“Ray,” I directed, “you go ahead and scope it out. But don’t get too close. If you feel any danger, come back and let us know.”
“Got it,” Ray answered. Then he turned and gave James rough directions to where the mysterious house was located, as the bird flew—or in our case, how the vampire flew. He told us he’d check back in the last few miles and ended with “And don’t wet your pants when I stop on the road again, Irish.” He chortled, using Rourke’s nickname for James. “You shoulda seen the look on your face. Priceless.”
He nodded once and shot into the air.
27
It took us over an hour to get to the house. The back roads were small and twisty, not to mention we made several wrong turns. Ray had checked in twice, guiding us closer each time.
The sun was high above the trees when we finally pulled onto a dirt road off the main drive of what looked to be a secluded cabin next to a quaint lake in northeastern Georgia. It was fairly remote, heavily wooded. Any other cabins were acres away. Ray had already checked it out.
It was a perfect place to hide—or ambush—because there were no human witnesses for miles. The NO TRESPASSING signs we’d seen along the way made sure of that.
“This has to be someone’s summer estate,” Marcy said. “Judging by the gates and the driveway alone, it’s huge. The entire area looks well manicured and taken care of.”
Most supernaturals were wealthy, so we couldn’t rule out this might be owned by one.
We all piled out of the van after Ray assured us he didn’t detect any threat outside.
Rourke walked to the front of the gator van, its presence shouting, We aren’t from around here, gesturing his arm up the drive. “We go up to the cabin in twos. Jessica and I will circle around to the north, Irish and Marcy west, Ray and Nick south.” He glanced at me for my approval. I nodded. “And Tyler and Kayla east.”
If Kayla ran, Tyler could catch her, no problem. She hadn’t said anything more on our drive here, not even trying to dissuade us from stopping, so I was actually wondering what she would do with a little bit of freedom. Even if she managed to reanimate a dead body or two, if there were any around here, we’d be able to knock her out before it became an issue. Once she had collapsed back at the cemetery, all the ghouls had fallen.
I glanced at my brother. Keep her in your sights at all times. We still don’t know anything about her. If she runs, catch her quickly and let us know. We can circle around to meet you in less than a minute.
I’ll keep an eye on her, he said. I hope she doesn’t try to run. That would be tricky and another headache we don’t need.
Everyone nodded in agreement with Rourke’s directives. “Go in slow,” he cautioned. “I’ll give a low whistle when it’s all clear. Tyler and Kayla, meet us by the back door. Ray, you take the roof. Nick, you meet Irish and Marcy at the front. We enter at the same time.”
We had to be careful. Anything could be a potential trap. I was feeling some trepidation that Juanita still hadn’t made contact, but my wolf and I agreed that it felt right to stop. Juanita had made the trees glow in the swamp, so this could easily be her doing as well. But why she hadn’t pinged Marcy’s phone to tell us to stop was perplexing. That would’ve been the easiest route.
But when had any of this ever been easy?
“Marcy,” I called as we took off. “If you feel any wards or spells, let us know.”
“Oh, you’ll hear me,” she replied. “But so far I’m not picking up on anything. If a spell caster lived here, this entire gate would be warded. My best guess is a human owns this residence and it was chosen by whoever because it’s remote and said human doesn’t visit very often.”
“I guess we’ll know in a few minutes.” We all went different directions. Rourke and I circled to the east first, ahead of Tyler and Kayla, who headed into the surrounding woods.
Once we were clear of the group, Rourke grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. I brushed my body against his as we walked, running my other hand along his forearm. It felt good to be close. I needed to feel him.
“Do you sense anything?” he asked, scanning the woods like the predator he was.
“Nothing but your pheromones,” I joked, drawing in another luscious breath of his scent. I pushed my power out ahead of us to see if I could sense anything paranormal that could be amiss.
“I can’t help it,” he growled, leaning over to kiss the top of my head. “Getting a few seconds alone with you has become a feat of epic proportions on this journey. It’s all I can do not to take you now while I have you.” He rubbed his stubble into my hair, which gave me goose bumps. “When we are allowed two seconds of freedom, be prepared for me to tear your clothes off.”