Chapter Twenty-Seven

Dillan

Sucker-Punched and Grass-Stained

Dillan grimaced at what had once been a golden retriever. From the rigor and the dried blood, the carcass couldn’t have been dead more than a day. He’d ruled out wild animal the second he saw the first dog. That many teeth marks didn’t belong to anything the animal kingdom could come up with.

Tonight’s find made twenty. His gut told him there were many more. The prairie was too big for him and Sebastian to cover every inch of it, but every day the number of missing dogs reported increased. He shook his head. How was this thing getting away with it without being seen? Surely a rancher would have noticed something by now.

He didn’t see a pattern until they found more bodies. The one he stood beside now was a little over a couple of miles from Selena’s house. Whatever killed the dogs seemed to leave the bodies for the Fallons to find. But why? What for?

Worry unsettled him. He stifled the urge to run the last few miles and stake out the farmhouse all night. That wouldn’t be creepy at all. The worse part? He’d actually risk it, wincing at the truth of the thought. Christ. One second she twisted him up. The next she pulled him apart. He blamed those damn aqua eyes. They turned a clear shade of blue when she looked up at him through tears.

Sloan.

Pulled from dangerous thoughts, he lifted his head at Sebastian’s call. His partner was close, but not enough to where he could see him. He didn’t have to wait long for the hellhound to continue what he was about to say.

Tracks. A mile east of where you are.

“You sure?”

He growled.

Using the stars above to orient himself, Dillan shifted to his left and took off at a run in the direction Sebastian indicated. They finally had a lead. He believed Selena was the target of the Maestro and whatever was killing the dogs. His protocol mandated he go straight to eliminating the potential threat.

He jogged up a hill and stopped. Sebastian snorted, pointing his snout down. He crouched and studied the tracks that led away from their location. They looked like some kind of paw print.

“A lion?”

Insane, but yes, Sebastian confirmed.

He spread his hand over the print closest to him. His fingertips didn’t even reach the edges. “It’s a big cat, that’s for sure.”

A lion in Wyoming?

“It’s not a lion.” He pushed up to his feet. The print proved they were dealing with a Supernatural. A damn big one. “Not in the way we’re thinking. The teeth marks are too different. No incisors.”

“Sloan!”

Dillan didn’t have time to brace himself against the fist that collided with his face. He twisted as he fell, landing on his hands and knees. Sebastian growled. He was just about to leap to his feet and repay his attacker in kind when he recognized who stood over him.

“Yeah,” Kyle said, breathing hard. Even in the dim light, his eyes burned like hot mercury. “Stay down or someone is ending up in a pine box.”

A metallic taste coated Dillan’s tongue. He spit everything out and swiped at the wet trail running down his chin. “I’d watch it, Hilliard,” he said then gestured with his chin toward Sebastian. “My friend over there won’t be happy if you try anything. Consider the first punch free.”

Kyle whipped his head toward the huge canine ready to pounce. “Only you would use a hellhound in a fight. Cheating bastard.” He pointed at Sebastian. “You scared the hell out of Selena.”

Dillan was about to say something when Kyle answered, “Stay out of it.”

“Screw you, Hilliard.”

“I’m not talking to you!” he barked back at him.

Shutting his mouth, he shrugged. He should have known Sebastian was communicating telepathically with the guy. The throb on his cheek distracted him from thinking straight. He pushed some of his energy toward it, but his effort wasn’t enough to heal the damage. He’d have a hell of a time explaining the bruise away.

“I don’t need a hellhound telling me what to do.” Kyle paused. Probably listening. Then he spat out a string of curses, which was a ballsy thing to do against Sebastian, who could snap his head off. “Leave her alone.”

Officially feeling left out, Dillan thumbed his bruised cheek. “I’m sure what you and my partner are talking about is fascinating, but shouldn’t I be included in this conversation? I was the one who took the blow to the face after all.” He added extra special mockery in his voice. “Normally, I’d angle for a fight against you, Hilliard. But before I start beating your ass, mind telling me what the shiner’s for?”

Kyle waited a beat before he faced him again. “I knew Rainer was making a mistake by letting you come here. You should have been sent somewhere else, but no, your uncle insisted he could help you. Why his parental instincts had to kick in now—”

“Fuck you!”

“You’re such a monumental ass.”

“You really gotta work on your insults.” He wrapped his legs around Kyle’s. One twist and the other guy landed on his back. He straddled Kyle and lifted a fist.

“What we have here is something very important.” He glared. “I won’t let you undermine everything we’ve built here for Selena.”

His breath caught mid-inhale, fist still in the air. “What about Selena?”

“If it’s a normal life she wants then that’s what I’m giving her. What we’re giving her.”

Stunned, Dillan let Kyle push him aside. What did he mean by “a normal life”? Kyle rolled to his feet, still speaking.

