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I know.
I scrambled to my feet. Saw Roger helping Maelle up—saw the scorch across his shirt and the bubbling skin underneath. He’d taken the brunt of the heat to protect his mistress and the two patrons standing with them.
I grabbed Belle’s hand, helped her up, then spun and raced through the door. There were spots of fire burning in the foyer and smoke drifted, a black cloud that stung my throat with its foulness. As we ran past the cloakroom, the fire alarm sounded and the sprinklers activated, soaking the two of us in an instant.
The street door was already open. I ran out and looked right and left. Saw a glimmer of red disappearing around a corner to our right. Spun and ran that way, my shoes squelching water with every step.
We reached the corner and turned into the street. A couple with a kid in a pram strolled toward us, but there was no sign of the blonde or her next victim. I swore softly and ran out onto the road, my gaze sweeping the other side of the street.
She was here somewhere—I could feel it.
After a moment, I spotted her. Or rather, spotted the flash of red as she climbed into the passenger side of a silver car halfway up the road.
“Belle, can you call the rangers?” I said, as I sprinted toward the car. The pair would be gone long before I got anywhere near them, but I still had to try.
The car’s engine roared to life and the headlights came on, a bright flare that had me blinking. As the car pulled out of the parking spot, the blonde turned and raised her hand, idly waving at me. Anger surged and energy flowed across my fingertips in response. As the car pulled away, I flung the twisting threads of magic at the fast-disappearing vehicle. It didn’t stop it and it certainly wasn’t designed to track it. I wasn’t Monty, and I didn’t have the power or the knowledge to create something like that on the run.
Instead, my magic hit the back of the vehicle and briefly enlarged the number plate. I memorized it then spun around and stalked back.
Belle was still on the phone. I gave her the number to pass on and then added, “If Monty’s still helping Aiden with that other murder, we’ll need to be present when they go after that bitch.”
“Aiden and Monty are still returning from Greenhill, and are still a good forty-five minutes away.”
“We can’t afford to wait for them. Not if we want to save the man accompanying the soucouyant.”
She hesitated, listening to whoever was on the end. “Tala will be here in five.”
“Good.” I reached up and squeezed the water from my ponytail, and wished I could do the same to my clothes. “I don’t suppose you asked about the Greenhill murder?”
Belle shoved her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, her expression grim. “Apparently, it’s another skinning victim.”
I wrinkled my nose. No death was a good one, but Greenhill was a very small, close-knit border town community that consisted of little more than a pub and a hundred or so people, and this would hit them hard.
“Which to me suggests we are dealing with two different entities.”
“Bit of a coincidence that both of them can throw fire, though.”
“Yes.” I hesitated. “If they’re capable of taking on alternate forms when required, why are they stealing skins?”
“We don’t know that they both are.”
“True.” I started walking back down the road. While we had absolutely no hope of catching the pair on foot, the restlessness inside refused to let me be still.
Belle fell in step beside me. “I wonder if she’s capable of attaining multiple forms, or whether the one she used tonight is her only one?”
“I have absolutely no idea.” I glanced at her, eyebrow raised. “Why?”
“Because that woman is stunning. If she’s staying in a motel or rental, it should be a fairly easy task to find her.”
“Except for two things,” I said. “The first being the sheer number of motels and rentals within the reservation.”
“I didn’t say we’d be doing the ringing,” she replied, amused. “That’s a ranger type job, not witch. And the second?”
“The fact that your gran’s book said that by day, a soucouyant is an old woman.”
“Well, damn, forgot about that.” She thrust a hand through her wet hair, dragging it out of her face. “How the hell are we going to find someone who possibly has three different forms?”
“I do
