The Killing Times (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 1)) (2 page)

“How am I supposed to find you?”
His own voice betrayed him, as all the need and want flooded through with the emotions. Blackhawk prided himself in being a man of few words. Yet in his dreams with her, he was always a geyser; desperate to keep her there with him as long as possible.

She tipped her head to the side,
pondering the question and searching for the answer herself. How could she explain to him that she couldn’t supply him with the very thing that eluded her too?  “Follow the trail of bodies, and they’ll lead you to me,” she replied, dropping her gun and badge into the puddle of blood, willingly abandoning them.

“Wait!”

“Hurry Ethan, I need your help!” With that she turned and began walking away, leaving a trail of bloody footsteps marking her path.

Ethan
watched the dream waver, sitting up in a panic and finally breaking through. He scrubbed his hands over his face, hoping to wipe away the dream and the panic brewing, but to no avail, it remained. He shuddered and pulled himself from his bed, walking to the window and staring out at the silence of the city.

“I’ll find you, I promise,” he whispered,
praying it wouldn’t be too late for either of them.

Everything in him screamed the truth.

Ethan needed her to survive.

Back
In Salem

O
ne Year Later

The truck bounced haphazardly down the rocky road
. It spewed pebbles and gravel behind it, as it sped into the darkness without a care in the world.

Death had no sch
edule.

When
it was time to die, it was the end of the line and these two witches deserved it. They flaunted their bodies, giving away what shouldn’t be bargained so freely. They deserved what happened to them.

At first
, it was easy to just get them high. It only took a few special joints and to lure them, one by one, to the Jacuzzi. It was quite simple as they didn’t weigh more than one hundred pounds each. Both girls were barely legal in age, and easy to trick into doing his will. There was such stupidity in youth, but alas, that was handled now. There would be no fast living; there would be no more drugs, sex and rock and roll. All there was now was the finality of death.

Theirs.

Both had gone fairly quickly. They were held under the water, until eyes were huge with fear. Ignored were their struggles, as they fought to survive. Although, he had to admit, there was definitely remorse with the second girl. Her parents were kind people, and it wasn’t their fault that they were raising a witch. How could they know she was willing to dance naked under the moonlight for any man?

What a
shame! There was even a moment of pity, when she was pulled to the surface, allowing her to catch her breath and beg for her life. Only it wasn’t meant to be, as he pushed her back under to begin the torture all over again. He wasn’t permitted to stop. The voice had demanded it be done.

Cleanse the town of all the witches
!

Evil
was everywhere in the world, including Salem, and he was ‘
chosen
’ to find the offenders and purify his town.

This was his calling.

Now it was time to dump their bodies and head home. It had been almost a year since the last cleansing had taken place. The break in between only fueled the hunger and need to do the duty assigned at his birth. This was his calling, and a mission from God. It was one that needed to be completed. Everyone in town would benefit, and a new, pure Salem would be reborn.  

He brought the truck to a stop beside the serene lake. I
t would be a good place to leave the girls. By morning they would be found by someone, and if not, it just prolonged the fun of watching the new sheriff trying to solve the crimes.

Charlie LaRue had been
smart and didn't miss a thing. His replacement looked like she should be modeling in a magazine. Elizabeth LaRue had been in the FBI, but now her father’s death had brought her home.

T
hat would be the worst decision of her life!

Attempting
to match wits with a killer was one thing, but trying to stop the divine intervention of God was another. If she got too close, she too would end up one of the victims. Honestly, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Like the second girl, he’d regret it a little bit, but as usual the voice would give him strength and urge him forward.

It always did!

As the bodies were lowered into the lake, they made light ripples around the shoreline. The tiny fish began checking to see what was now disturbing their habitat. The moon shone down on their corpses, as they were pushed towards the deep, center of the water. Soon, they would sink and their transformation would be complete.

From sinner to cleansed.

From life to death.

The count was
once again growing and the game was starting, anew. Continuing the hunt for the next witch was his ultimate plan. But why rush? Tonight was their baptism, and it should be all about them.

A silent prayer was said for their souls, and then followed by
barely suppressed laughter.

Once again
‘
the killing times’
were upon them. It was all about purging Salem of the evil that had found its way there.

Sinners beware.

Salvation
was on its way
!

  ~ Chapter One ~

Tuesday Pre-
Dawn

Her breath came fast
, as it puffed from her mouth in a cloud of vapor. She was almost there. Home was just down this last dirt road, and she would finally be done. The muscles in her upper back ached from where she had been shot. It was a continual reminder that she took a bullet, lost a partner, and destroyed her dignity all at once. There were good days and bad days, for both the ache in her back and the one in her heart.

For now
, she was worried about the physical pain. Let’s face it, she wasn’t getting any younger. After the fateful day of getting hurt on the job, she had no choice but to keep her body in shape. If you didn’t have your strength and agility in law enforcement, what did you have?

