Page 24 of Monsters of Mayhem

I lifted my head up to the heavens and put a hand on my face. My horns came out in anger and frustration even as I felt the hair form on my body. Ratchet and Tony both took another step back from me. There was nothing worse than when my wings came out. If there was anybody who was going to get slapped, it was going to be these two. Even though Ratchet hadn’t done anything wrong, when my anger hit, it hit everybody in my reach.

“Have you done a house-to-house search?” I asked.

“Yes,” Tony said. “We did it last night.”

“Maybe she moved houses,” I said.

“How many people does she know on this island?” Ratchet asked. “It can’t be many.”

“I had her with Sofie. Where is Sofie now?” I asked.

“Sofie left with Ava right after Ava came back from New York. They’re trying to deal with something else. I don’t know exactly what’s going on but they’re investigating her mother’s murder.”

“Didn’t her mother die like when she was still pregnant with her? That was the whole mystery of it right? How did they keep the baby alive after the mother died?” I asked, trying to remember the story. I knew Ava‘s mother was a priestess who had been murdered. Apparently by Ava‘s father.

“Ava doesn’t think her father did it for some reason,” Tony said. “So, she’s out to prove him wrong and Sofie’s gone along for the ride.”

“You let Sofie leave?” I asked.

“Have you ever tried to stop a witch from doing anything?” Furlan countered. “They might be beholden to the DGC and they might help you with your wards, but they’re not exactly the most compliant species of supernaturals out there last time I checked. In fact, they are a little bit rebellious and emotional. It’s the human blood they have running through their veins. If you ask me the DGC messed up when they sided with the witches. The fae are manipulative but at least they’re rational in their own way. Witches just follow their emotions and do whatever they think is best at the time.”

“Okay, well, Caroline’s not a witch,” I said in frustration, pulling on my hair. “She’s a banshee, which means she’s the dark fae side. So, she’s going to have to find a certain amount of logic, right?” I asked.

“The most we can figure is she escaped the house sometime in the wee hours of the morning. She didn’t bring her shoes with her.”

“So, she’s barefoot with no wallet, no resources, and she’s wandering around Alameda on her own. What would she do?” I muttered to myself.

“Who does she know?” Ratchet asked.

“Besides Sofie,” Furlan said.

“Laney,” I said.

“It’s the only place she would go, the only person she would call is Laney. She doesn’t have anyone else.”

“Do you know Laney‘s number?” Furlan asked.

I looked at him like he was a complete idiot. “Do you think I have women’s phone numbers memorized?”

“I have her number,” Ratchet said.

We both looked at him curiously. “Why do you have her number?”

“A demon’s allowed to get someone’s digits, right?” he asked with a slow smile.

“You and Laney?” I asked. “Since when was that a thing?”

“It’s not a thing,” Ratchet said. “You know, there was always an opportunity. It’s not like you weren’t hanging out with her best friend all the time. So, I needed something to do.”

“You just said you never did her,” Tony said.

“No, I didn’t,“ Ratchet said. “Look I got her number because I knew Ryder was going to be concerned with Caroline for the rest of his life. It seemed like a good way to keep track of Caroline without Caroline knowing about it. At the end of the day, I never used this number. I would just track it to figure out where she was and what they were doing.

“Do you have a tracking device on her best friend’s phone?” I asked in shock.

Demons never ceased to amaze me with the things they could get up to. They always seemed so clever till something backfired.

“Yeah, I can track her through her phone number,” he said. “I just need to pull up the app on my phone.”

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