Page 21 of Blood Magic

Chapter Eight

“I wish you’d stay in Shadowfield,” I told my mother.

Lucy was waiting in the yard, playing with the hounds, and Max was already in the car—front seat this time—buckled in and ready to go. The three women staying at the house were washing dishes, laughing and talking, and I couldn’t help but smile to hear them.

“I appreciated Jared’s help,” she said, “but the pack doesn’t want me there. Oh, they’re less hostile to me than to you, but I’m not sure we’re ever going to be anything more than outsiders to them, Kait. I feel better here.”

I understood. “You need to make sure you’re more secure and prepared this time. If Adam and his thugs come back—”

“They won’t return for me. I’m not worth them risking Jared’s wrath. But you, Kait…Adam isn’t going to give up. He’ll manage somehow to take you, though he’s terrified of you.”

I frowned at her. “Mom, why is he afraid of me? Why does he want me now when he cast me out to begin with?”

“He thought you were neutralized, I suppose. He’s afraid of your wolf’s power, and I can’t know why. He has his reasons. Remember when you cut him? He has that scar to this day. That should never have happened.” She stared off into the distance, remembering. Finally, she murmured, “Just watch your back. He doesn’t want to kill you—he’s an asshole and a bully, but he’s not a killer. He wants to control you, and if you’re in his possession in a cage, he can do that.”

I gave a disbelieving laugh. “Not a killer! How can you say that when he murdered dad?”

“Sweetheart,” she said, frowning. “He didn’t murder Daddy. He fought him, and he won. He’s the alpha. Daniel wanted to be. Adam could have let his warriors kill him, but—”

“But he let them beat him nearly to death and then he stepped in to “fight” him. I call that murder.” I couldn’t help that my voice was cold. My ex-alpha was a killer. Just because he hadn’t sneaked up on my father and stuck a knife in his heart didn’t mean he hadn’t murdered him.

She pulled me into a hug. “Be careful, Kaity. I have no doubt that Jared would burn Stonebridge to the ground to find you, but…” She squeezed me, hard. “Just be careful. Adam may not want to kill you, but he is not above hurting you.”

Ten minutes later, Lucy, Max, and I were on our way to Long Shadow.

Max was not a fan of Huntersburg. “I will be very happy to see the city,” he said, shuddering.

Lucy laughed. “I cannot believe you’re scared of chickens.”

“Um, I’m not scared of chickens?”

“He just feels sorry for them,” I said.

“Laugh all you want, both of you. I consider myself lucky to have made it out unmolested.” Again, he shuddered. “That place gives me the creeps.”

I rolled my eyes. “For God’s sake, Max. It’s a tiny little town in the country, not Deliverance.” But then I thought about the girl the vampires had murdered, and I knew Max was going to see that as one more mark against Huntersburg. “I disappeared before lunch,” I said, “because I was approached by a dead girl named Sara. She was killed and buried by vampires, and she can’t cross over until her brother finds her body. I have his phone number. Can you look it up for me, see if you can find a name?”

“Oh my God,” Max said. “How sad. I’ll look into it as soon as we return to the city.”

“How will you say you found the body?” Lucy asked.

“I’ll get the detective involved. He’ll say he got an anonymous tip from a witness who saw some men digging a grave. After he takes a team there to dig her up, I’ll call her brother.” I glanced at him. “Also, she said the vampires didn’t rip her throat out—they compelled a human woman to do it.”

“Wait a minute,” he said. “This is what the vampire girl in Alexandria was talking about. The experiments, the master going beyond the shading…”

I nodded. “I need you to find out everything you can about Sara’s disappearance—and her brother. I don’t know his name, but—”

“Remy Simon,” Max breathed. “Oh, fuck. We have Sara Simon.”

My stomach tightened and my heart began to pound a little too hard. “Remy Simon? Why do you think that?”

“I saw an article,” he said. “I knew the sister of Remington Simon was missing—I just didn’t know she’d made her way to Clinton County. Why was she here?”

“I don’t know. Her words were sporadic and unclear, and I didn’t get specifics.” I hesitated. Remy Simon was a boogeyman to the supernatural community, used to scare children when they misbehaved. He stayed under the humans’ radar, but the shifters knew him as the hunter we did not want on our asses.

I went after supernaturals for fucking with humans. Remy went after supernaturals because they existed.

“How do you know about him?” Lucy asked Max. “You’re human. I’ve never heard of him, and I’m psychic.”