“And I don’t care what I have to do to make her happy. She doesn’t deserve being dragged into this the way you’re so intent on doing.”

“Hey—”

“What possessed you to tell her you’re Illumenari, Sloan?”

Dropping his gaze, Dillan closed his fingers around grass and pulled until the roots snapped. The less he said the better.

“We were handling it. She doesn’t need to know about this life.”

What Kyle said brought up his suspicions. “Who is she, Hilliard?”

“You don’t have the right to know.”

“She’s already in danger. If you don’t see that then you’re stupider than I thought.” Dillan bared his teeth. “I don’t know what you’re hiding here, but she deserves to know. If only to protect herself.”

“What’s the use of her knowing about the Manticore and the Maestro?”

That stopped Dillan cold. “Manticore? Body of a lion, a human head, a scorpion’s tail, and all that shit?”

All the blood drained from Kyle’s face.

“What Manticore, Hilliard?” He pushed. “You know I’ll get to the bottom of it. How ‘bout we cut the bullshit and you start yapping?”

“For some time now I suspected a Manticore was behind the killings.” He pointed at the deep depressions on the ground. “But I wasn’t sure until those tracks.”

“Who’s the Manticore?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“You’re shitting me right? How can you miss a Manticore?”

“You can’t,” he barked back. “There are several families living in Newcastle.”

Now that drained all of Dillan’s blood. He almost lost the ability to speak. For the first time, his being demoted to Arbiter became a disadvantage. “Newcastle’s harboring Manticores? Does Rainer know?”

He knew the answer before the other guy’s eyebrow shot up. Of course Rainer knew. Now what his uncle has told him about politics and being impartial made sense. No wonder he couldn’t investigate the case himself and sent Dillan instead. This shit got real in the worst kind of way. His jaw hurt from biting down too hard. The secrets. The deception. Something bigger was happening in Newcastle beyond the threat of a Maestro and now a rogue Manticore.

“He sent you to investigate, didn’t he?” Kyle sighed. “I should have known better than to confront you while I was too pissed to think straight. Rainer’s going to kill me.”

Dillan jumped to his feet and manifested his sword. In an instant, the watch on Kyle’s wrist morphed into a metal staff and blocked the oncoming blow. Their weapons grated against each other. Neither was willing to let up.

“You don’t have to worry about Rainer,” Dillan said. “Not telling me put Selena in danger. And I still owe you for bringing her to that fake grave you have for your parents knowing a Maestro is in town.”

Kyle pushed back with surprising strength. “What do you know about my parents?”

“They’re not dead.”

“What?” He pulled back.

Dillan pitched forward. He hated the hope in the other guy’s eyes. Anger and hate, he could handle. But hope? He tapped his fingers against the hilt of his sword. “You didn’t know.”

“They’re dead,” he insisted.

“You don’t know what the family tree does, do you?” Dillan staggered back and laughed. “Oh this is precious.”

Faster than a snake strike, Kyle leveled his staff against his throat. “Spit it out, Sloan!”

Unfazed, he flicked it. “The family tree automatically crosses out the names of the dead.”

Understanding dawned. “They’re alive?”

“Now who’s dense?”

Kyle pointed at him. A fearless move. But a stupid one. With a flick of his wrist, he could chop the digit off. Feeling just a bit more generous tonight, he used the blade to push his finger aside instead, cutting the skin.

“Look, don’t tell Selena anything more.” Kyle dropped his hand, letting the finger bleed. “She doesn’t need to know. Believe me…you’ll cause her more pain than it’s worth.”

“I’ll tell her anything she needs to know if I think it’ll keep her safe.”

“Now I get why Selena keeps having violent urges. Arguing with you is useless.”

“And I thought you were the smarter one.”

Kyle turned on his heel and walked back down the hill.

“See you at the field trip,” he called out and Kyle flipped him off. He threw his head back and laughed.

Manticores? Not excited to go up against one of those.

Sebastian’s comment washed over Dillan. He gripped the hilt of his sword, taking comfort from its solid weight. Forget interesting, Newcastle just got dangerous.

“What did you tell Kyle?”

That I knew what I was doing.

He heard the shrug in Sebastian’s voice. “I still need to talk to you about that. Stupid move, mutt.”

She needed my help.

“Did you get a look at what was after her?”

The hellhound shook his massive head.

“Then you really weren’t helping. No point in worrying about that now.” Returning his sword to its inert form, he faced Sebastian. “We need to find this thing before it moves from dogs to its favorite meal.”

Humans.

He nodded once.

What about the Maestro?

“One life threatening Supernatural at a time.” He stared into the distance. A little over a mile from where he was lay the closest mutilated carcass. Add a couple more miles to that stood the Fallon farmhouse.