Page 43 of Unleashing Mayhem
Ours, his shadows had echoed.
It was all wrong, of course. A creature like Nightmare was not meant to have a mate, let alone a human one. The darkness was his companion, human pain his sustenance. He and his shadows had no need for anything else.
And yet here he was.
And now that Chaos had brought the Book, it would be official. Permanent.
Perfect.
Cooper cleared his throat. “So as far as we can tell, Dominico has gone underground. We have reason to believe he’s still in New York, but he doesn’t seem to be trying to take Luca’s place and corral the others. He still has a small crew following his orders, but they’ve been hard to spot. We’ve only got a few surveillance photos of one of them entering an occult shop. We think maybe because of the rumors about Ivan and his new paranormal enforcers.”
“That’s me!” Chaos crowed. “A paranormal enforcer!”
Cooper squeezed Chaos’s knee. “The only thing we’ve really got that could be useful is that he’s been withdrawing funds from one of Luca’s accounts we’ve been monitoring. I guess he doesn’t have enough money of his own?”
“No,” Matteo said dully, staring at the computer screen. “Money’s not really his vice. He has…other interests.”
“The withdrawals are all over the map though.” Cooper adjusted his glasses. “Some are in different states and—”
“What’s that?” Matteo asked suddenly, pointing at something on the computer. “That transfer. That’s super recent.”
“Yeah.” Cooper nodded. “We followed the account. He transferred it to a man we have reason to believe is still in his employ. Vinnie something. I can look it up.”
“Vinnie,” Matteo repeated. His hand squeezed at Nightmare’s wrist where it lay over his chest, his short fingernails digging into Nightmare’s skin. “We’ve seen him.”
The man Nightmare had killed, then. The intruder who’d met his demise.
Matteo was still staring at the computer screen, but his eyes were unfocused. “That was the day he saw me.”
“Who saw you?” Cooper asked. “This Vinnie guy?”
But Matteo seemed to be worlds away. “Dominico knows I’m in Seacliff,” he said in a horribly blank voice. “Heknows.”
His heart was racing under Nightmare’s hand now, his breath coming in short pants.
He was panicking.
Nightmare crossed around the sofa and knelt in front of him. “Matteo. Sweet.”
Matteo’s eyes remained unfocused, and his soul piece thrummed with distress in Nightmare’s chest, like the heart of a hummingbird struggling to stay aloft.
Nightmare gently took Matteo’s hands and placed them on his antlers. Matteo gripped them hard, and Nightmare’s shadows raced up Matteo’s forearms and over his shoulders, settling around Matteo’s neck.
“Look at me, Matteo,” Nightmare commanded.
Matteo’s deep brown eyes met his instantly.
“We will tear him apart,” Nightmare promised. “We will make him hurt. His very last breath will be an anguished scream.”
“Hardcore,” Chaos whispered.
Nightmare ignored him. He repeated the vow until, bit by bit, Matteo’s breathing slowed, his heartbeat following suit.
When Matteo no longer looked or sounded like he was gripped in the throes of unimaginable terror, Cooper cleared his throat. “You think…you think this Dominico is going to come for you?”
“Yes.” Matteo’s eyes were still locked on Nightmare’s. “He will.”
“Well, that’s perfect!” Chaos cried gleefully.
