Page 30 of Haunted Eclipse

“It’s cold out there,” I said, closing the door.

“Garn’s fine. He’ll keep watch until we leave. Cleo’s not about to let you get hurt,” he said. “We should go, though, because we don’t want the psychic vampire to escape. He’s killed before, he’ll kill again,” Reese said. “You might want to wear any protection charms you have.”

“Here,” Astra said, returning from her bedroom. She handed Crystal and me smoky quartz pendants. But in addition to the energy of the crystal, magic emanated from the stone—protective magic. We draped them over our heads.

“Ready?” Reese asked.

Astra nodded. “Ready. Let’s go.”

As we headed out, I wondered what the hell we were in for. I had never counted on being in this position when I came home to Midnight Point.

At night,Midnight Point could be a spooky place. Most shadow towns were dangerous for the unwary, and ours was no exception. It wasn’t so much that we had a seedy side to the town, or that gangs roamed the streets. But when a town existed on the edge between worlds, anything could cross over.

Following the address that Devon gave us, we found ourselves in front of a set of three-story apartment buildings. Walk-ups, three apartments on either side were joined by the stairwell. Three groups of buildings meant the complex had eighteen apartments total. Outside, floodlights illuminated the sidewalks.

“He lives in apartment 3-3-B, which means building three, third story, apartment B,” Astra said. “Which puts him in…there—that building.” She pointed to the furthest building down the sidewalk. The complex also had a common area, along with a pool which was drained and covered for the winter.

The light in the apartment was on. Hopefully, he was home, and hopefully, he’d go quietly. I had never participated in anything like this in my life, and Ireallydidn’t want to be here. But if my aunt could handle the situation, so could I.

Reese took the lead, with Astra and me coming next, and then, Crystal and Garns leading up the rear. We quietly ascended the two sets of stairs, coming to rest on the landing by Marcus’s apartment. I swallowed my fear as Astra knocked on the door.

No answer.

She knocked a second time.

Still no answer.

Reese motioned for her to move back and she stepped out of the way so he could take her place. Instead of knocking, Reese held the doorknob in hand and muttered some kind of incantation that I couldn’t catch. There was a suddenclick, and he slammed open the door and darted inside. Garns followed him, motioning for the three of us to follow.

As I pushed through the door, Reese raced over to the window, where a man was trying to get through the open pane. Reese grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him back into the room, slamming him to the floor. My first thought was to close the window so he couldn’t get away, and I dashed over, slamming the window shut again.

The man on the floor—I assumed it was Marcus—pulled away from Reese and rolled to one side, coming up on his heels. He crouched as he held onto the floor for balance. With dark hair and eyes, he was handsome enough, but there was something behind his eyes—a smoldering, repressed anger that chilled me to the bone.

“What the fuck do you want?” he spat out.

“You’re under arrest, by ruling of the Order of the Moon. Surrender now, and we won’t use force,” Astra said, reading from her phone. It must have been what Cleo told her to say.

“I don’t yield to the fucking Crown,” he said. The next moment, he launched himself in a blur toward Crystal andgrabbed her, his arm around her neck. “Let me go or I break her neck.”

I stared in horror, trying to think of what I could do.

Astra stood her ground as Garns and Reese edged to either side of him. “You’re surrounded. You do that and we have the option to kill you right here.”

Break her neck…his words reverberated through my head.

What the hell kind of nightmare was I in? Life had gone from twenty to two hundred in seconds. I wanted to beg him to let her go, but if I interfered it could result in more people getting hurt. I forced myself to keep my mouth shut and watched, wondering what we’d expected. Had we thought he was going to meekly raise his hands and go with us? This man was a killer.

But Reese and Garns looked unperturbed.

Reese cleared his throat. “You’re going to let her go and you’re going to come with us quietly.”

“What makes you think I’d choose to do that?” Marcus asked. His eyes glittered with a cold light, I found myself more angry than shocked. He was threatening my best friend, and I wasn’t going to have that.

A well of energy began to build inside me—one that I had never felt before—but it coiled up, seductively. I held out one hand and began to whisper. The words felt like they were coming from far, far away—from someone standing behind me. They were silken, like a soft caress as they fluttered out of my mouth. I could almost see them—music notes on the wind, targeting the psychic vampire and no one else.

“You don’t want to do that. You want to let her go. Let the woman go and come to me. You know who I am and you know what I can offer you,” I said, from inside a warm, golden shroud.

Marcus faltered. He hesitated, loosening his arm a little from where it rested around Crystal’s throat. At that moment, Reese grabbed hold of him, yanking his arm away. Garns grabbedCrystal and dragged her away from the psychic vampire, pushing her toward Astra. Marcus let out a sharp bark and pulled out a knife, but Reese brought his arm down on Marcus’s wrist and the cracking of bones filled the air.

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