Page 49 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

‘Shadow’s missing – it looks like he took himself off for a walk,’ I explained, worry like a weight in my guts.

‘That little stinker.’ She pulled a face but I could see she was worried too.

Fluffy left the car park and crossed the road that led to the tailings area. He was trotting past a place where most of the brush and trees had been cleared when he suddenlystopped. When I caught up, he was looking around and sniffing the ground so I waited until he lifted his nose again then followed his line of sight.

Shadow was in a tree: he must have leapt into it from the spot where Fluffy had lost his scent.

My heart gave a firm beat as my panic eased. Shadow was fine, not catnapped or dead, just an idiot lynx with a longing for the wild. That thought gave me a pang: maybe he wasn’t getting enough outside time, enough freedom. I needed to do better.

I looked up at him and put my hands on my hips. ‘What are you doing up there?’ I demanded.

He looked down at me and gave one of his barking mrows, then stared into the distance again. ‘What are you looking at?’ I asked him.

Sidnee and Thomas joined me. Thomas looked amused at the crazy cat lady talking to her half-grown lynx in a tree. I nodded at Sidnee. ‘She talks to him, too.’

She grinned impishly. ‘Sure, but I don’t actually expect him to reply!’

I rolled my eyes. ‘I’m going up. You guys stay down here and laugh it up.’

I’d never climbed a tree, not even as a child, but it didn’t look too difficult; there were plenty of branches and I was a vampire with extra strength and speed. I started to pullmyself up. Shadow looked agitated, but he was definitely looking at something and my gut said I needed to see what.

I kept going. About halfway, my jeans caught on a sharp branch and the fabric made a distinct ripping noise. Whoops… I was now showing my friends a good chunk of luminous white butt cheek. When Sidnee giggled, I ripped off the branch and threw it down at her. Thomas deflected it effortlessly.

‘My hero.’ She batted her eyelids at him. Ugh.

I pulled at the loose fabric, but there was no way it would be covering me up again anytime soon. The jeans were toast. I glared at Shadow. ‘You’d better have a damned good reason why you’re up there. These were expensive!’

The cat was at least twenty feet up the tree, which didn’tsoundlike much, but I made the mistake of looking down. I didn’t have any particular fear of heights, and I was sure I’d survive if I fell, but it took a moment for me to reorient myself.

I kept going, cursing as I went, until I was near enough to Shadow to look in the same direction as he was doing. At the end of the road, before it curved and headed off to the tailings pile, there was a truck and a tractor. The truck was full of what looked like tailings and around it was a group of armed men in camouflage.

I squinted, but my eyes weren’t lying. Armed men dressed like soldiers. No one had mentioned a protection detail, so my first thought was … MIB.

Oh fuck.

I turned and scrambled down as Shadow ran down the tree and jumped free. His descent was effortless and elegant, a real contrast to my panting and exposed arse.

I didn’t dare yell at my companions because I didn’t want the armed men to hear us. We’d been planning to go to the tailings and if Shadow hadn’t escaped, we’d have driven right into them. And there was a lot of them. They would have easily overpowered the three of us.

Once I was back on solid earth, Shadow leaned into my legs so hard that I wobbled. ‘Good boy,’ I praised him, stroking him firmly. ‘You’re a very good boy.’

‘There are armed men up ahead,’ I whispered to Thomas. ‘Did the mine hire protection?’

He shook his head then reached into his coat and withdrew a serious-looking handgun. ‘Go back to the vehicles. I’ll check it out.’

I glared at him. ‘I think you’ll find thatweare Nomo officers.Yougo back toyourvehicle.’

Thomas looked amused as he shook his head and melted into the trees next to us. After three seconds, I could neither see nor hear him. Someday, I wanted that kindof skill. I turned to Sidnee. ‘Umm, what just happened?’

She grinned and fanned herself. ‘Damn, that’s hot. He’s so sexy.’

‘He’s just completely ignored my instruction.’

‘True, but I’m kind of happy for him to take point on this one. He knows what he’s doing. We’re Thelma and Louise.’

‘We are not! We’re totally more Cagney and Lacey.’

Sidnee snickered. ‘You might be Cagney, but I’m definitely Thelma.’

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