The snow began to fall more heavily, and the wind whipped around.
The moment Steven rolled up the door, a foul odor rushed out.
“Did someone die in there?” I pressed the back of my hand to my nose and swallowed the bile that was ready to burst free. A large wooden box sat ominously in the middle of the somewhat empty hangar. “Do you think there’s a body in there?” There had to have been, judging by the stench.
Steven tore the top off the box with his bare hands, and the disgusting smell increased tenfold.
Vomit was about to hurtle out of my mouth, but I shuffled in anyway, holding my breath. I wouldn’t put it past Jack to drop something off before he arrived. Maybe that was the reason he wanted me there, to send me a present—as in a vampire or…. Kendra came to mind.
Jo gave me a nod as though she couldn’t smell a thing, which was odd, given her acute senses.
The blood drained from me.
Steven examined the body like he was the official coroner. “Whoever it was has been dead for quite some time.”
I sidled up to Jo who was also inspecting the corpse. “You don’t think my uncle dropped this off here?”
Steven’s head shot up as his green eyes bled to silver. “Why would you think that?”
“He’s been looking for a vampire my father dated. He told me the PI he hired found a lead on her recently. Maybe he wanted me here to show me. I know that’s a long shot.” But that idea vanished when I laid eyes on a decomposed body that looked male, not female.
“Jack wouldn’t know what hangar we were in, anyway,” Jo offered before she walked around the space. In addition to the coffin, several crates were scattered about.
The sound of a vehicle’s engine whirred in the distance.
Steven closed the box just as the dark-blue car drove past then backed up.
Jack wheeled up to the open bay door then cut the engine. He and Uncle Ray looked at each other. Then Uncle Ray’s mouth moved as he said something to Jack from the passenger’s seat.
A violent storm surged in my stomach. My uncles were up to something. “I don’t like this,” I mumbled.
Jo and I flanked Steven as we stood behind the wooden box as if it would keep Jack and Ray from attacking us. The stench didn’t smell as strong. Maybe because it had burned the hairs in my nostrils.
My uncles got out, and Ray opened the back door while Jack strutted in.
“What’s this?” Jack waved a hand at the coffin. “Please tell me my son isn’t in there.” His face turned dark red.
I was about to respond when Ray dragged a woman out of the car and yanked her along with him. “Move.” If there was anyone among my clan I despised, it was Ray. He was more irritating than Jack, to the point that I hated even to look at the man who resembled my father with his red hair and blue eyes.
Jo and I exchanged a surprised look. Even Steven had questions written on his pinched features.
“Do you know her?” Jo asked me. “Is that your aunt?”
I wanted to be snarky and say Jack would never allow Ray to drag his wife around like she was the scum of the Earth, and my aunt wouldn’t put up with Ray’s shit. She never had in the past. In fact, Ray had only talked down to Aunt Tab once, and after she grasped his balls like she was twisting them off, Ray learned his lesson.
“My aunt isn’t blond,” I replied.
The shackled, handcuffed woman almost fell when Ray pushed her.
Her fangs shot out. “Shove me again,” the woman said with a sneer, “and I’ll chop off your other fingers.”
Ray narrowed his blue eyes to slits. “You can try.”
“When are you ever going to learn your lesson, Uncle Ray?” Sarcasm dripped from my voice.
He pushed out his rangy chest. Where Jack was bulky and beefy, Ray was a beanpole. “When are you going to stop hanging out with bloodsuckers?”
Steven growled, stopping any further argument between Ray and me. “Who’s this?”
