Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
“This is Victor Klauss’s address,” Yagi said, shutting off his phone. “Mendoza, my private investigator, just confirmed it. You were right. She went to warn him.”
Thomas clenched his jaw. Yagi’s weird magic was leading them there now. Confirming that Kate was at the first signatory’s house was a wrinkle Thomas hadn’t anticipated and wasn’t looking forward to. It was hard enough to get his head in the game, to prep for killing someone.
But now Kate’s there.
How the hell was he going to explain this?
“The P.I. sent over the files on the secure drive,” Yagi said. “Klauss is a confirmed a serial killer. A rich one, whose family always managed to keep him out of jail, although he spent some time in mental institutions—”
Thomas saw his knuckles were turning white from the pressure he was exerting on the hilt of his knife. “He’s ninety.”
“He’s a signatory,” Yagi replied. “That means he’ll have power. He may look like an old man, but don’t make the mistake of underestimating him. As part of a power base, he’ll be superhumanly strong.”
“Wonderful,” Thomas said, but he felt an odd comfort. Killing someone wasn’t what he’d wanted, but killing a psychopathic serial killer in self-defense wasn’t so…
“Wait,” Thomas said, as his mind whirred. “Kate’s there. With him. With the serial killer.”
“Yes,” Yagi said. “And given his victims were all females in roughly her age range, I imagine that he’s probably giving in to his proclivities.”
Thomas felt his blood pound, with rage and sheer fear. A flash, a memory-picture of Elizabeth, in a pool of red.
She can’t die. Please, please, don’t let Kate die, too.
“Thomas, I hate to point this out now, but Kate knows too much as it is,” Yagi said quietly. “And if he’s torturing her, it’s keeping him in one place. He’s doing us a favor if she dies, and she’s doing us a favor by dying.”
“Yagi?”
“Yes?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Yagi didn’t look offended. He simply sighed. “I warned you, Thomas. You can’t afford emotion. Not if you’re going to get your soul back.”
Thomas ignored him.
The car pulled up to the curb, and Thomas was out before it came to a full stop. Yagi was right behind him. Both had their knives at the ready.
“Remember—it’s got to be a clean jab, through the heart or across the throat,” Yagi whispered.
As Thomas got closer to the house, he circled around, looking for a window or a door, some way to get in. Suddenly, he went still, pressing his ear to the wall. He heard muffled voices.
“Yagi? Can you do that thing, the spell thing? So I can hear?” Thomas said.
Yagi sighed again, then closed his eyes.
Suddenly, Thomas heard as if he were in the room with them. He recognized Kate’s voice, but it was abnormally high and thready.
And scared.
“Mr. Klauss…” Her voice quavered. “Please. You don’t want to do this.”
“Actually,” a cheerful voice all but sang, “I really, really do. My last playmate died not too long ago. I’d just gotten rid of her body when you so serendipitously arrived on my doorstep. It’s kismet!”
Thomas moved toward a back door, looking for the best way to get in. The obvious fear in Kate’s voice gnawed at him, forcing him forward.
“But business before pleasure,” the man said. “How did Kestrel find me?”
“I told you! He hired a private investigator!”
“Yes, but how did he know to look for me? How did he find me?” There was a long pause. “This is going to hurt, regardless, but you might as well tell me.”
“I came here to warn you!” she shouted. “I came here because I thought I was going to Hell and I couldn’t let him just kill you. Now, I hope he makes it hurt, you withered old fucker!”
There was a loud sound, and she cried out with pain. Thomas felt his blood boil.
The old man’s laugh was tinged with madness. “Oh, that little whelp isn’t going to kill me, don’t you worry. I think I’m going to enjoy making you tell me everything you know.”
He heard more sounds of violence. Her pained cry echoed through Thomas’s head. He gritted his teeth, then motioned to Yagi, who moved like lightning.
“If we break in, he’ll kill her,” Thomas said. “We need to surprise him. But hurry.”
Yagi nodded, working on the lock with small tools he’d pulled from his pocket.
He could still hear Kate. She was weeping, yelling. The thudding sounds continued.
“Ah, yes, sweetheart,” the man’s voice said. “To think, you didn’t even know what you were getting yourself into, when you decided to work for Thomas Kestrel.”
“Actually…I’m…a…temp,” she rasped, then bellowed. “Motherfucker!”
“A temp? Good grief.” The man’s chuckle was evil. “Somehow, I don’t think you’ll have any more assignments.”
“Yagi—?” Thomas asked, his voice tight.
Yagi grimaced at him, and the door suddenly swung open.
There was a heart-wrenching, angry sob…and creative, vicious swearing. He would’ve been impressed by the sheer imagination behind her anatomically impossible obscenities, but he was too frightened for her life.
“It’s a pity that I won’t have the time to spend with you that I’d really like,” Victor said over Kate’s spew of curses. “It’s not safe for me to stay here if your precious Kestrel knows the address, although I’m hardly afraid of that little upstart. Still, I can take a few minutes to…indulge…”
Yagi and Thomas rushed into the house, knives at the ready.
Oh, God, Kate, hold on, Thomas thought, and sprinted.