Iris hissed at him, and before I could even react, Whit was standing between us, only inches from her face, his fangs bared in warning. She screeched at him angrily but dropped her eyes in submission and stepped away from the door.
Movement behind me brought my attention back to the rest of the group, who were closing in, stalking closer inch by inch.
“Whit…” I warned, my voice tight with fear as I hugged Henry closer.
Whit pivoted, spreading his arms wide, blocking Henry and me from the others, and hissed in warning. But emboldened by their numbers, they continued to close in around us, their shoulders rolling forward, fangs bared as they prepared to attack.
“Run,” he ordered in a gravelly snarl that sent fear lancing through me. But it wasn’t fear of him. It was fearforhim.
I hesitated, my love for Whit and concern for his safety twisting my heart. I grasped the back of his shirt, trying to pull him along with us. “Come on! Whit—”
“Run!” he bellowed just as Earl lunged forward.
I spun around with Henry and threw open the door, racing down the steps and into the street. When we reached Whit’s car, I helped Henry scramble in and threw our stuff into the front seat, glancing over my shoulder at the horrific screeching and growls coming from the house.
I ran around the hood to the other side of the car and dove into the driver’s seat, sending one more glance toward Dawes House, desperately hoping to see Whit running toward us. But one glimpse of Henry’s wide, terrified eyes, and I threw the car into gear and stomped the accelerator.
My hands trembled so badly, I had to grip the steering wheel until my knuckles were white to keep from sideswiping cars parked along the street. I checked the rearview mirror again and again, terrified that one of them would be followingus but still hoping I’d see Whit somehow. After driving several blocks without anyone pursuing us, I forced myself to slow to the speed limit and wiped tears with a shaking hand.
“Mama?” came Henry’s voice from the backseat, small, afraid.
I sniffed and cleared my throat, trying to compose myself for Henry’s sake before answering. “Yes, baby?”
He made a little mewling sound before a hard sob shook him. “I think the monsters got Daddy.”
The tears I’d been crying quietly now overtook me, and I had to pull over as the sobs I’d been holding back wracked my body. I gripped the steering wheel and rested my forehead against it, sinking into my soul-crushing sorrow. It was as if someone had physically ripped my heart frommybody as Whit had done his father’s. The grief of losing the family we’d built at Dawes House shattered me.
And my heart ached for poor little Addie. She was an innocent as well. What horror was that quirky, sweet little girl going to find when she went looking for her grandmother?
And Whit.
My love. My heart. The man who’d made me feel so precious and cherished. Who’d brought such joy to our lives. Who’d made me believe in love that could last forever.
Could he really be gone? Had Henry somehow sensed something? Or was it just fear? The same fear that now gripped me so intensely that I wanted to turn the car around and fight to the death for the man I loved but that also made me want to race away from all of them as far and as fast I could?
And yet I could stillfeelWhit. It was as if there was a tether between his heart and mine—pulled taut, stretched almost to a breaking point, but still intact, binding our souls together.
Could he stillbealive?
The glimmer of hope made me straighten and wipe the tears from my cheeks. “No,” I said to Henry who was still crying quietly in the backseat. “They didn’t get him, baby. I don’t believe that.”
Henry threw off his seatbelt and scrambled into the front seat and into my lap, squeezing me tightly around the neck. “Are you sure?”
I hugged him for a long moment before pulling back and forcing a smile as I wiped his cheeks. “Yeah, I am. I can feel him, Henry. I don’t know how, but I can. Can you?” When he frowned, his eyes turned up as if searching for something far away, I added, “It’s like a little pull right here.” I touched the center of his chest. “Do you feel it?”
Henry’s eyes went wide, and a smile broke across his face. “Yes! I can, Mama!” But then his smile dimmed a little. “Can we go back and get him?”
I smoothed his curls away from his forehead. “I don’t think so, baby. At least, not you. I need to find us a safe place for a little while. Then, I promise, I’ll go back for Daddy.”
It was the first time I’d called Whit that. Even though Henry had immediately embraced the idea, I still hadn’t referred to Whit that way. But the moment I said it aloud, I knew it was true. I’d felt it even as he was confessing the full truth to me, as if something had triggered a long-forgotten secret that haunted me at the edge of my consciousness.
My promise gave Henry the assurances he needed, and he climbed back into his booster seat and buckled in.
“Where are we going, Mama?” he asked as I pulled out into the street.
“We’re still going to see Ms. Dottie,” I told him.
Where elsecouldI go? The few friends I’d had from my old job were hours away, and I’d barely spoken to any of them since I’d moved. Showing up on their doorstep with a “Hey, I know I haven’t been a great friend since leaving, but can you watch my kid while I go fight—vampires?—and rescue my husband” seemed a little presumptuous.
