Page 15 of Dark Stars
"No,yousaid that," Bobby replied ashe pressed a hand to Alejo's mouth. "I just said it's sort of likethat."
Alejo glared.
Bobby grinned.
Before he could taunt Alejo further, though,voices grew closer, three men arguing in whispers that were louderthan merely talking quietly would have been.
"Where did they go!"
"Maybe they're already gone."
"Some of those tracks looked fresh."
"Both of you shut up and keep looking,they're here somewhere. If they showed up on foot, or left theirvehicle some distance away from the church, we'd have seen them. Wehaven't been gone that long."
Alejo's brow drew down, but he wisely didn'task why they hadn't noticed Bobby's pick-up parked right out front.As if he was the only one who hid his car from view. Bobby justwasn't all fancy 'I made it invisible' about it.
A lantern abruptly shone behind the rocks,making Bobby flinch and Alejo tense—but then the man huffed andmoved on. "I don't see so much as a fucking rat down here, letalone people. Whoever the fuck they were, they're long gone."
"Maybe they swam for it and got draggeddown," the first voice said with a mean laugh. "Come on, let's getthe fuck out of here. Have to do something to close that door upbetter if it's being found that easy."
"I told you the farm book was a stupididea."
"Shut your stupid mouth before I break yourjaw."
The voices faded off, and after a fewminutes of absolute silence, when he was certain nobody hadlingered, Bobby dismissed the cloaking darkness with a silent thankyou and pushed away from Alejo. "They're gone. We're safe. Ish, Iguess, since I don't think being down here is safe at all."
"What did you do?"
"I asked the darkness for help."
"You're a weirdo."
Bobby grinned. "Are you flirting withme?"
Alejo jerked back like he'd been zapped byan outlet. "Why did I ever want to partner with you?"
"Come on, let's get while the getting isgood."
Muttering something that sounded likependejo, Alejo nevertheless followed him back the way they'dcome.
Once they were safely in the truck and awayfrom the church, Bobby asked, "So what have we learned?"
"That you're an asshole with weird powerswho likes to show off but not say anything."
"Tell me what's up with that hidden mark onyour neck." He grinned at Alejo's mutinous look. "There we go then.Now actually answer the question."
Alejo blew out an irritated breath. "Fine.So far we know seven people are missing. The preacher is clearlyinvolved in whatever is going on, not a victim. So he could bemissing simply because of his role, or maybe because he betrayedsomeone, or any number of other reasons. They, whoever they are,have an underground lair straight out of a bad horror movie. Thatwater isn't as placid as it seems. They weren't pleased aboutfinding evidence of intruders, but they weren't particularly fussedabout it either, which means they don't think they have anything toworry about." He stared out the window, face turned fully away, butBobby didn't need to see his face to read the tension drawing himtaut.
"It's not a demon," Bobby said after thesilence had stretched on. "We're dealing with something terrible,but I promise it's not a demon."
Alejo jerked like he'd been backhanded, facepale as he stared at Bobby. "What? Why would you say that?"
Bobby pulled into the first parking lot hesaw and threw the car into park. "Alejo, it doesn't take a geniusto see that it's a demon that has you so scared and tense. Tell mewhat's wrong?"
"Leave it alone!" Alejo said, tangling hisfingers together at the back of his neck, as though if he hid themark well enough the whole problem might go away. "You can't fixit, I don't want to talk about it. My family will take care of it,and everything will go back to normal. Please," he added on awhispered plea.
"As you wish," Bobby said with a sigh.
