Chapter 2

B etween packing a bag, dropping off Pascal, driving Matty home, and seeing him up to his apartment, we gave the Ezells a solid thirty-minute head start. They had used that time to reach South Carolina. But the dot had blinked out near Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, a nature preserve straddling the state line between Georgia and South Carolina, providing a sanctuary for migratory waterfowl and other birds.

I really hoped we didn’t have to go in there.

“You’re worried about how much time it takes to get your siblings settled before you leave them.”

Jerking my attention to Kierce, I read his understanding and didn’t bristle. “Yeah.”

“You place your family first.” He appeared to choose his words with care. “You’ve watched over them all of your lives. There’s nothing wrong with protecting them when they’re unable to do it for themselves.”

“I’ve come too close to losing Josie and Matty to let anyone stand between me and their well-being.”

“You want me to call you selfish, tell you that your priorities are wrong.”

“I doubt anyone wants to hear that, but I worry it’s true.”

“Then we can be selfish together.” Kierce, who was holding his new phone, his first cellphone, while Badb played a puzzle game, stared out his window. “Your well-being matters to me. Sometimes it’s all that matters. It frightens me. What I would do to keep you…” he cleared his throat, “…safe.”

“I want to keep you too.” I felt my lips curl and couldn’t press them flat again. “Safe, I mean.”

Kierce angled his head toward me, watching me in profile, and he rested his hand on my thigh.

Heat swept through me, but I kept it cool. “I have enough mojo to mark loaners with magic now, right?”

“There’s not much you can’t do if you set your mind to it.” He tore his focus away from the obsessed crow, not seeming to notice I was melting under his touch like butter left on the stove. “But that was always true.”

A flush tingled in my cheeks, and I shook my head. “What am I going to do with you?”

Birdlike, he tilted his head to one side, studying me. “What do you mean?”

“You flatter me.”

“Am I not good at it?” A wrinkle formed between his pale eyes. “I mean what I say.”

“You’re very good at it because you mean what you say.” I reached over to touch his hand, but Badb nipped me to quit blocking the screen. “We might have to implement screentime rules with that one.”

“She has become rather obsessed with it,” he admitted. “She’s barely slept since you gave it to me.”

No one could function in society these days without a smartphone. Josie teased me that I only liked how it put Kierce at my fingertips, that I could track his location. But they were required for everything. From paying parking meters (which, okay, he couldn’t drive yet), to buying groceries (though Badb acted like it was her duty to feed him), to providing two-factor authentication for the online accounts he didn’t have.

Okay.

Fine.

Maybe I did like having a connection to him until the Badb-inspired summoning token inked into my skin worked again.

“They make lockboxes with built-in timers you can put electronics in,” I murmured, distracted by the soft ping announcing we had arrived at the pin on the map. Limehouse, South Carolina. “There’s nothing here.”

Just trees, trees, and road. And more trees.

Keen eyes fixed on the horizon, he wondered, “Do you think they’ve abandoned the truck monster yet?”

A click of my teeth trapped my laughter before it hurt his feelings. “If not yet, then soon.”

No successful escape plan, even one hatched on the fly, would involve a huge, noisy, bright-pink truck.

Guiding the wagon onto the shoulder of the road, I reclaimed my cell. “I’m going to take a look around.”

Standing in the damp grass, I shot Josie a text to let her know about the disappearing loaner and, just in case, I shared our location with her.

Kierce appeared right behind me, startling me when he had been so careful to normalize himself lately.

As I thought it, I could have kicked myself for not noticing sooner. Dimming himself was a kindness, and I was grateful for it, but I had been viewing it like slapping on or peeling off glamour. A toning down of his appearance. Avoiding the use of his powers as usual? That smacked of diminishing himself too.

Those who were different got sorted into neat and tidy boxes to make them fit in better. Labels made everyone more comfortable except for those stuck wearing them. What right did I have to tape the box he had existed in since becoming the Viduus closed just as he was prying up a corner?

“Kierce?” I waited for him to step up beside me. “Does it bother you that I’m struggling to adapt?”

“No.” He caught me by the arm. “Why would you think that?”

“I’ve been asking you to hide who you are, because I can’t handle the truth. My truth.” I pounded a tight fist over my heart. “It’s not you. I’m the problem. I’m the one who can’t pull it together.”

“Your acceptance of me isn’t conditional on your acceptance of yourself.” He slid his fingers into the hair at my nape. “You’ve more than proven that to me.” He applied the slightest pressure, tipping my head back. “I wish you could see yourself the way I do.”

A mirror can’t show your worth.

He told me that once, and it stuck with me.

But a mirror couldn’t help me now, when I feared I wouldn’t recognize what stared back at me.

“You’re mighty assertive lately.” A smile tugged at my mouth. “I don’t hate it.”

