Chapter 19 #3
In the blink of an eye, there’s nothing to indicate he might be something other. Blue eyes stare back at me. His teeth are straight, his height not so imposing that I feel I could be squashed like a bug by a single flick of his wrist.
Neither of us says anything more as we rush to the manor, breaking past the tree line and powering up toward the dilapidated fountain in front of the entrance. He eyes the car warily like it might pounce on him or morph into a three-headed monster—and for all I know, that’s a possibility.
I wring my hands together, trying to dispel the tension winding through my body as my eyes dart around in search of any body parts a hellhound might have left lying around.
It’s entirely possible I missed something during my search for Lynx. I wasn’t the most focused. What if there’s one in the middle of the hallway that I completely failed to see? Or Tidus came back at some point and moved it around?
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I follow Lynx, bounding up the steps into the manor where the cops have let themselves inside.
I race past Lynx and survey the decrepit foyer, ignoring the police, then stick my head into the living area and blanch at Lynx’s booming voice.
“Leave.”
Oh, we are so fucked.
The two men swing their attention toward the demon. One has his foot over the threshold into the corridor that leads toward the back of the manor. The other is in the living area I was in earlier, slowly perusing the remains of my home.
As one, they both slowly head back toward the foyer, eyeing the demon’s getup.
I cautiously sidle up to Lynx in case I need to claw him back from killing a police officer. The taller one doesn’t have a speck of hair on his glistening head but sports a well-endowed moustache that would makes an eighties Hollywood cop jealous. It pairs horrifically with his feral goatee.
I can say with one hundred percent confidence that the other one kills babies in his spare time.
There’s something off-kilter about his eyes and bushy brows, which connect with dark tufts of hair.
He puts his hand on his hip, close to his gun, and I die a little more inside when Lynx curls his hands into fists.
Moustache nods in greeting, offering a friendly smile. “I’m Officer Tolsen. That’s my partner, Officer Roberts.” He points at Unibrow.
Good cop vs. bad cop.
Got it.
“Didn’t ask. Leave.”
Lynx is going to get himself killed at this rate.
“Be nicer, or they might call for backup,” I chastise, heart hammering.
Roberts narrows his unsettling eyes, while Tolsen’s face only twitches. “What’s your name?”
“That’s none of your concern. You’re on my property. Don’t—”
I smack the demon’s arm. “Don’t threaten the police,” I grind out.
He takes a deep breath. I can feel him cussing me out in my soul. “What do you want?”
“Do you live here?”
“Yes.”
“Tell them you’re helping me fix up the property in exchange for a free place to stay,” I order.
He—begrudgingly—does as I say, throwing in my name for good measure. Then he frowns when the officer’s radio crackles with a voice that’s too full of static for me to make out. My breathing stalls, my grip tightening on his arm.
Please, just act natural.
Lynx looks around like he’s searching for another person but fixes his attention back on Tolsen when he speaks.
“We’d like to talk to the owner of this property. She hasn’t been answering our calls and wasn’t home when we visited her apartment. We spoke to her parents, and they’re also quite concerned.”
It’ll be a cold day in Hell when my parents show a modicum of worry about me.
“I’m on holiday,” I rush out.
“She’s on holiday,” Lynx responds without missing a beat. “Now, this is going to be the last time I ask: why are you here?”
He scowls at the phone Roberts removes from his pocket, looking a little too bewildered to be natural as he watches the officer tap the screen to pull up a picture to show him.
But all I see is the mauled, dirt-covered human foot sticking out from beneath a pile of leaves and trash under the stairwell.
I lunge forward, kicking it aside before they spot it.
But they do notice.
Everyone’s eyes swing my way, and I freeze like I’ve been caught, until I remember that the only person who can see me is giving me the universal Are you kidding me? look.
“We have a pest problem,” Lynx says, saving the day.
Tolsen shivers and takes a healthy step away from the pile, and my shoulders relax. Just. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I see Father shaking his head at me for nearly screwing things up.
If this goes south, I’ll witness seeing his face in real life again. That would be hell.
I scramble up to Lynx’s side as Roberts raises his arm again to show him the phone.
“Do you recognize him?”
“No,” Lynx and I lie at the same time.
My stomach turns as I move closer to inspect the photo of the shithead I was terrorizing two nights ago—Connor, who arrived at the house first, littered on my lawn, and tried to roofie a girl.
Is he the owner of the arm I saw near the driveway? I should’ve gone back to check if there was a body nearby.
And how he died.
Maybe it was Tidus, or he hit his head harder than I thought when he fell down the stairs.
Good fucking riddance he’s dead, but that thought only heightens my panic. If something happened to him while he was at the party, and the cops are here because of it, then there’s a good chance they’ll come back to snoop when we don’t notice.
There are acres of land, so it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack, but it’s still a possibility that makes me sick.
Roberts pockets his phone and lets Tolsen take over. “His family reported him missing yesterday. He was last seen attending a party here two nights ago.”
The demon sneers. “They weren’t fucking—”
“Lynx,” I warn.
His lips flatten into a thin line. “Didn’t see him.”
“Mind if we look around?”
“Yes.” Lynx crosses his arms, and a blast of heat chars the air. The two men wince, shoulders bunching as power rolls from the demon in toxic waves. Without thinking, I put my hand back on his arm.
It immediately stops, and the cops exhale in unison. That only seems to piss Lynx off more.
“I don’t appreciate you coming inside without an invitation. Sable wouldn’t either. Now, get off our property before I deem you both trespassers.”
A forbidden thrill licks down my spine at the sound of my name falling from Lynx’s lips. There’s a guttural lilt to it, like it belongs on his tongue. A weapon to wield as he sees fit, yet a weakness all the same. I want to hear him say it again.
“If you see him or remember anything, give me a call.” Tolsen holds out a card. “My number is on there. Any information is helpful.”
Lynx glares at the business card, but offers nothing beyond snatching it from his hand and motioning toward the exit with his chin.
Both men eye him warily as they pass, leaving with a backward glance and suspicious once-over. The demon and I watch them with our arms folded, not moving a muscle until they’re in the cruiser, rolling down the driveway out of sight.
“Was my demeanor sunny enough for you?” he asks suddenly.
My brows spear up my forehead. Was that a… joke?
“It burned like hellfire,” I deadpan.
He snorts.
And out of everything that happened today, hearing that sound is the thing that shocks me most. The second? Wondering what he’d sound like when he laughs.