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For a moment I just stood there shaking. I looked at the hammer I had strapped to my thigh and sighed, frustrated that I had forgotten to use it.
“Shit. I didn’t mean to kill her. I’m certain she had more information.”
“And I’m certain she hit a silent alarm.”
I walked back into the hallway where he stood and he pointed back to a blinking blue button on her desk.
I took off my shirt and began wiping my blood off the table. The bleeding had already stopped.
“Damn it. Search the place, let’s see what we can find,” he said. “What are you doing?”
I licked the blood from my arm and spat it into the room before whispering a chant.
“Will that hide it from a test when police scan the room?”
“No. It made my blood evaporate without a trace.”
“Wow.”
I was grateful that he’d insisted we wear gloves. At least I didn’t have to be concerned with fingerprints.
I started tearing out desk drawers and used my unnatural speed to go through the majority of her filing cabinets. Unfortunately, she sold a lot of real estate and kept detailed files.
Just as I heard sirens in the distance I found it. At the back of one of her filing cabinet drawers was a large leather-bound book.
“What the fuck?” I ran my fingertips over the black cat burned into the cover. “This was my great, great, great grandmother’s familiar. All the spellbooks my mother has of hers are marked in the same way.”
“Well, grab it and let’s go. The police are almost here,” he said, putting his arm around me. “We have to leave, now. We can come back for my SUV later. Can you do a cloaking spell again or reactivate the old one?”
While he said this we hurried to the back door. As the cold night air hit me I remembered taking off my shirt. I was still clutching it tightly in one hand, with the spellbook in my arms.
“Yeah, no problem.” I said a brief spell while Hugh took off his gloves and stuffed them in his pocket.
“The spell won’t last long, not like it would if I used a potion or other enhancements. That’s what I’d need to reactivate the one on my bracelet.”
“It’ll do,” he said.
He pulled off his shirt and tied it around his waist.
“You’re going to fly us out of here? But we’re only parked two blocks away.”
“And the police will scour every inch of these woods almost as soon as they find her body. They don’t know she was an evil witch. They only know that a prominent businesswoman has been murdered in her own office.” He took off his boots and held them in one hand.
He shifted form quickly and fluidly. Pale gray stone seemed to spread over his skin, reaching outward from the middle of his chest. He flexed his shoulders and large wings spread from his back. As he shook out his long hair horns extended from his forehead.
“Wow.”
“Hold onto the spellbook and take this. It looks like her appointment book.”
I hadn’t even noticed him dropping it at his feet when we walked out, but considering that’s where he picked it up, he must have done so.
“Hold onto the books, I’ve got you,” he said as he swept me into his arms.
He still held his boots in one hand and as we lifted off the ground I fought the urge to squeal.
“I’m used to dealing with vampires. You burn their bodies or leave the remains out to meet the sun. Easy cleanup.”
I stiffened as we rose above the trees and he said softly, “Relax. We’re safe. I’ll land us in the park. Then I can run back without my shirt and if anyone asks, I can say I parked my SUV there to jog to the park and back. People do that all the time. Then, I’ll drive back through the park, pick you up, and go back to your place.”
“I’m glad you’re here. I hated her guts, but I’ve never killed a human before. It feels strange, empty.”
“This isn’t the first murder I’ve helped cover up.” Even though his tone was light, I could tell he wasn’t joking. “Maybe cover up isn’t the right way to describe it. When I caught up with my grandmother’s killer, I didn’t give him a chance to change. In my mind, it was fair. He never gave her a chance. I used my strength as a gargoyle to tear him apart. So, it looked just like a human being had been shredded by a monster. I made it look like a random werewolf killing, and I left him like he’d left her.”
“Just as long as you’re not a serial killer.”
He laughed. “No. That’s the only person, werewolf or otherwise, that I’ve ever killed.”
The park wasn’t far and as we touched down beside the jogging trail I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Are you afraid of heights?” he asked.
“No. I’m just usually in a plane or standing on something solid. That was different.”
“At least you got some answers. You know she was hired by vampires because they promised her eternal life. And you know the reason you haven’t been able to find her before is because she was casting spells against you.”
I shrugged. “That’s better than thinking I was incompetent. And we know that she recognized you, or at least recognized what you are.”
“And whoever she was working for wanted both you and your mother dead.”
“So the redheaded vampire whose face I scarred might have disobeyed orders.”
“It’s a possibility. I wonder if whoever ordered your deaths realized that would have turned me to stone.”
*****
Hugh returned a short while later and stopped beside me. He leaned across the front seat and opened my door.
“Get in, I’ll go make you some coffee and we can look over those books.”
“I can’t open either of these,” I said, climbing inside. “I tried while you were gone. They must be sealed with magic.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he said softly.