Approaching Storm Read online

  "Whatever it is, we'll work through it," he whispered.

  A man came running out of the house to our left. "What are you two doing standing there in the rain, please come in!"

  Well, wasn't he one of the more friendly people we'd met here? I looked him over. I didn't know him at all. He was about as tall as Zephyr, light blond hair, blue eyes, solid muscle from what I could tell.

  I looked at Zephyr who nodded. "Thank you."

  We both followed the man into the plain brick house. Stacks of old newspapers littered the entryway. I caught a glimpse of the date 1996. Seriously, this man had a hoarding problem.

  We followed him through the sea of papers and to a table.

  "Let me make you some coffee to warm you up. What brings you two all the way out here?" He went to a counter covered in printings of magazines. One fell as he reached for the pot.

  1987.

  Seriously, what was with all the old papers? Zephyr picked it up off the ground and handed it to back to the man. "We're looking for some people," he said easily. "We stumbled across some photographs and were hoping to identify them. I'm Zephyr, by the way."

  I offered a forced smile. "I'm May."

  The man poured some coffee for us and brought it to the table, the only paper-free surface I'd seen in the house so far. "I'm Taylor. Do you have the photographs, I'd love to help."

  He seemed overly friendly for the outskirts. Zephyr lifted his coffee up to his lips but then paused. He set the mug back down and looked at Taylor. "Why is there ricin in the coffee?"

  Well, that would have killed me. I pushed my mug away.

  Taylor feigned an innocent look. "Why would anyone put ricin in the coffee? I don't aim to kill my guests."

  A newspaper slid off a pile near me, and I glanced down. 1982- "Serial Killer Strikes Again with Poison."

  I glanced at Taylor and then to the article. "You know. I think we should go."

  "It's raining out there; you'll catch your death." He leaned on the table. "Besides, I have so much use for you."

  Because that was going to make me stay. I stood, and Zephyr followed. "You know, I've got other things I need to do today. I don't think we can stay." I inched toward the doorway that led to the front area.

  Taylor was in front of the doorway in a moment. "Stay, little one. People would pay a nice price for you."

  Holy shit. Zephyr grabbed my hand the moment Taylor lunged for me.

  My heart pounded as the world disappeared and we reappeared further into the outskirts. The rain had slowed to a trickle now, but Zephyr and I were still pretty wet. I tried to catch my breath as I looked at him. "What the hell?"

  "I think you have a serial killer living in the outskirts." Zephyr shook his head. "Seriously."

  "Yeah, I got that much. But why would he want to sell me?"

  "You don't really want the answer to that, poulaki."

  He was probably right. I shivered at all the ideas that ran through my mind. "Okay, so that was useless."

  "Yeah, but let's keep moving. The fence in that picture is pretty beat up, maybe it still is." He looked up and down the street. "I just don't know where to start."

  I wasn't even sure how deep into the outskirts he'd taken us. The place didn't seem familiar at all.

  I pressed my lips together as we stood on the sidewalk like a couple of lost tourists. We had one person here that we might be able to trust, but he was sleeping because it was still daytime. A serial killer who was probably angry that we just escaped. And the vampire woman from before, who was also asleep. Our resources weren't looking good at this point.

  I pulled out my phone and looked at the picture again. There wasn't a lot to go off of, the damaged iron rod fence, which most houses had the rod fences out here, the daylight, and…

  Wait.

  I looked closer at the sidewalk, there in the gutter was a house number, faded but it was there. 2322.

  "We have a number." I pointed to it.

  "It could be any street," he muttered. "Best get started."

  "Yeah, but you can just pop us to each one." I nudged him. "And then it'll be quick and easy. Right?"

  He gave me a devilish grin. "Nothing is quick when it comes to you." He leaned in to kiss me. I met him halfway.

