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As much as he wanted to speed along, the road through the cemetery was narrow and winding, with no lights beyond the ones on the front of his car. Sky cursed himself when he ended up down a dead-end road and had to backtrack.
Nolan’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “It’s okay. Take your time. We’ll find him. It seems like we’re the only ones here.”
After more retracing their steps and bad turns, he located the outer road that took them to the farthest edge of the cemetery. These were some of the older plots. Weather and age had darkened the headstones and statues rising from the green grass.
“There!” Nolan suddenly called out, pointing ahead of them at a cluster of tall pine trees. A bit of white stone peeked out between the branches. Someone had tucked a huge mausoleum off the road, almost lost entirely to the surrounding trees and shrubs. It looked like a good hiding place.
As they were about to reach the spot, an engine roared to life. Bright lights flashed on, racing toward them. Fuck. That had to be the damn vampires. They must have come up to this spot from the other side of the cemetery. Sky’s heart jumped up to his throat as he jerked the wheel, pulling his car off the blacktop road and into the grass. His tiny vehicle was no match for the monster SUV the vampires were rolling around in.
“Did they follow us?” Nolan growled.
“I didn’t see anyone, but they might have. That or they followed your brother and we let them into the graveyard. It’ll be fine.” Sky turned off the car and got out.
“Your bag!” Nolan called, reaching into the rear seat.
“Leave it. I don’t need it now.” There was no need for extra boosters and shortcuts to connect him with the dead. Not when old bones and fragments of souls trapped between here and the next world surrounded him.
Since they’d pulled into the cemetery, the entire place had been singing to him, beckoning him to play among the dead. There weren’t a lot of ghosts here simply because ghosts didn’t get overly attached to their old bodies. But he didn’t need them to put life in those decaying bones.
He climbed out of the car and moved to stand in front of the mausoleum, blocking the direct path of the vampires. Nolan jogged up to join him, shouting for his brother. Sky clenched his fists at his sides, not sure whether to pray that Owen was still there or that he’d escaped yet again. They wanted to keep him out of the hands of the Sandor clan, but it was damn hard to do if they never knew where he was.
“What the fuck!” a voice he’d only ever heard over the phone shouted. “Did you lead them right to me? Are you a dumbass?”
Sky turned in time to see a man with light-brown hair and a dirty face slip out of the shadows cast by the trees. He might be an inch taller than his younger brother, but it looked like Nolan had at least thirty to fifty pounds of muscle on him.
Just as Sky was sucking in a breath to tell off Owen, Nolan clocked him hard with a right hook, sending his brother to the dirt.
“That’s for putting me and Sky in danger, you selfish tool!” Nolan shouted at his brother, who continued to lie in the dirt, one arm up as if to shield himself from more punches.
A high-pitched cackle interrupted any further comments, and Sky glanced up to see Colette jump from the SUV. Three large and scary vampires climbed out with her, but there was no Aldo this time. Four vampires against one witch and two humans. Not the greatest odds normally, but Sky smiled. It just so happened that the witch was a necromancer standing in a graveyard. He had more than enough tricks up his sleeve to run these assholes off.
“We made it in time for the family reunion!” Colette mocked, clapping bony fingers together. “How wonderful. If you’ll hand over Owen there, we’ll hold on to him until you find that shifter you promised us.” She jerked her chin toward Owen, who was still picking himself up off the ground.
“We didn’t promise you anything,” Nolan snarled, taking a step in front of his brother. Part of Sky’s brain marveled at this man. As pissed as he was at his older brother, he was still trying to protect him.
“It looks like you’re short a person this morning,” Sky called out. “Aldo not want to come out in the rain?” He held his hands out to his sides, open with the palms facing the ground. His connection to the dead was already reaching out, gathering up the various strands he could feel running under his feet. He gave them a few tentative tugs and felt an answering wave. Oh. Interesting. The dead were restless and bored in this cemetery. That was going to be more than a little helpful.