A response parted his lips as the rumble of a familiar engine tore my focus away from his lips.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I planted my palms on his chest, pushing him back, lamenting the glide of his hand that signaled the moment ending. “What is she doing here?”

The hulking black truck had become a fixture around The Body Shop in recent weeks, as had its driver.

A throaty complaint from Badb caught Kierce’s ear, and he frowned. “I’ll be right back.”

Carter, dressed for work, parked behind the wagon and joined me with a cheddar puff bag in hand.

She noted Kierce trailing Badb into the woods then focused on me.

“What brings you out here?” I anchored my hands on my hips. “Are you trying to give Josie back?”

“Do I look like someone who wants to wake up in a chokehold from the pothos on her nightstand?”

“You let her plantify your house?” I clucked my tongue. “Big mistake.”

“I figured that out after I made her mad two nights ago and found the damn plant curling around a steak knife handle the next morning.” She rubbed her eyes. “I haven’t slept since.” She blinked orange dust off her lashes. “Josie is…”

“…my little sister,” I reminded her curtly before lifting my eyebrows. “Now, you were saying?”

“Josie is a fantastic houseguest, and I can’t believe I have the honor of hosting her?”

“Much better.” I caught my attention swinging to her front passenger seat. “Why are you here, really?”

Harrow’s absence reminded me he was recovering from gunshot wounds he earned during our last case.

And I hadn’t called him or called on him, and I didn’t plan to either.

“Josie mentioned you were on a repo,” she hedged, balling up her trash. “You tracked the loaner here?”

“The signal cut out on this spot. We were searching the area for clues to explain the blip.”

“That’s exactly what I thought when I drove up to Kierce fisting your hair.”

“Carter.”

“Did he find any clues down your throat?” She snickered. “Or under your tongue?”

“Carter.”

“That level of aggression comes across as frustration. Sexual frustration. Please tell me you’ve kissed.”

“We’re taking things slow.” I aspired to sound patient and mature.

“Kierce looked ready to devour you, so forgive me for questioning your definition of slow .”

For his sake, we had decided to take our time, but we had kind of stalled out after my untimely demise. I was too freaked out over my new appearance, my new existence , and too stressed about my heightened senses to tolerate more stimulation.

And Kierce, from his looks to his touches to his voice, was a buffet for my senses.

“You know why I’m here.” I dropped my arms down by my sides. “Why are you here?”

“Well, it’s like this.” She flicked her gaze skyward with a sigh. “Do you believe in aliens?”

“Infinite realms exist beyond this one, so why couldn’t one of them be inhabited by little green men?”

Or little purple women? Wings? Horns? Tails? Some daemons sported them. Fae too. Why not aliens?

Surely the universe was open to all hues, genders, sexual orientations, and appendage combinations.

“Life on other planets versus infinite lives layered beneath the fabric of our world.”

“You’re getting too philosophical for me.” I checked for Kierce, but he wasn’t back yet. “What’s wrong?”

“We’ve gotten two reports of abductions from this exact location.”

“And your first thought was to blame aliens?”

Josie was a lot . As her sister, I could say that. But even she couldn’t have driven Carter crazy this fast.

“A blinding light took the victims, cars and all, and they haven’t been seen or heard from since.”

Cars and all.

“I see.” I kept my tone neutral. “You think there’s a chance my repo was…abducted by aliens?”

The GPS malfunction and the absence of Pink Panic were both concerning, but I doubted Marvin the Martian had anything to do with either.

“I hail from another world myself, so I’m not one to throw stones at interdimensional glass houses.”

Faerie, one of the closest realms to this one, had a bad habit of leaking over into our world. On Samhain in particular, the barriers thinned to the point where powerful fae could cross it. Protections were in place now to monitor the influx of fae seeking asylum, or a free lunch, but the new laws held no sway over the oldest predators who had come here to hunt for soft pink flesh centuries earlier.

“What you’re describing is a pop culture classic. What are the odds humans got it right?”

“They get almost everything wrong,” she agreed. “Most of that is our doing, though. Supernaturals spend an inordinate amount of time writing scientific journals and popular fiction based on fabricated weaknesses and abilities. That way, if a human ever does come across us, they refer to folklore, thus falling flat on their faces, and we get to live to hunt another day. Probably with a full stomach to boot.”

“There are infinite worlds beyond this one, but there has been no formal contact from life on other planets.”

Kierce’s voice drew my attention as he waded from the trees with Badb on his shoulder.

“Oh?” I couldn’t help my smile at the sight of him. “Does your god monitor atmospheric breaches?”

“All gods track potential sources of power.” He scratched Badb’s cheek while she made chittering noises. “But humans have filmed too many movies demonizing aliens, and autopsying them, to make Earth appear hospitable to intergalactic races.”

