Sunday, August 31st – 11:00 am
I pace the confines of my small living space as I pluck at the sleeves of my blouse. I pivot again and pace the floor. I am at a loss.
Where is the woman? Days now, and I have yet to see her.
I look out the window. From my vantage point, I can see the parking area of the complex where the woman lives, even to the empty spot where she usually parks her car. I picked this last place because I can see Luys come and go from his home.
Luys is nowhere to be found. I have traveled to the nearest prison and found the chain link, the barbed wire, the armed guards, and the brute force of the men within the walls daunting.
They are puny humans. But there are many of them and only one of me. If I try to go in, I will more than call attention to myself. They will learn I am unlike any of them. Word will fly between them all, and they will make a point of hunting me down because I am different.
You are being weak. A coward of all things!
Since when have I shied away from humans? I use them until they are useless husks. They give me strength.
But do they? Do they really? Avery has the same ability.
She is an anomaly.
But is she?
Enough!
I glare out the window.
Your daughter is human.
That is different. She is part of me, born from my loins.
My lips curl. My daughter will not be human long when I find her. And I’ll find her. I’ll change her, turn her into something far better than any human, into a superior being as she deserves.
First, I need to find Gabriel.
I frown. Soon, I will leave Luys. He is not turning into the brother I had hoped. Sudden rage flows through me. He has betrayed me, and I still go back to him like a whipped dog.
I close my eyes against the pain. But he is my little brother. I love him. I always have.
He wants you to get help. He says they have medication to help you think clearly.
He’s lied before. He might be lying again to trap me, to make sure I don’t bother him or Gabriel again. To keep me away from who is rightfully mine.
The medicine might be a way to convince them you are fit for your daughter.
No. Never. Taking modern medicine and agreeing with him screams that I am weak.
I pause in the middle of the room. Being inside this box of a building makes my skin crawl, and the rage swirling inside me is not abating. I need to feed the fury. Only a hunt for an undesirable will appease it.
In a swirl of mist and fog, I disappear from the room.
Monday, September 1st – 8:46 am
Avery sat on the edge of the bed of her hotel room. How she landed safely after leaving the prison, she didn’t know. Kissing Luys had been distracting as hell. But she’d focused on her hunger and the place she loved to frequent. Somehow that focus had sent her to her favorite pizza restaurant blocks from her condo. Maybe, just maybe, she might be getting a handle on crossing long distances. She just thanked God no one saw her ‘appear’ out of a mist on the side of the property.
Beyond shocked, she stared out the window. She was on the third floor of a weekly vacation rental and six miles away from her condo. Far enough, hopefully, to be unfindable from Mayor, but close enough if she had to run back to her condo. But the only way she would show up at her home again was if her life depended on it.
After landing at the restaurant, she’d ventured back to her condo, needing a weeks’ worth of clothes, some essentials, her computer, and Clover. When she’d stepped through the front door, she nearly cried at the disaster. Upended cushions, fist-size holes in the plaster, kitchen chairs broken and upended. Her gaze narrowed on the wall opposite the front door, and she found herself unable to turn away as she moved forward on unsteady legs. The air was dry and cold against her skin. Blood smeared a random path across the wall. Her nose wrinkled. But whose blood? Did she even want to know? She hoped the stain was from Mayor and not someone else.
Clover! Panicked, she hurried through the living room, checked the kitchen, and found no sign of the kitten. Oh, God. She prayed Mayor hadn’t hurt the cat. Only when she stepped into her bedroom did she relax. The kitten sat in the middle of her bed. On Avery’s entry, Clover sauntered across her bed toward her, her tiny mew a relief to hear.
She packed up as quickly as she could and smuggled everything into her car. She paused at her door. Damn it. The lock was ruined—the second time in less than two weeks. She’d have to call a locksmith, but she’d wait until she was far enough away from her condo first.
Once safely ensconced in one of the Grove’s weekly rentals, she knew she couldn’t continue on this route, though. She’d asked for an emergency leave at work, and they’d agreed to give her two weeks, but it was out of the question for anything longer unless it was a medical emergency. Her funds would eventually run out. Staying at a hotel and paying rent at the same time wasn’t in her budget. She had to do something; she couldn’t remain inactive for long.
