Free Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) by Sonya Bateman Page B

love.
     
     

C HAPTER 14

     
    I t was going on four in the morning when we arrived at the town of Elk Heights, Pennsylvania—Population 1395, Home of the Famous Elkhorn Jack Lodge and Cider Press, according to the welcome sign. Must’ve passed fifty cow pastures on the way into the valley between two mountains, where the town sprawled from base to base.
    I pulled the van over on the shoulder of the main road, just after the Famous Elkhorn Jack sign. Sadie and Taeral had been drifting in and out for the past hour, but they both came around when I stopped. “We there?” Sadie slurred.
    “Looks that way.”
    “Why’d we stop?”
    I smirked. “Because my GPS couldn’t find the nearest secret mountain bunker.”
    “Oh.” She straightened in the seat and looked around. “God, I never thought I’d come back to this place,” she murmured. “What a nightmare. And now I have to tell them about Mom...”
    “That was not your fault,” Taeral said.
    “It doesn’t matter. They’re not going to see it that way. I mean, would you?” She laced her hands together tightly. “That stuff Milus Dei injected me with...I wasn’t strong enough to fight it. I killed her. No hesitation.”
    “Didn’t you say they used something on you that suppressed your human side?” I said. “That means it wasn’t really you. How could you have fought that?”
    Her jaw clenched. “I’m a born werewolf. I’m supposed to have control,” she said. “Look, let’s just get this over with. You’re gonna keep on this road for a while. I’ll tell you when to turn.”
    I shrugged and put the van in gear. I recognized that change-the-subject tone—I’d used it myself plenty of times.
    The town populated itself around us as I headed further in. Sparse houses, their windows still dark at this early morning hour, got closer together. Patches of trees and fields gave way to fences and sidewalks. Street lamps gradually replaced the light of the approaching-full moon.
    Looking at it reminded me that I should charge my moonstone as soon as possible. I’d recently learned that the clear crystal pendant I’d worn for years, a gift from a stranger, had been Daoin’s once. The stone was found only in Arcadia, the Fae realm, and was used to absorb moonlight and enhance magic.
    Not that I knew what the hell to do with the thing, besides make it glow. But it had helped save me more than once.
    Side streets became more frequent as we hit the heart of the town and what apparently passed as the commercial district. Stores and churches lined both sides of the road, in what almost looked to be equal numbers. This town must’ve really enjoyed going to church. I counted at least ten of them on the main street alone, and spotted a few more steeples down side roads.
    It wasn’t long before the buildings started spacing out again. When I stopped at an all-way stop sign just before a long stretch of fields ahead, I caught a glimpse of a police car sitting dark and silent off the side of the crossroad to the right, about fifty feet back.
    As I moved through the intersection, headlights snapped on, and the red-and-blue flickered into the night.
    “Oh, shit,” I muttered. “We’re about to have company.”
    “What is it?” Taeral said.
    “Cops.”
    I pulled over, and Sadie stared with faint horror into the side view mirror at the pulsing lights behind us. “What if it’s them?” she said. “I mean, they were running the cops in New York. What if they got to them here?”
    “Whatever Milus Dei is doing out here, they couldn’t have infiltrated the cops already,” I said. “They’ve only been here a few days, tops. Let’s just find out what he wants. Maybe I have a tail light out or something.” I glanced at the mirror. The cop was taking his sweet time—he hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet.
    Taeral made a frustrated sound. “We should not take the risk.”
    “What do you want to do, kill the guy?” I said.
    “Yes.”
    “No!”