remnants of her last meal. Swiping at her mouth, she ran back to the car. She jumped in, started the engine, and threw the car in gear. She stomped on the gas and lurched onto the road, looking for something familiar. She came to a dead end. She was shaking and crying, and the smell of blood was making her ill. She turned the car around and backtracked, passing Ellis’s body still lying in the grass. She glimpsed something white in the trees. She came to a sign. Front Royal, two miles. She was near Front Royal. She had to get to a phone and call Cody. Let him be okay, please, God. She couldn’t lose him. How much time had passed? The clock said 1:00 a.m., but Renee’s clock never worked.
She headed south. Her brain was full of questions, but she was going numb. Shock. She needed help. Should she flag down a car? She had Ellis’s blood all over her. A phone. She dug through Renee’s center console and found her
Lights flashed behind her. Thank God. The police. She pulled over to the side and waited for them to approach the car. She heaved once at the stench of Ellis’s blood and rolled down the window.
“Ma’am,” the officer said. His eyes widened at the blood on her shirt. He drew his gun. “Step out of the car. Slowly. Now.”
Shay got out and opened her mouth to speak, when another officer joined them. “I need help. I’ve been—”
“You have ID?”
“No—”
“Whose blood is this?”
“I was kidnapped.”
He sniffed and aimed his flashlight at the backseat of the car. “What’s in the trunk?”
She moved slowly, pulling out the car keys.
“Stand back,” the first officer said. The second one raised the lid. Shay saw him cover his nose.
“What is it?” She moved away from the first officer, ignoring his raised voice warning her to stop. She looked inside the trunk. Pink shirt, black pants, red hair. Blank, staring eyes.
Shay started falling and couldn’t stop.
***
Malek slammed the phone down after the minion’s report. “Imbecile.” Ellis had nearly ruined everything. Malek shifted back to his human form and rubbed his aching head. Why couldn’t the shifts come without the aches and pains? Halflings had it easier. They just created an illusion and hid behind it. They didn’t have to fit into this damned skin, weaknesses and all.
He had to get Shay out of jail, but if he stormed in and took her by force, it would blow his disguise. He would have to go and fix things himself, before Tristol got the book and the girl. She had to die, and Cody would die with her.
***
“Apparently just after Shay called you, Ellis’s boss came in with a letter he found in Ellis’s things, confessing to everything, the murders in Scotland and the woman on Skyline Drive. And the prints from the scene where Ellis was holding Shay match the latent print found near one of the bodies in Scotland. All tied up, nice and tidy,” Sam said.
Almost too tidy, Cody thought as the truck whizzed past morning traffic. “They told you all this?” He wondered if Sam could fix a speeding ticket.
“I pulled some strings that’ll probably end up strangling me. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s like everyone around her is dropping dead. If what you say is true, she might be safer locked up.”
The jail walls might as well be made of lace, with what was after her. “I need to get her to the castle in Scotland. I can keep her safe there.” At least she was alive. He was still stuck on that fact. He could handle the rest, demons, vampires, police. She was alive.
“You have a castle?” Sam asked.
“Kind of.”
“A kind-of castle? After this is over, you and I are going to sit down and have a heart-to-heart. I’ve taken too much heat for you to be kept in the dark.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “You can come to the castle, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
“So now it’s a real castle,” Sam said.
Lachlan rolled his eyes. “The Council is going to tear you apart.”
***
“Where is she?” Cody asked, rushing into the house.
Bree looked up in surprise. “She walked to the barn. Don’t panic. There are warriors patrolling the grounds, and Ronan’s close by. He went to check the cameras at Nina’s again. He’s all worked up over this.”
“She shouldn’t be alone, not after what happened.”
“She needed time to herself. She has a lot to work though.” Bree put her hand on Cody’s cheek and gave him a sympathetic look. Her eyes glazed over, and her knees buckled. Cody grabbed her to keep her from falling. “What’s wrong? Is it Shay?”
Bree clutched Cody’s arm, resting her head against his chest. He could feel her heart racing. She shook her head. “I don’t know what that was.”
