Page 18 of Night Owl Books

Nick turned and smiled. “Hello again.” His deep rumble of a voice settled some of my lingering nerves.

Sitting on the top step, I nodded to him, an invitation to sit beside me. He did. The stairs on the old Victorian were wide, but so were his shoulders. We didn’t touch, but my right side was warmed by his presence.

“How are you feeling?” He glanced over and then went back to looking out over the city. He was giving me the room to share what I could.

Pausing, resisting and confronting the memories, I told him what had happened. All my life, people have tried to finish my sentences or made hurry-up gestures to get me to speak faster. All that ever did was make me more self-conscious and less likely to talk.

Nick, though, moved down a step so he could lean back on his elbows, his long legs stretched out down the stairs. He’d settled in to listen, with no push to hurry me along.

When I finished explaining what had happened, Nick looked over his shoulder at me, his gaze sympathetic. “Scary.”

I nodded.

He looked back down the dark hill. “Hopefully this will put your mind at ease. When the fae die in this realm, their bodies disappear and return to Faerie. You killed him. That’s why he’s gone. Which officially makes you a fae-vanquishing badass.”

I let out a chuff of breath and smiled at that assessment. At least I wouldn’t spend every day on edge, fearing I’d hear that whistle again.

“When Arwyn told us he was fae, my stomach dropped.” He sat forward, his elbows on his knees. “I don’t remember ever being that scared.” He scratched his short beard. “We just dropped on your doorstep, roped you into helping us out, and then lost you when you were in a fae serial killer’s truck. I don’t think I’ve prayed that hard since my high school girlfriend told me her period was late.”

He turned his body to the side, leaned up against the railing, and found my eyes in the dark. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“I volunteered,” I reminded him

He nodded slowly. “You did. You left your safe, quiet home and volunteered to get up close and personal with a killer. What you did saved future victims from this guy. On their behalf and ours, thank you.”

We settled into a comfortable silence, during which the tension from reliving what had happened began to drain away. “I figured out how McKenna got away from him.”

He waited, eyebrows raised.

“It was dark, and she wasn’t wearing her glasses. She couldn’t see him, couldn’t get trapped in his eyes. He probably only a had a moment to do it when she looked into the truck. He didn’t snare her, and I bet that pissed him off.”

Nick nodded. “Blind luck.”

“Literally. So, do you need me to take you to where his truck is?”

He shook his head. “No need. We already found it. We think his death broke the ward hiding that section of the woods. We also found two bodies in the brush. At least we can give those families an answer and a body to bury.”

I sat with that a moment. Those poor families. “Do you know how long he’s been doing this in our realm?” It wasterrifying, him having that kind of power and a complete lack of conscience.

“Arthur took the duffle bag to Arwyn. She passed out. She hadn’t even touched any of the weapons; just bringing it close to her put her on the ground. He called her boyfriend Declan to run over and take care of her. When she came to, she was swearing at Arthur for bringing that filth into her home. Apparently she kicked him out so she could sage the place.”

He grinned. “I would have loved to see little Arwyn kick my big cousin out. I’m told she’s scary powerful, so he went. The boyfriend called about an hour ago to tell Arthur she saw hundreds of dead, all over the world, for probably at least a century, based on the women’s clothing.”

A chill ran down my spine. That soup I’d eaten earlier threatened to reappear. So much horror. So much terror and death, all laid at the feet of one man who appeared to see it as a bit of fun.

I shivered and Nick moved closer, his warm, strong arm brushing up against me. Staring down at my white-knuckled hands clutched in my lap, I said, “I’m okay.”

He nodded. “I know. A car’s coming.”

I looked up at the headlights approaching. “Oh. That’s Malcolm. He’s one of my regulars.”

“I’ll let you get back to work then.” He stood and held out his hand, pulling me to my feet. We stared into each other’s eyes a moment and then he said, “Do you think I could take you to dinner sometime?”

Frozen, I realized too late that I was still holding his hand. Malcolm parked his car and got out, nodding an unsure greeting to us both.

“I’ll be right in,” I said and he passed us, moving into the bookstore. I looked down at our hands and considered the question. Did I want to spend more time alone withhim? Finally, I asked, “What happened to your high school girlfriend?”

His grin warmed me down to my toes. “False alarm. We were using protection, but accidents can happen. Thankfully, in our case, one did not. Last I heard, she’d married her college sweetheart and was living in upstate New York.”

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