Free Corin & Angelique (After the Fall of Night) by Sherri Claytor Page A

off.
    Tomes was obviously trying to rile him, and it was working. His patience was beginning to run thin. He did have his limits, after all, and Tomes had dished out just about all the insolence he could stand for the moment.
    “You don’t care for being compared to animals, huh? But you don’t mind living like one down here in this heap,” Tomes braved one more comment.
    “How about you just tell me why you’re here. What’s so important that it couldn’t wait till evening?” Corin bit his bottom lip, striving to control his rising temper, for Angelique’s sake. He would do just about anything for her, and he knew how much she loved her brother.
    “You know why I’m here. I want to know what you’ve learned about the nightwalker.”
    “Nothing yet, I’m sorry to say.”
    “We can’t let him get away. Isn’t there anything I can do to help? I can’t just sit around doing nothing. I’ll go crazy.”
    “There is, actually. I was trying to find out if anyone purchased any local properties over the last few weeks, but the real estate offices close by the time I get around to them. Maybe you could make some inquiries, taking special note of any larger homesteads. Any place that would offer a nightwalker the seclusion and privacy he’d require.”
    “I can do that. I take it you think this nightwalker might be planning on sticking around, then?”
    “It’s just a feeling…a place to start.”
    “Okay. I’ll get right on it.”
    “I have something that might help.” Corin fetched his wallet, pulling out a business card, giving it a quick glance before handing it to Tomes. “I was at Purcell’s Garage and he passed along this agent’s card. Her name is Sandy Darnell. She’s with Brookside Realty over in Black River Falls.”
    “I know the place.”
    “Good. I tried to reach her several times at the cell number listed, but she never answered. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
    “I’ll head on over there and see what I can find out.”
    “You know, Tomes, you could do with a little rest,” Corin remarked. “You look like hell.”
    “I put my wife in her grave this morning,” Tomes replied somberly. “I won’t rest until the demon that killed her pays, and pays good, with my kind of justice.”
    Corin understood Tomes’s pain, having endured his own share of losses over his long years of walking the earth. More, in fact, than he’d ever care to remember.
    “When we catch this monster…then I’ll rest,” Tomes rubb ed his eyes, wiping away gathering tears before they had a chance to fall.
    “We do have to catch up with him, and soon, because he’ll kill again.” Corin knew the insatiable hunger of the creature, what such a craving could do to one’s sanity, something he fought every fall of night. “It takes a strong will to fight the thirst.”
    “You haven’t forgotten that when the time comes, this nightwalker is mine, have you?” Tomes reminded Corin. “Like I said, I’ll do the serving, and it’ll be my kind of justice. The Bible says ‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,’ and before that it clearly states, ‘life for a life.’ I am due my right of retribution, and I’m warning you, Corin, if you get in my way, I’ll do you in without a second thought.”
    “We need to know what we’re facing before taking any action, and we know nothing about this newcomer.”
    “It makes no difference to me who or what he is. Louisa will get her justice. I know there’s no love loss between us, but I need your help to find this monster. And when we get him, I’ll take my vengeance.”
    “I’ll work with you, Tomes, only because I don’t wish to see you dead. Despite your disdain of me, we do share a connection. Your father was a friend, and I cared too much for him not to look out for you now.”
    Corin meant what he said. He would look out for Tomes, but he labored with uncertainty over the matter of the nightwalker. He had no intention of