A deep inhuman laugh rumbles the woman’s chest. It may be the most disturbing sound I’ve ever heard, and makes the short hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“If you think that, you’re a fool. The string of bodies I’ll leave in my wake will be on your head.”
Before I can reply, the woman convulses, and like the guy in the woods and the one who broke through the living room window, a stream of thick, black smoke flows from her mouth, twisting up into the air like a serpent, before evaporating.
The woman’s eyes are open, unseeing as they stare straight up, no longer black but a clear blue color I’ll never forget as long as I live.
Crouching down, I reach out and lower her lids.
The bathroom door handle turns and then Haven’s soft steps sound behind me.
“Is she gone?”
Twisting around, I come to my feet. Haven’s standing there with her gaze locked on the dead woman, her eyes filling with unshed tears.
Seeing her pain and sadness makes my chest ache, but I can’t bring myself to regret that the woman is gone. With the demon possessing her, she never would have stopped coming for Haven.
“Grab your stuff,” I say, my voice thick with emotions I can’t quite name. “We have to get out of here.”
Fourteen
HAVEN
“How did it find us?” I ask, my voice wobbly.
“I don’t—” Becks starts and then cuts himself off. His hands squeeze the steering wheel, white-knuckling it and he mumbles something to himself about being so stupid. “We need to ditch this car. Rental car companies can track their vehicles. Someone from the Order could have easily looked up my reservation and come up with some story to con the rental car company into giving up our location.”
I hadn’t even thought of that, but he’s right.
“We need to go somewhere truly off-grid.”
I nod my agreement, suddenly feeling exposed even as we’re barreling down deserted country roads.
With one hand on the wheel, Becks grabs his burner cell, his eyes never leaving the road. After punching in some numbers, he lays it on the console between us. It only rings once before a deep voice I now recognize as Talon’s says, “You weren’t supposed to call.”
“We had an incident.” Becks dives right in, quickly recapping the attack in the hotel.
“You need to get a new car,” Talon says when Becks is done.
A muscle in Becks’ jaw jumps. “I know.”
It’s quiet on the other end of the line, and then, “We had a bit of a situation here as well.”
My heart jumps into my throat. “What happened? Are my parents all right?”
Talon falls silent again and I want to reach through the phone and drag the words out of him. “Haven?”
“Yes,” I snap, only feeling a little bad for being short with him. My mind is already conjuring all sorts of gruesome scenarios. “Are my parents okay?”
“They’re safe. Now,” Talon says, but it feels like there’s more to it than that.
“What happened?” Becks asks.
“A few creatures were sniffing around. We think their goal was to try to get Haven’s location out of her parents, but we took care of them. No one was hurt.” He pauses. “Well, I should say none of us were hurt. They were in pretty bad shape when we finished with them. We moved David to a different hospital under an assumed name.”
“But he’s okay?” I ask again.
“He’s stable. We’d join you right away, but he needs surgery.”