  He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. His tongue traced the edge of my lips, leaving it to me if I wanted to take it further. My lips parted to let him in and our tongues danced together. His teeth scraped my bottom lip, drawing a moan from me. Heat flooded my body chasing the chill of the rain away.

  Someone cleared their throat, and we broke apart. My cheeks heated at the thought of someone watching us nearly make out on the sidewalk.

  "Can I help you two?" she asked, crossing her arms. Her red hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she stood a bit taller than me. Her green shirt had a name tag on it for The Cave of Wonders. "You've been standing out here for a few minutes. I've been debating on shooting you."

  Zephyr held his hands up. "No need to shoot us."

  "Uh huh, you just appeared out here. What are you?" She narrowed her eyes, but then smiled. "Wait, I know you. You're the sort-a-human from the main city."

  "The 'sort-a-human'?" I raised a brow. "I have a name."

  "Yeah, you do, but if you keep standing out here, someone's going to shoot you. Or worse." She looked up and down the street. "Come on."

  I looked at Zephyr, and he shrugged. "It can't be worse than the last invite we got."

  I wasn't exactly sure if that was true or not, but what was life without a little danger?

  She led us into her house. The snap of the door and the click of the lock made me flinch. Zephyr put a hand on the small of my back and raised a brow at our host. "Locking your guest in?"

  "Keeping the creep out," she corrected. "My name is Allie, and I know you were just at Taylor's house."

  So maybe Zephyr didn't transport us that far away.

  "Taylor likes to chase his pray, so I suggest you stay out of his way or stay in the city." She pegged me with a stare. "You've been out here a few times."

  "Yes, yes, I'm trying to figure some things out." I pulled out my phone and pulled up the first photo. "Does this person look familiar to you?"

  Her face became a cold mask. "That's my sister. She was killed a few years ago. Sheriff said there wasn't enough evidence to bring in any suspects."

  Zephyr bowed his head. "I'm sorry for your loss."

  "Can I ask what you are?"

  "Why are you looking for my sister?" she shot back, crossing her arms.

  I debated for a moment on how much to tell her. "I did some poking around about our sheriff. This image, along with others, were found on his wall. Many like this have the face scraped off. Others do not." I was starting to think that the scraped off face meant dead.

  She sighed and motioned for us to come further in. Her house was spotless, a nice contrast to Taylor's house. She motioned to the couch in the living room. "Sit down."

  Zephyr and I sat next to each other. Zephyr entwined his fingers with mine, and I found comfort in it, even though I was sure it was in case we needed a quick escape.

  "My sister and I are witches. She was into questionable magic. One night she just disappeared. A week later I found her body without her head." She took a deep breath as her voice shook. "We were new here, and so I called the Sheriff even though people told me he wouldn't do anything since we were 'outskirt' people."

  And Maverick had just blown it off. My view on him was starting to change. The sweet, charming man from Texas had a darker side. "So it just faded into history?"

  "I've been trying to figure it out since, but I can't get anyone in the town to talk to me about it. None of them know who she was or what happened."

  Like her sister never existed. "I'm sorry." I had nothing else I could say. "I think Maverick was the one
behind your sister's death. We have evidence that he was a hunter of some sort."

  Anger flashed in her eyes. "You people brought a hunter in to be your sheriff?"

  "I had nothing to do with it. I just discovered it."

  She tapped the table as if she was thinking. "Does Lex know about this?"

  "Nope, not yet. We haven't told anyone in the city yet either."

  She nodded. "If he killed my sister, I'm betting he killed the others." There was still a thread of anger in her voice, and I couldn't blame her. She had no closure to her sister's death.

  "The others?"

  "There was a string of deaths with people missing their heads. Your sheriff and deputy didn't care."

  "We're going to try and find out who killed him and why."

  She snorted. "Because he's a murderer, obviously."

  Zephyr nodded. "Yes, but his deputy will be coming back, and if we don't have proof of what they did and why then we'll have a bigger problem on our hands."

