Page 1 of Until Death Parts Us

CHAPTER ONE

QUIN

“I’mgonna go talk to people,” Kaspian says, zipping his puffer jacket.

I set down my cup of coffee and lean back into the couch. “Not too many people.”

He makes a face. “I have to figure out who to choose.”

“We don’t want too many people to be aware of us, or we’ll have to get rid of them all.”

“Would that be so bad?” he asks, grinning as he drops to his knees in front of me.

“Depends on how many people are here, I guess.”

“We’re in the wilderness of Canada. In December. There shouldn’t be many people, and if there are, they’ve got to be crazy,” he says, running his hands up my thighs.

“Talk to them individually if you can. Don’t get caught up in some weird campfire party where everyone’s singing songs.”

Kaspian snorts. “Fine.” Standing up, he reaches for his gloves. “You coming out soon?”

“Yeah. Soon.”

Once the RV door closes behind him, I get up from the small couch and grab my phone to do some research. We’ve traveledfrom Alaska into Northern Canada. The plan is to find a camping spot and see if there’s anyone that gets Kaspian’s attention. According to the map I have, there’s a lot of wooded area around the lake we’re parked near, so that means there’s plenty of space to dispose of a body.

After we’re done here, we’ll continue our drive down into Alberta and see if we can find anyone near Banff National Park. There, tons of winter-loving people participate in activities like cross country skiing and winter hiking, so it opens up the possibility of finding a solo traveler far into the wilderness, which makes cleanup a bit easier.

Once we’re done with Canada, we’ll drive into Montana, followed by North Dakota, and then we’ll take a minute to make sure people aren’t starting to put anything together. Our actions started the rumor of a traveling serial killer in Vermont, and we don’t want to gain too much attention on this little Christmas trip of ours.

It’s been three years since we left Soledad Square, and the bodies were beginning to pile up. While most were well-hidden and our tracks were covered, Willow was a co-worker. She thought she could take Kaspian from me in the most permanent way. I wore my mask around her until she gave me no choice to let it slip. It was her or Kaspian, and nobody is more important to me than him.

That death wasn’t as high profile as the one that led me to Vermont in the first place, but we had become friends with her friends, and police would be involved, questioning everyone, so there was no way we could stick around.

Alaska has been good to us, but after our Valentine’s Day mishap, I knew I had to do something. We fell into too much normalcy. We have jobs, we live together, eat together, and while I wouldn’t want to live without him, we need opportunities to break out of the skin we wear to fit in. I need to kill. It’s just whoI am. Kaspian needs to obsess and stalk. We’ve forgotten about each other’s needs, and just like any other relationship, that causes problems.

And that’s how this trip was born. We’ll travel through Canada and across several states, and Kaspian will do what he needs to do while I reap the benefits of his stalking.

The door opens, and Kaspian bursts in with a smile on his face. “So, I’m talking to this guy.”

“Should I be worried?”

He makes a face as he closes the door. “He should be.”

I snort and grab my jacket. “What do you know?”

“He’s traveling by himself. Wife died. No kids.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“Parents?”

“I have to find out. I’m gonna try to join him on a trek around the lake.”

“Well, have fun on your trek.”

“You don’t wanna come?”

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