Free Inescapable (Eternelles: The Beginning, Book 1) by Zee Monodee, Natalie G. Owens Page B

sides, sending a silent message to her mother to let go. The other woman got it loud and clear when she raised her head and gave her a soulful look. Moisture glimmered in the blue-grey depths of her eyes.
    “No matter what you say, no matter how you feel, you’re my daughter,” she said on a hoarse whisper. And I’ll always protect you, were the unspoken words.
    Sera’s mouth dried in a flash—becoming so arid, she could barely speak past the big lump in her throat. Anyway, what could she say in response that wouldn’t end up in another massive fight?
    “Tell me,” she said tentatively, her voice sounding distant even to her. “Not knowing won’t protect me.”
    Those last words brought the spunk back into her mother. “I’ve never kept secrets from you.”
    “No, you just make decisions for me and…. Never mind, just say it, dammit!”
    Adri stepped back. “Fine. The soul stealer took Susan’s blood while her body was being depleted of oxygen. I know because it was blue in color.”
    Craig grunted. “I won’t ask how you came to know but yes, we found a puncture mark in her neck, a neat slit. Probably used a blade.”
    Adri rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “I saw the man speak to Susan. I think he was her lover, and I didn’t like the look of him. When she left the table, I followed her, but…I was too late.” She hung her head in defeat and took a deep breath, but then raised a fierce expression to Sera. “ Ma fille , two of those monsters who attacked you were soul stealers.”
    Sera’s breath hitched, even though she’d expected her mother’s last statement. “But I hardly knew Susan. And I haven’t been to the museum in years. Why her? Why me? Did she know Rafe?”
    Questions tumbled from her lips like bullets from a bazooka aimed clumsily at a feather in the breeze, landing all over the place.
    Adri’s brows furrowed as she crossed her arms again and leaned to the side, favoring her left leg. Wild thoughts flittered about her face. “I’m just as confused as you, darling, but I believe that to understand what happened to you, we must first figure out what happened to Susan, and why.”
    “The most important thing to keep in mind is that there must be two murder investigations. The official one by the local police, which, as we all know, will lead nowhere near the truth, and a separate, discreet one that only those in the midst of things must carry forward.” Craig gave her mother a knowing look. “No one should suspect how the community in Shadow Bridge factors in the equation and I’d like to keep it that way. Less prying eyes.”
    “What do they say about the cause of death?” Adri asked.
    “It would be asphyxia, except that—”
    “There’s no petechiae in the conjunctivae,” she finished.
    “They should make you inspector over at the department. Bet you’d step on a few toes,” he teased.
    Adri bit her bottom lip, ignoring the joke. “Then there’s the blood loss.”
    “There’s that.”
    “Fine, so they’re baffled. Where do we start?”
    “The man—thing—that did this was interrupted from finishing his task. Although as you say he took some blood to go, he probably would have drained her completely if you hadn’t ruined his party.”
    “So?” Sera asked.
    “So he didn’t accomplish whatever he wanted to accomplish, at least we hope. I suspect he needed all her blood for something, and he needed it right at that moment, at her death. Must be something to do with oxygen or air leaving her….”
    “Air,” Adri said meaningfully. “Power.”
    “Mmmm. Keep turning those wheels as I check this.” Craig pulled his cellphone out of his jeans pocket. Adri gave him a blank stare.
    “It’s the assistant director George telling me that they’re sending one of the agents from the art crime team to the New York office to support the investigation. He’s due in tomorrow.”
    He caught Adri’s panicked look.
    “Don’t worry, I’ll handle him,” he