---

When Tessa didn’t move right away, I thought she was shocked, which meant, she hadn’t thought about this, about kissing me, as much as I had thought about kissing her. Then, as I was going to pull back, she wound her arms around my neck and parted her lips for me.

I sighed in relief, and without wasting a moment, I kissed her slow and deep. When I teased her tongue with mine, she let out a small moan that I could feel inside my core.

Damn, this girl.

Her lips tasted like sin and heaven, and I couldn’t stop kissing her. I didn’t want to. Slowly, I slid my hands from her neck to her shoulders, down her side, and clasped her waist, pulling her body flush against mine. She gasped but only clutched my shoulders tighter. I could feel the warmth of her soft body against mine and, damn, I wanted more. I needed more.

But this wasn’t right. Not like this.

Tessa was a great girl. The greatest. She deserved someone who adored her, worshiped her, took her out on dates, gave her silly gifts, and kissed her at every chance. All things I couldn’t offer her. The only thing I could offer her was right here. Right now. One night, and that was it. But she wasn’t that kind of girl, and I wouldn’t start her down this path.

So, despite the pain it physically caused me, I unglued my lips from hers, clasped her arms and pulled them from my shoulders, and gave a big step back.

She blinked once. Twice. “What …? Hm, something wrong?”

I took a long breath, trying to calm my racing heart. “No. I mean … I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Oh.” The hurt on her face. It was too much to bear.

I took another step back. “I’m sorry.”

She nodded once. “It’s okay. I’m sorry it was such a disappointment.”

I froze under the doorjamb. “What? What do you mean?” She shook her head but didn’t answer. “What was such a disappointment?”

She lifted her chin with that false confidence I admired so much. “Me. The kiss. Whatever made you stop.”

I gaped at her. “You think kissing you was a disappointment?”

She shrugged. “It must have been, otherwise why would you stop?”

“I …” I didn’t know what to say to her.

“I’ll see you in the morning.” She put a hand on my arm and pushed me out of the room.

Stunned by her statement, I didn’t move until she slammed the door in my face.

What the hell happened?

I had just kissed her. I wanted her. She must have noticed how much, and then she was saying I was disappointed in her? How did she draw that conclusion?

I lifted my fist to knock on the door. I wanted to shout at her, tell her, show her how much I wanted her, how much I had wanted her since the morning I picked her up at USC. Hell, since the first time I laid eyes on her, eight years ago.

Reason won this time, and I lowered my arm.

It was for the best. It had to be. She shouldn’t get mixed up with me, not in that way. Hell, she shouldn’t get mixed with me at all. The sooner we solved this case and avenged Isaac’s death, the better it would be. She would go back to college, and I would continue hunting.

Shit. Isaac. If there was a heaven and he was there, he was probably looking down and wanting to kill me. To skin me alive.

If he were, I wouldn’t blame him.

Running a hand through my hair, I let out a long breath. I turned around and went to my bedroom, but as I looked at my bed, thoughts of Tessa lying there invaded my mind. No, I wouldn’t be able to sleep yet.

I took a shower—a cold one—and went down to Isaac’s office on the first floor. I opened my journal and reread my notes about this damn demon.

What did we have so far?

The first victims were Jean and Vanessa Brody, the second victim, when Isaac died, was Tony Carvalho, the third victims were Derrick and Josie Brown. Liz Morgan had been the fourth victim, but we were able to save her. From their records, I found Vanessa, Tony, Josie, and Liz had graduated from high school the same year. I didn’t know if that was a coincidence or not, but I wrote it down anyway. I looked through all of their records, and besides a few speeding tickets and some neighbor noise complaints, there was nothing important.

As for the demon, that sucker had a human figure. It was pale, white skin, no eyes, had dark circles around where the eyes would be, another dark circle around his mouth—which was full of sharp teeth—long limbs and long, razor claws for fingers. It was slow at times, but had bursts of energy when it moved faster than a blink of an eye. It hit like a truck and could control some objects. However, the control was limited, and I hadn’t figured out if there were any rules behind this.

When it finally closed in on a victim, the demon wrapped its claw around the victim’s neck and its eyes glowed red. Fire spread through its veins, heating up his body, and burning the victim’s eyes and mouth, and the chest, specifically, the area around the heart.

I glanced at the bookshelves lining the walls of Isaac’s office. So many books, here and at the library, and none had any entry about this demon. I found several similar demons, but there were always one or two things different.

I still had no idea how to kill it. We tried the gun with silver bullets, red bullets, the dagger dipped into the water from willow tree’s channel, and nothing worked. Even the witch’s rune only seemed to send the thing away for a few days. And that was it.

The problem was: It didn’t matter if I found the demon again, if I didn’t know how to kill it.

Somehow, I had to figure out how to kill it before it went through the entire town and killed everyone.

---

---

I barely slept all night. Again. I hadn’t slept well since arriving at the manor. First, it had been the shock of finding out my father had been killed. Then, there had been the nagas and their call and the blood and the demons and the nightmares.

Now, it was Landon.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him leaning into me again, kissing me so passionately.

Only to pull away and leave.

Ugh. I hated him.

Determined not to waste one minute thinking about him, I pulled the covers aside, jumped from the bed, and hopped in the shower to help me wake up and give me a boost of stamina. I went with my favorite pair of jeans, a red blouse, and ballet flats for my outfit of the day.

