Chapter 21

Five hours later, my hip ached, my head hurt, and my stomach rumbled a loud complaint.

"We should eat." Kierce, who must have heard, glanced over his shoulder. "It's getting late."

"That's a good idea." I hadn't brought a drink and hadn't wanted to appear eager to dive into his basket. It wasn't his fault I was snackish by nature. "I missed my last pain pill, and I'm starting to feel it."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He pulled the carriage onto the shoulder of the road. "We could have taken a break earlier."

"I came to do a job." I busied myself digging my pill bottles from my purse. "Not to be an imposition."

Once he settled the horses, he joined me on the bench across from mine. "You're not an imposition."

"I didn't mean…" I groaned when words failed me, dropping my face into my hands. "I just meant…"

"Don't be afraid to tell me when you need something. How else will I know?" He opened the basket, which turned out to contain a lined cooler. "I should have asked before I placed the order." He paused with his hand on the top box. "Do you eat sushi?"

"Yes." Not my favorite thing in the world, but I could manage since he had made the effort. "I do."

Despite the smile on my face, and the determination in my gut, he saw it. "You don't eat sushi, do you?"

"No. I do. I mean, I have. Once. Maybe yours is better?"

Paper rustled overhead, and I glanced up to see Badb swooping low with a bag clutched in her talons.

"What is that?" I tried making sense of what I was seeing. "Why does she have it?"

She dropped her prize on my lap and flew to perch on a nearby tree where she cawed at me.

A strangled laugh broke free of Kierce. "She stole it for you."

"Um." I unrolled the top, breaking a sticker seal, afraid of what I would find. "She really shouldn't have."

Hopping on her limb, she fussed at me until I investigated the contents.

A half sandwich sealed with a label from the restaurant where her victim had purchased their dinner, a bag of chips, an apple, and a chocolate chip cookie.

"She says it was delivered to the porch of someone living nearby. She stole it before they retrieved it."

A snickering snort escaped me, and I tore open the bag of chips. "Thanks, Badb."

Too bad I doubted she would tell us where she found it so I could repay the person going hungry.

"She knows you better than I do." He took the tray from the seat beside me. "Should I be jealous?"

"She has spent the last couple of days spying on me through a hotel window."

"Do you mind?" He popped off the lid on his food and split a pair of chopsticks. "She's very discreet."

"No." I wasn't sure what I had meant to say until my mouth decided for me. "I like her."

That appeared to please him, but he hovered his chopsticks over his food in thought.

"She says she paid them for the food," he tilted his head, listening, "so you should eat what you can and feed her the rest."

Ah. Not thinking. Conversing. With his crow. "How does talking to her work?"

"Magic," he said softly and didn't elaborate further.

To make up for the awkward lull, I switched gears. "I'm almost afraid to ask what she gave them."

"Some of her finer treasures." His lips twitched. "A broken mirror shard and a red piece of string."

"Oh Lord." I decided stolen takeout was better than raw fish. "I feel so bad." I checked out the sandwich, a turkey Reuben with bacon, and was forced to admit, "But not so bad I won't eat it. It smells amazing."

"That day in the cemetery," he said, weighing his words, "when I asked you to join me for a picnic. When you showed up, Badb got the idea for a picnic and where to grab a meal fast. That's how I had managed. I wasn't sitting around on a cooler to be ready when you came next, if that's what worried you."

"Ah." I ignored a faint twinge. "I couldn't figure out how you knew to show up prepared when I didn't."

"She knew I wanted an excuse to spend more time with you."

"Smart bird." The pinch in my chest eased a bit. "She made a wise call on the fly."

"After we eat, and you take your pills, I'll escort you back to your hotel."

"We can hit a few more cemeteries. I'll be good once the meds kick in."

"We've learned all we can. There's no reason for me to keep you out."

Not a date then. Oh well. It was still a good time.

"All we know is the dybbuk is feeding in and around the shop. He might be hunting farther out."

"The farther we get from the shop, the less affected the cemeteries. Bonaventure has been hit hardest." He stared off into the night. "That's why I spent the most time there. He always circled back. Now I see it was less about the abundance of available meals and more about your regular visits." He lifted his face to the moon. "This dybbuk is unlike any I have encountered. Its hunger is peculiar."

"It's eating more than usual?"

"It's cleaned out the residuals in two cemeteries, which is a smart way to avoid detection. Yet it also targets high-risk prey. The Society is on its doorstep, and yet still it courts discovery." He swung his head toward me. "Or maybe the point isn't its discovery but yours."

"Me?" The hairs on my nape stood on end. "You think he wants to expose me?"

Sure, I had accepted I was being targeted, but exposure? To the Society? Why would a dybbuk care? Any person who bonded to a shade didn't have a leg to stand on when it came time to point fingers at others over misuse of power. Mixed metaphors? Yes. Whatever. This was my worst nightmare come to life.

"Have any of your clients pushed back when their time was over?" He forgot about his food. "Have they ever threatened you or your family? Can you think of anyone who might hold a grudge?"

