“I’ll take you any way I can get you. Be there in an hour.”
He didn’t only pick me up, but carried me upstairs when I all but fell asleep in the middle of dinner. He stripped me off, tucked me in, and kissed me, soft and lingering.
I protested sleepily when he pulled away, and he chuckled softly and dropped another kiss on my forehead. “Plenty of time for that in the morning, love. You need to sleep, and I’ve got reports to write up.”
Love. He’d called me love. I couldn’t help but wonder if he even realized it.
“Promise?”
“Promise.” He sealed the deal with another kiss, but this time it was fierce—demanding—and full of hunger. He broke away with a groan. “Sleep.”
“Like I can after that sort of enticement.”
He chuckled softly but didn’t kiss me again. I closed my eyes and listened to his retreating steps. I was asleep before he reached the base of the stairs.
* * *
Nothing happened on the Clayton front, and no more deaths were reported over the next few days, which suggested that the ghoul might have moved on. I certainly hoped so—I was over the whole dramatic confrontational final battle thing that always seemed to happen whenever a new evil stepped into the reservation.
The café was also quiet, which at least allowed us to do a stock take and to catch up on baking cakes and slices. But each day that went by uneventfully had tension rising within. The longer Clayton had to plan, the more dangerous he’d be.
What made the situation worse was the fact that we were relying on other people—on Ashworth’s connections with the Black Lantern Society, and on my mother actually keeping her word—to get the heads-up we needed if we were to have any chance of surviving Clayton. Belle and I had spent nearly thirteen years depending on no one but each other, and while it felt good to have people in our lives that we could count on, there was a part of me—undoubtedly a very stupid part—that would have preferred it to remain just the two of us.
Still, there was one good point about the continuing silence from Canberra—it allowed me to spend extra time with Aiden, even though I hadn’t officially moved in.
A hot chocolate appeared in front of my nose. I flashed him a smile as he reclaimed his position next to me on the sofa. It was close to midnight, but we both had tomorrow off so had made the best of it by catching up on some new release movies.
“What do you want to do tomorrow?” he asked.
“Shop? We’re almost out of food.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Shopping is boring.”
“Shopping is necessary if we want to eat. Besides, living together on a more permanent basis will involve boring moments. Life’s full of them.”
“Not when one has you in their life.”
I snorted and would have nudged him if not for the fact it would have spilled the rather full cups of hot chocolate. “Then what do you want—”
I stopped as bells chimed, a sound that was accompanied by a wash of rainbow light. Then magic stirred, and my gut clenched.
It wasn’t any old magic.
It was dark magic.
“What’s wrong?”
My gaze met Aiden’s. “I placed an alarm around the Manananggal’s tracking spell—it just activated. She’s on her way.”
He swore softly and pushed to his feet. “What do we need to do?”
I thrust a hand through my hair. “We need to call Monty, but I’m not sure he’ll get here before her.”
He frowned. “Can’t you cage her until he does get here? You’ve done it with other demons.”
“Her awareness of my presence makes it more difficult.”
“Or it may act as an enticement—remember, she’s tried to kill you twice now.”
“True.”
I twisted around and studied the now alive tracking spell sitting on a bookshelf. An idea stirred… probably a bad idea, but right now we were out of options. She was closing in fast, if the quickening pulse of the tracker was anything to go by.
“I know that look,” Aiden said. “I’m not going to like what you’re about to suggest.”
A smile tugged my lips. “Possibly not.”
He made a low growly sound. “What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to grab the salt and run a line across the bottom of the stairs. Then I want you to go upstairs and run a line along all the window sills up there.”
“While you’re doing what?”
“I’ll be creating two circles in the middle of your living room—one to protect me, the other to snare her. When she’s caught, you’re going to shoot her fucking brains out.”
“I’m liking the sound of that last part; the rest, however—” He stopped, then kissed me fiercely. “I know I keep saying this, but please be careful.”
“I’ve never left a good hot chocolate unfinished, Ranger. I’m not about to start now.”
He laughed softly, then kissed my forehead and headed toward the pantry. I followed him across to grab a butcher knife from the wooden block near the stove. Then, with a deep breath that did little to settle the uncertainty churning within, I sat cross-legged in the middle of the living room and carefully placed the Manananggal’s spell in front of me. The knife I tucked behind me; it was a last means of protection, and one I hoped I didn’t have to use.
But for this trap to have any hope of working, I had to appear weak. Vulnerable.
After removing the alarm spell from the tracker, I closed my eyes, centered my energy, and set to work. I started on the outer ring first, creating my cage, keeping the threads tightly woven and pushing as much strength into them as I could. Hopefully, it would hold long enough for Aiden to shoot her.
The tracking spell’s threads pulsed with greater intensity. She was close, so damn close. My heart hammered so hard, I swear it was going to tear out of my chest. I sucked in a deep breath and
