Page 26 of Property of Crypt Keeper

“Werewolves,” I filled in, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“Yeah… except not exactly,” Hack replied. “No confirmed bodies. Just… missing things. Like she erases the evidence.”

Of course she did.

“What else?”

“She’s not human,” Hack said flatly.

I leaned against the railing.

“Yeah. I figured that out already.”

“I can’t pin what she is,” he continued. “But she’s off-grid in a way I’ve never seen. Like she exists around the system instead of in it.”

A ghost. Or something worse. A demon.

“Keep digging,” I sighed. “But I’m pretty sure she’s a demon.”

No, I knew she was, but I didn’t want to explain how I knew that. I’d been reluctant to admit it because I was afraid he would involve Haidyn. “Can we keep this between us until I have more information?”

“Damn, okay. No problem,” Hack replied. “But that’s not why I called.”

My gaze drifted back through the window.

Zara sat at the table, legs swinging slightly under the chair, but her head was tilted again.

Listening.

To me.

“Zara,” I guessed.

Hack exhaled. “Yeah.”

“Tell me.”

“I pulled everything I could find on the parents,” he said. “Went through everything again. Birth records, medical history, background. Clean. Too clean.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“It does this time,” Hack cut in. “They’re human, Crypt. Completely. No markers. No anomalies. Nothing buried. Their lines have no connections to shifters.”

The words landed heavy.

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“It’s impossible for both of those people to be her biological parents. I’m saying genetically, that kid didn’t come from two humans,” Hack replied. “You know this as well as I do. One of her parents has to be a shifter and they weren’t.”

My jaw tightened. That didn’t make sense.

“Then explain her.”

“That’s just it… I can’t,” he conceded. “Not without breaking fucking biology.”

Silence stretched. I knew that not having the answer had to be driving him nuts.

My eyes went back to Zara. She was staring at me now.