Earlier, even though Luys had mentioned Mayor had since moved, she still found herself driving through Mayor’s old neighborhood and to the house where Mayor had held the party she’d attended, which seemed like eons ago now, but the home looked like it was occupied by a young couple. Avery drove by several more times to double-check. When she saw the woman in the yard another time, Avery stopped her car long enough to ask if she knew where the previous renter had moved to. She hadn’t been able to give Avery any answers.
So where could Mayor have disappeared to? She had to be nearby, watching, waiting for an opportunity.
Rolling her shoulders, she decided she needed answers before she did anything else and called the police department.
Finally, after the third transfer, a woman answered. Avery asked, “I was hoping to see if my police report was filed with the right department or wherever it’s supposed to go.”
“Name?”
“Avery Fleming.” She waited several minutes until the woman reconnected. “Can you give me your name again?”
“Avery Fleming.”
A long pause followed, and for a minute, she thought the clerk disconnected the line. “I can’t find anything by that name. Could it be under your maiden name?”
“No. I’m not married.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t find anything. Do you remember the officer you talked to?”
“Ben Atkins.”
“Let me do a cross-reference.” Another long pause. “Sorry, still nothing. You’ll have to come back in and file another report.”
“Thanks.”
Avery hung up and swore under her breath. The bastard. Here she’d thought she could trust him, and he’d betrayed that trust. Of course, he’d betrayed it! He was a freaking murderer! He’d ripped people’s hearts out. A shiver raced across her arms and the back of her neck as images from the other night with Ben and his victim flashed across her vision. She blinked several times to get the pictures out of her head.
The idea of walking away, leaving town slipped into her head but just as quickly slipped out. She couldn’t leave Luys in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. He was the only person who knew the new her. The only one she had a connection to. Too long, she’d kept people at bay. She hadn’t with Luys. At least near the end, she hadn’t.
The one thing going for her right now was that Ben didn’t know that she’d turned into—what had Luys called it? A nagual?
But how could she fight a police officer? He was the law. Who was going to believe her over a cop? But he wasn’t the only law out there. Her mind segued to Hatcher, the detective who had shown up at the hospital with Ben. But did she dare go to him? Did she dare trust him? Weren’t they partners? Wasn’t there that code of silence between cops?
Her stomach roiled. If this pace kept up, she was liable to get an ulcer, among other ailments, if that was at all possible now with her nagual condition. Groaning, she sank down on the edge of the bed. Her nerves were shot; her mind was a mess. She needed to focus.
The key to everything was Ben. Why frame Luys? There had to be a reason, and she suspected that reason was inside his condo. But even if she couldn’t find an answer to the tie between Ben and Luys, she might just find proof of a connection between her murdered neighbor, Noah Harris, and Ben.
Had they worked together? Why were they in the same complex? There were too many unanswered questions.
Then there was this latest murder. She’d seen Ben toss the body to the ground. The victim had been dead or near dead. They had looked lifeless from her vantage point. Yeah, there had been shadows, but there had also been moonlight. There was no way she hallucinated the attack. Especially when Ben saw her and went after her. But where was the body? She hadn’t read anything in the newspapers or online.
Oh, God. She needed proof. But what type?
She flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Proof…
The only place to find it would be at his condo. She winced at the idea of going anywhere near the complex, what with Mayor also running around. The idea of going into Ben’s place was even more cringe-worthy. But what choice did she have?
She sat back up and made a quick call to the police department again.
“Yes,” the operator said. “He’s in today. I can ring him through to his desk.”
Avery quickly hung up and sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to Ben. The name alone sent her pulse skittering and her skin to grow clammy. So… if he was at work, that meant his condo was empty. That meant she could get into his place undetected through her new abilities.
All she would need was a good hour, right?
And what if she found something? Did she even want to find anything? She cringed again. She needed to find proof. Okay, so say she actually found evidence of him being a murderer? What then? Call Hatcher?
After rummaging in her purse for Hatcher’s card, she sank back down on the bed and flapped the card against her thigh. She bit down on her lower lip. She wasn’t in her condo, so even if she confided in Hatcher and he was somehow tied to Ben, he couldn’t get to her. Ahh, but he could. They could put a bogus warrant out for her arrest. After all, they knew her home address, her driver’s license number.
