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“It’s pointless for you or anyone else to come up here,” I cut in. “If we find anything, we’ll call, but it might well be a wild-goose chase.”
“You’re not going to follow it?”
“At the speed it was moving, it’s pointless. It could be anywhere by now.”
He grunted. It was not a happy sound. “Be careful.”
“You, too.” I paused. “Come back to my place when you’re done.”
“If we’re dealing with another vampire victim, it could beverylate.”
“Aside from the fact tomorrow is Monday and the café is closed, I don’t care. I want you in my bed and your arms wrapped around me, even if we are both too stuffed to do anything else.”
He laughed, the sound low and so very sexy. “I will never be too stuffed to make love to you.”
I grinned. “I will remind you of that when we have dozens of kids running around our feet.”
“Dozens?” He sounded amused. “Big families do run in my family, but I wasn’t aware you wanted a boatload of them.”
“Now you are.” I paused. “Well, maybe not a boatload, but four is a nice even number.”
He chuckled. “Maybe start off with a potential two and see how we both cope.”
“Plan,” I said with a grin. “See you tonight, then. Love you.”
“Love you too, my dear witch.”
The silly grin stayed on my face for a long time after he’d hung up. I scrolled through social media while I waited for Monty and Belle.
As Monty’s beat-up Ford pulled up behind me, Belle said,Monty suggests we continue down the road until we find somewhere more suitable for him to park the beast, then we can all jump in one car.
Which will be mine, not his, thank you very much.I think the nearest spot is the track that goes up to Katie’s wellspring.
That’ll do.
I started the SUV and drove back down to the track that led up to Katie’s parking area, then pulled over just a little further up from the turnoff to wait for the two of them. Monty hopped into the front seat and shoved his pack into the footwell, while Belle jumped into the back.
“Onwards we go,” he said.
I threw the SUV back into gear, then gave him a wry glance. “You don’t have to sound so excited by the prospect of finding death.”
“It’s not death, but rather the chance to find out more about this thing. Do you know how rare basilisks actually are?”
“He’s been in contact with some bods up in Canberra in an attempt to get more information,” Belle said, “They’ve asked him to write up a paper on it for the main archives.”
“And this is good because…?”
“Because I can use it as a stepping stone to submit other papers on creatures past and present later on down the track, when the reservation finally stops getting infested by evil.”
“And it’ll also keep him occupied and out of our hair,” Belle added. “This is a good thing for our bottom line, given the copious amounts of cake he’d otherwise eat.”
I laughed, and we continued down the road, following the line of yellowing foliage until it led off the road.
I stopped. Monty undid his belt and leaned past me, staring at the obvious trail that led deeper into the forest. “How close are we to Marin territory?”
“Within sniffing distance.” I hesitated. “Might be worth contacting Rocco to let him know what we’re up to.”
He nodded and immediately made the call. I climbed out of the SUV, walked over to what looked to be some sort of native gorse, and carefully touched a couple of spiky leaves. My psi senses didn’t stir, so I “reached” deeper. Just for a heartbeat, emotions rather than images flowed across the outer reaches of my psychometry, but they were alien and cold, full of fury, hate, and darkness.
