Page 67 of Hextreme Measures

“And what list is that?”

“A list of individuals who have lost their husbands in incidents that included claw marks. Since we were searching for banshee activity, your husband’s death fit the bill.”

Shirley was silent for a moment, then nodded. “I guess we should have thought of that.”

“I guess so,” Sully agreed. “Now it’s my turn.” He leaned forward. “The banshees that attacked our party, they work for you, correct?”

Shirley made a sneering face. “I guess that’s fair to say,” she confirmed.

“Did you send them for Angelique because Biff wants her?” Sully didn’t know when the picture had become clear to him — sometime in the last two hours when he’d been silently working things out as he watched her pace the room — but it was the only thing that made sense when he looked at all the facts.

“My son will make a good mate,” Shirley replied. “He needs a strong female to keep him in line, however. The siren is strong. She’ll provide strong offspring.”

Sully’s stomach twisted, but he didn’t give the banshee his true opinion on the subject. “I see.”

“You don’t have the right to be disgusted with me,” Shirley snapped, correctly reading his reaction. “This is how it’s always done.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so.” Her anger burst forth, and she threw a bolt of magic at the cage wall. It reflected back and died almost immediately. “You picked a strong mate. My son deserves one, too.”

“Your son deserves a lot of things,” Sully said dryly. “Angelique is not one of them.”

“She was supposed to pick him, not the weak warlock.” Shirley rolled her eyes. “She didn’t follow the script.”

“Maybe that’s because she thought she should write her own script.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen.” Shirley shook her head and went to the window. She moved the drape, looked out, then let it fall. “The sun is setting. Angelique will finish her transformation before midnight. Then it will be over.”

“You can feel her?” Sully asked.

“No, but I’ve done this more than once.” She turned back. “I am not the sort of banshee that you’re used to. I am in control of what’s happening. I make the decision. I draw the lines of how my family will look when colored in.”

“Is that what you’ve been doing?” Sully kept his voice level. “It feels … odd to me that you would be wandering around turning random paranormals into banshees. That’s what you have been doing, right?”

“I wouldn’t say they were random.”

“No?” Sully cocked his head. “What would you say they were?”

“I researched each and every single one of them.” Shirley puffed herself out. “I made sure that they would have strong enough genes to anchor my family going forward.”

Sully didn’t know why he said the next part, but there was no stopping him, given the look on her face. “Because you’re dying and want to make sure you have control of your legacy?”

Slowly, Shirley tracked her gaze. “Who …” She stopped herself and seemed to reconsider. “How …” She didn’t finish that one out either.

“You look sick,” Sully offered, easing the conversation along. “You smell sick, too.”

“I do not smell sick.” Shirley reared back. “How dare you!”

“It’s the truth.” He rolled his neck and checked his internal clock. He’d seen how much sun was outside the window when Shirley had opened the drapes. Whatever plan Ofelia was going to launch would involve Pascal. That meant they weren’t coming until the sun set. He would have to drag things out until then. “How about I tell you what I believe happened, and you tell me what I’ve got wrong?” he suggested.

Shirley narrowed her eyes. “There’s no way you can understand my story.”

“Let me try. We’re not doing anything else but waiting for Angelique to transition, right?”

She opened her mouth, then shut it. Ultimately, she nodded. “Fine. Tell me my story.”

Sully ignored her sarcastic tone. “It starts with a slave who wanted freedom and saw what she referred to as a wailing woman,” he supplied. “She was familiar with banshees and couldn’t understand why this one was different. She made it her mission to find out why that banshee was different, and it turns out, she was born that way.”