"I've had a few clients ask for extensions, sure, but none outright fought me on it. They knew if they did then I wouldn't allow them to return. I provide a niche service, and I thoroughly vet my clients. Other than an odd curt word here or there, I haven't had a problem. Definitely no threats."

"Do you think Harrow would turn you over to the sentinels?"

No.

That was what I wanted to say.

But history was doomed to repeat if you ignored it.

"He's changed since we were kids." I hadn't meant to defend him. "I don't think he would now."

"The first attack on your loaner was the same night you learned about him returning to Savannah."

"Yes." I picked up the apple, rolling it between my palms, thinking over the timeline. "But he couldn't have done it. He was with me when Ormewood and Phelps died. He's a witch, sure, but he's not a necromancer. He can't be the dybbuk."

"Perhaps the dybbuk thought if Harrow saw what your loaner had done, that she killed a vampire, he would report you." He set aside his meal. "Your history makes it likely he would have."

"Except he's with the 514, not SPD."

"Perhaps the dybbuk isn't aware or wasn't until after you weren't arrested for the first crime."

"Then they commit a second double murder." I followed his logic. "Another vampire and another client."

"Only after you weren't punished for any of those crimes did they switch tactics. They took a more direct approach, tracking you down while you were running in Avondale and striking you. But you survived even that, forcing them to escalate yet again. That was when they sent the charm."

"Which I somehow also thwarted, with your help." I shivered as the truth sank in. "They'll keep coming until they kill me."

"That won't happen." Kierce gathered my hands in his. "I vow it."

A trill in my pocket had me working one hand free to check my phone. "I need to get this."

Withdrawing to his side of the carriage, he nodded. "Of course."

With everything going on, I couldn't afford to miss a call in case my family needed me. Except it wasn't Josie or Matty calling. It was Harrow. The last person I wanted intruding on my time with Kierce. "Hey."

"Where are you?" His voice thundered across the connection. "Carter's not answering her phone."

"Did she tell you we swapped rooms? Maybe?—"

"I'm aware." A door slammed in the background and then another. "Can you put her on?"

"She's not here." I caught Kierce's eye. "I'm with Kierce." The silence was deafening, the desire to justify myself overwhelming. "We've been interviewing ghosts at local cemeteries for hours."

The justification didn't go unnoticed by Kierce, who squeezed my fingers before releasing them.

"You haven't spoken to her since you left?" His frustration sparked mine. "That's not like her."

"I don't know what to tell you. She was in our new room, in her pajamas, when I left. She didn't tell me she was going out, and she gave no outward indications she had plans to leave. I took that to mean she would be there waiting on me when I got back."

"Where are you?" He kept thumping and bumping as he talked. "I'll come get you."

"Kierce will bring me back as soon as we're done with dinner."

"I thought you were interviewing ghosts?"

"Am I not allowed to eat?" I wished phones still had cords so I could strangle him with mine. "Do you expect me to take my pills on an empty stomach?"

"That's not what I meant."

To avoid another argument, I shifted topics. "Did you find Lyle?"

"No." A metallic whine pierced my ears. "I'm at his place now. I thought I would check to see if he came back…" His indrawn breath caused my heart to beat faster. "Someone's been here."

"Harrow?" My hand cramped around the phone. "Do you see anyone? Are you alone in the house?"

"They were in his office." Harrow wasn't listening anymore. "There's a?—"

A loud pop had me jerking the phone away from my ear. "Harrow?"

The line went dead.

Clutching Kierce's arm, I rattled off the address then all but begged, "How fast can you get to Lyle's house?"

"In seconds, but I?—"

"No buts. Harrow's in trouble. Go to him. Now. Please. I'll call my sister to come get me. She's only five minutes away."

Failing that, I could catch a Swyft home. This close to Bonaventure, I could practically walk back.

"I don't think that's a good idea." His gaze panned the darkness. "I can't leave you out here alone."

"I'll keep an eye on 'er." A wavering outline glided across the ground. "Me and the gang, we will."

Two more spirits drifted forward, and the three of them solidified together.

They looked like newsboys circa 1920. I recognized the crew. The Buckley Boys. They ran hot gossip from cemetery to cemetery. Most spirits had limited mobility. They were bound to their graves or to locations with emotional resonance, be it good or bad. But I had glimpsed these boys all over.

"I'll be fine." I shoved Kierce's shoulder. "Go." I brought out my phone. "Look, I'm dialing Josie now."

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared, and I followed through with my promise.

The phone rang before the call dropped like I had a bad connection.

I tried Matty next.

This time I heard two rings before a click and then nothing.

A tremor in my hand caused my cell to wobble in my grip.

Don't panic. Not yet. Hold it together.

Armie was farther out, but it was worth a shot.

Sweet relief swept through me as jumbled voices filled my ear, but within seconds, the line went silent.

Fear coated the back of my throat, but swallowing didn't rid me of the metallic aftertaste.

Calls dropped all the time. It wasn't a sign of the apocalypse. It was the result of living in rural Georgia.

Kierce could return in seconds. Seconds. I could afford to grant him five more minutes with Harrow.

