Page 51 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

Matilda stuck to the trail as it darted this way and that. Finally, it wound back towards the barrier and she pointed through it. ‘Girls went out there. Matilda no go.’

A shiver ran through me. I didn’t want to go either. ‘Matilda, why won’t you go there? Beyond the barrier I mean?’

She cocked her head at me. ‘Matilda told Rabbit Girl. Sdonalyasna live there. Kill Matilda husband long ago.’ Her voice was agitated and she was clicking her metal nails together.

‘You did tell me. It’s fine, you don’t have to go. I’ll go.’

Matilda squinted at me then put her hands on her hips and shook her head. ‘Rabbit Girl no go.’

‘I’ll be fine, I’ve gone out there before.’

She shook her head again. ‘Will die,’ she sorrowfully, then sank into the earth and disappeared.

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Tilly. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. Brash as I’d been with Matilda, there was no way I was going through the barrier alone. I was determined to find the girls, but I wasn’t suicidal.

I needed a team – and I had a couple of poor bastards in mind.

Chapter 31

I felt terrible about leaving Kate and Essie alone even for another minute, but failing to prepare was preparing to fail. Kate must need blood desperately by now – if she hadn’t already succumbed to feeding on her friend – and they could both be hurt. I needed to get a proper team together with supplies rather than rushing in half-cocked like I might once have done.

I jogged back to my SUV, thinking over and over about the girls. There was no doubt in my mind that they’d chosen to go through the barrier, rather than go home – and that was telling.

I stumbled on uneven ground and my heart thunked. I was soaked through, exhausted and the sun was coming up. I hadn’t slept in at least a day and it was showing. I slowed to a walk: better to arrive safely than with a broken leg. Needing to do something while I walked, I called Gunnar. He could start making preparations.

‘Bunny.’

‘Gunnar, hey. Matilda and I tracked the girls.’

I heard his chair squeak as he sat up and paid attention. ‘And?’

‘They went beyond the barrier,’ I said grimly.

Gunnar went through a whole litany of swear words. He had as much desire to go beyond the barrier as I did, but missing kids added a bunch of pressure for us to do exactly that. If we didn’t go, we didn’t deserve our badges.

He sighed. ‘I wish Thomas was here.'

‘Me too. How did it go with Mafu?’

Gunnar’s tone was grim. ‘About as well as you’d expect. Protesting his innocence and furious about being questioned. He let me search his house briefly but there were no red flags. I didn’t want to push it. We need him on our side.’

‘Hopefully we’ll find the girls and they’ll shed some light on Donovan’s death.’ Right now we had Sidnee and Mafu in our crosshairs but I suspected it was someone else who had done the deed.

I’d done some research on tizheruks and the one thing every account had in common was a mention of their incredible strength. I’d seen the state of the metal in the bunker and the single colourful scale. At first, I’d dismissed Essie as Donovan’s killer because, according to my research, she was some sort of giant sea serpent with a wolf’s head, but the metal had been twisted, pulled back and there had been no teeth marks on it. One of the depictions had shown the tizheruk with webbed hands, almost dragon-like, but without wings.

If all of that information was accurate, Essie could have easily picked up the 200-kilo metal equipment and swung it at her kidnapper – Donovan. That would give the girls a reason not toreturn home: they were scared Essie would be arrested for killing him.

I forced my sluggish brain to think about the rescue party. ‘I don’t want to take Connor,’ I asserted. ‘He’s got enough on his plate.’ Not to mention a host of goons following him whom I didn’t want along for the ride. ‘Stan,’ I suggested instead.

‘Yeah,’ Gunnar rumbled. ‘He’ll come with us.’ I could hear him scratching his beard. He was thinking or worrying, or both.

‘How’s Sidnee holding up?’ I asked.

‘She’s all right. Sig hasn’t left her side apart from cooking some meals in our lousy office kitchen.’

‘She works miracles.’

‘She does,’ he agreed warmly. ‘Okay, so me, you and Stan. Fluffy? Shadow?’

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