Welcome to the Haven

by Cate Dean

  Welcome to The Haven

  The Monster Files Book 3

  Cate Dean

  Copyright, 2014

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the author, except for use in any review. This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, locales, and events are either pure invention or used fictitiously, and all incidents come from the author’s imagination alone.

  Cover design by Jes Richardson.

  Sign up for Cate’s list: http://catedeanwrites.com/join-my-list to learn about new releases.

  Alex has recovered from her deadly battle with the woman who took Sam. Now she is helping run the underground haven, and learning to live with the inhuman residents.

  When one of the residents is murdered, suspicion falls on Sam. And her greatest fear starts happening again – that she’ll lose him. This time for good.

  As the body count goes up, Alex is determined to find the real killer, no matter what the cost.

  For her, the cost may end up being her life.

  1

  Life is—crazy.

  If you told me six months ago that I’d be running through Emmettsville on a cold spring day, chasing after an adolescent monster that no one else could see, I would have laughed, and felt more than a little sorry for your family.

  But there I was, Sam on my heels, chasing after the slippery bugger, dodging the people who couldn’t see us.

  “Alex—use the bow!”

  I didn’t want to. We had learned how to stretch the “can’t see me” field on the rune necklaces. Yeah, necklaces, plural. Sam found a drawer full while they were renovating the haven. But a flying object like the arrow I had fashioned, with a plunger style tip instead of an arrowhead, would fly straight out of the field and be visible. I considered it a last resort action.

  And I wasn’t about to fire it on a busy street, in the middle of lunch hour.

  The little demon shot across the street, headed for the beach. I waited for a lull in the coast road traffic and dashed after it—him. I had to stop calling them it, even when I couldn’t tell male from female.

  Oh, yeah—my life has definitely taken a turn into crazy town.

  When the demon hit the sand, he slowed, not able to balance as well. Those clawed feet made him as fast as a—well, demon—on a hard surface, but hindered him on the soft, shifting sand. He also ran away from the lunch time crowd, loping toward the stretch of private beach.

  Now I could use my bow.

  I stopped, Sam running past me, careful to stay to one side, out of the line of fire. I pulled an arrow out of the quiver on my back, checked the plunger tip; the uber sticky but harmless goo coated it, glistening in the sun.

  With a slow, even breath, I nocked the arrow, lined up my target, and let it fly.

  The long, thin length of rope attached to the arrow, just in front of the fletching, unspooled from a reel on my utility belt. I watched it shoot past Sam, and hit the demon square in the back.

  Before he could rip it free—and yeah, he was strong enough to do it—I jerked on the rope. He flew backward, plopping to his flat butt on the sand. Sam skidded, halting next to him.

  I could hear the demon’s gravel voice from here, the cold spring wind carrying it over the sand and water. “But I just wanted to see! Mama won’t let me go more than ten steps outside our front door. I wanted to see the water—”

  “And now you have.” Sam hauled him to his feet, his hands gentle when they closed over the hunched, spiked shoulders. “All you had to do was ask me, Hern. I would have been happy to take you out myself.”

  “You would?”

  The demon gazed up at him, adoration and more than a little fear in the slitted yellow eyes. Everyone in the haven knew Sam was a Fenris Wolf, and able to change at will now, since the necklace Mrs. Hyatt used to control him no longer worked. Not with the shield that guarded the haven gone.

  He smiled down at the demon, the breeze ruffling the ends of his streaked blonde hair. “Anytime. Let’s go home, before your mother tears up the boardwalk, again.”

  Hern laughed, letting it die quickly. He was the reason she lost her short temper the first time.

  “Sorry.” He lowered his head, twisted one clawed foot into the sand.

  “Hey.” Sam tipped his chin up. “No harm. Lesson learned, I take it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” He waved to me, and I limped down the beach, slinging the bow over my shoulder. My ankle was not happy about that wild dash through town. “Apologize to Alex, and we’ll be square.”

  I could feel the embarrassment radiating off him. Literally, I could. Aura demons project their feelings, and the younger ones could smack you off your feet with it. Hern had more control over his since coming to the haven.

  “I’m sorry, Alex.”

  “Apology accepted.” I kept from smiling. He was so nervous, I didn’t want him spewing emotion. “Ready to go home?”

  “Not really.”

  This time I did smile, and he returned it, showing his wide, flat teeth. I pulled the nail polish remover out of my utility belt, moistened a scrap of cloth and loosened the glue until the arrow came loose from his back.

  Sam took his hand and led him back toward the main beach. I followed after them, tucking the arrow in my quiver. There he was, the man I loved more than anything in this world, walking along the beach with a demon.

  Oh, yeah, my life is strange.

  2

  By the time we got back to the haven, Hern’s mother had blasted everyone in touching distance with her panic. I could feel the residual all the way at the end of the street.

  When she spotted Hern, she let out a shriek and loped straight at us. Yes, I said loped—aura demons can run on all fours faster than on two legs. My jaw practically bounced off the ground the first time I saw one of them do it.

  “My sweetling!”

  Hern cringed at the endearment she shouted across the length of the main street. I took his hand, startled again by how warm and velvet soft his scales felt on my skin.