Maybe I had been overreacting by dispatching Kierce. Maybe the noise I thought I heard had only been a wonky connection. Maybe I was jumpy from my conversation with Kierce and reading too much into things.

Willing Josie to answer when I redialed, I put the call on speaker before addressing the boys. "Have you guys heard anything about the ghosts who are going missing?"

"The devourer, they call it." Tommy, the youngest, spat on the grass. "Eats them up, it does."

Going back through my contact list, I kept redialing. "Have you seen it?"

"Weird thing." Johnny adjusted his cap. "His hair crackled like fire, but it weren't red. Just had that look. I seen them eyes on souls bound for Hell. Black and sharp and wicked." He dropped his arm. "Didn't look real. I was running down to Bonaventure and saw it were creeping on the riverbank. Hunting it were."

The description, crazy as it sounded, matched the one Daisy Mae's contact had given us earlier. One Kierce hadn't contradicted. Aside from how to make one, not much was known about dybbuks. They were killed too quickly to be studied once they brought attention to themselves and their feeding habits. "Can you fetch me if you see it again?"

"Sure." Bannon winked at me. "Always happy to help a pretty lady."

About to thank them, I gulped hard when the horses began stamping their feet. "Easy, girls."

"Some animals don't like ghosts." Tommy clicked at her. "Most horses 'round here are used to us."

The mares spooked again, sidestepping, causing the carriage to lurch.

"Hush, now." I stood and leaned forward, grasping for the reins where Kierce had left them draped loosely on a hook meant for that purpose. "It's all right."

As soon as the leather strap tickled Jelly Bean's back, she reared as much as she was able, which startled Daiquiri. The mares snorted and whickered, tossing their heads. The movement jerked one rein from my hand. Nothing for it. I had to climb down and get it.

Careful to take my time, I exited the carriage and gave myself a second to get my land legs back.

As soon as I stepped toward Daiquiri, Jelly Bean trumpeted out a frantic call and kicked the carriage.

"No, no, no." Stiff from sitting, I hobbled forward. "Nice horsies." I scanned for something to pull the reins away from their hind legs where I could reach them safely. "Just hold still."

I spotted a broken limb no bigger around than my finger and tried to rake the reins toward me. I had the nearest one almost within reach when Daiquiri stepped back, felt the stick tickle her fetlock, and bolted. I barely had time to jump back before the frenzied mares galloped off into the dark, the carriage bumping along behind them.

"Something tells me I just cost Kierce his deposit."

"This is an omen." Bannon shifted from foot to foot. "Let's walk you home, eh?"

"Might as well." I adjusted my bag on my back, grateful I hadn't lost it. "Thanks, guys."

To prove a point to myself, I dialed Swyft, hoping for a ride so I didn't have to walk a couple of miles.

When no one answered there either, I wished I hadn't been so quick to test the theory I was the problem and not the numbers I was calling.

Circling above our heads, Badb kept watch over our procession. I felt bad about leaving the horses to their own devices, but it wasn't like I could chase them down in my condition. As soon as I got home, I would call for help rounding them up and returning them to their stable.

"S'alright." Tommy took my hand in his pudgy one, and I focused on him until his touch carried comforting weight. "We'll keep you safe, miss."

"I appreciate it." I smiled down at him. "Johnny, could you run ahead? See if my sister is home?"

"The pretty blonde?" Sliding his thumbs under his suspenders, he popped them. "That I can do."

He sprinted off down the road, his form shifting to glittering motes for more speed.

A dull thump landed behind us, and I turned to scan the night for signs of movement.

"What's that?" Tommy snuggled against my hip, causing me to wince. "Bannon?"

We searched around us, but Bannon was nowhere to be found, and the night was far too quiet.

"He's probably racing Johnny." I swallowed hard. "Why don't you see if you can beat them there?"

The lie put a spark back in his eyes, but he held tight to me. "Are you sure?"

A prickling chill tickled my nape, and I pinched his cheek. "Positive."

With a laugh, he sprinted to catch the others, pausing once to look back and wave at me.

Hoping I was wrong about Bannon, about the noise, I kept walking, pretending I was out for a stroll. I slid my hand into my bag, feeling around the bottom for the lancets I was careful to pack for tonight.

Help was a finger prick away. Kierce would materialize if I called him. But I couldn't let my jangled nerves cost Harrow help when I wasn't in immediate danger.

Whispers rustled the leaves overhead, and Badb swooped low enough to stir my hair.

Whatever was out there, she felt it too. Her connection with Kierce might be strong enough to warn him without me having to admit I was a chicken who wanted someone to walk home with me. That powered me on, the embarrassment of confessing I had gotten as spooked as the horses and required a hand to hold.

For pity's sake, I was a necromancer. The night had always welcomed me with open arms.

But the dark had never concealed someone who was trying to kill me either.

Phone in hand, I kept dialing, pretending to scroll through my various feeds.

Shining a spotlight on my face? Not a bright idea. It made me too easy to pinpoint. But if something was out there, a beacon was the least of my worries.