  I'd only met the deputy a handful of times, but vampires by nature could be vengeful creatures. Zephyr was right, that's what I was worried about in this situation. Though part of me secretly wondered if his brother had something to do with it as well. Stirring up drama in a tiny town to try and put suspicion on Zephyr.

  I glanced at Zephyr who raised a brow. I shook my head, letting him know he didn't want my thoughts. "Allie, thank you for your help. You saved us a lot of footwork. Would you be willing to look at some of the other pictures to see if you know the others?"

  She nodded. "Sure thing, but I have to get to work. Can I come by later tonight?"

  "I live in the city, but as long as you're fine with that, you can stop by. I'm the big white house across the street from the soda shop."

  She smiled. "Perfect. It'll be late."

  "That's fine; I don't really sleep much anyways." I reached my hand out. "Thank you so much."

  She shook my hand. "Of course, now, get going before Taylor realizes you're still here. He's not a very nice guy."

  So we noticed. Zephyr and I stood, and he simply took us out of the house and back to the farmhouse.

  Zephyr pulled me close the moment we appeared at home. "Now where were before Allie interrupted us?"

  I leaned up to kiss him, but my phone rang. I sighed and went to answer it. He gently grabbed my wrist. "You aren't at everyone's beck and call here."

  "Yeah, but someone might need me." I kissed his cheek. "I know I can say no, but if it's important and I miss the call, I'll feel bad."

  He rolled his eyes. "That's what voicemail is for."

  I looked at the number on the phone and saw Teal's face next to it. I hit the answer icon. "What's up, Teal?"

  "Well, I have a sprite here in the store that would like to speak to you." She didn't sound happy about it. "And then we need to talk to Davina about the wards because this is getting ridiculous."

  She hung up without saying anything else, and I wondered if the whole day had been crazy. I put my phone back in my pocket. "Sorry Zeph, looks like our make out session will have to wait."

  He laughed and kissed me gently. "I have a couple things I want to check on, so I'll be back in a little bit. Good luck with the sprite."

  He disappeared from my side, and I headed out to the soda shop. I had no idea what a sprite would like to talk to me about, but maybe it would explain why they attacked the soda shop the other day.

  I bounded out of the house and went to cross the street when a car sped through. I froze in my footsteps because no one ever sped through the town, even the tourists, and the car was a steel gray sports car.

  Minivans we were used to.

  Sometimes smart cars came through.

  And classic cars, including a frequent green, 1957 Chevy Bel Air.

  But fancy sports cars were not typically racing down Main Street.

  A sinking feeling went through me at what or who it could be. I tried to shake it off as I darted across the road to the shop.

  "Hey, did you guys see that gray car?" I asked the moment I walked in.

  Delphi snorted and then sipped her soda. Teal was standing behind the soda counter staring down a man. He stood with his hands on his hips. His skin was almost a ghostly white that matched the strange paleness of his hair. When he turned to me, I tried not to gasp. His irises were a swirl of blue and white in continuous motion.

  I dug down inside myself for a moment and found my sass. "Turn down the paranormal dramatics, please. If you want to talk, let's talk." I motioned to the table. "Have a seat."

  He blinked at me as if that wasn't the response he was expecting. Was I supposed to bow at the beauty of his otherworldliness? Aww at his pointed ears and his handsome face? I wasn't sure, but it was clear by the set-in-stone frown on his face, that my response wasn't what he was expecting.

  I'd seen Teal in her sprite form before, and she was much more intimidating than this colorless prick.

  The other-worldliness faded from him, his skin tanned up a bit, his eyes turned to a human blue, and his hair to a light blond. He sat at the table I motioned to and pushed out the other chair with his foot.

  I sat down and folded my hands on the table. "What can I do for you?"

  "The wind sprites are formally requesting to travel through the town."

  "No."

  His jaw dropped open, and then he snapped it shut. "No?"

