Chapter 11
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Lizzy muttered the following day as she drove.
“Isn’t finding leads for your next big article what you’re about?” I asked from the passenger seat.
Her eyes narrowed. “And what are you about, sister? Why do you care so much who killed Isabella?”
I couldn’t tell her Frank was a werewolf. Give her what she thinks I should say. I shrugged. “It's so tragic. A young woman murdered by a werewolf? Until we catch such a wildly dangerous creature, are any of us safe?”
Her eyes narrowed further, to the point that I worried about her seeing the road. “And why do you suspect Pastor Collins?”
“I told you, he lives on the side of Fairwood Forest, and he has a wound on his arm.”
“So you believe that makes him, what? A werewolf?”
“No.” Then again, possibly he was now. That would be poetic justice after all the sermons he’d given and continued to give after Isabella’s death. “I think his nephew could be a werewolf, and he’s hiding it.”
She made a surprised noise in her throat. “What makes you suspect that?”
“I intern at the church. I hear things.”
“And you think Collins is concealing him…”
“And he got loose that night and attacked Isabella and maybe even hurt Collins.” Maybe even bit him.
In which case, Collins would wolf out in another few days as well.
And without Isabella to make a potion...
I paled. Goodness, without any way to deliver potions to the werewolves in town, we might be on our way to a very bad night.
“If that’s the situation, I’m not sure if I can write that.” Lizzy glanced at me. “He’s a child. It's not like he had control over his actions.”
“Does any werewolf?”
She let out a long breath. “I suppose not.” Her lips pressed together. “But we should get Collins to stop making such horrible sermons. The hypocrite.”
“Agreed. And at the same time, we can offer him assistance if he needs it for his nephew.” Hex, what if it had all been an accident?
That was always possible. Especially since it was unclear who was aware of Isabella’s genetic ailment.
If a werewolf didn’t take their potion, wouldn’t that make them accountable, even if they weren’t in their right mind?
What if a child resisted taking their dose?
Lizzy laughed. “Do you know how to brew wolfsbane potion?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “We could find a recipe and make it ourselves.”
I glanced at my phone in my lap. I’d texted Frank and told him that I was following a lead and I’d give him details tonight on our date. A small, involuntary smile tugged at my lips. Our date. It felt unreal, but wonderfully so.
We turned off the main thoroughfare and drove up the narrow road. Thick forests hugged either side, trees of fiery red and orange and evergreen held their long arms out over us, perhaps as a warning.
“This better work,” Lizzy said. “I’m still ticked at Mom for giving him my number. Do you realize he messages me at 4:00 in the morning? Who does that?”
“The sacred texts state that those who rise early are the greeters of the day and hold a special place in the light.”
She rolled her eyes. “I doubt the sacred texts were alluding to texting.”
We exited the car and headed up the walk. Lizzy pulled open the screen door with long gouging slashes in the mesh, as if it had been slashed. We exchanged a meaningful glance.
Haphazardly carved pumpkins sat on the front doorstep, and what appeared to be child cut outs of ghosts and bats covered the door. I raised my hand and knocked.
Shouting erupted on the other side, then Pastor Collins answered. His gaze flickered from me to my sister, his face going pale from shock.
“Oh, Lizzy, Mary. What are you doing here?”
“You said I could stop by whenever I wanted,” my sister declared. “So here we are.”
“Yes,” he uttered slowly. “Normally, I’d love the honor of your presence gracing my humble home, but unfortunately, now is not the best—”
A loud shout sounded from the other room, followed by a child’s laughter.
“Do you have guests? Any friends of yours are friends of ours.” Lizzy pushed her way past the shredded screen door and into the house.
A boy around six years old, with untamed brown hair and eyes full of excitement, entered the living area and collided with Lizzy.
Duchess, who stood between us, released a hiss and raced up onto a nearby bookshelf filled with worn books on religion.
She glared at us in indignation, as if we had somehow planned this affront to her safety.
I shot her an incredulous look. She was a ghost cat, after all, but apparently that didn’t change her skittishness.
“Whoa, there,” Lizzy gripped the child’s shoulders and backed him up.
For the briefest of seconds, the boy’s brown eyes flashed an almost yellowish color. I looked closer, unsure if it was just the lighting or something else.
“Lizzy, Mary, this is my nephew, Reginald,” Collins said in a flat voice, clearly not pleased to be introducing him to us.
