“I want to see the lab myself. Then we’ll talk about the evidence you’re removing.”
“Fine.”
I found Evie in the office, a collection of papers in her hand.
“This is the shit they don’t care if we find,” she said. “They would have destroyed any evidence that could lead to them.”
“We’ll find them.”
I watched Evie as she scanned the paper in her hand.
She was turning distant, her eyes unfathomable, her mind continuously elsewhere. If she was anything like me, it was vengeance that caused her eyes to sharpen occasionally as she stared into space.
My fun-loving, curious, mischievous sister was fading away.
“Don’t let this make you hard and cold,” I whispered. “Don’t let it make you a predator.”
She finally pulled her attention from the papers in her hand. “They wouldn’t have targeted me if they didn’t think I was prey.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. She handed me a stack of papers.
“They were mixing DNA, Dani. Look. Some of these were werewolves. They must’ve kept them drugged and starved or they would’ve torn this place apart. What do you want to bet that some of the chains in this place are Naud chains?”
I flipped through the papers, bile crawling up my throat. They had designations. Witch, wolf, fae, even demon.
This is why I sensed the weird power imprint when Selena was with me at the wreckage of the house. They kept all kinds of creatures here, likely using them to create their spells. They experimented, and at least during the time Evie was born, they’d been creating babies.
* * *
Danica
As soon as we landed, I met Kyla back at the hotel. She was sitting in her car, plowing through a burger as I slid into the passenger seat.
“You hungry? I have some fries.”
“I’m good. Any movement?”
“Nah. Boring as hell.”
I grinned at her. “Welcome to stakeout life.” I studied the hotel entrance.
My phone vibrated and I answered it.
“Steve?”
“We got lucky,” he said. “The driver took a left turn on Main and he took it fast. The corner of the cardboard covering the license plate lifted up. We have the last three digits and we managed to narrow down our list of potentials.”
“Whoever was driving the car was both desperate and stupid. Needed to take Willow out and couldn’t wait for an area with fewer cameras.”
“Yeah. The car is registered to a Vicky Hanson. She lives in South Durham.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll stay here,” Kyla said when I ended the call. “If the witch responsible for the murders finds out we’ve found the car, she may attempt to make a break for it.”
“That’s true.”
“If the driver’s at that address, he’s going to be desperate. You need backup.”