  “Mama.” He let go and backed away from me as she made a beeline for him. “I’m fine—oof—” Anything else he might have said was muffled against his mother’s chest.

  Sam eased her away, before she stunned everyone with her relief. “He’s fine. Just wanted a little adventure.” With his arm around her, he led her back to their quarters, talking in that low, gentle voice that always had my heart pounding. Man, I loved him—more than was good for me. “Next time, I’ll take him out myself—with your permission. It’s good for a young demon to get out once in a while, see the world.”

  I watched them until they disappeared into one of the buildings Sam had refurbished as living quarters, and let out a sigh. He took on the haven like it was his life’s work, putting out word through the underground network that Hyattown was open again.

  Now it was half full, with more coming every day. I never knew there were so many kinds of demons. I have to be honest—when the first one showed up, I nearly had heart failure. Now I am more used to seeing horned everything. Horns seemed to be the one feature they all shared, and those suckers popped up in the, um, oddest places. Right—moving on.

  I headed to the building that served as office/welcome center and stashed my bow next to my desk. Yeah—I had a desk, with all the cool office supplies scattered in drawers and neatly arranged on the surface. I love a good pen, and don’t get me started on sticky notes. All the colors, the sizes, the possibilities . . .

  Okay, stop judging me.

  I also had a big bowl of gourmet jelly beans on my desk, and my tongue could already taste the sugary goodness. After my mad sprint, my an
kle ached, and I wanted the sugar rush to get me through the rest of the day.

  I was still thinking of the latest organization chart I could create with all those lovely notes when I stepped into the office—and jerked to a halt.

  A woman stood in the middle of the room. That was enough of a surprise. What had my jaw reaching for the floor was the number of piercings in both ears, the tattoos on her bare arms, and the way she stood. Like she was itching for trouble.

  “Can I . . . .” My voice died when she looked at me.

  “You are Alex?” I nodded. She was French Canadian. I knew because Mom has a design colleague who was from Quebec, and I adore his accent. “I have come for the security position.”

  “What?” Oh, yeah—I sounded like a drooling idiot. “Sorry—you caught me by surprise.”

  “I have that effect.” She smiled at me, and pushed silver framed glasses back to the bridge of her nose. It made her seem a little less dangerous. Security would be a good fit for her. She could just walk into the room and scare the intruder away. “Candace sent me. You have need of someone to keep order here?”

  Candace. Right. Why did she think sending someone who knew diddly about the haven would be a good idea?

  But then, with the shield gone, we needed—something. I don’t think this was what Sam intended.

  I cleared my throat. I was going to ask an obvious question. I knew she must have seen our unique residents on her way here, but she didn’t seem the least bit freaked out by them. “You do know what we do here?”

  “Oui. I live near a haven. My brother, he was bitten by a Fenris. He did not survive the attack.”

  Panic shot through me. “I’m so sorry. Maybe this isn’t—”

  “You misunderstand. I don’t seek revenge for his death. It happened long ago, and the Fenris that attacked him was punished.” The way she said punished made me think dead was the most likely condition of that particular monster. “I helped at home. I would do the same here.”

  “Okay.” I skirted around her and moved behind my desk. Was it wrong to admit I felt safer with the heavy furniture between her and me? “You do know we don’t—punish here? We ban them, send word out to the other havens.”

  One eyebrow raised as she studied me. “And this works for you?”

  “Extremely well. When you have no other place to go, you tend to follow the rules.”

  She nodded, and looked around the office. When she turned her back to me I saw the holster at the small of her back, and what I thought had been backpack straps over her shoulders turned out to be the holder for a big, nasty looking crossbow. I’d let Sam hash that out with her.

  We didn’t openly carry weapons down here. It made the residents nervous. And trust me, the last thing you want on your hands is a town filled with nervous monsters. I even gave up carrying my Swiss army knife.

  “So.” I tried to sound casual as I inched around the desk. “I’m going to have Sam talk to you, get all your details—”

  “Do I frighten you, Alex?”

  “Hell yes.” I blurted it out before I could stop myself. Mortified, I froze, waiting for retaliation.

  She let out an explosive laugh. “I like you, Alex. I am Louise.” She held out one hand. Already embarrassed, I didn’t want to add rude to it, so I shook her hand. I had a feeling her grip was much stronger, and she went easy on me. I appreciated it.

  A necklace swung out when she leaned forward, and caught my attention It was three initials in gold, on a thick chain. BDG. “What do those stand for?”

  Her smile widened. “Bitch Daddy Gaga.”

  My mouth fell open. “Oh. Um—not going to ask, okay?”

  “Perhaps someday I will tell you anyway.” She winked at me. To my great relief Sam walked in, saved me from another embarrassing outburst. Louise turned around and smiled at him. “You must be Sam. Candace did not do you justice in her description. You are quite the handsome devil.”

  He gave her his polite smile, and shook her hand. “You are—”

  “Louise. I am here to help you with security. Candace believes that you need a presence, with your shield gone, and I agree.”

