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A short time later we were in Hugh’s SUV and we were almost at Kathy’s office.
“I can’t kill her,” I said. “Not yet anyway. I need to know why she set us up and who else was involved.”
“Agreed.”
I looked down at the gloves Hugh insisted I wear. They matched his.
“If she’s not there and we search the place, we might find everything we need,” I said.
“I won’t say a word if you want to tear her apart once you get what you’re looking for,” he said softly.
“Really?”
“That’s what I did to the werewolf who killed my grandmother. I tore him limb from limb, just like he did her.”
As he spoke his blue eyes began to glow and I realized that he really did understand what I was going through.
We parked the SUV two blocks away and using a cloaking spell I’d put on my bracelet, jogged through the surrounding woods. Her office was in a nice affluent part of town, with lots of wooded areas left for decoration and dog walking. It wasn’t difficult to stay out of sight, even without the spell.
When I saw there was still a car parked out front I felt light headed with excitement. I might get my revenge now. The moment I’d waited for might finally be here.
“Stay calm,” Hugh whispered. “Let’s go to the back entrance.”
He used a lockpick on the back door and as soon as we walked in I saw her sitting at a desk. The name plaque on the desk read, “Kathy Sutton.” She turned immediately to face us. She hadn’t changed. She was very tall and insisted on wearing ridiculous heels to match her tacky, loud colored suits. Her fake tan had gotten darker and so had the circles underneath her eyes. Her short dark hair was as over-styled as ever, and her makeup looked like a pack of crayons had gangbanged her face.
Obviously my cloaking spell had somehow been nullified. So much for the element of surprise.
“Hello, Jessie,” I said, using the name she gave my mother and I.
She looked terrified, but that quickly passed as she seemed to regain control of herself.
“Well, you haven’t changed,” she said with a sneer. “Same horrible fashion sense.” She rose to her full height as if I gave a shit that she towered over me. “Those boots don’t exactly scream, ‘throw me down and fuck me.’”
“They do if I’m the one doing the throwing.” I then used said boots to drop kick her right in the chest.
She went flying backward over the desk and landed with a satisfying thud.
“Fucking bitch,” she spat.
I noticed with some satisfaction that the heels of my boots had punctured her skin.
She seemed to only then notice Hugh and as he transformed beside me she gasped, “You found him.”
“Actually, he found me. Now, why don’t you tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Well,” she said, adjusting her hair. “You can find me because he found you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I’ve been casting spells of confusion on you for years. Why else do you think that someone who hunts people down for a living couldn’t find me right under her nose?”
With those words she pulled off her necklace and threw it on the desk. Smoke filled the room and my vision blurred.
“Silver nitrate,” I hissed.
I couldn’t see clearly, but I heard her going for the door. I also heard Hugh running to stop her.
I followed the sound and just as he reached for her I said, “Allow me.”
I threw her through the wall to our right and into what looked like a meeting room. She skidded across the table and hit the far wall. Now that I was away from the smoke in the other room my sight was quickly returning.
She reached for a bracelet that I assumed also contained some kind of potion or spell and I slid over the table, feet first. I kicked her back into the wall where she bounced off and crumpled to the floor.
“Why did you do it?” I asked before slamming my fist into her face.
She spit out blood and three teeth. “You’ll need to be more specific.”
I punched her again as way of reply.
“I was hired.” I grabbed her by the front of her shirt and shook her. “They lied to me,” she continued. “Bastards never paid.”
“What was your fee?” I’m not sure why I asked this. I suppose I wanted to know what my mother’s life was worth.
“Eternal life.”
“Why keep working for someone who never paid you?”
“I wasn’t. The spells I’ve been working on you were for my protection. You were never supposed to survive.”
“Why try to kill me again now? Why hire the werewolves?”
“I thought if I did, they might finally pay up. I’m getting old,” she said, tears pouring down her face. “Just look at me.”
I did look at her, but all I could see was the face of that little boy. “Did your grandson really die or did you kill a child to set us up?” I asked.
“He was my neighbor’s child and I didn’t kill him.”
My voice shook as I finally asked, “Who hired you to kill us?”
With a piercing scream she pulled a knife out of her coat and stabbed me in the arm. As I released her she yelled, “I will have my fee!”
She went for her bracelet again (who knows what it did), but before she could do anything I pulled the knife from my arm and stabbed her through the underside of her jaw. The large stiletto knife went straight up through her mouth and into her brain.