Chapter Nineteen

Dillan

Back to the Real World Newcastle

Happy to finally be rid of this disastrous weekend, Dillan climbed out of Kyle’s car Sunday afternoon. He took the steps to the townhouse two at a time without looking back. He didn’t need keys since the doors stayed unlocked. Any locks wouldn’t stop what they normally went up against. The wards discouraged Supernaturals from entering the home. And any human would be stupid to break into an Illumenari protected household. Well, maybe not so much the Hilliard household. Chuckling, he pushed in and dropped his duffle by the door. The stillness inside deceived the casual onlooker. Rainer was around. He felt his menace. Just as his uncle felt him the second he came in.

“Rainer,” he called, keeping his excitement in check. He didn’t want to give his uncle the wrong impression. Banishment just got better. Newcastle wasn’t the sleepy town he initially thought it to be. “Rainer!” He moved further into the house, not having the patience for his uncle’s mind games. “You dick, I know you’re home.”

“Quit squawking.” His warden stepped out of his study. He snapped the book in his hand shut. “I didn’t think I’d miss the quiet until I had the weekend all to myself.”

“It’s back to babysitting the prisoner, Granpa.”

“I did laundry while you were gone. For someone who moves around a lot, you have a crap load of clothes.”

“There’s a Maestro in town.”

That caught the Boogeyman off guard. His brow furrowed, and his gaze turned murderous. Executing a precise about-face, he motioned for Dillan to follow him into his study.

Rainer sat down behind his desk and asked, “How do you know?”

Taking one of the seats across from his uncle, Dillan used the least amount of words to recount what had happened. “Saturday, at Valley View, five puppets broke through the barriers.”

“Puppets?” Steel entered Rainer’s gaze. His mounting anger charged the energy in the room until it bit into skin.

The killing urge reached across the table and washed over Dillan. Unable to avoid it, all he could do was nod, keeping his hands flat on the arm rests. Mentally, he calculated the distance between the chair and door. He considered his options. Maybe he could make it out of there before his uncle pounced. The power in the Boogeyman’s aura pinched his arms, forcing him to abandon any escape plan. Predators always ran after prey. The less he moved, the better. If the chair hadn’t been holding him up, he’d be on his hands and knees already.

“What were they doing there? Valley View has the strongest wards. I helped put them up.”

“Your wards had holes. I caught them with Selena—”

“Fallon?” His interruption came with stillness. The pulse on Dillan’s neck quickened, and sweat drenched his palms. The oppressive air in the room made his pinky twitch.

He swallowed against the tightness in his throat. “It could have been anyone. She was there because…”

“Because?”

From the way Rainer looked at him, lying to save himself wasn’t a good idea. Backed into a corner, he went with the truth. “Because…” He swallowed again. “I was being an idiot. We argued. She stormed out.”

When his uncle relaxed, he breathed again. Shit. He hated it when his jailer got all killer instinct on him.

“How are you so sure they—”

“Five reanimated corpses that turned to black ooze at a single sword strike.” He left out the fact that one of them turned to ooze because of Selena. Rainer would never let him hear the end of it. Losing his sword to a girl. Not good for an Illumenari.

“I’m sure you already know who Kyle Hilliard is?”

He pushed back on his uncle’s stare. “What are you hiding here, Rainer?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“Damn it doesn’t. I’m investigating dog disappearances and saving a girl I don’t even think is human from puppets. I’m a part of this, whether you like it or not. If you want me to do my job, I need to know everything.”

“This isn’t official, remember?” Rainer leaned back. His chair tilted until it creaked. He rubbed his face with one hand then he sighed. “You’re not cleared for what we have going on here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Besides the dogs, I need you to expand your search to include the Maestro. He needs to be found and eliminated.”

“Eliminated?”

After some throat clearing, Rainer clarified. “He threatened a resident of the town, which in turn may expose who we are. That’s grounds for execution.”

Dillan couldn’t argue with that. He was thankful his uncle didn’t grill him on how much Selena knew. “And here I thought you’d want to take this one yourself.”

“I can’t.” He shook his head before rubbing circles on his temple. “I may not be able to brief you on everything, but this I can say. There’s a delicate balance that needs to be maintained here. The reason why I gave you this case—”

“Only after I begged you for it,” he interrupted.

“Be that as it may, I needed someone impartial. Since you’re not from this town, you’d handle things without any bias.”

“So you’re saying there’s politics involved.” Rainer’s lips slashed into a rigid line. Dillan took that as an affirmative. “Newcastle isn’t just a small, sleepy town is it?”

“Not by a long shot.”

…

Dillan paced the entire length of his room, unable to sleep. He should have been fine with not knowing what Rainer and Hilliard kept from him. The Illumenari lived on a need to know basis. Yet something didn’t sit right. The energy swirling around Newcastle unsettled him. Missing dogs. A girl who seemed human but who wasn’t. A Maestro and puppets. These three things didn’t seem connected no matter how much he tried to mash them together.

Dillan.

Sebastian’s voice broke through his brooding, causing him to bump into his desk chair. Its corner caught him right in the shin, sending piercing pain up his leg. Concentrating his life force, he dulled the pain, unable to completely heal it if he wanted to conserve his strength. Cursing, he went to the window and opened it. Bracing his hands on each side, he propelled himself to the ground. Once he landed, he lifted his fingers to his lips and whistled.

A rustling ahead of him forced focus into his brain. “How’s the search going?”

Finally stumbled on a body. Sebastian shifted, his massive bulk still covered by shadow. Like Dillan, the hellhound used the night to his advantage. Carcass is a better term. I have never seen mangling that bad.

“Do you suppose it’s another animal?”

Humans do not have a set of teeth that could do what was done to that dog.

Finding the body gave him hope. Unfortunate for the dog, sure, but it meant it didn’t die in vain. The carcass—right word choice—would yield more clues. And maybe finally give him some answers.

He let out a slow exhale. “Where’s is it?”

Approximately ten miles northwest of here.

“Northwest? That’s outside our search grid.” He scowled at his partner. “What were you doing outside the grid?”

Easy there. Sebastian pawed at the ground. I did not mean to stray.

“God dammit! We have a system, you mutt!”

If you keep it in your pants long enough to let me explain, you will understand.

Biting back a string of nasty curses in several languages, he gestured for the hellhound to continue.

I felt an energy anomaly.

“Anomaly?” This meant many things, but the most important of them was it involved a Supernatural. Half his mouth pulled up.

See? Knew you would understand. Sebastian dipped his massive head in his version of a nod. I followed the anomaly, and it led me to the body.

“Good.”

What?

“I don’t have to kill you for breaking the system.”

Anyone ever tell you how anal retentive you get when on a case?

“We’re heading out,” he said, ignoring Sebastian’s quip.

And why is that exactly?

“Because I want to see the body.” He took off full tilt, not waiting for his partner to follow. Having something to do distracted him for running around in circles in his head. Too much thinking led to things he didn’t want to confront. Not right now. Not anything involving Rainer, Kyle, and especially not Selena Fallon.