Oh, God, she was screwed.
But she had to do something!
Grumbling under her breath, she flipped through her phone and started doing some research. She needed to protect herself if, for some reason, she got caught in Ben’s condo. Mercury was out, but Luys had told her there were other ways. Phone in hand, after flipping from article to article and eyeing anatomy pictures, she stepped into the kitchen and then palmed a couple of knives from the butcher’s block. She settled on a long, narrow wicked-looking blade. It would have to do.
After fifteen more minutes of research, she pocketed her cell in her back pocket, held the knife in one hand, and closed her eyes. Focus. Think of Ben’s place. She waited, breathing slowly, trying to calm her heart. She opened her eyes. She was still in her living room.
“Damn it!”
The air left her lungs, and a powerful force flung her body into a black void. Then a kaleidoscope of color swirled around her, blinding in intensity. She gasped for air, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t need air. She was weightless and without form.
Another violent blast thrust her to the side and down. Avery crashed into Ben’s kitchen. In the process, she smacked the side of the kitchen counter. She sucked in a breath. Her legs buckled as she slammed to the ground. A wave of nausea roiled through her.
She lay on the kitchen floor for several minutes as her breath calmed, but the pain lancing into her eyes stabbed at her again and again.
More breathing. Slow, steady. She needed to get control of her body. She didn’t know how much time she had to search Ben’s place.
She pulled herself from the floor with the help of the counter, looked around, and glanced through the partition to the living area. A sectional in black leather with a chrome and glass table filled much of the space, and a large-screen television rested against one wall. No movement or sound came from any of the other rooms.
Her knife. Oh, shit. She didn’t see it anywhere. She checked her hands and body just in case she’d cut herself with it. Nothing. She leaned against the counter until the muscles in her body stopped vibrating and contracting. The idea of leaving now wasn’t an option. This last trip had been far more difficult and taxing to her system than any of the others. She needed to get some semblance of control over her body.
Still hunched over the counter, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket to check if her phone was still working. It was, but she didn’t like how the battery was down to 10 percent, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. She’d also had missed a call. She didn’t recognize the number and whoever hadn’t left a message. She’d look into it later when she was safe.
Several minutes later, after gaining her equilibrium, she rummaged in the kitchen drawers until she found a twelve-inch blade. She wrapped her fingers around it to get a feel for it.
When she rounded the kitchen into the main area, she froze. She hadn’t seen the side wall in the dining area until now. She moved further into the room and around the dining table, unable to take her gaze away from the items displayed on the wall.
Weapons. Guns, knives, spears, machetes, axes—all ancient and all deadly looking. The knife by her shoulder was unadorned of feathers. The handle, made of some type of jade or turquoise, looked like someone had carved an image of an Aztec god into it. The blade, possibly onyx, was pitch black with a primitive serrated edge. She ran a finger along the flat of the blade, noting the razor-sharp edge, and wondered if it was a ceremonial knife when the Aztecs ruled with fear and blood.
Had Mayor used one similar on her? Had she stood over Avery and incanted the words of the old ones?
Avery shivered and turned her focus from the morbid idea.
There weren’t too many places to search. She checked the coat closet by the front door, looking for boxes or storage containers where he might hide important information. She eyed the tablet on the coffee table with little hope of finding anything. Two seconds later, she found the screen locked. She couldn’t find any computer or laptop.
The bedroom didn’t reveal anything other than Ben was a slob. Strange that the main living area of his place was immaculate, but his bedroom was anything but. Socks, shorts, and underwear littered the floor. There had to be something! Next, she moved into the closet and flipped on the interior light. Something smelled awful. Her nose wrinkled. Not wanting to, but knowing she needed to, she shoved the clothing on the hanger to one side.
There. A garbage bag. Her hand tightened on the handle of the knife, and she took in a deep, rattling breath. She didn’t want to look inside, but she had to. She didn’t have options if she wanted answers. Rolling her shoulders and taking in a deep breath for courage, she untwisted the top of the bag and peered inside.
Clothing. Smelly at that. A gym room in a bag. Actually, the whole bedroom smelled of a gym bag.
