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A second later, a soft ding echoed down the line. “Received. Just a moment and I’ll look at it.” There was a long pause. “That’s your cousin, Deni Marlowe.”
I vaguely remembered Deni—or rather, remembered the fact that she’d had the misfortune of being born with green eyes and a splattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose, just like me. “I thought Aunt Frankie had moved to the UK for good?”
“She had, but she was offered a promotion back here and returned a few years ago.”
My gaze went to the photo with the cross on it. Though my memories of her were rather vague, the headless woman could definitely have been my aunt—aside from the fact she had the family facial structure, her nose was just as proud and prominent as my father’s.
“Has Aunt Frankie got white streaks in her hair?”
“A curious question, but I don’t believe so.”
Relief stirred, though in truth Mom’s answer really didn’t confirm the body I’d found wasn’t my aunt. There were some demons who fed on their victim’s life force, and the process of draining them unto death quite often rapidly aged them. That could have been what I’d seen, even if the victim wasn’t a dried-out husk. “Have you got contact details for Deni? I need to speak to her urgently.”
“What is this all about, Elizabeth? Surely if your father and any of our relations are in danger, the high council will handle it. They do have a special division for this sort of thing.”
“That division fucked up so badly that Cat died before the sorcerer who kidnapped her was dealt with.” By me, I wanted to add, not the council and certainly not you or Dad. “He’s come back, Mom, and he’s intending to take out the rest of us.”
There was a long pause. I expected her to say something along the lines of are you sure? but she surprised me. “You’ve seen this?”
“I’ve seen his first kill.”
She sucked in a breath. “Deni?”
“No. But Deni’s next on his list.”
“Then who...” She paused. “Frances? She didn’t have white streaks in her hair, but still...”
“I honestly don’t know, Mom.”
“There would be a family resemblance.”
“There was.”
Another long pause. “I will contact Deni straight—”
“No,” I cut in. “You need to contact Juli and warn him, and you all need to go somewhere totally unknown to anyone in your contacts lists and start laying down multiple protections.”
“There is no safer place than the home compound, Elizabeth.”
“He drew Catherine from there,” I reminded her. “He can draw you.”
She didn’t say anything to that. Perhaps she didn’t believe she could fall prey to this monster as easily as Cat had, thanks to the fact that she was older and wiser. And that might well be true, but I’d still rather she not bet her life on it.
“I’ll talk to your father,” she said. “What of the court case? Will it still proceed? I haven’t heard otherwise.”
I hadn’t even thought about the court case. I’d be seriously pissed if it was delayed and I had to come back at a later date.
“Neither have I,” I said. “I’m presuming at this point that tomorrow’s session will be on, but who knows what will happen after that.”
“I’ll send you Deni’s details, but do please be careful, Elizabeth. No matter what you may think of me, I do not, under any circumstances, want to lose another daughter.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I blinked them back furiously. Damn it, I was an adult, not that little kid desperate for a kind word from her parents.
“I have no intention of dying, Mom. I have a good life and a good man waiting for me to come home.”
There was another of those long pauses. “That’s good.”
A smiled tugged my lips. I suspected the topic of my partner would be high on the list of items to be discussed at the dinner table tonight—though I doubted the news would squash my father’s intentions, matchmaking wise.
