time, so it’s been back through here,” I said.
Gabe swung his feet up into the space and lifted himself up into the ceiling. “I’m getting some heavy readings here. It also stinks like skittles and feet.”
“Anything else up there?”
“Nothing good. Someone, or something, has been camped here for extended periods of time.”
I shivered and rubbed my hands up and down my arms.
He swung back down, and landed first on the vanity, then he stepped down to the floor. “I wanted to follow the trail up there, but we’re on limited time. I think we should see if it’s going to get in our way in the access tunnel.”
We made our way down to the basement of The Jewel of the Midwest, and as we did, I saw all the places where Vlad had to stop and take hump break and the memory twisted my guts. After descending the stairs to the front door of the doggie daycare, I pointed down the access hallway.
“It was down there, that night after you walked me to get Vlad.”
He stepped into the heavy shadows and lifted his phone, peering into the gloom. “Exactly where?”
I walked down the hallway with him until we got to the spot where I was sure I’d seen the thing. “It was here.” And then I leaned against the wall. “This is where it seemed to disappear.”
Gabe pulled a device out of his pocket and attached it to his phone. Whatever signature trails the device read, alarms buzzed and all the lights on the thing illuminated.
“I think I know what they are. The readings say there’s more than one. These things are elite servants of the Order.”
I sighed. “Of course they are.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? These things are dangerous.”
“Well, my dude, I was sorta distracted with murder.”
“Distraction is a killer. I know they teach you that at slayer daycare,” he said.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I acknowledged with a shrug.
“I don’t think you understand how right,” he said. “These things are nasty pieces of work. Real bad motherfuckers. If he’d managed to break your skin, he could have had power over you. Enslaved your mind and made you a servant to the Order. Or a willing victim.”
That’s when I knew I couldn’t trust Gabe Dunavent and a cold prickle of awareness skittered down my spine like a hundred tiny spider legs.
I’d never told him the thing had tried to bite me and couldn’t break the skin, but somehow, he knew.
“Do you think that’s what happened to Lindsey? Do you think that thing bit her? She was acting erratically and out of character before all of this. So was Dallas.” Except Lindsey and Dallas were both on that list that I hadn’t shared with him. As was Marc.
“It could be,” he said, much too casually. “Or maybe Lindsey and Dallas were just shitty human beings.”
“I can’t argue with you there.” My mind raced with a way to extract myself. “We should get back. I need to do that thing.” I nodded toward the stairs.
He smiled at me, and suddenly, his grin was too wide. Too big. Too white. “Oh, I fucked up, didn’t I?” he tsked. “Such a shame, I was doing so well, too. But you can’t win them all, can you?”
I deadpanned. “What are you talking about?”
“Cut the shit, Margie. You caught me. So go on. Ask me.”
“I’ve asked you all the questions I need to ask you.”
“Do you want to play rough? I kind of do.”
I cracked my neck from side to side. “We can play rough. Your choice. Your boys watching are going to see you get your ass kicked, but I guess that’s up to you.”
“If you’d kissed me because you wanted to, we wouldn’t be here. You think I didn’t know a show when I saw it?” He began unbuttoning his shirt. “In fact, I remembered so clearly how you felt about me in high school. I’m the only guy you ever looked at besides Miracle Marc. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the nerdy chubby girl who was my lab partner was actually a chosen one?” He dropped the shirt and started on his pants.
It hit me then, what had happened to him. I remembered the scars on his shoulder. His story about the vampire den that had saved him. “You never came out of that den, did you? They tore you apart and devoured your humanity,” I said.
“No!” He growled. “They made me better. Stronger. Faster. With more endurance. And the