She twisted the bag back in place, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed that there hadn’t been any other incriminating evidence inside. From the bedroom, she walked into the bathroom and froze. Blood. On the shower curtain, on the tile by her feet, and probably on the dark clothing flung to one corner of the room.
Evidence screamed back at her. But could she get Hatcher here before Ben? It would depend on how close the two men were. But how was she going to explain why she was in Ben’s condo? Did she dare lie? It didn’t matter right this second. She’d think of the logistics later.
She backed away from the room, careful to make sure the soles of her feet didn’t come into contact with any stains or evidence. Once in the bedroom, she pivoted, rushed from the room, down the hall, and into the living room. She stumbled to a halt. The front door stood open, with Ben blocking the exit.
Oh, shit.
Talk about bad timing.
“Well, well, well.” Ben closed the door behind him without breaking eye contact with Avery. “Did you really think you’d get away with breaking into my place?”
“How…you couldn’t have known that—”
“The ever efficient, Clara.” He flicked the lock with a click. “She worried that one of my calls didn’t go through and gave me the number of the caller. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you were up to something.”
Avery thought back to her brief conversation at the police precinct. She should have known they would have a record as to the calls that came in. Damn it. She should have used a burner or public phone. But she hadn’t thought. She hadn’t— Oh, God. The missed call. It could have very well have been him, and she wouldn’t have known it unless she’d taken the time to find out who belonged to the number.
And here she’d thought she’d been so smart. Her powers had blinded her to her fallibility.
Ben stepped toward her, his movements measured and slow, which felt far more threatening than if he’d rushed her.
“This saves me from a huge headache.”
She lifted the knife in the air, trying to focus, to remember how to protect herself against someone like him. “Keep away from me.”
He arched a brow and eyed her weapon with an amused smile. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
His smile dropped as he took another threatening step. “Where’s Mayor? She’s been holed up somewhere, but I haven't been able to find out where.”
“Mayor?” she parroted like an idiot, but the question was the last thing she expected.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“I’m not going to tolerate your lies.”
Her lips tightened.
“Why would you protect her?”
Avery didn’t know why she was protecting her. The woman had nearly killed her. Maybe it was because she was Luys’ sister. Or that she’d learned of Mayor’s vulnerability when it came to her daughter. The woman was capable of love in a sick, twisted way. Unlike the man in front of her. “I don’t know her.”
“I don’t have much patience when it comes to you.” He took yet another step toward her as she backed into the dining room, her hand fisted around the blade’s handle. There was one other exit: the sliding glass doors at the back of the dining area. “You’ve made my life far too messy, and I don’t like complications. I get rid of them. Quickly.”
He rushed her. She didn’t have time to do anything but react. She should have used her powers to disappear, but she was afraid her body wouldn’t take it. She flung herself around the dining room table toward the sliding glass doors, then pivoted back around to face him. She slashed the knife side to side. He dodged the blade, swept a hand in, and punched her in the gut.
She grunted and doubled over. Her vision blurred. He was far stronger than she’d imagined. As light flashed and sparked along her peripheral vision, she sucked in air, trying to gain her balance. His other hand slammed across her wrist. She bit back a cry. Pain cut across her bones and tendons, but her grip held steady on the knife. Straightening, she shoved at his shoulder with her other hand, trying to get enough leverage between them to use the knife. He stumbled backward, his eyes widening. Somehow, strangely, she had a strength she hadn’t possessed before. Maybe she was acquiring new powers beyond what she already had. And just maybe she might get out of this alive.
Curiosity flashed in his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re one of us.”
Suddenly, he pivoted, twisted at the waist, and kicked a foot out to connect with her wrist and the weapon. At his unexpected move and the lash of pain that drilled into her arm, she dropped the knife. Breath hissing into her lungs, she pressed her hand against her stomach, willing the pain and numbness to ease as she retreated around the dining room table and along the wall with the weapons.
His gaze narrowed. “How did Mayor turn you?”
She wouldn’t answer him, but it sounded like he knew too much already. He had to have been the one with the listening device in Luys’ condo.
“What ritual did she use?”
He lifted a hand until his palm hovered over his gun belted to his waist.
“Or was it Luys?”
