Lizzie chuckled.
“What?” I asked.
“Gang activity. In Alpine. Alpine is a quiet little town full of wealthy people. I doubt they’d ever had gang problems.”
I shrugged. “They’ll still probably believe it.”
We thanked Margo, and told her that yes, we did discover what we were looking for and to be careful, then headed out.
Once we were in the car, Lizzie called Detective Cole. After that, I said, “We should have given Margo a better warning than what we did. Vampires eat people, which means everyone here is in danger.”
Lizzie shook her head. “No, so far, all of the attacks have been deeper into the valley. I don’t think they would kill in their exact area. It’d draw too much attention. They want to be invisible there, not to have neighbors panicking and cops running in.”
“That was before the fire vampires connected with you,” I said. “They were stopping to eat while trying to find you. Now that they know where you are, they have no reason to hunt in the city anymore.”
“Good point. But still, they can’t be killing in the canyon. It’s far too risky.”
We were almost to the next storage unit when we got a call back from Detective Cole. Lizzie answered immediately. “What did you learn?” she asked after putting him on speakerphone.
“A Lone Peak cop decided to investigate,” he said.
“I hope he didn’t go by himself,” Lizzie said, giving me a worried expression.
I understood her concern. That would defeat the purpose of warning them in the first place.
“No, about five went.”
Five wasn’t enough.
“I tried to convince them to take more than that, but it’s tough to get them to understand without telling them what exactly is going on. Besides, they’ve got a small force, and five is a lot to take away from other duties.”
“Okay,” Lizzie said. “What happened?”
“It was a camp, all right. There was no blood, and the only thing they found was one man.”
“Was he alive? And awake?”
“Yes to both. Apparently, the man is in horrible condition. Starving, emaciated. They’re taking him to the hospital, where they’re hoping to get him fed and ready for questioning.”
“Okay,” Lizzie said. “Keep me posted.”
“I will. You do the same. Good luck.”
We arrived at the storage facility and followed the steps we’d established earlier. I could tell Lizzie was getting tired when she slumped against the cinderblock wall of the last unit. We hadn’t found anything, and my suspicions were that we wouldn’t. We’d missed the hounds in the first facility we’d searched. We needed to go back.
Her thoughts apparently mirrored mine because she turned to me and said, “We have to get back to the first one. I feel like it’s where they’re staying.”
“I’m thinking the same thing. Do you want to go now?”
She shook her head. “It’ll need to happen tomorrow.”
A trickle of relief washed over me. I was ready for a break from her. I’d done surprisingly well, proving to myself that I could act like a normal human around this woman. Apart from that whole “murder her without anyone knowing it was murder” thing, though.
Okay, so I could act normal for me around her.
19
After dropping her off and deliberating a bit, I decided to head back to the warehouse in Bluffdale. In a roundabout way, though.
Gathering lots of snacks and several bottles of water, texting Alexander to let him know I’d be tracking the demon, and making sure my tattoos were as replenished as possible—taking a small nap with that goal in mind—I pressed my tattoo and asked it to actively search for the demon.
And then I drove around the major streets of every city surrounding Lehi all the way up to the warehouse in Bluffdale.
It took several hours, and the sun had long since set when I reached Bluffdale. I listened to loud music with the windows down during a heavy summer storm that plastered me and my seats with rain. It felt so good to really enjoy myself. To let loose after being wound up so tightly for the past few weeks.
I still hadn’t fully decided what I wanted to do where Lizzie was concerned, but for the time being, I was following through with my charge from Alexander to protect her.
My heart slowly thudded against my rib cage, alerting me. It was an early warning that a target I was tracking was nearby.
I slowed down, waiting for my tattoo to alert me—that would be the next step. Once it started vibrating and warming my skin, I would need to keep my eyes peeled for the dusty smoke trail that I knew would lead me to the demon.
At that point, it was around two in the morning, and I was just outside of Bluffdale. A sort of hot-cold game ensued, with me driving up and down little streets, trying to find the most direct route to the demon.
I finally caught up to the dusty smoke trail, and having a visual—and thereby much easier—representation, things went more smoothly.
It surprised me that the trail led me back to the warehouse. Why had he left the place only to return a few hours later? That seemed counterproductive.
The trail was much fresher this time, and I quietly hopped out of my car, gun at the ready, and followed it inside the dark interiors of the abandoned warehouse.
A full moon streamed light through the little windows that lined the wall nearest me. Keeping in the shadows as much as possible, I stepped down the stairs, watching the dusty smoke while also staying on the lookout for any sign of living things.
Disappointment hit me for a moment when the trail led me to the same room, which I yet again found empty.
The negative emotion didn’t plague me for long, though. My tattoo was quivering, letting me know the demon was nearby, and I settled into a black corner, glad I’d thought to bring snacks.
Once I’d finished eating, I leaned back against the cold, hard wall behind me and asked my nightshade tattoo keep me alert and awake as long as necessary.
And then I waited.
