Free Taken (Ava Delaney #4) by Claire Farrell

Not a one. Why had they left Peter alive? Not
enough time? Did someone disturb them? Did someone save Peter? It
didn’t make sense. The one person prepared to die for his vengeance
had survived when it seemed as though nobody else had.
    The incidents
themselves were scattered throughout the country and appeared to
run on a random timeline. The same county was never hit twice in a
row, perhaps to avoid suspicion. The major newspapers never picked
up the stories. All of the information came from local newspapers,
which rarely mentioned similar occurrences in the rest of the
country.
    The Gardaí
hadn’t seemed to connect most of the murders either, but that might
have been down to a supernatural influence. Ireland was a
relatively small island. How many incidents were elsewhere? We
might not find Illeana’s witness, but maybe we could come across
another.
    For the next
couple of hours, I scoured the internet for articles depicting
similar incidents in the UK. Before long, I had more than I needed.
But again, case after case, there were no witnesses and no major
media coverage. How many people had died because some creature
wanted their child?
    I almost wished
Daimhín was around so I could question her child vampire. Eloise
had been taken from her home because she was a psychic. She might
have some answers, some insight into where I should look. Not that
Daimhín would willingly allow her to speak to me about it.
    Before I could
get to the end of my new list, Esther arrived. She jumped from one
foot to the other, her eyes bright with excitement.
    “Come in for a
minute,” I said, and she frowned. “Steady on, Esther. We’re only
going to see Callista.”
    “I just feel
like we might be getting somewhere.” But she followed me into the
living room.
    “Speaking of
getting somewhere, I haven’t. At least, not yet. I’ve moved my
search to the UK. Thank everything for the internet. There’s a
chance we’ll never find Illeana’s witness, but we might come across
another survivor somewhere else.”
    She shrugged.
“Maybe. The odds are probably against us. But if you could find
someone in England, I could make an extra stop on my way to check
on the BVA.”
    “I don’t like
that you’re going over there. People keep talking about bad stuff
happening. You getting in the middle of it doesn’t give me sweet
dreams.”
    “I have no
choice. Guardians go wherever they’re sent.”
    I gave her a
wry look. “Number one, you chose this mission. Two, your brother
would absolutely make sure you didn’t get sent over there if you
let him.”
    She flashed a
grin. “I have to be a good influence on the new recruits. Besides,
you need me to check on your new friends. Although, I think you
might be suicidal the way you’re handing out life favours.”
    I slipped on a
light jacket. “We can’t stand around when bad things happen, right?
So I don’t. And I’ve decided I’ll do whatever it takes to survive
the night, because there’s always revenge.” I grinned when she
raised her eyebrows. “Besides, I think the vampires have bigger
fish to fry right now. They didn’t exactly get good use out of the
twins.”
    Esther
shivered. “Do you think all of the children are half-breeds?”
    “Eloise
wasn’t,” I reminded. “I think us mongrels are just a safer
bet.”
    “Nobody to care
about us,” she said wistfully. “It just makes me wonder what could
have happened to you and me. Or rather, why it never
happened to us. I mean, my father didn’t have a clue what my mother
was. The whole shape-shifting thing shocked him enough to get rid
of us. Yet nobody came for us.”
    “Your mother
must have known,” I said. “She might have been protecting you by
keeping it a secret when you were young. Who knows? As for me,
Nancy kept me well hidden.”
    “She didn’t do
such a great job of it, though. That woman at the trial, the one
the vampires made talk for them against you, she managed to find
you. And she smelled human