“Why couldn’t they glamour themselves and hide among the populace like everyone else?”

Lord knows the fae had done it since the beginning of time. For survival. For amusement. For snacks.

“Glamour is a defense mechanism developed by the inhabitants of worlds that intersect with Earth to camouflage themselves among the most abundant species. To cultivate it in the modern age, with every slip of the mask broadcast worldwide on social media, would result in generations of casualties.”

The theory glamour evolved primarily to mimic humans, and human-adjacent species, had never crossed my mind. I saw it as a magic trick for anyone wanting to appear as anything. But it made perfect sense to blend with the dominant lifeform. Huh. We really do learn something new every day.

“Everyone and their momma,” Carter added, “would livestream alien autopsies from their phones.”

“That’s a bit harsh.” I reflected on world history for a beat. “Okay, so, you’re probably right.”

Nonhumans, without basic rights to protect them, would be classified as animals or worse. But that was after the initial wave where lawlessness would reign and mass graves would be filled with the victims of mortal curiosity.

“I’ve seen humans dissect enough fae to know I’m right.”

A hush fell over us then, a moment of silence for the lost, but she was quick to break it.

“Your loaner vanished.” She produced a bag of cheddar puffs from wherever she kept her endless stash of emotional support snacks. “The monster truck driver.”

Josie staying with Carter was her choice, but I would have to talk to her about safe topics. I doubted that Josie would volunteer any information on Tameka, given how little Josie had to do with running the other family business, but Carter might have questioned her after she mentioned we had a runner. Still. I knew from experience Carter was an expert at getting people talking, and our survival hinged on a less is more policy when it came to how much was known about what happened below the shop.

“Yes.” I kept my tone businesslike. “Tameka Ezell.”

One-handed, she typed away in a note app while crunching her snack. “What was she in life?”

“A gremlin.”

Gremlins were first documented during World War II when their mischievous streaks resulted in aircraft, and other mechanical, malfunctions. No one was sure where they came from, but they arrived in droves. They tended to be more populous in war-torn regions, but America had its enclaves. Though American gremlins usually applied their talents in the automotive industry or in R&D for big tech companies.

And, apparently, they also built and drove competition monster trucks.

“The other victims are human.” She sucked her teeth. “One married into the Hardeeville warg pack, here in South Carolina. The other is a feeder for a vampire in Hilton Head.”

Hardeeville rang a distant bell, but I wished it unrung after recalling why it struck me as familiar.

Harrow had inherited land from his uncle in Hardeeville, but that pointless reminder certainly wasn’t my guilt talking because I had been thinking how I hadn’t visited Harrow or even sent him a fruit basket.

Before my thoughts galloped too far down that path, I pulled on the reins. Hard. I didn’t have time for regrets or whatever had the gall to make my chest pinch whenever I thought of him.

Right now, Tameka was my more immediate concern.

For the mother and daughter duo to have disappeared on the same stretch of road, under the same conditions, there must be some commonality between them and the other victims.

Prior to offering Tameka lease terms, I had consulted with her in person, well, in spirit . No red flags there. No flash of crimson when I performed my due diligence on her situation to verify the facts she gave me either. I had even spoken with Keshawn over the phone to get a better sense of the family dynamic, but I had felt good about Tameka. I never would have pegged her for a runner.

Kierce angled his head toward Carter. “When were the others taken?”

“The wifey was talking to her husband when the call cut out, so we have that one pinned down. It was at 3:45 yesterday.” Carter checked her notes. “The feeder was reported missing later that night. Near nine. Her master is paranoid about cellphones, so she keeps the tracking features turned off on hers.”

“It’s 2:12 p.m.,” Kierce read off his phone. “There’s no synchronicity there either.”

“When did you go modern?” Carter snatched the cell out of his hand to examine it. “And why is it in one of those bumper cases like you buy for toddler tablets?”

“Badb,” he and I answered together.

“She has a habit of stealing it, getting mad it doesn’t recognize her face, then throwing it.” I shrugged. “A tactical case felt like a smart investment, even if the phone was free when I signed up for a fourth line.”

“Have you ever considered telling her no ?” Carter passed it back. “Or punishing her when she’s bad?”

The slow blink from Kierce proved the thought had never crossed his mind.

“She’s a wild animal.” I leapt to his defense a beat too late. “Wild animals are, well, wild .”

“Wild animals don’t know what facial recognition is, let alone pitch tantrums when their screen time has limits.” She rolled her eyes. “They do, however, know suckers when they spot them.”

“Well.” I made the word bright. “We’ll just leave the finding of missing motorists to the professionals.”

“Huh.” Her forehead arrowed into a tight vee. “You’re going to allow a loaner on the loose?”

