Page 47 of House of Lilith

My eyebrows pull down as I watch him walk across the large round landing, all in expensive wood, and up to one of the five doors along the wall. There’s bright yellow Authority tape barring entry, but he just opens the door and cranes his neck to throw me one of those I-don’t-have-all-day kinds of looks.

I rush over to him, moving to walk through the door, but he blocks me with his arm. “You have exactly fifteen minutes,” he says flatly. “And don’t bother trying to mess with anything, all evidence has already been gathered.”

For a second, I just look at him. Then, despite all my efforts, my fox comes out enough to let out a low growl.

Fear flashes through the man’s face. He clears his throat and removes his arm. “Just saying,” he adds in a voice that’s no longer all that indifferent.

“You know what’s funny?” I demand as I lock eyes with him. “There didn’t even have to be a murder for you people to brand us as criminals. You did that before we ever even got here.”

I keep staring straight into his eyes until he looks away, unease written all over his face. Then he spits out, “Fifteen minutes and then I’m coming in.”

And he walks away, going to stand by the door opposite the one I’m about to walk through.

I force myself to shake it off. I take a deep breath and I walk inside, closing the door behind me. The only light is coming through a small paneled window to my left.

“Dahrian?” I hear Ricky’s feeble voice sound from somewhere to my right.

But I’m busy trying to process the sight before me. I’m in an office with stone walls lined with bookshelves and a large desk dominating the space, but that’s where the normalcy stops.

There’s the body still lying there, in the middle of the floor, a pool of blood spreading from its torso.

And there’s my friend crouching in the far right corner, his entire body covered in blood, including the hands he has clutching his upper arms. It’s scared, the look he’s throwing me.

Speechless, I come rushing over, holding out a hand for him. “In the name of Lycan, Ricky,” I mutter, “it’s at the scene of the crime they’re keeping you?”

He doesn’t take my hand. He looks away. “It’s just the procedure here,” he replies in a brave but a little shaky voice.

I push my anger aside and I sit down in front of him. “Hey, tell me what happened.”

He looks up at me, his eyes murky and still with shock. “I wanted to have a chat with Professor Onas. I only wanted to get information about the different types of magic foliage around the castle grounds, that’s all,” he explains in a pleading voice.

And his gaze darts to the body lying behind me and his breathing instantly becomes heavier. It all makes my heart drop into my stomach.

But I summon all the determination I can, and I make him look at me. “And?”

He shakes his head. “I came by his office and I knocked.” Grimacing as he tries to fight back the tears, he says, “I shouldn’t have done it.”

“You shouldn’t have donewhat?” I demand.

“No one responded to my knocking, but the door was open…”

“And?”

“And I went inside and I found him lying there. He was dead already,” he insists, desperation in both his eyes and voice. “I swear to you, Boss. I swear on my family’s graves.”

I have to fight not to give into temptation, to just start consoling him. My eyes dart to his bloodied hands and clothes. “What about the blood, Ricky?”

He looks down and there’s a flash of surprise in his eyes as he holds out his hands. “I slipped. It was so dark in here. I didn’t see the blood and I walked straight into it.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I curse.

“You don’t believe me?” Ricky asks with a fearful look in his eyes.

“Of course I believe you, mate,” I tell him with determination in my voice. “But you know what they’re saying?”

He doesn’t say anything, but I can practically see him hold his breath.

“They’re saying they’ve managed to get inside the man’s head and get his last memory.”

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