Page 64 of Insidious Monsters
“Me too. Me too.”
“What’ll happen to the survivors?”
“The John and Jane Does have rooms waiting at Serenity Lake Asylum. Miranda’s parents have decided they want nothing to do with her now that they know she’s a New Blood, so she’ll be going with them. A van will be here in a few hours to transport them.”
So that was it. Dead end.
Unless…An idea bloomed in my mind, one I should have thought of ages ago.
I’d been banking on the tag-along ghosts to give me information, but I’d forgotten another potential source.
“Devyn, can you get me access to Margie’s house?”
“The dead cultists were human, so the human PD took jurisdiction. Why?”
“The cultists died there…”
Her eyes flared with comprehension. “You think their spirits might be lingering?”
“I’m hoping.”
“I’ll get on the phone to PD now and see what I can do.”
If I could get into the house and find a cultist’s ghost, then we could get the answers I needed.
We could stop the Holy.
seventeen
AUGUST
Snow was falling again, lightly swirling down from the inky sky to kiss Telarion’s dark lashes and settle on the smooth material of his mask before melting and sliding down it like icy tears.
We stood face to face in the shadow of the tower while Quentin brought the car round and Victor spoke to the Order on his phone. The world seemed to fade, leaving just the two of us. I liked it this way, lived for these moments when it was just him and me. Except tonight there were fresh shadows in his eyes that spawned wariness and doubt in my heart.
“August, those things you said when you were on the ledge—”
Panic gripped me. “I don’t even remember them. That thing was messing with my head. Just forget it.”
Telarion sighed. “That creature brought to the fore all your frightening, hidden thoughts. It brought to the surface issues we’ve been avoiding.”
Yes, he’d felt the creature’s influence too.
He sighed. “My fears are your fears, and they are real, August.”
The fear of losing him to a faceless other. Of what we felt for each other being wiped away as if it were nothing. My stomach hurt from it.
Urgency gripped me. “All the more reason to carpe diem.” I gripped the lapels of his coat, soft leather squashing in my palm and shadows twining between my fingers in an ethereal caress. “Please.” My eyes heated with the threat of tears because that clever subconscious part of me knew where this was going and wanted desperately to avert the course.
“I cannot taste the sweet nectar and then be denied it,” Telarion said. “I will not allow us to be in a position where we’ll be riddled with guilt.”
His noble words made me want him more. Reminded me why I was falling for him. I sniffed and forced my mouth into a smile. “I think I prefer the monster you.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Thisis what draws me to you the most, August. Your ability to find a smile, to lift spirits around you and bring hope where hope is lost. You give me confidence that our story will not go unsatisfied. I want you to promise me something.” My stomach dipped in that way it does when I know bad news is coming. “I want you to promise me that no matter what happens once we’re separated, you’ll remember that the moments we shared were real.”
He placed his hand to my cheek, long fingers sliding into my hair, thumb curving along my jaw and chin. “This is real.” He claimed my lips, channeling the ache of his soul, the beat of his heart, and the sincerity of every moment we’d shared into that one kiss. I kissed him back, desperate to memorize the shape of his mouth and the scent of his breath. He broke contact with a ragged sigh, devouring me with his intense gaze.
My chest felt heavy, like a storm cloud preparing to burst. “Telarion, why does this feel like goodbye?”
