Fearless (5 page)

Abby opened her mouth to yell at him for not telling her
that information before taking her into the Ways, but she snapped her mouth
shut. She never asked and they needed to get to Wisconsin fast. She had too
many other things on her mind when they left her loft. Like how his body had
felt pressed to hers and how he so easily set her heart pounding.

“Okay. We find a road and a cab. Burrows is doing a signing
at a local bookstore this morning.” Abby dared to take a step and didn’t fall
over. One foot in front of the other. Step, limp, step. Don’t think about
Demetrius. Children’s lives were in danger. She adjusted her backpack over her
shoulders. Tawa was near weightless, but the book seemed to weigh fifty pounds.
“I’ll talk to her and see what I can find out.”

“We’ll talk to her.” Demetrius corrected her.

I have a few questions of my own I want you to ask
,
Tawa added.

“You’ll wait outside. You’ll likely scare her.” Abby shook
her head.

“Or she’ll be so charmed by my good looks that she’ll tell
me anything I want to know.” He flashed her a grin.

Abby rolled her eyes and then sighed. The fae had a good
point. She had read Burrows’ bio on her website. Burrows wasn’t married. A
handsome man might be more welcomed than just another fan. A flash of
possessiveness went through her at the thought of letting Demetrius do such a
thing. This helped to make up her mind. “Fine. All right. You’re Plan B. But
only if I don’t learn anything from her.”

That pacified Demetrius, and the taxi ride to the bookstore
kept him quiet. When they got out of the cab and she paid the driver, she was
going to make a smart remark about Demetrius puking on her boots. Seeing his
pale face, though, she held her tongue. Instead, she remained silent as he took
a moment to compose himself.

The bookstore was called The Window Seat. There were half a
dozen cozy nooks with great views for people to sit in and read. When they went
inside, the line to get a book signed was curled halfway around the building.
Abby groaned under her breath, but walked to the end of the line and waited her
turn.

“I’m going to walk around,” Demetrius said near her ear and
disappeared from her sight amongst the shelves.

Abby spied him a few times walking the perimeter of the
store and pretending to browse. She let her gaze wander. After a few minutes, a
small girl bumped into her leg as she hadn’t seen where she was going.

“Sorry.” The girl cringed and hurried off to catch up with
her mother before Abby could say it was okay.

Abby didn’t know why the child had seemed afraid of her. In
fact, it was too quiet in a store full of children. There was no laughter or
squealing. None of them were running willy-nilly around the shelves or shouting
at each other. The children looked overly tired, big circles around many of
their eyes. They weren’t getting any sleep. She didn’t have to reason out why.
This was far worse than the area she lived.

Demetrius came up behind her and startled her. He laid a
reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“There’s a bulletin board at the other side of the store.”
He was whispering. Why was he whispering? “It’s covered in missing children
posters.”

How could no one else see there was a problem? Why wasn’t
the media all over the fact not just one but several children were missing?
Where was the Fearless who was supposed to watch over this area? There were too
many unanswered questions. More so, too many big unanswered questions.

Abby almost didn’t realize she was at the front of the line
until Demetrius nudged her. She blinked and put on a friendly smile as she
stepped to the author’s table. Burrows was a small, mousy woman. Her glasses
sat on the tip of her nose, and her brown sweater had too much fuzz. She didn’t
look like a woman who wrote scary stories.

“Hi. It’s nice to meet you.” Abby took the book from her
backpack and held it out to Burrows. At the same time, her hands started to
glow.

Abby’s hands had never glowed in the day, in front of other
adults, nor at the introduction of a human. Since it was obviously morning and
there were adults around, it meant Burrows wasn’t human.

“Good morning, Miss Burrows.” Demetrius pushed Abby to the
side, making the writer focus her attention on him. And oh, did it rivet on
him. He smiled that killer smile of his and leaned on the table. His gaze was
smoky under long lashes. “My sister here is a big fan, but she never told me
how lovely you are. Talented and beautiful. A rare combination.”