20
My tattoo started to buzz, alerting me of the demon’s movement, and I slowly, cautiously got to my feet, brushing myself off and making sure my gun was ready.
I turned on a little flashlight—one with a dim bulb—and watched the doorway, half expecting to see the beast come through there, even though a part of me knew it wouldn’t.
When mud began dripping from the side of the wall near me, puddling on the floor, I realized my earlier hunch had been correct. The demon hung out in the dirt that surrounded basements.
The pile of mud slowly grew in size, turning into a man with three horns coming out of his skull. One twisted upward from the crown of his head, and the other two twisted out from just behind his temples.
I froze, keeping the flashlight trained on the floor near the demon’s feet, hoping he would assume it was just an old light bulb from an overhead fixture. Small chance, but maybe he’d fall for it.
The beast slowly solidified, the wet mud that had made him up hardening into rock. He licked his lips, his tongue black and forked. His lips were black, and where his eyes should have been was only skin—also black. The rest of his face and skin were pasty white with blood vessels visible just under the surface.
“That’s it?” I said. “You’re what I’m supposed to fight?”
He didn’t react. At all. Instead, he turned and rubbed the wall behind him, brushing away the bits of mud that remained.
Like that would do any good—he’d left so much dirt behind, only an idiot would miss it.
I sent Alexander a text to update him on what was going on, then put my phone away.
The beast turned and walked out of the room, and I strode to catch up with him. Something told me not to attack, just to follow. I wasn’t sure why, but I’d learned long ago to trust my instincts.
As I followed him up the steps, I realized there was no way he couldn’t hear me. Was he deaf? Or was he so focused on Lizzie
that he didn’t care I was following?
The longer I was behind the demon, the more I realized something about him. And simple tests helped prove my theory.
He didn’t respond when I threw a rock in front of him. He didn’t react when I waved a hand in front of his face or yelled at him.
The demon was completely devoid of senses. He couldn’t see or hear, and I would bet he couldn’t smell, taste, or feel touch, either. I didn’t dare actually test that last one out.
What was wrong with him? How was he still alive? Without senses to warn him when he was in danger, I couldn’t fathom how he protected himself.
The demon stepped out of the warehouse and started down the street, passing my car. The bright moon didn’t even faze him, but it allowed me to get a better look at him. The horns seemed to be made out of twisted bone, and his skin was even more translucent than I’d thought. I could see the striations of his cheek muscles under it. The tendons that connected those muscles to bones were clearly visible. It was as if his skin was made completely out of plastic wrap.
The beast wore a long black cape that trailed behind him. He didn’t walk very quickly, but there was determination in his steps.
After staying close to him for about fifty yards, I realized he could be going for quite some time. So I ran back to my car and followed him that way. No need to waste precious energy continuing on foot.
Not once did he pause or turn back or even acknowledge I was there. It was almost unnerving.
His behavior was beside the point, though. He made a creepy visual, and I couldn’t trust that normal people wouldn’t freak out when they saw him.
Just to be sure, I decided to warn the local authorities. He was visible to me partly because I was tracking him, but I knew I could see him with my physical, normal-person eyes too, which meant he wasn’t doing anything to hide himself. So I gave Detective Evans a call.
“Sorry I’m calling so early,” I said when the detective had answered. “I’ve got a very different situation on hand that local law enforcement needs to know about.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“I’m hunting a specific demon that is trying to destroy Miss Ashton. He’s a really ugly one, and from what I’ve heard, extremely dangerous. Not only that, but he isn’t doing anything to hide himself, so we need to keep innocents away. He’s not stopping or pausing—he’s following a fairly straight line—so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Odd. What other details can you give me?”
I rattled off the address of the house we’d just passed, then said, “He can’t see or hear. And because he’s only hunting Lizzie, he won’t stop to cause problems.”
“Do you need backup?”
“No, no backup. Just keep civilians and officers away.”
“I’ll pass that along. Thanks for the info.”
We ended the call. Glad that I had a couple books on tape, I settled in for a long drive. I was positive he was heading toward Lehi. I just didn’t know how long it would take him to get there.
21
Several hours later, as I followed in my car, the demon entered the alert spells around Lizzie’s house, making my protection tattoo go berserk. He was close to Lizzie—too close. I itched to get out and attack. But I still didn’t know how to stop him.
The ridiculousness of my situation occurred to me just then. An immortal creature had hired a mortal man to kill another immortal creature. Ridiculous. How exactly was I supposed to do that? What did Alexander expect of me?
My heart rate sped up when the demon arrived at Lizzie’s house. I parked my car and hopped out, running up the sidewalk behind him and joining him just as he reached the front door.
Using some form of magic, he opened the door, and I followed him inside, hoping we wouldn’t wake Lizzie. The sun had just risen—maybe she’d still be in bed.
It wasn’t a long visit. In fact, he only stayed inside for maybe three seconds. I had to jump to get out of the way when he turned and left the house again. I hadn’t spotted Lizzie. She must’ve still been in bed.
