Page 42 of Hextreme Measures

He cocked his head. “Two of them were shifters. One, the one who claimed she was just scratched by a chair, is human for sure. The other one I’m not certain about. She was a friend of your mother.”

“So, just two shifters for certain.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I can try to find out, although I’m leery to go to the paranormal unit right now, what with Biff being suspicious of us.”

“He is a righteous turd,” Ofelia agreed. “I’m going to give him a case of burning urine before we leave for our honeymoon.”

Sully pressed his lips together in an attempt to remain stoic. He couldn’t manage it. “If I wasn’t already head-over-heels in love with you, that would have tipped me over the edge.”

“You find the strangest things attractive about me.”

“I find everything attractive about you.”

Rather than dwell on that — there was no time for romance despite their wedding being right around the corner — Ofelia forced herself to focus. “I need you to contact someone at the department to find out if those women are witches on top of being shifters.”

Sully’s forehead creased, and all thoughts of charming her with his lovey-dovey words flew out the window. “Why?”

“Because my theory involves the banshees organizing,” she replied. “They’re doing it on purpose. Or, well, that’s my theory.”

He nodded to get her to continue and kept plowing through his food.

“Someone helped Ellen break free from the banshees, and I think that frightened them,” Ofelia continued. “That’s why they left town the way they did. Ellen said they were gone for a long time, only a few slipping back in, including the one I took out. I maintain that was a test case, and they backed off again when I did that.”

“Okay.” Sully paused with a fry halfway to his mouth. “Do you believe that someone was targeted at our party?”

There was no hesitation when Ofelia answered. “Yes.”

“Do you believe it was Angelique?”

That was harder for her to answer. When she thought back to how things had gone that night, her mind kept coming up with a different option. “I think that I was the target.”

Sully choked on the shrimp he’d just eaten. “What?” he asked when he’d cleared his airway. “You think you were the target?”

“Does that make me a narcissist?”

“No, but I would like to hear why you think that. I’m not doubting you — I was actually worried about that a little bit myself, but managed to convince myself otherwise — but I want to know why you think it.”

“Because that first banshee was coming right at me, and she was determined,” Ofelia replied. “You killed her, though. You swooped in out of nowhere and ripped her throat out.”

“I’m not apologizing for that.”

Ofelia snorted. “I don’t expect you to apologize. You surprised me, though. I was gearing up for battle. When I think about her face, she was gearing up for battle, too. There was another banshee right there with her. The one that got Angelique. They were together, and the rest of them spread out when attacking.”

Sully took a few moments to picture the scene that Ofelia was painting. “You’re right,” he said finally. “When I look back, I can see what you’re saying. We took off to hunt the others. We saw them. They were spread out.”

“To serve as a distraction,” Ofelia guessed. “And Angelique paid the price because they were looking for me.”

“Hey.” Sully reached over and grabbed her hand to give it a good squeeze. “You cannot blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault.”

Ofelia felt otherwise. She also knew that she wouldn’t win this particular argument. “The whys are important on this one. We need to be realistic, though, too. We’re not even sure the banshees are still in the area.”

“Oh, you don’t believe they’ve fled.” He gave her a severe look. “I know you. That’s not what you believe.”

“I was just playing devil’s advocate.”

Sully waited her out, and she sighed.

“I believe they’re still here,” she admitted. “I don’t think they’re done. What they’re doing is regrouping.”