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A scrape came from behind me, and I turned as something shifted in the shadows.

“I can see you,” I said.

There was a giggle, and he moved quickly, sticking to the shadows in front of the warehouse. There was no mistaking him for anyone but Ren, his height, his broad frame, but the way he walked, the way he held himself, that wasn’t my fox.

“Come find me,” he called in a strange voice, pitched higher.

“I’m not going to do that,” I said as I strained to see him in the darkness. “You have to come to me.”

Another creepy giggle. “No, that’s not how the game works. You come find me.”

“And what happens when I find you?”

Silence.

“What happens?”

Another scrape and I watched him edge farther along the building. “I cut you. I cut and cut until you can’t move anymore, and then I keep on cutting.”

My heart beat harder, faster. “I don’t want to be cut, so I think I’ll stay right here.”

“You have to come and find me!” he called, now with an edge of anger in his distorted voice, nothing like Ren’s, not anymore—a twisted version of it that sent shivers down my spine.

“Tell me your name and maybe I will.”

He moved again, slowly circling me, coming closer to the shrubs and iron fence where Warrick was hiding.

A pair of red eyes flashed behind Ren, and I knew he was getting ready to pounce. I had to keep Ren focused on me.

“Are you going to tell me your name? If you want me to play, you have to tell me.” Whoever had possessed Ren seemed younger, or at least childlike and utterly sadistic.

“Your Elswyth knows who I am,” he said. “She knows me very well.”

I froze. “You know my aunt Else?”

Another giggle. “We used to have fun, she and I. Her screams made me laugh and laugh. I’ll make her scream again.” Ren stepped out of the shadows, and his face twisted into something from a nightmare. “She’ll bleed for me,” he said with a roar. “Now come here, bitch, it’s your turn to scream.”

Warrick moved, readying to strike.

Ren stopped and started to turn around.

Shit. “How about you try to catch me,” I called.

Ren spun back toward me as I stepped out of the salt circle.

He instantly came for me, running at full speed in my direction. Warrick exploded from the shadows behind him, thighs bunching, arms pumping. Ren was almost at me when I took a step back, back into the safety of the salt as Warrick tackled him to the ground.

Ren screamed and fought as Warrick trussed him up in the silver chain. In a matter of seconds, he was bound tightly, and I fished zip-ties from my bag and handed them to Warrick, who secured his wrists and ankles, while Ren screamed threats.

I grabbed the scarf I had in my bag, and he snapped his teeth at me, trying to take a bite as I shoved it in his mouth, gagging him. No way was I listening to this asshole all the way to the house. “We need to get him home. Somehow he knows my aunt.” This whole situation was getting more messed up by the minute.

Ren stopped thrashing instantly, and he smiled around his gag, eyes lighting up with glee. He wanted me to take him to Else.

Who the hell was he? What had he done to my aunt? And why the fuck was he here now?

Chapter 27

Willow