28. Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Zelyah
T his body needs to be destroyed before the cleanup crew gets here, and I’m looking at only five minutes to take care of my mess before they show up. As soon as Rhett and Killian leave the scene, I get out of the trash bin. I smell like a sewer, but there’s no way I’m leaving the body behind. I have a few minutes before the guys Rhett called will be here. I don’t want any accidental evidence tracked back to me.
I walk toward the alley’s opening, looking for my next victim—a car. I leave the alley looking for the easiest car to hotwire. Come on, come on, there has to be a nineties model car. Yes! I find a faded red Honda Accord. I walk up to it, and when I’m sure no one is looking, I ball my fist and punch the window. The glass explodes, shards scattering across the concrete and inside the vehicle, the sound echoing through the quiet street.
I unlock it, slide in, and immediately get to work removing the plastic cover on the steering column. The wire bundles spring free, and I grab the stack on the right. Looking around the car and checking the glove compartment, I spot a pack of cigarettes and smile, digging deeper until uncovering a matchbook and some scissors. The wires sever easily with scissors, and I use my teeth to strip the blue and red wires. The starter and battery wires spark when I smash them together, and the engine jolts to life. I immediately put it in drive and take it to where my victim is still lying on the ground. I open the door next to him.
“Okay, you piece of shit.” I lift him and put him in on the driver’s side. I grab the matches before closing the door. I open the gas tank and look around. Everything is still and quiet. I free my wings, light up a match, and throw it in the tank.
As I take to my wings, the crackling fire ignites the car like a Roman candle, and a wall of flames shoots into the sky behind me. I crash land on a nearby building’s rooftop, stumbling to my knees. The heat from below washes over my face as I peer down into the chaos. A black SUV rolls to a stop, and two men immediately race up to the burning car with phones pressed to their ears. It’s hard to say whether these men are with the Arcana Society cleanup crew, or if they were driving by and saw a body slumped in the burning car. By the time they put those flames out, the evidence will be ashes.
Now I’ve got to find a place to shower. As much as I want to fly, I can’t risk a powerful supernatural finding me. I land on a street with low light and my wings retract. I walk until I find the nearest motel.
I stand on the corner, watching the place. There aren’t any cameras or security. It’s perfect. There’s a lost and found bin outside of the entrance. I make sure to hide so the front desk clerk doesn’t see me.
A couple leaves their room and gets into a car, and when they’re out of sight, I twist the doorknob and break the door handle. Two suitcases are sitting on the bed. I open the first one, but it’s all men’s clothes. I close it back up and open the one lying beside it, grabbing a pair of sweats, a T-shirt, and the girl’s bag of toiletries. I take off my clothes and start the shower. I have to wash my hair three times for the dumpster smell to go away. When I’m finally clean, dry, and dressed, I turn my phone on
Shit. I have so many missed calls, voice messages, and text messages. Agent Cooper is no doubt tracking my phone, waiting for me to power it on. I look briefly at his message and open it. I look at the picture, and my phone nearly falls out of my hand.
I need to get out of here. I grab my clothes to throw in a dumpster and shut my phone off again, putting it in my back pocket. When I open the bathroom door, my heart nearly leaps from my chest.
“Hello, Zelyah.” I take a step back.
The man looming over me is undoubtedly the one from the sketch—the stranger I encountered at the club. Any trace of the boyish, harmless-looking man I remember is gone. His features have twisted into a chilling, predatory grin that makes my blood run cold.
“Ch—” I start to ask but he cuts me off.
“It’s actually Zack. I didn’t want anyone knowing my real name in case you let it slip to the agent.”
Shadows play across the sharp angles of his face, making his expression more sinister. His eyes glint with dark intentions. Everything about him radiates malevolence. This welcoming facade has slipped away to reveal the monster lurking underneath. Oh, this little human is fucking with the wrong person. I’ve just fed, and my power is vibrating inside me, waiting to be unleashed.
Wait, does he look ten years younger?
“How did you find me?” I ask in a surprised tone because, really, how the fuck did he?
“I followed you. I’ve been watching you,” he says, looking me up and down, his gaze lingering on my body. Thankfully, I’m fully dressed minus underwear and a bra, but I wasn’t going to steal those.