Once more, I didn’t see anyone as I made my way downstairs. It was enough to make a girl feel lonely or even ignored after such a great family get-together the previous night.

“The police are already there, though.” I heard Ash’s voice coming from the kitchen. “Sorry, man. Cole said he couldn’t hold this one.”

“I know.” Landon. With a frown, I paused outside the kitchen, not feeling great about eavesdropping but not wanting to barge in and interrupt their conversation either. “But I gotta check it out anyway.”

What was he talking about?

“I thought you would say that.”

“I just … This has been going on long enough. I need to find more clues; I need to make a connection between them before this demon kills the entire town.”

“Be careful,” Ash said. “And good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Incredulous, I marched in the kitchen as Landon was walking out the door that led to the underground garage.

“You’re leaving?” I asked.

Landon halted, his head low. “Shit.”

“You were leaving to check on a victim without me?”

Ash raised his hands, palms out, and backed out of the kitchen. In another situation, I would have told him to stay, but right now, my arms shook with rage. I wanted to choke the man standing across the kitchen.

Landon turned to me. “I—”

“Save it,” I snapped. Clenching my fists, so I wouldn’t slap him, I marched past him and down into the garage.

I heard his groan behind me, but I didn’t care.

I hopped in the passenger seat of his car before he had even made it into the garage. We didn’t say anything on the short ride to the colonial-style house on the other side of town.

As Ash had said, three police cars were here and a little crowd had gathered across the street.

Landon parked his car half a block from the tumult. He killed the engine and turned to me. “If a cop turns his attention to us, follow my lead, but let me do the talking. Okay?”

I gave him a quick nod but didn’t say a word.

Cole saw us approaching and waited for us at the property line. “Hey.”

Landon bumped his fist with Cole’s then glanced at the house. “What happened?”

“Same thing, man. The victim’s body was pale and dry with dark circles around the eyes, mouth, and on his chest. Just like the others.”

“Shit,” Landon cursed. “I’m so freaking tired of missing this damned demon.” He raked a hand through his hair and let out a long breath. “What can you tell me about the victim?”

“Duke Lewis, thirty-four, human. Worked as physical education teacher at the Willow Harbor High School.”

“No wife?”

“Was married for about five years. Divorced almost three years ago.”

“And records?”

“Nothing much. A couple of speeding tickets, a warning for anger issues, and that’s about it.”

“Shit.”

“I can’t take you inside right now, but I’ll try to snap some pictures. I’ll text them to you.”

“Thanks.”

So, we had come here for nothing.

A little bored, I glanced to the crowd. There were only a dozen people or so on the sidewalk across the street, and they all watched the house with eager interest.

One woman caught my attention. I reached to my side and grabbed Landon’s arms. “Landon.”

“What?” he snapped, probably annoyed I had interrupted his conversation with Cole.

“Isn’t that Lola?” I asked. “That woman we saw having awkward conversation with two other people?”

“Something about her brother.” He looked over and nodded. “Yes, that’s her.”

“Who?” Cole asked.

“The tall woman with auburn hair,” I said. “She’s wearing a green and gray blouse.”

“Oh, I see her. Yeah, I actually saw her at another victim’s house.” He frowned. “At Josie’s house. She got there after you two were gone and the police had already swept the place.”

“That has to mean something, right?” I asked.

“It could,” Landon said in a low, calculating voice. “Cole, can you come with us and ask her some questions. She probably won’t have any problems answering a cop.”

Cole glanced over his shoulder at Duke’s house and the sea of cops that came in and out through the front door. “Sure.”

Together, the three of us crossed the street.

With a practiced smile, Cole halted in front of Lola. “Good morning, ma’am. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

She glanced at Cole, Landon, me. “Hm, no, I don’t mind.”

Cole gestured for her to follow him a couple steps to the side, so the crowd wouldn’t eavesdrop on their conversation. Landon and I stood between the crowd, Cole, and Lola.

“Two days ago, I saw you at another victim’s house, Josie Brown, and you’re here now,” Cole started. “Did you know them?”

“Y-yes,” she said, sounding unsure. “I mean, I wasn’t friends with them, but I knew them.”

“May I ask how?”

“They were good friends with my brother, Peter, in high school.”

“Were?”

“Peter died right after high school graduation. A camping accident.”

“I see.” Cole paused. “Did you also know Vanessa Brody and Tony Carvalho?”

She nodded. “Yes. And Liz Morgan. I heard she’s in the hospital.”

“Yes, she is.”

“They were all good friends in high school. The best of friends, actually. I always envied them for that.”

Landon and Cole exchanged a side-glance. “Do you know if they continued being best friends all these years?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. A year after my brother died, I moved away for college. I only return to Willow Harbor to visit my parents a couple of times per year.” Her eyes shifted to the house across the street. “I still can’t believe this is happening. I don’t understand it.”

“We’re doing everything we can to understand it ourselves, and once we do, we’ll make sure it stops,” Cole said. “Thank you, ma’am.”

She nodded once. “No problem.”

After a quick hand gesture for us to follow him, Cole started walking away from the crowd. Landon and I fell into step with him.

“So?” I asked, trying to connect the dots of what we had been told, but noticing we still had many pieces missing. “Do you think it’s all connected?”

“It sounds like it,” Cole said. He looked at Landon. “What are you going to do now?”

Landon clicked his tongue. “Now I have to think.”