I knew it didn’t necessarily mean anything. Just because I was attracted to him didn’t mean we should date.
We left the house, locking up behind us, and started walking toward the train tracks. When we stepped over the boundary of the protective devices, I shivered involuntarily. This was the first time I’d walked my neighborhood, apart from the run to Mrs. Russell’s house, and I wasn’t sure how safe I felt, even with Abel there.
I sneaked a glance at him. He had a slight smile on his lips, obviously thinking about something that amused him. He definitely didn’t look worried or nervous. His confidence gave me courage, and I pushed my worries aside to focus on the task at hand.
Once we got to the train tracks, I showed him where I’d seen the dog attacking the man. The only evidence of a struggle were the weeds and wild grass that had been flattened. No blood was to be seen.
Abel crouched, fingering one of the blades of snapped grass. He looked around, then glanced up at me. “Did they tell you where they found the body?”
I almost answered, then hesitated. “How did you know they found it?” I hadn’t told him that.
He looked up at me, then away. “I . . . have my sources.”
“Evidently.” I folded my arms and semi-glared at him, waiting for him to go on. I didn’t wait long.
“I dug around before coming to you. There are a lot of nice people in this town who are willing to talk to a friendly person.”
I wouldn’t exactly describe Abel as friendly, but whatever. “Then why didn’t you say that first? Why did you have to be so . . . so cryptic?”
He shrugged, not meeting my eyes. I stepped in front of him, forcing him to look at me.
Abel only made eye contact for a moment. “Let’s just get back to what we’re doing.”
I shook my head and pulled out my phone, pushing the button that would speed dial Chief. He picked up, and I explained to him what was going on—how I had a friend who was helping figure out what had killed the man, and that he was an expert of sorts.
The chief said he would send Detective Evans over. I thanked him and ended the call, tucking my phone back into my purse.
Abel was watching me with an amused expression on his face. “You handled that very gracefully.”
I was not in the mood for this. “Handled what gracefully?”
“Everyone here is wrapped around your finger.”
I growled in frustration. “They are not. It’s part of the job. They help me and I help them. We’ve been working together for a long time and we trust each other. And it’s just courtesy for me to tell them what I’m doing, and them to do the same. Yes, it usually deals with fires and explosions and stuff like that, but regardless, the city pays me, they’ve issued me a badge, and Chief and I work together a lot.”
Able laughed, holding up his hands. “What is that famous line from Shakespeare? ‘I think you protest too much’ or something like that? I was just pointing out that it’s really easy for you to get information from the cops.”
I folded my arms and glared at him. “Of course it is. And I just explained why.”
He stopped smiling and returned to business. “So, what did he say?”
“He’s sending over Detective Evans.”
“Okay, then.”
Abel started searching through the area, probably looking for blood or something, and I pulled out my phone again and sent Nicole a quick text.
This guy is driving me nuts! Please save me.
She didn’t respond immediately, so I returned my phone to my purse, wishing my best friend didn’t live so far away. I’d drive to see her now if I could.
We hadn’t waited long before Detective Evans showed up. He got out of his car and introduced himself to Abel, then said, “You have information on the case?”
“I might,” Abel said. “I definitely have information on the creature that did it.”
Detective Evans pulled out a pen and paper. “What can you give me on the dog?”
Abel frowned, thinking. “It’s a creature that can—”
I grabbed his arm. “We can’t tell him what it is!” Then, looking at the detective, I said, “I’m sorry, but it has to do with the visits we got from demons a few years ago. This particular one is attracted to people who know it exists. It and its kind destroy anyone who learns about them.” I released Abel’s arm, glancing at him apologetically. “Sorry.” Then I turned to Detective Evans again. “It’s my job to help eradicate them and keep our citizens protected. We need to work together to figure this out, but I won’t put anyone else at risk in the process.”
He tucked his notepad and pen away, an unhappy expression on his face. “So, what am I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for you while a crazy dog is running loose, killing people? That’s not going to fly with Chief, Miss Ashton, and you know it. Especially not while innocent lives are at stake.”
He was right—Chief definitely wouldn’t be happy. “I’m sorry, I really am. But trust me when I say that these creatures know when someone is learning about them. We can’t tell you about them without putting your life in danger. And locked doors and windows won’t help you—they don’t travel normally.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How do they travel? By floating?”
I couldn’t help it. I chuckled. I know he was trying to show me how annoyed he was with the situation, but it still made me laugh. “Of course, not.” I put my smile away and turned to face the area where I’d first seen the dog. “Okay, let’s get to work. We need you to show us where the body was found.”
“Why should I give you information when you aren’t willing to give me any?”
“I don’t need your permission to access the files. While Chief might not be okay with me holding things back, I’m positive he would understand and would make sure you share what you know.”
The detective glared. “I’m just saying this is ridiculous.”
“And I’m saying I’ll tell you when I know something you can know.”
He turned and pointed down the railroad tracks. “It was down there. Not far from Main Street.” Without looking back at us, he headed that way on foot.
We followed. I’d been cooped up too much lately, and it really felt good to be moving, to be using my legs. It took about five minutes to reach our destination, and when we did, Abel and I met eyes. Though I could tell a cleanup crew had been here, there were still a lot of blood stains. I was surprised it had taken the cops s
o long to find it, given how close the blood was to the main road and sidewalk. When I stated as much, Detective Evans nodded.
“Yes, but by this point, there wasn’t much of the body left.”
I shuddered, not wanting to think about it.
We continued searching the area where the body had been found, but didn’t see anything that would let us know where the dog had gone afterwards.
“I’m sure the cops found everything of interest here,” I said.
Abel looked at me but didn’t respond, so I continued. “What are you looking for, anyway?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. Something that will give us information about the man who did it.”
Detective Evans froze. “Man? I thought you said it was a dog.”
I glared at Abel while responding to the detective. “It’s a man who shifts into a dog.”
Detective Evans stared at me, his face pale. “Well, this changes a lot. We’ve been looking for a dog this whole time.”
Abel ignored him. “He dragged the body this far for a reason. Maybe he’s set up in the area.” He turned around in a circle, inspecting all the houses and businesses on either side of the train tracks and Main Street. Nothing looked suspicious, though.
My phone rang, making me jump. I pulled it out, seeing that it was one of the Salt Lake City fire departments. “Ashton,” I said.
“We’ve got a hostage situation at a bank. The perp has several guns—we need you here as soon as possible. How fast can you come?”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and checked the time. “I can be there at noon. I’m on a case right now, but it’s not an emergency. I’ll leave immediately.”
Abel frowned at me, but I ignored him.
“All right,” the cop said. “We’ll do our best until you get here.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The problem with covering so many states and cities was the fact that emergencies are very difficult to respond to. I turned and started walking back home. It would take me at least forty minutes to get to Salt Lake, hopefully less, but it depended on lunchtime traffic. I’d definitely be using my emergency light.
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