Her heart rate kicked up a notch at the mention of his name.
“I didn’t think he was as strong as his sister.” Ben cocked his head to his side. “Where’s Mayor? This is the last time I’m going to ask.”
Her pulse pounded inside her head.
He’d shoot until she was incapacitated. Then even if she had some type of superior strength from what Mayor hadn’t given her and bullets wouldn’t kill her, she would need time to recover, time to get enough strength to fight back. It would be too late. He would finish her off.
She felt useless, foolish, incapable of beating him.
“You made it so easy. You’re in my place. An intruder. With a knife, for God’s sake.”
Wearily, she watched him as she backed along the dining room, forcing herself not to look at the weapons to the right of her on the wall. He followed, edging even closer as he pulled the gun from its holster.
Avery had one option and only a second to act.
She had to do it. She needed to do it. Her life depended on it. She sucked in a breath and let fear and anger propel her forward and from the room. She fell into space, sucked into another dimension for seconds, minutes, she didn’t know. Just as suddenly, she was yanked back with savage intensity. She reappeared behind Ben and right beside the Aztec blade on the wall. Fighting back nausea and dizziness, she grabbed the knife from the hook as he turned. Without hesitation, she plunged it into his body at an angle, through his ribs, and into his heart, just as she’d envisioned after reading and viewing picture after picture of the human anatomy on the internet.
Eyes widening, he stared at her as if in shock. He hadn’t expected such a move from her. Silent, he glared down at her hands around the blade, grabbed at her wrists, struggled to pull the weapon from his body. For several heart-rending seconds, they battled over the blade. But Avery held on with both hands, willing herself for more strength, knowing her life depended on it. As his hands weakened around her own, she found a renewed energy and determination. Ever so slowly, the stunned look on his face evaporated. His expression slackened as his fingers slipped from her hands. She jumped back as he tumbled to the ground.
Body shaking, breath sawing in and out of her lungs, she backed away from Ben and latched onto the edge of the dining room table, afraid that if she didn’t grab something for support, she’d land on the ground beside or on top of him.
She waited, staring at his prone body lying on its side. Nothing. No movement, no sound. She waited longer. And still nothing.
His body didn’t shrivel up into a husk of its former self. He didn’t evaporate into a mound of dust. He lay there, the fabric of his white dress shirt darkening around the protruding knife.
Unable to take being inside, she stumbled from the condo and stood outside. It had been self-defense. The police would have to see that. Wouldn’t they?
With a shoulder against the side of the wall, she grabbed for Hatcher’s business card in her back pocket with a trembling hand. He’d given the card to her just a little over two weeks ago. Hard to believe it wasn’t that long ago when he’d first shown up in the hospital with his initial questions with Ben. It felt like years since. She grabbed her phone from her other back pocket to call him. But then she paused.
911 first. Then Hatcher. The more police, the better. They couldn’t all be like Mayor or Ben. When she finally got the shaking under control, she called the emergency line and waited outside of the condo.
“Avery!”
Her entire body jerked in reaction. She spun around. Her friend, Cristina, trotted down the walkway toward her. “My God. Where have you been? You’ve had me so worried!” She stumbled to a halt in front of Avery, her voice ratcheting up a notch. “I tried calling you. Even left a couple of messages. You didn’t call me back. I showed up at your condo too, and nothing either. Why? I thought we were friends!
“I seriously thought of calling the police. I’ve been afraid for your life. I know Luys was arrested, but still. There are so many wackos out there.”
Avery rubbed a thumb across the surface of her phone again and again as she fumbled for an answer. She’d completely forgotten about Cristina. She’d been so focused on her own drama. “I’ve been staying with a friend over at the Grove. She’s visiting from out of town with her husband, and there wasn't enough room at my place for everyone,” she said, surprised that once she started, how easily the lies came.
Gaze narrowing, Cristina backed up and paused long enough to look over Avery’s face and body. “Something wrong. What is it? You look like hell.”
Avery opened her mouth—she couldn’t help herself—and blurted out, “It’s not good. Not good at all.”
She’d known there would be questions. Many questions. Not just Cristina’s but the police’s.
But her answers?
Well, it was simple. That she knew. She’d have to lie.