Chapter Twenty-Three

Dillan

No Time for Sarcasm

Dillan stood in the shadows of an outcropping of pines as Kyle and Selena walked hand in hand toward the cemetery’s entrance. He didn’t expect to encounter them on this detour Sebastian had him on. The hellhound was positive it felt the Maestro’s energy signature within the grounds. He would have confirmed it if he had more of his powers, but right now all he had to corroborate Sebastian’s instincts was the hint of sulfur in the air. Not enough for humans to pick up. Conjuring—the dark side of Channeling—always left an acrid scent behind.

But instead of concentrating on the case, his eyes never left Selena. It took all of his willpower to resist the urge to run after them. He’d been feeling insanely jealous of anyone in her company since the bookstore. It made no sense. Even he knew that. But when he saw them hugging, he almost charged them just to pull them apart.

What happened at Ormond’s still pissed him off. That girl had no sense of self-preservation. The way Bowen looked at her…like something to eat. He should have separated them, too. She was a bundle of trouble. One he couldn’t resist anymore—no matter how hard he tried, she dragged him back in like riptide. Only when the thought hit him did he notice his fingers had gone numb. He looked down and forced his hand to relax.

That the girl?

Sebastian smugness grated at his ego. “Shut up.”

The black canine shook his massive head. What about—

“You don’t have to bring her in to this.” He scowled.

She visits you.

“Just stupid dreams.”

But—

“You know why.” He rolled his eyes toward the darkening sky. “She has the right to hate me. Wherever she is. If she’s still—”

Stop blaming yourself.

“Get out of my head, you mutt. We don’t have time to talk about that now. We can’t get caught out here at night. I count more than two hundred graves in the new area alone.”

A long minute passed without another word from the hellhound. Then he said, You have no reason to be jealous.

“Jealous?” A puff of laugher came out of him.

I feel no attraction coming from the Hilliard son toward the girl.

“Her name’s Selena.” And damn if that didn’t make him feel better. Forehead like an accordion, he grumbled, “Let’s get back to work.”

Why do you think they were here? The Hilliard boy should have known better.

He took a minute to make sure no one else was in the cemetery before he approached the place where Kyle and Selena stood earlier. At least two dozen yellow roses lay below a weeping angel. The names on the granite confused him. “Why would Kyle’s parents be buried here? When I got a look at his family tree, they were still indicated as alive.”

Symbolic?

“Trust me. The prick wouldn’t know what symbolic meant if it hit him in the face.”

A grumble bark came from behind him. I get it. You hate him.

He raised an eyebrow over his shoulder at the large animal behind him. “You really gotta work on your sarcasm.”

A coughing sound followed.

“Yeah, laugh it up, asshole.”

He waited until Sebastian sobered. He didn’t understand what had come over him. Why would Kyle’s arms around Selena piss him off? They were best friends. They had the right to hug it out. They were in front of a grave. It seemed appropriate. But it didn’t make sense. If Kyle’s parents were dead, their names should have been crossed out. The mystery got more complicated. Just when he thought he’d figured things out, twenty more questions popped up.

“Do you get the feeling the mutilated dogs and Maestro have nothing to do with the rest of what’s going on here?” he asked more to himself.

We cannot rule out any of the possibilities. The Maestro is here. I can feel its presence tainting the air.

A charge hung around them. It surprised him Kyle hadn’t felt it. Or maybe he’d chosen to ignore it. He deliberately put Selena in danger. The prick mustn’t have been listening when he told him about the puppets in Valley View. One concrete reason to really hate him.

Dillan cracked his knuckles. “Nothing makes sense to me anymore. And just so you know, I’ve never come up against a Maestro before, but I’ve read the texts. He’s hiding himself well.”

That is comforting.

“You should really quit with the sarcasm.”

Now you know how I feel.

“Will you just investigate the north side while I take the south? I want to get out of here in under an hour. Got that?”

Since you asked so nicely.

Only after Dillan added an exaggerated “please” did they dash deeper into the cemetery.