“And why is that?” He gazes at me like he’s the hunter and I’m the prey, but he’s got it all wrong. I’m going to be the one to eat him alive.
There’s movement in my peripheral vision, but I’m too busy paying attention to the man in front of me. I can’t wait to watch him bleed.
He’s killed several other women. These women—they mattered to someone, and this murderer is tearing families apart. This isn’t just another case for me. This monster is a reminder of the man who murdered my mother, the man I’ve dedicated my life to finding and killing. I don’t care if the victims are supernatural or not. I have a deep, burning hatred for anyone who preys on women, and I won’t rest until this killer is stopped.
Out of nowhere, I get hit in the back of the head and everything goes black.
***
My muscles spasm as I try to lift my hand, I try to pull my arm , but—what the fuck? I’m tied up. My head pounds relentlessly, a throbbing ache shooting through my skull as if someone savagely kicked it again and again. I struggle to open my eyes, but even my eyelids feel too heavy to lift.
Mustering my strength, I slowly pry one eye partially open, then the other, wincing against a harsh white light beaming down on me. As my blurry vision adjusts, I try to make sense of where this bright glare is coming from. Realizing my hands are bound, I can’t shield my sensitive eyes from the blinding brightness overhead. Squinting, I try to discern where I am and how I got here. But my mind is foggy, and my thoughts are slippery like trying to grasp smoke.
“There you are, you wicked Succubus.”
I groan. That’s the second time this week someone’s called me that. I need to remain hidden, yet everyone is uncovering who I am. Pretty soon, I’ll have humans and supernaturals hunting me if I’m not careful.
“I bet you wish you would have killed me, huh?”
His slimy voice is foggy in my brain. “The drug should be wearing off soon.” A second person’s voice. I’m trying to pinpoint who this other person is. I try to focus but can’t.
There are two people in the room. The one who called me Succubus, that voice belongs to Zack. He’s the man responsible for all the murders. How did I get so lucky to be tied up in his presence?
“Where the fuck am I?” My voice is low and weak, the words are coming out in a slur, and I hate it. I just fed.
“In my home.”
My head slumps down. It’s a challenge trying to keep it upright. I finally recognize that voice.
“I should have fucking killed you instead of your friends,” I grit out at Mitch.
He chuckles, and the sound annoys the shit out of me. I finally lift my head up again and face him, my energy slowly returning.
I look around the space. I’m in a bedroom. The windows are covered so the only light is from the lightbulb in the middle of the room. I’m sitting on a chair while the bed is beside me. Standing in front of the door are Zack and Mitch. They’re guarding it like they expect me to escape. Besides these two dimwits, I don’t hear anyone else.
I try expanding my wings to break the ropes, but they seem stuck.
“They won’t work here.” Zack gets closer to me. “Those ropes you’re tied up with, they’re magic ropes to keep supernaturals from trying to escape.” Now I understand why the rope feels like it’s stabbing me. The magic pierces through my arms every time I wiggle.
“Who else knows I’m a—” It’s hard to voice the word out loud. I’m afraid that someone else might overhear, but if someone else is in here, they probably already know.
“Only Mitch and me.”
I almost show them how relieved I’m feeling but work to keep my expression neutral. I don’t want to give them any ammunition against me. I need to keep them talking until the drug they gave me wears off completely. I shift slightly, pretending I’m not at all concerned.
“Why’d you do it? Why kill the women?”
“What else for?” He laughs like he doesn’t have any remorse for what he’s done. “Eternal youth and immortality. I wanted to be young again. Only three weeks ago, I was in my mid-sixties. Every kill has bought me ten years of youth.”
He opens his phone, touches his face, and runs his fingers through his hair. I assume he’s admiring himself with the camera.
“Now I can easily pass for twenty-five.” He puts his phone back in his pocket. “If that idiot wants me to kill in exchange for eternal youth, then so be it.”
“Who was it? What did they ask for in return?” They always want something. Nothing within the supernatural community is given for free.
“I don’t know, and I don’t fucking care.”
Oh goddess, this guy is an idiot. He’s going to end up killing himself, and he’s going to bring others down with him. He has no clue what he’s doing.
“You only started killing three weeks ago?” My voice trembles slightly with the weight of the revelation. This can’t be my mother’s killer, then.