“Oh, well, uh, thank you.” Burrows fumbled, blushing and
pushing up her glasses with her index finger. “It’s always, uh, nice to meet my
fans. Please, call me Myrtle.”

Abby left the book on the table and stuffed her hands into
her jacket pockets. She could stop the swords from emerging, but not the glow.
There was nothing she could do here. What could she do any which way? Burrows
didn’t look to be a threat. She was barely managing to talk when faced with
Demetrius’ charm. There was no such thing as a false alarm with her powers,
though.

What’s going on
?
Where’s the danger
? Tawa
asked from within the backpack, urgency in her voice.

That was the question. Was Burrows dangerous? Or was there
something around her? Abby didn’t dare say another word with Demetrius
continuing to chat up the writer.

Burrows absently signed Abby’s copy and pushed it back to
her without even looking. She smiled and giggled like a girl at his
compliments.

Retrieving herself from the shock, Abby picked up the book
and stepped back with her hands hidden in her sleeves. She thought he was
laying it on too heavily, but then Burrows agreed to meet them for coffee later
at a nearby café. He gave her a parting wink and sauntered out of the
bookstore, not waiting for his “sister” to catch up until he was outside.

Abby was barely limping as she hurried after him. Once out
of view of the shop’s windows, she put the book in her backpack and poked him
on the arm. “What was that all about? That wasn’t the plan.”

“I saved you from revealing yourself in there. I had to give
the woman something more interesting to think about than glowing hands.”
Demetrius shot back. He grabbed her forearms and looked at her hands. “They’re
not glowing any more. Why were they? I didn’t sense any beasts in there, and
Burrows is obviously human.”

“I don’t know.” Abby huffed, yanking herself free from his
grip. “Something is up with her, obviously. And the children....” She shook her
head as her chest tightened. “How does no one see something is wrong here?”

Because adults only see what they want to see
.
You
know that
, Tawa replied in a sage tone.
These people probably see a
virus going around and making children ill
.

“And all the missing children?” Abby asked.

Runaways
.
Kids have all sorts of weird pacts these
days
, Tawa said.
Also, children eaten by monsters leave a sort of
strange void
.
The parents know they’re gone, but their feelings are
numbed
.
It’s a phenomenon that’s never been explained, but my theory is
that it’s part of the beasts’ defenses, so the adult population never finds out
about them
.
Just like the monsters’ bodies vanishing in the morning
after you’ve slayed them
.

“No evidence of the beasts and thus they don’t exist.”
Demetrius ran his hands through his dark hair, muscles tense.

Abby had never failed the children she protected. She hadn’t
thought of what might occur if no one was there to save the children. The
tightness rose from her chest to her throat. This had to stop. She couldn’t
allow this to go on any longer.

“Burrows has something to do with this. We will find out
what it is.” Abby turned toward the café across the street. She had no idea
what was going on or how to start the search, but she would figure it out. She
had to figure it out.

Monsters were breeding from children’s minds inspired by
Burrows’ books. This was the writer’s hometown. The children here had no one
fighting for them.

Until now.

Chapter 9

Abby couldn’t sit at the table any
longer. Demetrius had the subtlety of a rampaging ox. Yet for all his dramatic
gestures and clichéd lines, Myrtle Burrows fell for him.

Excusing herself to go to the bathroom, Abby breathed out a
sigh of relief when she entered the café’s empty restroom. One of the lights
flickered making a soft sizzling sound. She had expected to do the questioning
of Burrows, but the other woman would barely look her way. The fact her hands
had glowed when she first met Burrows threw her off, but she hadn’t meant for
Demetrius to take over.

She sat down in the first stall. Abby hated seeing him
behaving like that with another woman. Hated herself for feeling that way. He
was only acting. Besides, the fae made it clear he wanted Abby and she had
turned him down. It was her own doing.

When Burrows met them in the café, Abby’s hands didn’t glow.
She even shook the author’s hand. Nothing.

It didn’t make sense. The light flickered again and made her
jump when it popped. Dark shadows settled in the stall with her. Only the
single light over the entry door remained.

Abby shook her head and stood up. She should get back to the
others. The answer was with Burrows. Walking to the sink, she frowned. Her
hands glowed.