“Good to meet you, Reginald,” Lizzy said good-naturedly.
From the house’s rear, Brexton entered, holding a video game controller. “Hey, Reggie, we’re not finished playing…”
“And you both know Brexton,” Collins added, his frown deepening.
Brexton and I stared at each other in shock. What was he doing here? An unexplainable unease filled the room.
“Oh, yes. Good to see you, Brexton.” If Lizzy noticed my awkwardness, she didn’t show it. Then again, it’s possible she was used to that sort of behavior from me.
“Hey Pastor Collins, how about you and Lizzy take Reggie outside for a minute?” Brexton suggested. “He could get his energy out, and you can give Lizzy a tour around. It’s lovely outdoors this time of year.”
Pastor Collins looked at Brexton with a superior air, as if to say, How dare you give me orders? But Brexton merely smiled, and Pastor Collins huffed and turned to Lizzy. “Would you like to take a walk outside? The trees are glorious and beyond compare.”
“Sure,” Lizzy said. My heart sank because I wanted to go with her. It was Pastor Collins I intended to talk to, but my sister was smart. If there was information to get out of him, she’d do it.
Plus, I sensed Brexton’s desire for a chat, and frankly, his presence intrigued me. Lizzy and I exchanged subtle nods.
“Yay! Outside!” Reggie exclaimed and raced toward the back of the house.
“Reginald!” Collins shouted. “At least put shoes on before—” But the child already had the door open and was barreling into the yard in his bare feet.
Collins growled, snapping up his shoes. Lizzy glanced back once and grimaced before following them.
“What are you doing here?” Brexton asked me after they were gone.
“What am I doing here?” I asked in return. “What are you doing here?”
He slid his hand into his hair. “This isn’t a good time.”
“What? Does Pastor Collins have something to hide? Do you?”
His brows pulled together. “What are you implying?”
I didn’t know how else to say it. I didn’t know how to be subtle like Lizzy, so I spit it out. “Pastor Collins’s nephew left quite a mark on him, and the full moon comes in only a few nights.”
His eyes flashed in almost the same way that Reginald’s had moments earlier. “You don’t believe that that child—”
“Not on purpose,” I said quickly. “But even still, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a danger to those around him.”
“He’s not a werewolf,” Brexton said.
He would say that. Of course he’d say whatever he could to protect the child. He was here playing video games with the boy, for heaven’s sake. This was what I got for barreling forward with my accusations.
Brexton stepped closer, dropping his voice. “He’s a dragon shifter.”
I blinked and peered out the window at Reginald, who was racing around the backyard and screaming at the top of his lungs. He ran up to Collins and kicked him in the shins. “A dragon shifter?”
“That’s right. Well, half-shifter. And believe it or not, dragon shifters, like witches, are perfectly legal.”
“And… you’re here because…”
His eyes widened. “I’m not the father, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“But you are half-fae, half-shifter.”
His shoulders relaxed, like he was relieved to have me figure it out. “Yes. A dragon shifter, like Reggie.”
“And Pastor Collins knows this?”
“He does. He found out the previous month, when I discovered he was watching a young dragon shifter and offered my assistance. Children who are dragon shifters can have difficulty controlling their shifting abilities at first. Last month, he burned Pastor Collins’s arm so badly it needed medical attention.
” His gaze met mine. “Isabella was supposed to bring us one of her remedies to help it heal faster, but she never showed.”
“You told Collins about Isabella?”
He scowled. “Of course not. Not her extracurricular activities, if that’s what you mean. But her family deals in basic fae remedies. I told Collins I had a connection and contacted her myself. It was me she should have met. But she never came.”
“Then you knew what she did on the side.”
He nodded.
“And you didn’t report her?”
“I meant what I said to you. It’s what people choose to do that matters, not their abilities. Isabella assisted those most in need.”
Collins’s angry shouts came from outside. “I should get going,” Brexton said. “Although I hope someone will solve Isabella’s murder. She deserves that after all the good she did.” He cast me a sideways glance. “I’ll see you later, Mary.” He moved toward the back door.
Another glimpse out the window revealed Collins racing after Reginald. Lizzy marched toward her car, appearing enraged. Looked as if things went poorly. I dashed to the front entryway to get to my ride before she forgot about me and drove off.
Frank picked me up at the store that night for our date. Luckily, none of my family members were around when he came. Not that I was ashamed of him. It was more that after Kitty’s disbelief, I wasn’t sure how they’d react.