“I, uh, I’m sorry I’m late,” he says, his voice much deeper than I expected.
I give a small laugh and hold out my hands to take the box from him. “Not to worry. Someone else just delivered something, so I was already standing out here. My girlfriend is starving, so she ordered from a few different places.”
His pupils dilate, I’m sure, thinking about the fact I have a girlfriend—although I’m not even sure if that’s what you’d call us. It’s most men’s wet dream to watch two girls give each other pleasure. If only he knew there’s actually four of us; he’d have a heyday with that.
As he puts the box in my hands, his brush against mine, a rush of energy passes through me. I take a step back, running directly into the statued man. All feeling leaves my body, and I crumple to the floor.
The last thing I hear before I lose consciousness is the man whispering, “I’m sorry it had to happen this way.”
Chapter twenty-three
As we walk into the courtyard, my stomach roils. It’s one of the most gruesome crime scenes I’ve ever come to—and I’ve been to far more than I can count at this point—but this is one I’ll likely never forget. It’s definitely a striking difference from the scene I came across when I first arrived in the city.
My eyes drift around the courtyard, taking in every detail. While the woman I saw at that first scene only had claw marks across her body, the poor woman here has been ripped limb from limb. Parts of her body are littered around the space, and her blood is on nearly every surface imaginable. They’re going to be cleaning this up for hours, if not days, to keep the humans from asking questions.
I leave Addie where she stands to take a closer look at the body parts. The torso lies in the center, claw marks covering nearly every inch. Because there are so many, most of her organs are splayed out around it. From what I remember at the scene I wasat, this monster has been eating his victims, but this one has no organs missing. Moving on, I look over all the other body parts to see if anything is missing. Interestingly enough, every single piece of this woman is accounted for.
Grinding my teeth, I return to Adrestia. “Did you say there’s another scene?”
Adrestia sighs. “Yep. That’s what I’ve been told. This one was closest to the penthouse, so that’s why we came here first.”
“I need to see the other one before I can say anything for sure.”
“Let’s head there then,” Adrestia says.
When we get to the other scene, I prepare myself for the worst again, but I’m relieved to find that it’s nothing like the one we just left. Similar to the first scene I saw, this woman was ripped open, but this time the perp got their fill. What remains of her entrails hangs out of her open abdomen and spills onto the ground below her.
We can’t determine which woman died first because the other was dismembered, which cools down the body much faster. But if the perp killed this one first, why the hell would it attack a second woman in such a short amount of time? It’d gotten its fill from this one.
After looking around, I grab Adrestia’s hand and drag her away from the scene. “Addie, I’m not sure this is the same perp.”
Adrestia shakes her head. “Avie, think about it. All the women look similar, the claw marks are identically spaced apart on each victim, and they’ve all been found in courtyards.”
“Ignore that for a moment. Think of the difference between this scene and the other. This is our supe’s normal MO. The other scene is one of desperation, a loss of control…” I pause to look back at the woman who’s finally being taken away. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that if it is the same supe who attacked both women, not only are the attacks growing closer together, but they’re escalating. We don’t have long to figure this out if it’s the same perp.”
“Yeah, I know,” Adrestia says with a sigh. “Let’s go back to the penthouse so we can try to piece some things together.”
For the first time in years, I’m glad to be away from a crime scene. Hunting monsters has been my life for so long; now I just want to enjoy some time with my girls. It feels weird to call them that, but after last night, everything feels different. I feel whole in a way I never have before.
But the moment we walk into Adrestia’s building, something feels off. I look over at Adrestia, and her furrowed brow tells me she feels it too. We rush to the elevator, smashing the button as if that’ll summon one faster.
When one finally shows up, we impatiently wait for the people aboard to vacate. I breathe a sigh of relief when no one else triesto come on the elevator with us. They must sense the unease rolling off us in waves.
The entire ride up is excruciating. It feels like an eternity before we finally arrive on Adrestia’s floor. Terror clutches my heart, squeezing impossibly tight at what we’ll find when we get to the apartment.
Adrestia doesn’t even wait for the doors to open all the way before she’s squeezing through and running down the hall. I’m right on her heels, trying to keep up with her long strides. But when she rounds the corner, she stops dead in her tracks. I collide with her, nearly toppling us both to the ground.
I right myself quickly and peer around her. The air rushes out of my lungs as panic seizes me.
Vaelyn lies on the ground, still as a statue, and I can’t even tell if she’s breathing.
Adrestia lunges forward, collapsing onto the floor beside her. A sob rips through her as she pulls the harpy into her arms, cradling her limp form. Vaelyn’s chest rises and falls, telling me all I need to know at the moment.
My eyes shoot to the apartment door, panic seizing me again. Not only is the door wide open, but there’s something massive halfway through the entryway. I creep toward it, unsure if the person who attacked Vaelyn is still around, and halt when I realize what it is.
A man.
Who’s been turned to stone.