Why was he leaving? Lizzie would be in the perfect position right then to kill—asleep and unsuspecting.
Then I wondered if my theory about the demon needing basements to build energy was correct. Maybe he was at the end of his abilities and only wanted to verify that she lived there before getting rest.
The monster walked to the Russells’ house. Like before, he opened the door without a problem. Mrs. Russell screamed from the couch where she was knitting. Odd thing to do at six in the morning, but she wasn’t exactly human.
Careful not to touch the demon, I sidestepped him, hands in a calming gesture.
“Don’t attack. Don’t touch him. Don’t get near him. He won’t hurt you if you leave him alone. He’s hunting Lizzie.”
“He can’t hear you?” Mr. Russell, who stood in the hall with a gun in his hands, asked.
“No. From what I can tell, he doesn’t have any senses.”
Mr. Russell shifted out of the way as the demon walked past him. “How do you know we shouldn’t attack?”
“Because every time someone has, they’ve been killed. He’s only after Lizzie. He didn’t even seem to know I was following him.”
The Russells looked skeptical, but they both nodded in agreement, and I rushed to catch up with the demon. Thank goodness both seemed to have the sense not to prove their strength by attacking anyway.
The demon had found the door that led to the basement. I pounded down behind him, wanting to see what happened when he reached his destination.
The beast had slowed to almost a crawl. He slumped forward, lurching toward the nearest exterior wall. I watched, fascinated, as he put his hand against the cement, and his entire body slowly turned to mud that absorbed itself into the wall. The only thing he left behind was that silky dirt I’d found in all the other places.
I sent another text to Alexander, updating him on what was going on. He’d answered my first text, and responded immediately this time with a simple thanks.
Mr. and Mrs. Russell had followed me to the basement, and I remembered that they didn’t need protection—they were Croents, not helpless elderly people.
After waiting a moment to be sure the demon really wasn’t coming back, I set up a spell to alert me when he came out again. And then I turned to the Russells.
“Let me know as soon as he returns. My spell hasn’t failed before, but this is too important to have problems now.” I’d almost spilled information about my tattoo. That was something I couldn’t do.
“This is about Lizzie, right?” Mrs. Russell asked.
“Of course.”
“Will he be coming back soon?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea. If I had to guess, though, I would say no. Something tells me he takes several days to regenerate.”
He’d traveled from the factory in Murray to the warehouse in one day and had stayed there for several days before traveling again. I still wasn’t sure why he’d left the warehouse only to return to it again, but if he followed his own pattern, he wouldn’t be seen for a couple of days at least, if not longer.
Satisfied with what I’d done, I realized it was time for me and Lizzie to continue exploring storage units.
***
Lizzie was ready to go when I knocked on her door, and a wave of gratitude flooded over me. She must’ve been awake already when the demon had entered her house. I hadn’t heard water running, though, so she hadn’t been in the shower. It was a huge miracle she hadn’t been in the kitchen, eating breakfast, and providing herself as a nice and easy target.
Because of my nightshade tattoo, I didn’t need to sleep the night before, but my body still felt off. It always did. Magic couldn’t erase all effects of the natural cycle of sleeping at night and being awake during the day. I was tired—emotionally—and cranky. Lizzie, on the other hand, practically glowed. A radiance surrounded her that hadn’t been there the day before. It made me feel l
ike I’d missed out on something important. Something that had occurred the night before or while we’d been apart from each other.
I tucked what I’d noticed away as I drove us back to the first storage unit company. The ride was quiet—perfectly fine with me—and Lizzie was confident as she picked out the knives she’d carried the day before, putting them in her purse before we entered the office.
“What can I do for you?” Tony, the owner, asked. If he thought it was weird that we were back so quickly, he didn’t let on.
Lizzie sat down across from him and rested her arms on the desk, clasping her hands. “I have to be honest with you. I didn’t come here as a customer.”
I stood behind her, watching Tony’s face carefully. He was shocked at first, then a glimmer of excitement shone in his eyes as Lizzie ran through the scenario we’d been telling people all along. People like to be involved in things like this—it made them feel important.
Lizzie explained about the explosives and the possibility that there were terrorists hiding out in Tony’s facility. His eyes grew wider and wider the more she talked, and that bit of excitement disappeared as he realized how serious the situation was.
“Oh, wow,” he said when Lizzie finished. “Okay. Yes, I’ll help you. Let’s go right now.”
He wanted to come? Yeah, not going to happen.
Lizzie was on the same page as me. “Don’t you need to watch the office?”
Tony blinked. “Oh. Right. Okay. Just . . . just let me know what you find. And which unit it is.”
She handed him her business card. “I will. And give me a call if you hear anything.”
He snatched up the card as if it was a lifeline, and I could see that Lizzie felt bad for causing him concern. She had such a good heart. I worried about myself—that it didn’t bother me one bit we’d given him a reason to stress.
Evening Storm (Midnight Chronicles Book 2) Page 7
