My pulse quickened.
I left her room and made my way down to Arion’s in the master suite, calling her name as I entered, too. “Arion?” I said. “Are you here?”
I checked her bed and her lamps, her room in the same untouched state as my mother’s. I walked over to the closet she shared with Damon, not going in, though.
“Ari?” I called. She could be in his room.
His room.
My teeth ached, and I unclenched my jaw, leaving the room and heading back to mine.
Grabbing my phone off the bedside table, I searched my apps, finding Uber, and ordered a car using VoiceOver to help me navigate. I forwent typing “assist” in the promotional code to let the driver know I had a disability. I was in a hurry, and no one in this town didn’t not know me, so we’d muddle through.
I slipped on some jeans, a T-shirt and jacket, and pulled on a baseball cap. After I got my shoes and socks on, I stuffed some cash from my stash into my wallet and stuck it into my pocket with my phone.
Heading downstairs, I called for my dog. “Mikhail!”
I pulled out my phone, checking the driver’s location.
“Four minutes,” VoiceOver read.
“Mikhail!” I shouted again, pulling his leash out of the drawer in the foyer table.
Something creaked above me again, and I shook my head, going breathless.
Something was wrong. That wouldn’t be my family. I called their names. They didn’t answer. Where were they?
Damon, what have you done?
I heard a noise, like the refrigerator closing, and maybe…
“Mom!” I yelled.
What was that? Where was my dog?
Racing into the kitchen, I halted, facing the direction of the refrigerator. “Hello? Who’s there?”
No answer.
Shit. I lunged, swinging open the back door. “Mikhail!”
Rain pattered the terrace and awnings, and I couldn’t hear him. He would come in if it was raining, and it he didn’t, he’d be huddled right outside this door. No jingling leash telling me he was running for me or whining to get out of the water. Where did he go?
Two footfalls hit the floor above me, and I stopped breathing.
Damn you. The fear of that night seven years ago when he first messed with me came flooding back, only this time, I doubted my dancing could get me out of this.
I slipped my hand in my pocket, finding the house keys already there, and fitting two between my fingers as a weapon. I closed the door, hearing my phone ding, probably with the notification that my ride was here. I gripped the leash in one hand, the keys in the other, and backed up a step.
The floor whined to my right as someone stepped, and I tried to inhale but couldn’t. Then something clicked from somewhere in the house, a door softly closing.
Weight settled on one of the stairs, and I heard the rings on a curtain slide along a rod. Closing.
More movement in the attic, and in my head, I’d already run.
Go. I forced every ounce of energy to pool in my legs as I gripped my weapons, spun around, and bolted out of the kitchen, taking the straight shot all the way to the front door.
I grabbed the handle, whipped it open, and flew outside into the rain and cool morning air. I slammed right into a car and fumbled with the door handle, finally opening it.
“Jesse?” I said the driver’s name I got from the app.
“Yeah, you okay?”
I scurried inside, barely registering the cackling I heard coming from inside my house since I’d left the door open.
Asshole.
My heart was trying to jump out of my goddamn chest.
And it still didn’t answer where my family was. Or my dog.
“Lock the doors,” I told him.
He did and took off, rounding the fountain and heading for St. Killian’s, the address I’d already entered into the app.
I put my head back, still gripping the leash in my hand. Mikhail. God, he wouldn’t hurt him, would he? The dog was coming to me less and less. I didn’t know if he was warming to Damon or hiding in fear.
Rain spattered the windshield, and the driver stayed quiet as he drove, probably noticing that I was out of sorts.
It was a short drive. St. Killian’s wasn’t too far from my house if you were in a car. I’d learned from Will that Michael and Rika had an apartment in Meridian City, but they spent almost as much time in Thunder Bay now in their newly renovated home. An old, abandoned cathedral that overlooked the sea.
In no time, the driver turned off the highway, and I expected to feel the gravel I remembered from years ago when I came out here, but there was no crunch of rock underneath the car. It was paved now, and I imagined they’d also manicured the land around the church. Italian cypresses lining the driveway, maybe. A fountain or statue or maybe flowery display in front of the house.
He stopped and put the car in Park, and I grabbed the door handle, ready to get out, since the ride had already been charged to my card on file.
“Would you mind guiding me to the front door?” I asked.
“Yeah, sure.”
He got out of his side, and I climbed out of the car, meeting him as he came around. I didn’t know him, but it wasn’t a big town. He probably knew I was blind.
I took his arm and he led me across the driveway and up to the house.
“There’s stairs,” he warned.
“Gotcha,” I replied, finding the first step. “And the door is directly at the top?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, I got it from here,” I told him.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, thank you.”
Rika told me to come over today to hang out, so I knew she’d be home. It was early, though.
The driver left me and walked back to his car, and I wanted him to wait for me, but they didn’t work like a taxi. I would just have to order another ride later.
I reached the top of the stairs and searched for a doorbell but didn’t find one. Locating a knocker, though, I rapped it twice and waited.
Please be home. Please be awake.
Damon’s friends—former friends, I’d learned—were the only people he could threaten all day and never hurt. They were just as powerful, if not more. He could be stopped.
I rapped the knocker again, three times this time, and waited, the rain growing a little heavier now as thunder cracked overhead.
“Hello?” I called, knowing it was useless. If they hadn’t heard the massive piece of iron hitting the door…
I grabbed the door handle, a heavy metal ring in keeping with the medieval style I knew the cathedral sported, and twisted, the door magically giving way and opening.
That meant they were up, at least.
“Hello, anybody home?” I called. “It’s Winter Ashby.”
I stepped inside and closed the door, inhaling the most amazing scent. A mixture of coffee, vanilla, and stone. I could feel the air above me and knew the ceiling was sky high. It smelled spacious with lots of fresh air. This place would be a nightmare to heat, though.
“Hello?” I said.
Still no answer. I dug out my phone.
“Dial Erika Fane,” I said.
My phone chimed, and after a moment I heard my line start to ring, and then I heard her phone receive the call somewhere in the house. Her ringtone played “Fire Breather” by LAUREL above me, and I smiled, following the sound. I didn’t want to invade her home, but I really didn’t have time to lose.
“Hello?” I sing-songed again.
They had to be here. I got closer to the ring, my foot hitting a step, and I climbed it, finding her phone a few stairs up. I picked it up just as it stopped ringing and went to voicemail. I ended my call.
I took another step, but this time, it brushed something, and I bent down, picking up a long and full mess of fabric. A dress.
“Keep the necklace on,” I heard Michael say. “Just the necklace.”
Huh?
I took another step but heard a moan and halted.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he said, his breathing labored. “You were always the sweetest little thing.”
“Michael,” Rika gasped.
Oh, shit. I dropped the dress and shot my hand to my mouth, scared they would hear my breathing. They must’ve just gotten home. Wonder what they did last night after the party.