  Sam glanced over at me. I nodded, knowing the questions he wasn’t asking. “All right. Let’s talk. Nice tattoos.”

  “I always tell myself ‘just one more, Louise.’ Then I find myself standing in front of my artist with another idea.” She pointed at his scarred cheek. “Water demon?”

  He blinked, as surprised as me that she got it in one—especially since Mrs. Hyatt added a couple more scars when she held him hostage. “Yes. How—”

  “I’ve seen the scar before. They do tend to strike out first, assess the danger after. Do you have any here?”

  “No.” Sam told me once he hoped none showed, because he wasn’t sure he could be unbiased about them. “I can use some extra help here. Alex told you we don’t carry weapons?” He gestured to her crossbow.

  “Oui. I would like to discuss the need for some kind of weapon. The more residents, the more chance for violence—”

  “They’re banned. No questions.” Sam’s voice had gone flat and cold, which meant he was angry. He didn’t like to be challenged, especially by a stranger. “Until it becomes necessary, I refuse to police them like they’re criminals.”

  “Of course.”

  Jake chose that unfortunate moment to barge in.

  “Sam—oh, hey.” He smiled at Louise, like he already knew her. That wasn’t going to go over well. “Sam, I need to talk to you.”

  “Not now.” Sam hadn’t taken his eyes off Louise, or her crossbow.

  “Yes, cousin. Now.” There was the intense Jake, the one I hadn’t seen for a while. Candace brought out his more human side. “I want to talk to you about the Fenris in England—”

  “I already said no.”

  Jake let out a sigh. “I met him, Sam. When I was still banished to our property. I took a tour of the havens, thinking I could live in one of them. At least I’d be among my own kind, and not completely alone.”

  Sam finally turned to him. “You know this Fenris, and you didn’t tell me?”

  “You never gave me a chance to get beyond the first few words, until now. Yeah, I know him. He barely smells like a Wolf, Sam. And everyone I talked to in the haven outside London told me they’d never seen him change. Let him help—us, Candace. I know I’m damn tired of fighting the Fenris every minute of the day.” He glanced over at me. “Sorry, Alex.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was apologizing for the language, or what he revealed. Did he really have to fight it, all the time? Did Sam?

  “We’ll talk about this later, Jake.” Sam waited until Jake stomped out, then moved over to me, his grey-blue eyes shadowed. “Stop thinking what you’re thinking. Jake was doing his usual exaggeration of the facts.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” My throat was so tight, I could barely push the words out.

  “Because there was nothing you could do. And I didn’t want you worrying about me, any more than you do already. I’ve got it under control, Alex.”

  “Okay.” I wanted to believe him—God, I wanted to believe him. So I let it go.

  He kissed me, cradling my face in the gentle way that always made my heart skip.

  “I’ll see you later,” he said, and glanced over his shoulder at Louise. “I have deal with her.”

  The way she grinned at him told me it wasn’t going to be an easy battle.

  I escaped, glad for the excuse to leave. Sam could sort that mess without me. Besides, I had to get home, before Mom and Dad forgot who I was. Yeah—spending too much time down here.

  But with half days now at school, and no more dance classes, I had more free time than I was used to. I was also teaching myself Dragon Fan, a form of tai chi that was also for self-defense. It was graceful, but powerful, and the closest to dancing I would ever get again.

  After what happened with the Hyatts, I wanted to be able to defend myself—and as much as I enjoyed usi
ng it, walking around with a bow over my shoulder wasn’t an option.

  The sun was setting when I emerged behind the McGinty house, a cold wind blowing off the ocean. I huddled in my hoodie, forgetting to bring a heavier jacket with me, and walked faster once I hit the sidewalk.

  I knew I was being followed after about three blocks.

  The itch between my shoulder blades, and the occasional scrape of a shoe on the sidewalk had me looking back every few seconds. I couldn’t see anyone, but I felt them, just out of sight.

  I started moving faster. My MG was parked in the lot next to the county records office—under a streetlamp this time, thank you very much. And it was still early enough that there would be people around. Witnesses.

  I wasn’t going to be caught alone again, on a dark street, with no help. Not like last time—

  My heart jumped when I heard the tap of claws on sidewalk.

  I gave up looking calm and collected and started to run. The last turn out of the neighborhood was in sight—one more street to cross and I’d hit the parking lot, where other people would . . .

  That hope faded when I skidded around the corner and saw my car. In the empty parking lot.

  Oh, God—it was Friday. Most of the county and local government offices closed early on Friday, to take advantage of the last good surfing of the day. You know, start off the weekend right. Fabulous when you’re a surfer, living in a beach town. Not so fabulous when you’re running from something and expected to have ordinary people around to stop said something from attacking you.

  I kept going, sprinting across the street. My ankle screamed at me. I ignored it, my one goal to get to my car. Of course, ignoring my ankle was never a good idea, especially with the still cold weather.

  It buckled just before I reached the sidewalk and I stumbled.

  I screamed when a strong hand grabbed my arm.

  “Hey—are you all right?” The distinctly British voice jerked my head up. My rescuer smiled at me, concern fighting with amusement in his pale green eyes. “You nearly decorated the pavement.”