Page 166 of Unholy Masks

The world had settled down. After I had killed Trish, we had burned her in the crematorium. It had taken a while to stage Trish’s disappearance from Art and Apostle—but we had managed it with some elaborate stories.

Kurt had disappeared—we did not know if Trish had murdered him or he had simply found a way to disappear. The sister said he never came back.

Irene had healed, and gone back to college after a few days, finally ready to put all of this mess behind her and live normally, as normally as she could after everything.

Enzo was recovering slowly from the wounds his heart had endured.

The detectives were still hunting for the Strangler and Leo Kesler’s killer. Detective Hall hadn’t given up, and she would not give up anytime soon, but I refused to dwell on what might come tomorrow. I wasn’t going to spend my life living in fear of the future.

Everything had gone back to the way it was supposed to be, but there was one thing still left on my checklist.

Reah’s e-mail had stayed untouched for days until I pulled it open two days ago, and now we were on our way to meet Reginald Sinclair. The man who had ruined Ryden’s life.

“Hurry up,” I said, pushing Ryden toward the car. “We’re going on a trip.”

“Where are we going?” Ryden asked for the hundredth time as we passed through an endless stretch of trees.

“You’ll see.”

I stopped at a small, quaint diner. We ordered pancakes with syrup and ate in comfortable silence.

“Yara,” Ryden said, setting down his fork. “Why are we here?”

“There’s one final thing to do before we completely move forward.” I didn’t know where we would go from here on, though. Would we go back into the darkness or move forward into light? Would we still nourish our demons or fight them to submission?

I did not know, but I knew one thing.

This must be done!

His eyes narrowed.

We paid for food, and I got back behind the wheel. The engine rumbled to life as we pulled back onto the empty road.

“Are you kidnapping me? Wait, is this about what you promised? Just you and me and nothing else for weeks?” He looked delighted, but his smile immediately withered when I shook my head.

“Not yet. But after this, I swear.”

I had already booked us a hotel suite in Hawaii. Beach and sand and sex. All the sex we could have in the world.

But before that, we needed an offer of blood.

“Here we are.”

It was almost dark when we pulled up to a broken-down trailer parked in the middle of the woods.

The place was quiet. I looked around. There was only emptiness as far as I could see. Blissful emptiness.

Rust streaked the walls of the vehicle, and the front door hung crooked on its hinges. It looked like it had been abandoned and left to rot.

But it wasn’t abandoned. A ghost lived within these walls, a ghost that must be exorcised.

“He lives here,” I said, looking up at Ryden as my fingers curled around his.

He stumbled back. For a brief moment, panic flashed across his face.

He didn’t ask who I was talking about.

“If you want to go in, we’ll go in and finish this. If you want to leave now, we’ll leave. If you want me to go in alone, I will.”