A twinge of guilt hiked my shoulders up around my ears, but I refused to get sucked in again.

“You’re already investigating,” I reasoned, smile flashing, “and I’m confident in your abilities.”

“You’re afraid Harrow is going to show, huh?” She popped a cheddar puff in her mouth, the bag crinkling in her hand, further stumping me on how she managed to hide them all over her person without the rustling noises giving them away. “I hear you didn’t visit him in the hospital.”

The twinge became more of a full-on twang of regret. “Yeah, well, I heard he kidnapped my brother.”

Silver gleamed in Kierce’s eyes as they settled on her. “Do you want Frankie and Harrow to hold hands?”

Happy to play with fire, she crunched another puff. “What would you do if I said yes?”

Static crackling across his skin, he growled, “Frankie is free to make her own choices.”

A flash, so faint I might have imagined it, illuminated a distant cloud in the bright sky.

“Carter,” I warned, uncertain if a redcap could survive a direct hit from a lightning bolt.

“Why do folks say don’t poke the bear ?” She jabbed the air near Kierce with her finger. “It’s fun.”

“Carter wants us to be one big, happy family,” I explained as shocks zinged up the arm closest to Kierce.

Harrow did what he did for valid reasons. How he went about it? That was bass-ackward.

As long as I had known him, I had one rule: Do unto my family, and you better believe I’ll do unto you.

From my perspective, he was lucky I called us even for old time’s sake after cutting him out of my life.

A wicked glint in her eyes, she asked me, “Would it kill you to kiss and make up with him?”

Lightning arced overhead, drawing closer, as Kierce absorbed this. “Kiss Harrow?”

“You’ve spent way too much time around Josie.” I turned my back on her, fisted his tee, and tugged on it to get his attention. “She doesn’t mean it. She knows that I’m with you.”

As his arms slid around my waist, his gaze devoured my lips. “I haven’t even kissed you yet.”

“From the mouths of babes,” Carter whooped with devilish glee. “I knew it.”

“We’re leaving.” Flames engulfing my cheeks, I broke away from Kierce. “See you later, Carter.”

To keep Josie from getting nosy, I texted her an update and warned her about the other missing persons in the area.

After we reached the wagon, Kierce caught me by the wrist. “I didn’t want to push you.”

“It’s fine.” I ignored the cackling redcap while unlocking his door. “Carter is just a pot stirrer.”

How had I not seen it sooner? She and Josie were a match made in Heaven. Or Hell. No. Definitely Hell.

“What if it’s not fine?” His warm fingers glided across my stinging nape, twisting my hair around his fist. “What if…sometimes…I want to punish those who upset you?”

“Then I would say that’s very sweet.” I let him guide my head back until our gazes clashed. “But I have to own up to the fact my family—and most of our friends—are obnoxious. If you punished them every time they said or did something that ducked my goose, my social circle would be reduced to scorch marks.”

“It doesn’t bother you then?” He traced my features with hungry eyes. “When they tease you?”

“Mostly they’re teasing out of love, so no. I don’t mind. I know it’s coming from a good place. I even let them get away with it, to a certain extent.” I trembled when he traced my jaw with his fingertip. “If they were being cruel, or trying to cause real trouble, I would put my foot down.”

“You don’t need me to protect you.” He seemed to absorb my every detail. “That’s what you mean.”

“I can protect myself.” I booped his nose. “I’ve been doing it all my life.”

A whirring click prompted me to cut my gaze toward Carter only to discover she had photographed us.

Before I could demand she erase the photo, she yelped and stumbled back, flinging her hand.

And Badb flew away with the phone, rising up and up until she reached a height that appealed to her.

“Don’t you dare.” Carter held out her open palm. “You bring that phone back here this instant.”

“I wouldn’t threaten her if I were you.” Kierce released me with a sigh. “She takes those personally.”

Heart pounding in my ears, a flush burning my sensitive skin, I shut my eyes and counted down from ten while reminding myself of the reasons I was taking this slow. But when he looked at me a certain way, or his fingers tangled in my hair, chills blasted down my spine in a rush of anticipation.

No sooner had I caged my hormones than Badb opened her beak, allowing the phone to plummet, smashing itself to bits on the road. Carter howled with rage, picked up a rock, and hurled it at her.

With a squawk, Badb zipped to the nearest tree, plucking small pinecones and tossing them at Carter.

“I would ask if we should stop them, but their aims are terrible. I don’t think we have to worry about them hurting each other.” I watched for a while, tempted to film it as payback, when a lavender haze hit the air in a swirling cloud that coalesced into a furious feminine figure. “Oh no.” I slid down into a crouch between Kierce and the wagon. “Hide me.”

Gripping his thighs, I braced my forehead on his knees, wishing with all my might that demigodhood came with a side order of invisibility.