  "You guys just ripped through here uninvited, into Teal's area, damn near destroyed the soda shop, and now you want to ask permission to go through? Go around the damn town."

  His brows drew together and his lips pressed into a tight line. Somehow it made him look more handsome instead of angry.

  I pushed the thought from my head.

  "There were some young sprites who were…possessed by power. They must be the ones you're talking about."

  "I'm sorry, possessed by power?"

  Teal also seemed to perk up at the words, though she tried to look busy by restocking straws nearby.

  "Something overtook our children and ushered them here. They got through the wards and returned later." He shook his head. "Honestly, we just want to pass through so we can meet up with some other sprites."

  I leaned back in the chair. The sprites had shown up about the same time Zephyr did. Despite not wanting to admit it, Zephyr was the common link with all the strange things. And he'd banished the wind sprites back to where they came from.

  "What kind of creature could put that much power into sprites?"

  He met my gaze but then glanced away. "I've only ever seen gods do it. But the gods don't come to earth often anymore."

  Teal snorted. "Or ever. And if they did, they'd have better things to do than make mischief with little sprites."

  "What's your name?"

  "Van." He bowed his head. "Forgive me for being rude."

  I looked at Teal. "Your sprite territory, your call."

  Teal crossed her arms and thought for a minute. I expected her to say no, but in the end, she dropped her arms and sighed. "You have two days to move your people through here without causing any damage. I mean it. No tree branches falling, no tearing up houses, no tornados, no blown over mailboxes. Nothing."

  He laughed. "You drive a tough bargain, but we'll manage. Things might just be a bit…breezy around here for the next couple days."

  "Once your people are through though, we're putting our wards back up, and I don't want any more problems." I pegged him with a stare. "Possessed young ones or not."

  Van nodded. "That's one of the reasons we're migrating. There's been a lot of increased divine activity around here. We don't want anything to do with that." He stood. "Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice."

  "I feel like I didn't have much of a choice. Have a good day." I stood and went to the counter. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as the bell rang and he le
ft.

  "He has you thinking about gods, doesn't he?" Teal asked and sat a soda in front of me.

  I wrapped my hands around the foam cup. "A lot of things have me thinking about gods lately."

  "Because they are aware you're alive." Delphi made her way over to the bar and sat down next to me. "Zephyr, demigod."

  Teal threw her hands up in the air. "When was someone going to tell me this?"

  "I didn't think it was that important." I rubbed my eyes. "He has a brother though. I know he's in town. I don't really know what either one of them is capable of."

  "Do you think one of them had something to do with the sprites?"

  I nodded. "I do, and I think one or both of them have to do with the storm everyone keeps saying is coming."

  Delphi chuckled. "And what a storm it will be."

  I leaned back on my couch sipping my coffee. Zephyr had yet to return, and I was starting to become worried about him. The clock ticked while I waited for Allie to show up. I wasn't exactly sure why she wanted to come into town to talk to me, but I wasn't going to tell her no since she was the only person who had information about one of the deceased.

  A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts. I swung it open expecting it to be Allie. No one else really knocked. Zephyr just let himself in, Teal always announced herself with a sing-song voice, and Lee rang the doorbell.

  I opened the door to come face to face with Callister. My heart pounded, my eyes flashed to the sports car in my driveway.

  "What are you doing here?" I stood in the doorway refusing to let him in.

  Callister's smile faded around the edges. "Amaya, where have you been?" He placed a hand on my cheek, and I backed away from him. My eyes searched his face. "Amaya, why are you shying away from me?"

  "Why shouldn't I? You attacked me in my home the other night. You stabbed your brother in the stomach. You…" I couldn't find the words. "Hurt me. You're the reason I'm here."

  He shook his head and tried to take a step in, but I blocked his path. "Amaya, listen to me. Zephyr has poisoned your mind and your heart. He is the reason that you're here. Not me. All I want is for you to be home safe. I can take you home."