“Put that thing in my face again—or Jenna’s—and I’ll shove it up your ass.”
The guy apparently got the message, dropping the mic and letting it hang from the strap around his neck. The two women moved over to help the other man off the ground near the dumpster, who was wise enough to turn off his camera before coming toward them.
Trevor turned to check on the injured woman when Microphone Man stepped in front of him.“I’m Owen Cobb,” he said, extending his hand and not really giving Trevor any choice but to shake it. “I run the HOPD team. You’ve met my cameraman, Isaac Callahan. His sister, Esme, is our lead researcher,” he added, gesturing to the blond, then at the dark-haired woman beside her. “And this is Maya Griffin, our main equipment operator.”
Trevor stared at the man for a moment, wondering if they were actors or something, because he was pretty sure Owen was wearing makeup. He threw a glance in Jenna’s direction, ready to ask her if this guy was for real. Unfortunately, she’d moved over to help the unhoused woman, using the woman’s scarf to wrap around the deep scratches on her leg.
“HOPD?” he asked, turning back to Owen, though he wasn’t quite sure if he truly wanted to know the answer to the question.
The dark-haired guy looked at Trevor in obvious disbelief. “You’ve never heard of Hunters of Paranormal Darkness? What, do you live under a rock or something? HOPD is the most recognized and respected team of paranormal investigators in LA. We’re famous in a city full of famous people.”
Trevor scanned the alleyway, looking for a hidden camera somewhere in the darkness. This guy must be trying to punk him. Right? No one could be that self-absorbed.
“What happened?” Esme asked, motioning toward the woman Jenna was still tending to. “Weheard screaming and yelling from this direction. Did theSkid Row Screamerattack her?”
The excitement in Esme’s dark eyes was downright disturbing. Trevor glanced at the other three members of HOPD to see that they all looked positively giddy at the idea that some kind of paranormal creature had attacked someone.
Trevor was about to ream them a new one for being a bunch of shallow, selfish jerks but was cut off by Jenna clearing her throat.
“We didn’t get a good look at the thing, but it definitely wasn’t human,” Jenna said softly, capturing everyone’s attention. “Trevor challenged it and the thing ran off that way,” she added, pointing into the darkness deeper along the alley.
Trevor wasn’t sure what he expected Jenna to say, but it wasn’t all that. Then again, she had said she knew these people. He could only assume that meant she trusted them.
“Isaac, try and find a track. Esme, go with him,” Owen said, sending the cameraman and his sister running off into the darkness, then turning to look at Trevor. “That was very brave of you,” he said, reaching out to clap Trevor on the shoulder. “But you should never confront an unknown creature of the night. Not without proper training. And never ever chase one down a dark alleyway. That’s a good way to get yourself killed—or worse. So while it was brave, it was stupid. It’s best to leave this to the professionals.”
Before Trevor could say anything, Owen turned and motioned to Maya. “Let’s hunt,” he said before trotting off down the alley after his HOPD buddies.
Maya hesitated for a second, a guilty expression on her face as she looked back and forth between Trevor, Jenna, and the injured woman sitting on the ground. “I can stay if you need me to help. I know a little first aid.”
Trevor supposed he was relieved to see that not all the HOPD contingent were worthless doofuses.
“No, we’ll take care of her,” Trevor said, moving over to gently scoop the woman off the ground. “You should catch up to your friends before they get too far away.”
Maya nodded and started backing away, giving Jenna a wave and saying she’d see her later before turning to run after her friends.
Jenna motioned Trevor toward the entrance to the alley. “Come on. We can take her to the mission on the other side of Winston. They’ll make sure she gets the medical help she needs.”
Trevor followed as she jogged ahead of him, biting his tongue on the dozens of questions that were spinning through his head right then. What the hell was that thing he’d chased? Had Jenna been looking for the creature when she’d taken him to this part of Skid Row, or was it merely a coincidence? And if shehadbeen looking for it, why?
The questions continued to spiral out in his head, one after another, each building on the last, until his head started getting fuzzy. When they got to the Mission and turned the woman in his arms over to several of the people working there, no one asked how the woman had been injured or offered to call the cops. That wasn’t too surprising. Unhoused people didn’t usually report anything to the police unless they absolutely had to. Unfortunately, their interactions with officers usually tended to be negative more times than not, something he and his teammates back in Dallas were always careful not to do whenever they interacted with anyone.
But since the people helping the woman also didn’t ask how she’d gotten hurt, he suspected there might be more to it than that. Yeah, there was definitely something weird going on here.
He and Jenna didn’t say anything on the walk back to the rental car. Even as he opened the passenger door for her and then moved around to the driver’s side, they both stayed quiet. But when he got behind the wheel and sat staring out the windshield, Trevor knew he had to ask at least one of his questions.
“Do you know what that thing in the alley was?” he asked quietly, turning slowly to look at her. “More importantly, have you seen it before?”
Jenna didn’t answer right away, and for many long seconds, he wasn’t sure if she would. But thenshe nodded, almost as if she’d made some kind of decision. “No, I don’t know what that thing is. But I have seen it before. It’s the same thing that kidnapped my sister ten years ago.”
CHAPTER 4
“Hannah and I were walking home from the movies when we first saw it,” Jenna said as she and Trevor walked into her apartment and headed toward the guest bedroom. There was something she needed to show him that would make this conversation easier.
Neither of them had spoken since her big reveal about the creature in the alley and its connection to her sister’s disappearance. After a lifetime of being told she was insane for saying things like that out loud, Jenna had been ready for the worst from Trevor, too, but he’d simply nodded, then started the rental car and headed for her place. The quiet trip back had been a bit unnerving, but the fact that he hadn’t immediately dismissed her claim was a positive in her mind.
“The movie got out late, but Hannah and I had walked home from the theater lots of times, so we didn’t give it a second thought,” she said over her shoulder. “The streets were well-lit and we were only a few blocks or so from our house.”
“How old were you guys?” Trevor asked, stepping into the guest bedroom behind her, his voice much calmer than she expected considering the factthat they’d nearly been attacked by a creature out of a nightmare. Hers to be precise. To be honest, she was stunned at how well he was dealing with this whole thing. Not only did he confront the creature head-on, but then he chased after it. Maybe it was a SWAT thing.
