Free Darker Things (The Lockman Chronicles #1) by Rob Cornell Page B

van’s dirty white hood.
    Lockman kept his eyes locked on the man’s. They stared at each other for a handful of seconds. Then the man gave Lockman a bloody smile and reached forward. His hands bubbled and morphed. Hair the color of steel wool grew over his knuckles and the backs of his arms. His fingertips drew into long talons.
    “Great.” Lockman threw the van in park and cut the engine. “Out.”
    He flung open his door and dragged Jessie out behind him. She must have caught a glimpse on her way of the shifting creature because she screamed and came along a lot more easily.
    “What’s that?” she asked as they crossed the parking lot to the Ferrari.
    “No interest in hanging around to find out.”
    This time he didn’t have to tell her to get in the car. She hopped into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt without further comment.
    It took a little longer to get the Ferrari started, but he liked the sound of its engine a lot better than the van’s. Of course, a Ferrari wasn’t the low profile kind of vehicle he would prefer. Beggars, in this case, couldn’t be choosers.
    The van started to shimmy and shake on its axles from the beast’s efforts to work its way free.
    Lockman peeled out of the lot and didn’t look back. But he heard the squeal of twisting metal echo behind them.
    They blew by the parked SUV belonging to their pursuer. Lockman felt tempted to stop and look for some weapon or clue he might use for a counter attack. He wasn’t sure the shape shifting monster couldn’t get free, though. He had no desire to see the thing fully transformed. Sharp teeth probably played some role.
    “How did they find us?” Jessie asked again.
    He resisted flooring the Ferrari. Last thing they needed was to get pulled over for speeding. But he pushed the speed limit, wanting to get as far away from the chapel as possible.
    “Either they somehow knew that address used to be a safe haven—”
    “Used to be?”
    “Yes. We’re on our own.”
    She whispered something under her breath and chewed on a thumbnail.
    “They could be tracking us as well. Can’t be the cars. Can’t be anything on me or they would have come long ago.”
    “You think it’s me.”
    “It’s the only explanation.”
    “Like, what? They somehow planted a tracking device on me? How would they even know I exist if you didn’t?”
    “I’ve been asking myself that for a while now.”
    “What are we going to do?”
    “You have to tell me how you found me. No more screwing around.”
    She nodded. When she spoke, her voice shook. “Okay, yeah. I hired a private detective. He tracked you down.”
    “Tracked me down how?” Lockman took the next right, a random decision, and checked the rearview for any sign they were being followed.
    “He wouldn’t say. I had money saved that I’d been planning to use to hire someone to find you. The guy I picked found you after a few days.”
    “How did you find this guy?”
    “Yellow pages. I chose the place with the office closest to home since I had to walk there.”
    None of it made sense. “And he wouldn’t tell you how he found me?”
    “He said not to ask because he couldn’t tell me. I figured he might have done something less than legal, so I didn’t push the issue. Whatever he did, obviously it worked.”
    “We have to go see this PI.”
    “What? Why?”
    “I have to know how he found me.”
    “Why is that so important?”
    Lockman didn’t answer for a moment, troubled by what it meant. He took a few more random turns, always making sure to put more distance between them and the chapel, and always weary of any sign they had a tail.
    “Because it means someone gave me up. Someone I know. Someone I trusted.”
    He could feel Jessie’s gaze on him, smell the fear in her sweat.
    “I have to know who.”

Chapter Thirteen
    Vampires. Filthy fucking things.
    Dolan stood in the middle of the abandoned factory they had commandeered as headquarters in Detroit—thanks to the