Page 27 of Insidious Monsters
“At the office, why?”
“Are you alone?”
“No, I have Archie with me.”
“You can’t be alone, sweetheart. There’s a disturbance in the community, psychics are going missing.”
Of course, Celine would have found out about the attacks. I hadn’t called her to tell her about my experience, though. Partly because I felt foolish for being duped, and partly because…Heck, there was no other reason.
“Did something happen?” she asked.
Crap, my silence was telling. Lie or come clean? I’d never been good at lying, getting tongue-tied and sweaty. Lying made me feel sick. Lying was reserved for necessary situations only.
This wasn’t one of them. “I was attacked the other night, but I’m fine.” I filled her in on my date and the faceless man. “The Night Guild is investigating. They’re looking for clues that might connect him to the disappearances. It’s probably not even related to the missing psychics.”
“So you think it’s a coincidence that this man attacked you, a necromystic?”
“Yeah, it probably is.”
“And if it’s not?”
“The guild will figure it out. If it is related, they’ll let us know.”
“You say he died a night ago?”
“Yeah.”
“Another mystic went missing last night.”
Which didn’t prove he wasn’t involved in the missing cases, just that he wasn’t working alone.
“You need to come stay with me,” Celine said. “You’ll be safe with me.”
Unease pricked at my scalp. “Celine, is there something you’re not telling me?”
Silence followed my question. “No, of course not. I’m just worried. Even if your attacker isn’t related to the missing psychics case, there’s still someone out there grabbing our people. This person, whoever he or she is, has a vendetta against our kind. We need to stick together.”
I wasn’t about to run and hide. If people were in danger, I was going to do my damnedest to help. “I appreciate the offer, Celine, but I’m fine. I have August and Archie and I’m not going anywhere alone until they solve this case.”
She sighed. “Fine, but if anything changes, if you feel threatened or—”
“Yeah, I get it. I’ll be careful and I’ll call you if need be.”
I hung up and glared at the battery icon. “Bloody hell, I charged this thing two hours ago.”
“You need a new phone,” Archie said. “That one’s on the way out.” His stomach let out a growl and mine rumbled in sympathy.
“That’s something I don’t miss,” Dottie said. “Being dead means never being hungry again.”
It also meant a whole lot of other “nevers,” but I wasn’t about to point that out to our emotional office guest.
Fuck it. “Let’s go meet Auggie at the sandwich place. I’m bloody starving.”
eight
AUGUST
Oh, God, I was being licked to death, not in an I-want-to-eat-you way, but in an I’m-so-happy-to-see-you way.