Looking into the mirror, a hideous melted face grinned at
her from the darkness in the far corner before it leapt at her. Abby didn’t
have time to scream as she whirled around, dropped low, and let her blades
slide out. She slashed at the monster, but it flew up and over to rebound off
the wall and come for her again.

She hissed with the pain in her ankle as she twisted and
stood, holding her ground against the thing. It laughed lowly, the sound coming
from all around her. A trick for amateurs.

Abby crossed her blades, and when the monster was near
enough, she used them like scissors to cut through its skinny neck. The
grotesque face fell to the right, but from within the ragged black robes, a
second beast kept rushing at her. It was like an obscene version of Russian
nesting dolls.

It slammed into her chest, and Abby fell back onto the tiled
floor. She kicked up, sending it sailing to smack against the wall. Throwing
one sword to pin it there, she lanced it through an empty eye socket. Abby was
ready for the third monster when it launched itself out of the second’s robes.

Standing and slipping on the floor, her swing missed, and
the thing grabbed her wrist with a bony hand. It smashed her hand against the
sink, but couldn’t force Abby to drop her sword.

“You’re mine now. What a tasty meal you’ll make.” Its voice
was a dry rattle, but its teeth didn’t look old and brittle. Its mouth yawned,
opening wider to impossible angles.

The blade disappeared from the wall and emerged from Abby’s
free hand.

“I’m not on the menu.” She jammed the blade up under the
monster’s chin and out the top of its head. No more came forth as it sank into
a black mass onto the floor.

The moment the door of the restroom opened, the remains of
the monster vanished. The college-aged goth who entered only saw Abby sprawled
out on the floor. “Uh, are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Abby replied, picking herself up with the aid of
the sink. “I hurt my ankle recently, and there was a bit of water on the floor
and I slipped.”

“Oh. Okay.” The goth shrugged and locked herself in a stall.

Her wrist and ankle throbbed in unison. Abby limped out of
the restroom and paused to stare out the windows to reassure herself that it
was daytime. A monster attacked her while the sun was up. It wasn’t possible.
Okay, well, it obviously was possible, but it shouldn’t be.

Abby exited the café and breathed in the cool air. People
walked by her, and she got a few strange looks. She wanted to tell them
stranger things were going on in town than seeing a tussled woman without her
jacket outside in November. And whatever strange thing was going on knew she
was there to stop it. It underestimated her by sending one monster after her,
but it wouldn’t do so again.

“Abby.” Demetrius called as he came outside. When she didn’t
turn, he put her jacket over her shoulders and nudged her chin with his fingers
to turn her head his way. “Abby, what’s going on?” His eyes narrowed. “What
happened?”

“I was attacked in the restroom.” She slipped her arms
through her jacket sleeves and pulled it tighter around her. “By a monster.”

“What?” Demetrius’ face hardened and his hands clenched into
fists.

“It’s dead. It’s gone.” Abby waved it off. The monster was
no more. There was something bigger ahead of them. Something the writer was
involved with. “Have you learned anything from Burrows? She has to know
something.”

“No, nothing useful. I can’t manage to steer the
conversation in the direction I want to go.” He grunted with the admission, and
Abby couldn’t help but smirk a little. “All she wants to talk about is me and
how she enjoys chocolate truffles and long massages.”

“Maybe if you give her a massage, she might talk what you
want to talk about.”

Demetrius made a small choking sound. Abby had to muffle a
snicker.

“Okay. Here’s the new plan.” Abby hugged herself tighter. “Go
back inside and tell Burrows that I’m not feeling well. You’re going to take me
to our hotel room so I can rest. Invite her to dinner, but say you want to have
a private dinner. Since I’m at the hotel, the other logical option is her
house. I bet she’ll suggest it on her own, but if she doesn’t, do it yourself.
She won’t say no to you. Then we’ll both show up tonight and have a chat with
her.”

“Done.” Demetrius turned and went inside. Two minutes later,
he was back and handed her the backpack. “Dinner at her house at seven o’clock.”