Isn’t th
at what she had told her father countless times? More sorrow flooded through her, but this time it threatened to swamp her heart. Elizabeth dedicated this last mile to her dad, as she fought her own demons, refusing to let him down. Wherever he was now, she hoped he was proud of her, despite the mistakes she’d made as an FBI agent. There was the need for him to still believe in her from the great beyond, even though she ran like a coward instead of standing her ground. That was her shameful secret, and to that day, she knew that it would have been better to defend herself against the persecutors who judged her guilty.

Regret replaced the pain
.

Elizabeth hoped that deep down, there would come a point where the sadness would fade
, along with the humiliation too. She knew there would never be a day that went by in which she didn’t regret attending her partner’s funeral. It was the day her career in the FBI had come to a screeching halt.

Yes, t
hey had broken the rules. The minute she decided to sleep with him, it all began to crumble around her. In a second of weakness, she was clipped at the knees. Sometimes, she believed he got away easy. Not to diminish his death, since a part of her died that day too, but he was mourned and she was vilified.

How was she to know that he’d lied about everything?
He was still legally married and had a wife. Her partner’s spouse was a bitter woman who blamed Elizabeth for everything. There was no point in trying to explain that she was just a rebound, a friend, and a safe place to weather the storm. There were two sides to every story, but at that funeral it was the wife who had the final say. Elizabeth took the slap in anger, the bitter tears, and the vicious words spewed at her in hate.

It was her penance.

On that da
y, she had decided to walk away and spare herself the torment of wondering why. So like a coward, she ran home to avoid the speculative stares of her colleagues. As she left the funeral, Elizabeth got the call; they had found her father.

Charlie LaRue
was dead. He’d had a heart attack and was gone from her life now too.

Immediately, her plan of running home to lick her wounds was put on the back burner. There were bigger, more
vicious injuries to tend to now. Once home, she simply never left. Elizabeth fell into a calm and less stressful life. When the mayor asked her to finish up her father’s term as sheriff, she wholeheartedly said yes. Ten months later, she was nearly healed emotionally and physically.

She’d even learned a valuable lesson. Each day was about learning and growing, and she would become strong again.

The phoenix would rise once more.

Snapping back
to focus on the run, she took in the beauty of the dark sky receding back from the top of the trees. It was so achingly early in the morning that even the wildlife wasn’t even out. As the day progressed in the deep bowels of the south, it got hot.

Hotter
than hell, to be exact.

If
Elizabeth wanted to run, it had to be early. Almost everything had to be before daybreak in Salem, if you wanted to avoid the sweltering heat.

The next song started on her MP3 pla
yer and the incline leveled out. It was less than a mile to home, and she was in the final stretch. Elizabeth pushed past the pain that begged her to quit, as she rounded the bend to the finish line. These last few hundred feet were the sweetest; they meant the end of the pain that coursed through her body.

Now if she could just lose the hurt that filled her heart.

In the driveway sat her
Jeep, and it was her favorite possession. It was much like her; tough, rugged and sturdy. When she left Georgetown, the vehicle and the furniture in her home were the only things she wanted to take. Most of her stuffy FBI attire went with the brownstone. Elizabeth had to admit, she kept all her FBI t-shirts. But only brought them out when she wanted to run. Yes, they were fine for sweat, but not for daily life. Now she dressed how she wanted and behaved as she wished. She was home, and it felt damn good to steal back some of the previously lost control from the almighty FBI.

Elizabeth couldn’t help but notice the
car parked beside her own. It was one of the sheriff’s department vehicles. Well hell! If there was a deputy at her house at five in the morning, it couldn’t be for anything positive. She raced up to the side of the car, and tapped on the window, nearly scaring the driver to death. Elizabeth rolled her eyes, grateful that Salem was a peaceful place, or her people would be in serious trouble.

“Tony, what gives?”

Deputy Tony Morel stepped from the car, unfolding his lanky frame as he took in his boss’s appearance. Once again, she looked like she was chasing her past or possibly running from it. “I hate to bother you, Lyzee, but there was a call about the lake. It seems a man fishing snagged a body.”

Elizabeth paused, sure that she’d misheard him.
“I’m sorry, did you say a body?” she reiterated, as she walked towards her house, motioning for him to follow. She didn’t want to think about a body until she had coffee and a shower.

“Yeah, but the thing is
that he reeled it in, and then got so freaked out that he cut the line, and it was gone,” Tony said, accepting the cup of coffee she offered him. “Thank you, boss,” he paused before continuing, “So we aren’t one hundred percent sure we have one to begin with, but we thought you’d want us to check it out.”

Elizabeth nodded, observing the man.
They had history; Tony was her high school sweetheart. That lasted until the day after the prom, when he dumped her for another girl. It seemed the other teen was willing to put out and Elizabeth, not so much.

Then again, maybe her fathe
r finally came through with his threats and had scared him off. One way or another, they had once been an item, and now she was his boss. At first it was awkward, but now they’d found their rhythm. He was her best friend then, and he was one of her closest confidants now. Despite their past, she trusted him completely. In fact, he was one of the few people that she allowed to use her nickname. It was a treasured snippet from her past, a gift from her beloved father.