A mix of relief and frustration washes over me. Relief that my mother’s murderer is still out there, but frustration because it means I’m no closer to finding him. I’m actually surprised he started looking younger. It doesn’t add up. Whoever is behind this should make him wait for his prize, not hand it over so quickly.
“Yes.” He stares off into space before talking again. “I was in the bathroom of a nightclub, and someone came up to me and told me what I want most in life.”
There is more to this story, I just know it.
“Who was the person?”
“I don’t know.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’m surprised this guy made it to his mid-sixties, to be honest. He’s clueless about everything.
“He helped me pick the human and then the supernaturals and made that woman forget who I was.”
Oh shit, he’s talking about Trisha.
“How did you guys end up working together?” I’m actually curious about this one. They don’t look like a pair that would be friends.
“You took my breath away when I found you in the club.” Gross, I keep my lips tightly shut though. I don’t want to keep him from talking. “I was out having fun. I had already killed for the night, and I was buzzing with the high that comes with murdering someone. Kind of what you feel when you kill. You know what I’m talking about. We’re kind of the same.”
No, we’re not , is what I want to tell him, but I keep my mouth shut. I want him to continue to talk.
“The very first time I saw you, I still looked like I was in my mid-forties. I didn’t want to approach you then. It was your birthday that day. I followed you and your boyfriend to the motel.”
“So, you were the one watching through the window!”
He smiles wide and nods. “I gave the FBI the tip that there was another killing. I watched you sprint to your house and followed you there. I watched and waited to make my appearance, but of course, the fae showed up faster than I would have liked. At the time, I believed you to be human.”
“Were you watching me after you murdered Sandy?” I interrupt, remembering I saw a set of eyes staring at me.
He scrunches his nose. “No.”
Oh, Fuck!
“I followed you when you thought no one was looking. I saw you kill his friends, and it was a beautiful sight to see. Imagine my surprise when I saw your wings and horns come out,” he says with a dreamy sigh.
“Wait, you saw the whole thing and didn’t try to help?” Mitch glares at Zack angrily, but Zack doesn’t look bothered.
Zack ignores him and continues to talk to me. “I promised him a chance to kill you if he helped me capture you, and as you can imagine, he quickly agreed.”
I look back at Mitch, and he has a smirk. The way he eyes my body up and down makes me shiver in disgust.
“I went back to the club and saw you dancing and luring people to you. I knew I was going to talk to you again, and then the agent showed up.” His face twists in anger and annoyance at the mention of Agent Cooper. “I followed you back to his place.”
I shiver at the thought of this guy knowing exactly where I’m staying. He was right under our noses, and we never figured it out. Agent Cooper is going to be furious when he finds out. If you don’t die here first , I think to myself. No, I’m making it out of here alive.
“I watched and waited until you went out again. I put a tracker on the agent who took you out. I put it underneath his car when he knocked on the door to come get you. When I saw you at the club, I had to get your attention.” Just as I thought, this was too coincidental for him to have randomly seen me there. “You ignored me, and I hated it. I thought it was because of your date, and I almost killed the FBI agent on the spot, but I had already killed that night, and all I was looking for was a chance to get to know you.”
I’m going to vomit. It’s never going to happen, buddy.
“I thought you brought her here so we can kill her,” Mitch reminds him. He takes a step forward, getting too close for my liking. “But maybe—” He grabs a piece of my hair and I yank my head away. He lets that piece fall from his fingers. “She is pretty. Maybe we can keep her and fuck her.”
The drug is finally gone, and my power tries to unleash itself, but I can’t do anything. I know my eyes have turned blue when I hear them gasp.
“She’s mine, Mitch. I simply had you help me. With someone like her, you always need an accomplice.”
Mitch looks down at his gun, but before he can react, Zack pulls out a gun of his own and shoots him in the forehead. I hold in my scream. He falls to the floor with a loud thump, blood pooling from the wound. Zack immediately starts marking the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“Can’t let this body go to waste,” he says, paying attention to what he’s doing. I try to free myself from the ropes again, but they’re secured tightly. The magic digs into my flesh like knives, and blood drips down my fingertips.
“What will the supernatural give you in return?”
“You,” he says, looking up at me before finishing the sigil markings on the floor.