“Do you go around sneaking up on everyone?”
“I do tonight.”
And that was the truth of it, she decided. Tonight, there really were ghosts in the graveyard, except these ghosts were ravenous, violent monstrosities looking to destroy them.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked.
“Making sure there was no one out here who could ambush you on your way back to Gus’s.”
Declan glanced over her shoulder before clasping her elbow and pulling her into the shadows. They made their way carefully back through the yards and toward Gus’s.
“I killed the one following us in the truck,” he told her.
“You’re wearing his blood,” she said as they crouched near a rhododendron.
Declan thought he’d scrubbed the vamp’s blood from his face and hands before returning, but he must have missed some. He rubbed at the stubble lining his face but didn’t put much effort into removing it. They would be inside soon, and he could wash it off then. He was more concerned about getting her safely inside.
“I changed the memories of the neighbors who might have seen us and killed a Savage behind Gus’s house. I stashed its body in the woods, but I don’t know what we’re going to do with it in the morning.”
“Take me to it.”
Willow led him to the body; he lifted it and hefted it over his shoulder. “I tossed the body of the one I killed into a ditch. It should remain hidden until the sun hits it. There were no houses nearby, so no one will see the flames. I’ll take this one over there too.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Declan didn’t argue as he led the way through the woods, across more backyards, and to the ditch by the side of the road. If the Savages discovered the bodies before morning, they wouldn’t have any idea where they were.
If a human happened to find them, there was nothing he could do about it, but with the police under the Savage’s control, they would soon learn about the bodies and take care of them. He tossed the vamp over the side where it rolled down the hill and came to a stop a few feet away from the Savage he discarded earlier.
“Let’s get back to Gus’s,” he said.
They remained hidden as they returned to Gus’s house and entered the garage. Declan closed the door and locked it behind them.
“How many of them do you think are here?” Willow asked.
“I don’t know, but they have the perimeter of the town covered by humans and Savages. They must have been recruiting people all day.”
“How do you know that?”
“I tried getting close to the roadblock; that’s why it took me so long to return.”
Willow’s shoulders slumped. “So, we’re trapped here.”
Declan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. “We’ll figure out a way to get out of this.” He lowered his head and inhaled her floral scent. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Willow’s fingers dug into his back as she held him closer.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Declan turnedoff the light in the bathroom and stepped out to discover Willow standing in the room across the hall. The moon illuminated the different shades of blonde in her hair as she stood silhouetted against the window.
With the way she was standing, she’d be able to see out without anyone seeing her. He walked across the hall to stand in the doorway of what he assumed was a sewing or craft room or whatever humans called them.
A sewing machine sat on a table in the corner. Shelves of bins lined two walls. A label marked each container with different things from buttons and ribbons to glue, scissors, markers, yarn, and so on, and so on.
Two stuffed chairs faced the front windows. One had a basket of yarn and knitting needles beside it while the other had a thin layer of dust. He suspected Cheryl and her daughter once spent time together in here, but that time had passed.
When Willow turned toward him, he glimpsed her profile before she looked away again. From down the hall, the distant thump of deathrock sounded from Gus’s daughter’s room. He’d learned her name was Gretchen before she stomped into her room and slammed the door behind her. Her shitty attitude only reinforced his conviction not to have children.
