"These people are my neighbors." Yours, too. "They have no idea what they're dealing with. The killer is getting bolder. What if it kills a child next?"
Caldenia rolled her eyes. "Then whatever passes for law enforcement in this corner of the universe will deal with it. They will likely spectacularly fail, but the perpetrator either will stop to avoid attracting any more attention or perhaps the Senate will send someone to deal with it. Either way, my dear, not your problem."
I looked down the street. From the balcony I could see nearly three hundred yards down to the first bend of the ridiculously named Camelot Road before it curved this way and that through the subdivision. People hurried to work. To the right a couple of toddlers rode their tricycles up and down the concrete driveway in front of their house. To the left Margaret was refilling her bird feeder while a small, fluffy ball of reddish fur that was supposedly a Pomeranian bounced up and down at her feet.
They were my neighbors. They had their normal lives and ordinary problems. They lived in the suburbs, struggled with debt and a faltering economy, and tried to save for their children's college. Most of them weren't equipped to deal with things that had sharp teeth and a predatory intelligence stalking them in the night. Most of them didn't even know things like that existed.
My imagination conjured something with long claws bursting from under the hedges and snatching up a toddler. The rules and laws by which I lived said I shouldn't get involved. I was neutral by definition, which gave me certain protections, and once I compromised that neutrality, I'd be fair game for whatever owned those claws.
"Misha!" Margaret called.
The Pomeranian dashed around her, all but flying over green grass.
"Misha! Come here, you little brat!"
Misha dashed the other way, thoroughly enjoying the game. In a minute Margaret would lose her patience and chase her.
You'd have to be a heartless snake to leave them to deal with a monster on their own. Caldenia, despite her twin hearts, was quite heartless, but it didn't mean I had to be.
Caldenia crunched another Funyun.
I smiled. "More Mello Yello, Your Grace?"
"Yes, please."
I fished another can out of the bag. There would be no more dead dogs if I could help it.
*** *** ***
I opened my eyes. My bedroom lay shrouded in gloom, the moonlight painting long silvery stripes on the old wooden floor. The magic chimed in my head. Something had crossed the boundary of the inn's grounds. Well, something magically active or weighing more than fifty pounds. The inn was pretty good at distinguishing between a potential threat and random wildlife that wandered onto the grounds.
I sat up. Next to the bed, Beast raised her tiny head from her dog bed.
I listened. Crickets chirped. A cool breeze drifted through the screen of the open window, stirring the beige curtains. The wooden floor felt cool under my bare feet. I really should get a rug in here.
Another gentle chime. It felt as if someone had tossed a rock into calm water and the ripples splashed against my skin. Definitely an intruder.
I stood up. Beast made a mad lunge and licked my ankle. I took the broom from its spot against the wall and left the bedroom. A long hallway stretched before me, dappled with cool darkness and moonlight coming through the large bay windows. I walked along the hallway, zeroing in on the disturbance. The Shih Tzu trotted next to me like a vigilant seven-pound black-and-white mop.
The inn and I were bound so tightly it was almost an extension of me. I could target any intrusion with pinpoint accuracy. This particular intruder wasn't moving. He was milling about in one spot.
The house was dark and quiet around me. I crossed the hallway, turned, and stopped at a door to the western balcony. Something moved below, in the orchard. Let's see what the night dragged in. Soundlessly, the door swung open in front of me, and I stepped out onto the balcony.
In the orchard, twenty yards from the house, Sean Evans was urinating on my apple tree.
You've got to be kidding me.
"Stop that," I hissed in a theatrical whisper.
He ignored me. His back was to me and he was still wearing the same jeans and gray T-shirt I'd seen him in that morning.
"Sean Evans! I see you. Stop marking your territory on my apple tree."
"Don't worry," he said without turning. "It won't hurt the apples."
The nerve. "How would you know? You've probably never grown an apple tree in your entire life."
"You wanted me to handle it," he said. "I'm handling it."
He was handling it, all right. "What makes you think that marking things will have any effect? The dog killer ignored your marks before."
"This is how it's done," he said. "There is a certain etiquette to these things. He challenged me, and now I'll challenge him back."
"Not in my orchard, you won't. Get out."
Beast barked once to add her support.
"What is that?" he asked.