Page 16 of A Hunter Cursed
“Is it close?”
He extended his hand to a few spots down and the monstrous vehicle occupying the space. Keegan blinked, her mouth falling open. She’d always met Jeremiah at whatever destination they’d chosen, so she’d never paid much attention to what he drove. “Holy shit. What do you get, like, two miles to the gallon in that thing?”
“On the highway,” he deadpanned.
Shaking her head with a little laugh, Keegan relocked her car and followed him to a vehicle that, if she had to guess, was probably older than she was.
Chapter Nine
“Iwent to that alley today, to see if I could see the spell you encountered,” Keegan blurted as soon as they were enclosed in Jeremiah’s Suburban.
“You can see spells?” he asked, truly curious as he shifted in the driver’s seat so he could face her fully.
Waving away his question with an absent nod, Keegan leaned forward. “Tell me everything you saw, smelled, felt, every little detail.”
Jeremiah grimaced. “It wasn’t a wrong place, wrong time incident, was it?”
Keegan was too concerned, her tone too adamant. Whatever had happened, if the black stain on his skin that was beginning to itch hadn’t been enough to clue him in, her obvious distress over the matter was a blaring neon sign that some bad shit was going down.
Staring at the stain that still discolored his fingers he told her, “The pavement was buckled and there was this black ooze bubbling out like tar and then it just disappeared as if it had never been there.”
Raising his hand to show her the proof, he caught sight of her face in the dim interior. Her complexion was pale, leached of color, her mouth slightly open, her breath leaving her in short staccato puffs, while her eyes were wide and glassy with shock.
She looked freaked, which immediately set the alarm bells off in his head. “Are you okay? Are you sick?” He asked frantically, his hands fluttering ineffectually around her, unsure of what he should do. Did she need a barf bag? Did he even have a barf bag?
Keegan swallowed audibly and shook her head. “I saw that,” she gasped out, and Jeremiah wasn’t sure he understood her meaning.
“Saw what?”
“The cracked pavement, the black ooze,” she told him, still sounding shaken and slightly breathless.
“In the alley today?”
Another shake of her head and another hard swallow. “I dreamed of it.”
Wait. What?
As if she’d heard his silent question, her mouth pressed into a grim line. “I have visions, dreams sometimes,” she volunteered. “Prophetic ones.”
She shook her head as her hands came up to cover her face. “God, you must think I’m such a freak.”
Reaching out, he brushed his knuckles over the back of her hand. “No, I don’t,” he told her adamantly. “I have a wolf that lives inside me, so as far as most people are concerned, I’d win the freak award. Prophetic dreams?” He let out a pfft sound. “No big deal.”
Her fingers parted so she could peer at him between the digits. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”
“No, I’m not. Scout’s honor.”
She dropped her hands with a little laugh and looked at him dubiously. “Were you ever a scout?”
“Well, no.”
That elicited another chuckle from her and Jeremiah just sat there, staring at the woman who, despite her laughter, was still far too pale for his liking. He had the overwhelming need to do something – anything – to help relieve whatever anxiety was obviously weighing on her, his wolf practically howling inside of him. “What can I do?”
Keegan looked thoughtful for a moment, her teeth denting her lower lip as she considered his question. “I showed Jourdain that spot in the alley. He said it was a thinning, but I honestly don’t know what that means. He’s going to cordon off the area, so, just by involving him, we may already be one step ahead of my vision.”
Jeremiah eyed her. The words had been firm, almost determined, but the pinched expression on her face told him she didn’t believe her own theory. “What did you see in your vision?”
She licked her lips, her hands rubbing absently over jean-clad thighs as if trying to warm them. “A dark, empty Bourbon Street and that ooze covering everything.”
